9 verified parking spots in SoBro, Nashville: 2 free, 2 validated and 5 paid. Every one traces back to an official source or a named local, and locals keep it current.
2 free
2 validated
5 paid
Free parking
7th Ave S Street Parking (Peabody dead end)
Free street parking, both sides, but do not touch the gated lot
FreeStreet parking4 locals confirmed
A YeeHaw Brewing employee sent this one in. 7th Ave S dead-ends into a gravel lot just off Peabody, and the street parking on both sides down to the end is free. Walking distance to YeeHaw, White Duck Taco and the south end of Music City Center. The catch is partway down the block: there is a gated area reserved for YeeHaw employees, and they tow if you park inside it or block the entrance. Read the block before you leave the car. Reported 8/12/26.
Where 7th Ave S between Peabody St and the dead end, both sides
Source: Local confirmed
New Heights Brewing
Street parking only, and the block is usually not fighting for it
FreeStreet parking
New Heights has no lot of its own, so you are parking on the street. The good news is who else is on the block: this stretch of Rep. John Lewis Way S, the old 5th Ave S, is light on businesses competing for the same curb, so there is usually room even when the taproom is full. We walked it on 8/20/26 and found no meters, no pay stations and no posted restrictions. That is what we saw on one visit, not a promise about every block down here, so still read the curb where you land. The taproom opens at 2pm on weekdays and noon on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and there is no kitchen, so check whether the food truck is out before you plan dinner around it. Pin is the brewery, not a parking space.
Where Street parking on Rep. John Lewis Way S and the surrounding blocks, 928 Rep. John Lewis Way S
Source: Local confirmed
✦
Validated parking
Kosho
10 free on-site spots, then 2 hours validated for dining guests
ValidatedRestaurant
Kosho publishes its own parking terms and they are better than most of downtown. There are 10 complimentary on-site spots, first come first served, and dining guests get 2 hours of parking validation. That validation is the part worth planning around, because 10 spots at a restaurant that only opens 5pm to 9pm on weeknights and 10pm on weekends will be gone on a Friday. Ask about validation when you sit down rather than on your way out. One catch worth knowing: these terms live only inside a graphic on their parking page, so they do not show up in a search and most people arriving here have no idea the validation exists. What their page does not say is which garage the validation covers, so ask inside. We are also not calling the street parking on this block free, because nothing first-party says it is and this stretch may sit inside Metro's paid zone. Terms read off koshobytabu.com/parking on 8/22/26. Pin is the restaurant.
Where 538 6th Ave S, on-site spots at the restaurant
Validated inside The Southern Steak, 3 hours free. No sticker, no free parking.
ValidatedRestaurant1 local confirmed
The Southern actually validates. Self-park in the Symphony Place Garage, the Pinnacle garage on 3rd Ave S right next to their patio, then ask your server for a validation sticker and the first 3 hours are free. Past 3 hours you are on the garage's own rate, which is not published. Clearance in there is 6 feet 9 inches, so a tall vehicle wants somewhere else.
The arena's own page sells this one, so it is not a gamble: $25 for any Bridgestone Arena show and for Predators games, bought in advance through the arena. A church lot two blocks off Broadway, which is why it beats circling the honky tonk garages on a show night. Bridgestone does not publish whether the $25 holds for every event or whether spots are left day-of, so buy ahead rather than driving down and hoping. Worth knowing generally: camping and staying overnight on arena property is prohibited.
Metro's lots at the Howard Office Building on the Richard H. Fulton campus. Entrance and exit are on Lindsley Avenue. The posted sign reads free visitor parking 6am to 6pm Monday through Friday, pay parking all other times, so a weekday errand at the county clerk costs nothing and a Friday night show does not. After hours it is Metro ParkSmart zone HOB at $2.00 an hour. Pay by the QR code on the sign or text TN1208 to 53242. Credit card transactions carry a convenience fee on top. One thing we have not confirmed: this sign posts a single rate with no tier ladder, while Metro's on-street zones climb to $5 an hour after the second hour. We do not know yet whether a long session here stays at $2, so check the app total before you walk away. This is the cheap option for a show at 3rd & Lindsley, a few minutes away on foot. Getting there means crossing 2nd Avenue, so use the lit crosswalk. The pin sits on the office building itself. Do not look for a gate on 2nd Avenue, turn in from Lindsley.
Where Howard Office Building lots, Fulton campus, entrance and exit on Lindsley Avenue
$20 covers a 9 hour shift, $15 for anything under 5
PaidConvention center garage4 locals confirmed
The largest covered garage downtown, three levels, 1,800 spaces, sitting across from Bridgestone's south entrance, which makes it the default on an arena night. Primary entrance P3 is at 7th and Demonbreun, with P1 and P2 along 6th Ave. Rates effective June 2, 2025 go by bracket: $15 up to 5 hours, $20 from 5 to 9, $25 from 9 to 12, $30 from 12 to 18, and $45 overnight. That $20 bracket is the one to know if you work down here, because it covers a full shift and undercuts most of the Broadway garages. Lose your ticket and it is $45. There is no in and out on one ticket, so stepping out to move the car means paying twice, and no trailers. Special event rates get posted at the entrance and run higher, so a convention or a show is not this card. Monthly parking is closed to new applicants, and the contact for the waitlist is contractedparking@nashvillemcc.com. Twelve ChargePoint EV stations, four per level, at standard rates. Pay by card on the way out. Rates read off the venue's own page on 2026-08-03.
Where 701 Demonbreun St, main entrance at 7th and Demonbreun
Metered 24 hours, but two streets here are $2 flat
PaidMetered street parking
SoBro is Zone 2 in Metro's Central Parking District, which Metro publishes as 24 hour enforcement. The free-after-6 window that Midtown, Music Row and Hillsboro Village get does not exist here, and that catches people out constantly. Metro does not publish which days are enforced or how holidays work, so the pay station is the last word. Rates ladder up: $2 an hour for the first two hours, $5 for hours three and four, $6 past five, ten hour cap. The exception worth knowing is Metro's SoBro economy zone, a flat $2 an hour, which its zone map places on Palmer Pl and on Lea Ave between Rutledge St and 2nd Ave S. Once your session runs out the car has to leave the zone for at least thirty minutes, so you cannot just keep feeding it. For a Bridgestone show or a Music City Center event a garage usually beats the meter anyway. And if you do get a ticket: Metro will waive a single parking violation if you left the car and got home by rideshare, taxi, transit or a designated driver, as long as you have proof like a receipt and file within 24 hours. Rates and zone map read off nashville.gov on 2026-08-03.
SmartPark Symphony Place garage at 150 3rd Ave S, handy for Bridgestone Arena and the Schermerhorn. Rate varies and day-rates can reset late at night, so read the signage. Worth knowing: if you are eating at The Southern Steak & Oyster on the ground floor, ask your server for a validation sticker and your first 3 hours are free. Clearance is 6 feet 9 inches.