Commercial Locksmith in Nashville, TN

Storefronts in Nashville's historic overlays

Nashville's historic preservation overlays are not only residential. Broadway, Second Avenue, Downtown, the Elliston Place Rock Block and Marathon Village are overlays too, and like the residential ones they review repairs and alterations to buildings that already stand.

For a business, the line that matters is between the lock and the door. Rekeying leaves the door unchanged. Replacing a storefront door is a change to the building, and in one of these districts it can need design review. Check the district's guidelines with the Metropolitan Historic Zoning Commission before that kind of work. This is general information, not legal advice.

Germantown's mixed blocks

Germantown shows how uses mix. Its homes were built between the 1840s and 1920s, and industrial zoning in the 1950s brought commercial and industrial buildings to the neighborhood. A business there may share a block with houses from that earlier era, so door hardware can vary widely from one building to the next. Before any rekey or upgrade, list every door with its lock type and who holds keys, and mark which doors face the street.

Staff, tenants and turnover

Keys spread in any business. Employees leave, managers change, contractors and cleaners come and go, and in a multi-tenant building a suite may change hands while old keys stay in circulation.

• When someone leaves with a key, rekey the doors that key opened rather than relying on its return.
• A master key system lets managers open every door while staff keys open only their own areas, which limits what has to change when one person leaves.
• A written key log records who holds which key and when it was issued.
• Tenants in shared buildings should confirm with the landlord who controls the building entry and whether suite locks may be changed.

What to include for a business

The district or street, the building type, how many doors and locks, which keys should stop working, and who approves changes. For a suite or shared building, name the property manager.

After staff changes, lock rekeying resets which keys work. The neighborhoods above are described on the Nashville page.