Educational Media Foundation, the parent company of contemporary Christian radio networks K-LOVE and Air1, is officially relocating its global headquarters to the Berry Farms community in southern Franklin.
The company announced its move to the Nashville area from California in March of this year and eventually announced its pick of Williamson County as its future home in May at Williamson Inc.’s annual Outlook Williamson conference. EMF announced it closed on an 11-acre property Wednesday.
“Middle Tennessee is the hub for Christian musicians, publishers, filmmakers and industry professionals, making it a great place for us to call ‘home,’” EMF CEO Bill Reeves said. “It is incredibly important to us to be somewhere that shares our values.
“We’re excited to bring our headquarters here. The content we’ll be broadcasting from this community will impact people across the U.S. and around the world.”
EMF’s new space will be 170,000 square-feet and include six floors where broadcast facilities, podcast and video production studios, and a worship center will be housed, according to a news release. Construction on the facility is scheduled to begin in mid-2022.
EMF brings in annual revenue of roughly $200 million, according to Reeves.
The purchase of land in Berry Farms is the latest step in a three-year, phased process of relocating from the company’s original headquarters in Rocklin, California.
“The reason we did that, in part, was because of some of the challenges here in the area with housing inventory,” Reeves said in May. “For us, we felt like staging that over a two- to three-year period would be easier on the county and easier on us.”
At the moment, more than 100 EMF employees are working in Franklin in temporary office space. However, 500 employees are expected to be based in the Berry Farms location down the line.
“Berry Farms was designed to create a new, classic way of working in a vibrant, modern community, and EMF is an excellent addition to Berry Farms and the culture of Williamson County,” said Boyle managing partner Phil Fawcett. “(EMF’s) goals align well with Boyle’s mission to be strategic in serving and transforming our community and establishing long-term value by building lasting relationships and quality developments.”
With its new headquarters, EMF will join tens of other businesses in Berry Farms, which currently occupy over 1 million square feet of office space. Berry Farms and its surrounding area has also seen expansive residential development in recent years.
Originally published in The Tennessean
By Anika Exum