Magic to Invest in Nashville, Not Just Terrazzo

Basketball superstar Magic Johnson officially announced a 20-million dollar investment in Nashville’s Gulch today.

His private equity firm, Canyon-Johnson Urban Funds, is now the largest partner in the group building the Terrazzo-a mixture of condos, office space and retail at 12th and Division.

Johnson says he’s looking for more investment opportunities in the city, and not just with business projects. Johnson says the point of the Urban Fund is to help develop communities, and that includes charitable giving and working with public schools.

“We have invested more money probably than any developer around the country into just schools and things of that nature. We’ve put in windows, we’ve done so many different things in schools in cities that we invested our money. So it’s not just that we come here and invest and then I’m back in Los Angeles. You’re gonna see me a lot.”

Johnson says he plans to visit local schools to talk with kids about finding careers in the business community. He’s already started on that goal. Johnson spent the morning with about 30 elementary students in the Frist Center’s Art Trunk program, and the Terrazzo’s development team is making a 10-thousand dollar donation to the Frist’s educational efforts.