Long before his name went up over the door at 312 Broadway, Kane Brown was just a regular at The Valentine, spending his Saturdays there cheering on the Georgia Bulldogs.
This spring, that same building reopened as Kane Brown’s on Broadway. Less than five months later, it is at the center of a lawsuit seeking more than $2.4 million.
The former owners of The Valentine, Cusaboo Jr. Operating Company and Benjamin L. Shirah, filed the suit in Davidson County Chancery Court. They are suing the companies behind the bar, including Iconic Broadway Nashville, which does business as Kane Brown’s on Broadway, along with hospitality entrepreneur Zaid Elia and his related companies. Brown himself is not named, and the suit does not claim he owes anything.
The Former Owners Say the Payments Never Came
According to the complaint, as reported by Whiskey Riff, Elia’s group bought The Valentine business in 2023, but not the building. The deal called for monthly interest-only payments of $13,333 on a $2 million note, with the full $2 million due in May 2026, plus a consulting agreement with Shirah.
The former owners say the payments fell behind. The two sides tried three times to fix it. In December 2025, they settled on $950,000 to Shirah over a year and a half. In February 2026, they agreed on nearly $2.3 million by May. In August, the former owners agreed to hold off on a lawsuit if the money came through. They say it never did.
They are now asking for $2,048,525.48, plus $673.49 a day in interest, and $365,910.87 more tied to the consulting and settlement deals. They also want a judge to order the defendants to open their financial records. None of the claims has been proven in court, and the companies had not responded publicly.
For You
The Bar Was a Full-Circle Moment for Kane Brown
Kane Brown teamed up with Detroit-based Elia Group, which also owns ZUZU Nashville and has plans for more spots in the city, on the four-level, 11,400-square-foot venue. When it was announced in February, he said he wanted to build a place he and his friends would want to hang out at. By the time it opened in May, he made it clear the place meant something to him.
“I wanted it to reflect my journey in Nashville and feel a little different from what you usually find on Broadway,” he said.
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It followed a big 2025 for him, with an arena tour behind his album The High Road and a second RIAA Diamond certification for “What Ifs.”
Brown has not said a word about the lawsuit. For now, the man who used to spend his Saturdays watching Georgia football in that building has his name over the door, and the dispute over the business sale is between the former owners and the companies behind the bar.
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