Luxury brands have set their sights on a new city: Nashville.

And for good reason. It is one of the fastest-growing cities in the U.S., with a population of around 700,000 in the city proper, more than 2.1 million in the metro area, and average household income of $80,000, according to Statista. Best known as Music City for its country music roots, Nashville has also attracted businesses in a range of other industries including health care and finance.

It’s no wonder that AJ Capital Partners, a real estate and hospitality firm based in Nashville, would look to capitalize on the city’s growth.

AJ Capital is creating Wedgewood Village, an 18-acre mixed-use and multiphase area in Nashville’s Wedgewood Houston neighborhood, anchored by Soho House, Hermès, Pastis, Live Nation’s new 4,400-capacity music venue and the Academy of Country Music.

Hermès was among the first luxury retailers to sign on, opening a two-story unit last October, followed by Brunello Cucinelli this March. And coming soon are Zimmermann, Staud, Malbon and Eberjey, all of which have committed to opening their first stand-alone Tennessee locations in the development.

As Diane Mahady, Hermès America president, said at the time of the opening: “We love the location; the store is absolutely beautiful. It’s in an old hosiery mill so it sort of speaks to the industrial past of Nashville. We’re not downtown, we’re not at the mall, and the store itself will be an expression of the community.”

That’s exactly what AJ Capital was envisioning when it began converting the former May Hosiery Mills plant — with its brick building boasting curved corners and black-framed windows — into a retail and residential hub. The project also includes two new buildings that were designed to resemble the old plant with cast iron-inspired storefronts.

“A lot of brands tend to gravitate towards us because of the way we integrate placemaking and design and hospitality in a non-traditional way throughout our projects,” said Kyle Allen, AJ Capital’s senior vice president of retail. The company also operates the mixed-use Belle Meade Village in Belle Meade, Tenn., and Little River in Miami among its portfolio of more than 100 properties in over 50 markets.

Allen said the goal for Wedgewood Village is to offer a home to “independent and family-owned brands that embody craftsmanship and the spirit of entrepreneurship. We’ve really worked tirelessly to identify brands that we feel expand on the rich history of Wedgewood Houston and our project.”

Allen said that, in its previous life, the sock factory made the hosiery worn to the moon by Apollo astronauts. An illustration of a sock is used as the logo of Wedgewood Village.

Wedgewood Village is “a stone’s throw from downtown,” where live music venues and music industry offices are entrenched, he said. “Nashville has become a true city made up of neighborhoods. We’re on the edge of downtown in our little pocket. You can think of it as the Meatpacking District in New York or West Hollywood in L.A. The neighborhood has become an enclave for artists and creativity.”

Another popular neighborhood with more-affordable stores such as Draper James, Faherty, Imogene + Willie and Madewell is 12South, which Allen said was a collection of individual buildings similar to Abbott Kinney in L.A. But what differentiates Wedgewood Village is its historic brick buildings “which are extremely challenging to find in the South,” he said.

The entire project includes 15 stores and restaurants that have already opened or will be opening this year. There is also residential and office space. The sleep and loungewear retailer Eberjey will open a 919-square-foot boutique this spring, followed by a 2,186-square-foot store for Zimmermann, an Australian swim and ready-to-wear brand; a 1,742-square foot unit for the contemporary women’s brand Staud, and a 2,534-square-foot Malbon store.

Aaron Heiser, chief executive officer of Malbon, which currently operates nine stores, said that when the golf and lifestyle brand started developing its retail rollout strategy, “we did some significant market mapping to really understand where we wanted to pinpoint and why. We found roughly 20 key cities around the country with a combination of our target demographic and also a golf density. And Nashville was on that list.”

He looked at 12South as well as other neighborhoods, but went with Wedgewood Village because “it matches what we’re trying to do as a brand: create community and really unique experiences, and that’s what we believe Wedgewood Village provides. It’s its own little ecosystem that creates a destination for people looking to have a different shopping and dining experience, and we wanted to be a part of that because it really matches who we are as a brand.”

Allen believes the development will attract a wide range of customers with its sit-down restaurants, grocery store, bakery, yogurt shop and pizza parlors. But when it came to apparel retail, he said since there was a limited amount of space available, “we had to identify brands with a wide range of appeal. To have Hermès and Brunello Cucinelli leading the way was incredibly humbling. And then to be able to work with brands like Zimmermann, Staud and Malbon who can capture a lot of traffic, it just all worked very well together.”

Other tenants in the development will include Boka Restaurant Group’s Alla Vita, Momotaro, and Middleman; neighborhood bookstore Bell Bird Books, nail salon Bower, frozen Greek yogurt café Culture Club, and Perenn Grocery.