For a strip mall or shopping center in Nashville or the surrounding counties, the placement turns on the crime record on and around the lot, how spills and hazards are inspected and logged, which tenants sell beer or liquor and what their certificates show, the roof and its wind or hail deductible, whether the site floods, and how the buildings are protected in a hard freeze. Flood is always a separate policy. Send me the addresses, tenant schedule and loss history and I can take the center to market.
What an underwriter asks about a Nashville center
- Crime recordPolice reports on the lot and in the immediate area, and what security the neighboring centers use. The Tennessee Supreme Court looked at both.
- Inspection routineHow often common areas and food-court or grocery frontage are walked, and whether it is written down.
- Tenants selling alcoholBars, restaurants, convenience and package stores, their hours, and whether each carries liquor liability naming the owner.
- Roof and signsRoof age and covering, rooftop units, pylon signs and storefront glass, with the wind or hail deductible on the current policy.
- WaterDistance to the Cumberland, Mill Creek, the Harpeth and smaller creeks, and any history from May 2010.
- Freeze protectionSprinkler lines in vacant bays and canopies, and who keeps heat on in an empty space.
How the program fits together is covered on the main page (how shopping center insurance is put together). Below is what is particular to Nashville and Middle Tennessee.
Crime on the lot: McClung v. Delta Square
On October 28, 1996 the Tennessee Supreme Court decided McClung v. Delta Square Limited Partnership. A customer had been abducted at gunpoint from the parking lot of a Memphis shopping center and later killed; her husband sued the center’s owners and the anchor tenant for not providing security. The lower courts had ruled for the defendants under an older rule that looked for an imminent probability of harm. The Supreme Court reversed and set out these principles:
- Starting point. A business ordinarily has no duty to protect customers from the criminal acts of third parties and is not the insurer of their safety.
- When a duty arises. If the business knows or has reason to know, from what has been observed or from past experience, that criminal acts against its customers on its premises are reasonably foreseeable.
- How much is required. The foreseeability and gravity of the harm are balanced against the burden of protecting against it. The court gave surveillance cameras, signs, improved lighting, fencing and trimming shrubbery as examples of measures that can be cost effective.
On foreseeability, the court counted the police reports from the seventeen months before the abduction on or near the premises, including ten robberies, thirty-six auto thefts and an attempted kidnapping on an adjacent lot, and noted that other nearby retail centers used security. An underwriter reads a Nashville center the same way, so I ask for the call history, the lighting and camera layout and any patrol contract before I approach insurers.
Fault: the 50 percent bar, and how notice is proved
Tennessee dropped contributory negligence in McIntyre v. Balentine (May 4, 1992). The Supreme Court adopted modified comparative fault: a plaintiff may recover so long as his or her negligence remains less than the defendant’s, with damages reduced by the plaintiff’s percentage. A shopper found 50 percent or more at fault recovers nothing; one found 30 percent at fault collects 70 percent.
For slip-and-fall claims the fight is usually over notice. In Blair v. West Town Mall (March 11, 2004), a case against a mall, the court held that a plaintiff may establish constructive notice of a dangerous condition by showing a pattern of conduct, a recurring incident, or a general or continuing condition. If the same curb, drain or entrance keeps producing incident reports, the owner is treated as knowing about it. That is why the sweep log and the repair records matter as much as the policy limit, and why I put an umbrella over the primary liability on a busy center.
Tenants that sell beer and liquor
Tennessee’s dram shop law starts from a legislative finding, T.C.A. § 57-10-101, that the consumption of alcohol rather than the furnishing of it is the proximate cause of injuries inflicted by an intoxicated person. Section 57-10-102 then allows a judgment against a seller only under strict conditions. As the Tennessee Supreme Court quoted the statute in Worley v. Weigel’s, Inc. (1996):
- A jury of twelve must first find beyond a reasonable doubt that the sale was the proximate cause of the injury or death.
- And the sale must have been to a person known to be under twenty-one, or to an obviously intoxicated person, who then caused the injury as the direct result of drinking what was sold.
The statute speaks of the person who sold the alcohol. It is a claim against the tenant’s business, and the criminal-law standard of proof makes it harder to win than in most states, though not impossible. Wording may have changed since the version the court quoted, so have Tennessee counsel confirm the current text.
In Davidson County, beer permits come from the Metropolitan Beer Permit Board under Title 7 of the Metro Code, a board organized under state beer law. I ask which tenants hold one. In the lease, the tenant should carry liquor liability, name the owner as additional insured and send the certificate each year; the owner’s policy is lessor’s risk and is not a substitute. See certificate holder versus additional insured.
Tornado, flood and hard freezes
March 3, 2020. The National Weather Service rates the tornado that crossed Nashville that night EF-3, with peak winds of 165 mph and a continuous path of just over 60 miles through Davidson, Wilson and Smith counties, 5 deaths and 220 injuries. Its survey describes damaged and destroyed businesses in Germantown, EF-3 damage to businesses in Five Points in East Nashville, and damage to homes and businesses through Donelson and Hermitage.
