Kenny Chesney's House (former)

East Tennessee's Kenny Chesney turned beach-bum country into a stadium business: “No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems,” 30-plus No. 1 singles, and summer tours that fill NFL stadiums for his No Shoes Nation.

Builder Jimmy Franks, a co-founder of Tennessee Valley Homes, raised the villa on spec over several years at the far back of Franklin's Legends Ridge subdivision, betting a buyer would come.

Nashville firm Norris Architecture drew it as an Italian villa set on a hill, finished in 2009 in hand-sculpted limestone, 150-year-old brick, and Santa Fe clay roof tiles, topped by a lookout tower.

Chesney bought it brand new in 2009 for $9.25M. The Nashville Scene logged the deal in its monthly roundup of the area's biggest real estate moves.

He paid $755,000 more for 7 adjoining acres. The name Bella Luce came with the house; builder and architect had it on the project before Chesney did.

After a dozen years he put it up for sale in August 2021, asking a dollar shy of $14M, then the most expensive home on the market in Franklin. It sold that December.