Hermès plans Nashville storefront in Wedgewood-Houston neighborhood

Nashville will soon play host to one of the most expensive and sought-after designer handbags in the world.

Hermès plans to open a store in Music City.

Real estate development company AJ Capital Partners announced this week that the luxury store will open in the remodeled May Hosiery Mills complex, also home to members club Soho House , in Nashville's Wedgewood-Houston neighborhood.

Hermès will occupy 8,500 square feet of space and plans to open next fall.

The historic May Hosiery Mills campus is "an adaptive reuse of the South’s oldest hosiery mill, dating back to 1897,” AJ Capital founder and CEO Ben Weprin said in a news release. “The addition of Hermès speaks to the enduring quality and artistry of the neighborhood. We look forward to integrating this iconic fashion house into our community.”

The designer brand is known worldwide for its signature handbags, including the Birkin and Kelly styles. On the resale market, a Birkin bag can sell between $12,000 to $300,000, depending on the style, condition and rarity. The handbags are notoriously difficult to acquire , even from Hermès stores. An exclusive appointment with a sales associate is required to buy one of the bags, and an extensive purchase history with the brand is usually used as a determinate factor.

Nashville's store location will be the only one in Tennessee. There are five locations in Florida and three in Texas.

The city's other designer stores are almost exclusively located inside the Mall at Green Hills. The shopping center is home to Tennessee's only Burberry, Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Saint Laurent stores.

The Wedgewood-Houston neighborhood was recently named one of the country's most up-and-coming areas by TravelMag. It's known for its abundance of stylish restaurants , art galleries, breweries and coffee shops. It has also undergone an incredibly rapid transformation due to real estate development and investments in the area. Its proximity to downtown and Nashville's GEODIS Park has made it a focal point of development, historic preservation and new business growth.

Reporter Molly Davis covers growth and development in Nashville. Reach her at mdavis2@gannett.com .

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Hermès plans Nashville storefront in Wedgewood-Houston neighborhood