December 9, 2023. An EF-2 tornado touched down in north Nashville, damaged several businesses as it crossed Dickerson Pike, reached winds up to 125 mph in Madison, and went on through Hendersonville, where the Weather Service describes damage to dozens of homes and businesses.
May 2010. Nashville International Airport measured 13.57 inches of rain on May 1 and 2, against a previous two-day record of 6.68 inches, and the Cumberland River at Nashville crested at 52.55 feet on May 3. In the same storm system an EF1 tornado crossed Rivergate Parkway at Rivergate Mall, blowing over business signs and leaving impact craters in the mall’s facade. Flood is not covered by a commercial property policy; it is bought separately through the National Flood Insurance Program or a private insurer. How flood insurance works.
Freeze. In the Arctic outbreak of December 22 to 27, 2022, Weather Service reports show readings below zero in Nashville on the morning of December 23. A burst sprinkler line in an unheated vacant bay is a common retail freeze loss, and forms often condition that coverage on keeping heat in the building.
Earthquake. The Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance reminds owners that the state has two seismic zones, one in the west and one in the east, and that traditional business policies do not cover earthquake damage.
Deductibles, the surplus lines route and vacant space
Wind and hail deductibles. The storm guidance the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance publishes is written for homeowners. On a shopping center the wind or hail deductible is set by the policy form, often as a percentage of the building value rather than a flat amount, and it can apply per building. I show the deductible in real terms for each building before an owner chooses.
When standard insurers decline. As of November 2026 I have not found a state-run property plan of last resort for commercial buildings on the department’s site, so I plan around the surplus lines market. The department’s declination list sets how many admitted insurers must turn a risk down first: one for commercial property, one for commercial windstorm or hail, and three for fire. I document those declinations as part of the file.
Vacancy. A dark anchor or a row of empty bays changes both the property and the liability picture, and many forms reduce coverage after a stated period of vacancy. Tell me before a space goes empty. Insuring a vacant building.
Older strips rebuilt after a tornado have to meet current code, which is what ordinance-or-law coverage pays toward, and loss of rents should be long enough to cover a rebuild plus re-leasing. Both sit inside the commercial property part of the program.
What to send me
- Addresses, with year built, square footage, construction, roof age and covering for each building.
- Tenant schedule: uses, hours, lease type, vacancies, and which tenants hold beer or liquor permits.
- Tenant certificates, including liquor liability where it applies.
- Security file: incident log, lighting and camera layout, patrol contract and that contractor’s certificate.
- Inspection and sweep logs for common areas.
- Flood and freeze information: any elevation certificate, 2010 history, and how vacant bays are heated.
- Current declarations pages and five years of loss runs.
Common questions
Who insures shopping centers and strip malls in Nashville?
Standard and surplus lines insurers write most Nashville retail centers. As a broker I match the building, tenants, crime record and loss history to the insurers that want that profile.
Am I liable if a customer is robbed or assaulted in my Nashville shopping center parking lot?
You can be. Under McClung v. Delta Square, a duty to take reasonable steps arises when crime against customers on the premises is reasonably foreseeable, and the court weighs that against the burden of the security measures.
How does comparative fault work in a Tennessee slip-and-fall claim?
Under McIntyre v. Balentine the injured person recovers only if his or her fault is less than the defendant’s, and the award is reduced by that percentage. At 50 percent or more there is no recovery.
Am I liable if a bar tenant overserves a customer in Tennessee?
Tennessee’s dram shop statute is directed at the person who sold the alcohol and requires a jury to find proximate cause beyond a reasonable doubt. As the landlord, require liquor liability and additional insured status from the tenant and have counsel review the lease.
Is flood covered on a shopping center policy in Nashville?
No. Flood is a separate policy from the National Flood Insurance Program or a private insurer, and the May 2010 flood is the event underwriters ask about.
Why is there a separate wind or hail deductible on my Nashville strip mall?
Insurers use percentage wind and hail deductibles on commercial roofs in tornado and hail country, and the 2020 and 2023 tornadoes both damaged businesses in Davidson County. The amount is set by your policy form, so compare it in real terms across quotes.
Do I need earthquake insurance on a retail building in Middle Tennessee?
It is optional. The state’s insurance department notes that Tennessee has seismic zones to the west and east and that business policies do not cover earthquake unless it is added.
General information about insuring shopping centers and strip malls in Nashville and Middle Tennessee as of November 2026, not legal advice. Statutes, court decisions, Metro ordinances and policy forms change; confirm coverage terms on your own policy and your duties as an owner with Tennessee counsel. Coverage depends on underwriting and the terms, conditions and exclusions of the policy actually issued.