Five Points After Margot: What's New on Woodland Street This Fall

On June 6, the day after the last plates left the kitchen at Margot Café & Bar, Five Points closed its streets. Margot McCormack had spent 25 years running what she called "the little engine that could," and she ended it with one more party. Music, drinks and hundreds of people filled the barricaded blocks around Woodland Street where cars usually drive, according to the Tennessean. The final service was June 5, the date McCormack announced back in November 2025.

Four months later, the stretch has new names on it. They have something in common that's easy to miss if you only read the opening announcements. Every new arrival in the Five Points core moved into a room that already had a past, often one the neighborhood had known for years. The one address that hasn't found its next chapter yet is Margot's.

The Summer's Arrivals, Matched to the Rooms They Took

Here's how this year's changes on Woodland Street and lower Gallatin Avenue line up, address by address.

None of this is ground-up construction. The newcomers took over a bar, a wine bar, a retail studio and a butcher shop. In Five Points this year, change came as new tenants in old rooms, and each row above has its own story.

Veselka Arrived as a Guest in a Bar That Was Already a Second Act

The most surprising opening of the summer happened inside an existing business. Veselka is the East Village Ukrainian restaurant that New Yorkers have treated as an institution for generations, and it opened its first location outside New York City in August. It didn't build out a dining room of its own. It set up inside Lakeside Lounge at 921 Woodland. Veselka calls itself a three-generation family-owned business, and its own locations page lists the Nashville outpost simply as "Lakeside Lounge, 921 Woodland St."

That room has changed hands before. Eater Nashville reported that Lakeside Lounge opened on November 13, 2019, in what had been the Edgefield Sports Bar. At the time, it came from Michael McIlroy, Sam Ross and Brandon Bramhall, the team behind Attaboy Nashville. So Veselka is now the third chapter at one address, and the bar itself stayed open throughout.

For anyone who lives within walking distance, the hours matter. Lakeside's website lists the bar open daily from 11 a.m. to 3 a.m., with the kitchen running until 2 a.m. City Cast Nashville confirmed in its September 22 roundup that Veselka is open daily. The menu covers pierogi, kielbasa and latkes, and Visit Nashville adds beef stroganoff and house-made soups. Pierogi until 2 a.m. on Woodland Street is new for the neighborhood. It's also a lot easier to try than a destination opening that needs a reservation.

Girlcrush Social House Took Over a Wine Bar That Closed Without Warning

Three blocks east, 1112 Woodland went dark early this year when Van Gogh's Wine Bar closed suddenly, according to What Now Nashville. A permit filing in March showed the space's next tenant would be Girlcrush Social House. It comes from twin sisters Emily and Jamie Dryburgh, the team behind the entertainment company Young Music City and the GIRLCRUSH pop-up night.

The Dryburghs had already built their audience before they signed a lease. The pop-up came first, and the permanent room followed. That's the same order Veselka took: an established name moving into an established room.

Girlcrush opened in August. Visit Nashville describes it as an LGBTQ+ gathering place with food, drinks and live music, created by two music industry veterans. City Cast says the programming features local queer musicians and community events, with happy hour Tuesday through Friday. The official site now reads "NOW OPEN!"

Gallatin Avenue Follows the Same Pattern on a Slower Clock

Around the corner on Gallatin Avenue, the same thing is happening with retail and restaurants, just on a longer timeline.

Buffalo Exchange, the Arizona-based secondhand clothing and accessories chain, holds its grand opening this Friday, October 9, at 1004 Gallatin Avenue. WKRN reported that the space was formerly King Baby Studio. This will be Buffalo Exchange's second Nashville store after about a decade on Elliston Place near Vanderbilt. The company first announced the East Nashville expansion in July.

Further south, at 501 Gallatin Avenue, Bad Luck Burger Club plans to open its first brick-and-mortar restaurant in the former Porter Road Butcher space. What Now Nashville reported the plan from founders Andy Atkins and Cody Driggers in July. The current expected opening is 2027, so this one is for next year's list.

Up the avenue, Hattie B's opened its East Nashville location at 1206 Gallatin Ave. in June. The Tennessean covered the expansion in July and identified co-founder Nick Bishop at the East location.

Put these together and the summer looks less like scattered openings and more like a chain of handoffs. A butcher becomes a burger counter. A jewelry studio becomes a resale shop. A wine bar becomes a music room. A sports bar became a cocktail lounge and now serves pierogi.

The One Room on the Block Without a Next Chapter

That brings the walk back to 1017 Woodland. In July, the Nashville Business Journal reported that the Five Points building that was "last home to beloved restaurant Margot Cafe and Bar has been listed for $3 million."

Since then, a search of local news found no reported sale, buyer, new tenant, price change or redevelopment plan for the property. The one Metro record tied to the address that turned up was a July 22 Beer Permit Board agenda item for the "MARGOT CAFE & BAR BLOCK PARTY," the June 6 send-off itself. That could change any week, and a deal may already be in the works without being public. As of early October, though, it's the only address on this walk with no known next occupant.

The rest of the block suggests why that matters. Every room in the table above found its successor among names people already knew: a New York institution, a pop-up with a following, a national resale chain, a burger operation that built its reputation before it had a building. Whatever comes to 1017 Woodland will open in a building the neighborhood spent a quarter century associating with one chef. The Tennessean's description of hundreds of people filling the street on June 6 gives a sense of what that association means.

A Few Blocks Out

Outside the Five Points core, the same summer brought other changes to East Nashville's dining map.

• Bar Cala Cala, from partners Ryan Costanza and Joshua Walker, held soft openings after 9 p.m. on October 2 and 3 at 930 McFerrin Ave. When What Now Nashville announced it in April, the target was summer.
• Audrey at 809 Meridian St. served its final dinner on August 16. The Tennessean named chef Sam Jett and founding chef Sean Brock in its report on the closing.
• Sarabha's Creamery, a family-owned shop making Indian-style ice cream, expanded to Lost & Found this summer.
• The Hangout Café opened in June at 4602 Gallatin Pike, near the Inglewood end of the corridor.

For this week, Buffalo Exchange's Friday opening on Gallatin and a late plate of pierogi at Lakeside are the newest things within a few minutes' walk of Five Points.

Eddie has been watching East Nashville buildings change hands for more than two decades, and how a room gets reused often shapes the block around it. If you own a property in or near Five Points and want a calm, informed conversation about where the neighborhood is heading, Eddie Ferrell is glad to talk it through. Let's Connect.