Mars and Nashville Yards Partner to Create Pet-Friendly Community in Downtown Nashville

NASHVILLE, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mars, Incorporated, a leading pet care company behind brands that pets and pet owners love, including IAMS™, PEDIGREE^®, TEMPTATIONS™, ROYAL CANIN^®, WHISKAS^®, CESAR^®, BANFIELD™, and BLUEPEARL™ and more, has entered into a strategic partnership with Nashville Yards, a 19-acre mixed-use development that includes The Pinnacle music venue, located in the heart of downtown Nashville. Spearheaded by AEG Global Partnerships and Southwest Value Partners, Mars will serve as the official pet food partner of Nashville Yards, including naming rights to the on-site dog park, branded as the IAMS™ Bark Park.

The IAMS Bark Park will serve as a thoughtfully designed on-site dog park that creates space to connect pets, owners, and the broader community. The park will officially debut with a grand opening celebration on Sunday, April 19, alongside a spring farmers and artisan market on campus known as Nashville Yards in Bloom. The event will include a ceremonial ribbon cutting and remarks from leaders across Mars and Nashville Yards followed by a day of community programming – inviting guests to explore the new park, shop local vendors, and meet adoptable puppies from Wags & Walks Nashville.

"Our partnership goes far beyond a traditional sponsorship – it's about fundamentally enhancing the quality of life for everyone who lives, works, and plays at Nashville Yards,” said Charles Robert Bone, Managing Director and Partner, Southeastern United States, Southwest Value Partners. “Mars brings deep expertise in creating pet-friendly environments, and we're thrilled to work with their team to further establish Nashville Yards as a model for a best-in-class mixed use development in the urban core.”

"From our earliest conversations with Mars, there was a clear alignment around elevating the pet and pet owner experience at Nashville Yards," said Scott Emery, vice president, AEG Global Partnerships. "With their expertise guiding execution, that commitment is now embedded throughout the entire campus in ways that meaningfully enhance everyday life for pets and their people."

A first-of-its-kind collaboration for Mars, this partnership establishes Nashville Yards as a blueprint for how cities can better accommodate pets and their owners in a multi-use space.

"As pet parenthood continues to rise, cities and developers have an opportunity to respond in more intentional ways," said Mindy Barry, Chief Marketing Officer, Mars Pet Nutrition North America. "Pets thrive when their environments are designed for movement, play, and connection. That’s why we’re advancing more pet-friendly communities—bringing this to life through the IAMS™ Bark Park, where active lifestyles and high-quality nutrition come together to support pets’ everyday health.”

What does this partnership mean for Nashville?

This partnership tackles a growing challenge for city-dwelling pet owners. As pet ownership rises, 11% of urban pet parents feel limited by where they can go with their dogs. With its North America Pet Nutrition headquarters based in nearby Franklin, Tennessee, Mars is deeply invested in solving this problem at home. From morning walks to after‑work drinks, Nashville Yards creates a welcoming, walkable environment where pets are part of the experience, not an afterthought.

The collaboration with Nashville Yards brings the Mars BETTER CITIES FOR PETS™ program to life by:

• Integrating Pet-Inclusivity in Design: A pet-friendly campus that integrates pets into everyday routines, select office spaces, and environments designed for living and working with pets.
• Enabling Movement and Play: Featuring 7+ acres of open space including 1.5 acres of urban parkland and the dedicated IAMS™ Bark Park— the development encourages active and healthy habits, play, and connection between pets and pet parents.
• Creating Seamless Pet-Friendly Experiences: From dog-friendly hotels to outdoor dining, patios, and on-site food trucks, the development makes it easy to include pets in social moments—with seamless transitions from day to night.

How is Mars promoting pet-friendly cities?

This project is part of Mars global BETTER CITIES FOR PETS™ program, which was launched in 2017. The program helps cities and neighborhoods better support people and their pets through:

• Grants and Donations: Mars has contributed over $2 million in grants and pet food donations.
• Free Resources: The company has developed tools to help local planners improve shelters, parks, housing, and businesses for pets.
• Global Commitments: In 2025, Mars expanded the program globally to increase access to more green spaces and pet – friendly places, with a goal of benefiting 10 million people and pets worldwide by 2030.

What amenities will be available for pets and their owners at Nashville Yards?

As part of the collaboration, pet-friendly amenities will be integrated throughout the daily life of the district:

• Welcome Gifts: New residents will receive pet-focused welcome gifts.
• Hospitality: The pet-friendly Grand Hyatt Nashville and Union Station Nashville Yards hotels will feature tailored engagement for guests with pets.
• Community Programming: Ongoing initiatives and events will promote pet-friendly urban living.

To learn more about Nashville Yards, visit www.nashvilleyards.com or follow @NashvilleYards on Twitter and Instagram.

ABOUT MARS, INCORPORATED

Mars, Incorporated is driven by the belief that the world we want tomorrow starts with how we do business today. As a $65bn+ family-owned business, our diverse and expanding portfolio of leading pet care products and veterinary services support pets all around the world and our quality snacking and food products delight millions of people every day. We produce some of the world’s best-loved brands including ROYAL CANIN^®, PEDIGREE^®, WHISKAS^®, CESAR^®, M&M’S^®, SNICKERS^®, Pringles^®, Cheez-It^®, and BEN’S ORIGINAL™. Our international networks of pet hospitals, including BANFIELD™, BLUEPEARL™, VCA™ and ANICURA™ span preventive, general, specialty, and emergency veterinary care, and our global veterinary diagnostics business ANTECH^® offers breakthrough capabilities in pet diagnostics. The Mars Five Principles — Quality, Responsibility, Mutuality, Efficiency and Freedom — inspire our more than 170,000 Associates to act every day to help create a better world for people, pets and the planet.

For more information about Mars, please visit www.mars.com. Join us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.

ABOUT AEG

Headquartered in Los Angeles, California, AEG is the world’s leading sports and live entertainment company. The company operates in the following business segments:

• Music through AEG Presents, which is dedicated to all aspects of live contemporary music performances, including the production and promotion of global and regional concert tours, an extensive portfolio of clubs, theaters and other music venues, concerts and special events and world-renowned festivals such as the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival;
• Venues and Real Estate, which develops, owns and operates world-class venues, as well as major sports and entertainment districts like Crypto.com Arena and L.A. LIVE, Uber Platz in Berlin and The O2 in London;
• Sports, as the world’s largest operator of high-profile sporting events and sports franchises including the LA Kings, LA Galaxy and Eisbären Berlin;
• Global Partnerships, which oversees worldwide sales and servicing of sponsorships including naming rights, premium seating, and other strategic partnerships;
• And Ticketing, through its AXS.com ticketing platform, which provides more than 400 clients worldwide with ticketing services that cover the gamut of entertainments, including sporting events, arena tours, music clubs, festivals, rodeos and family events.

Through its worldwide network of venues, portfolio of powerful sports and music brands and its integrated sports and entertainment districts, AEG entertains more than 100 million guests annually. More information about AEG can be found at www.aegworldwide.com.

ABOUT SOUTHWEST VALUE PARTNERS AND NASHVILLE YARDS

Based in Nashville and San Diego, Southwest Value Partners is a privately held real estate investment company that invests in institutional quality real estate located in growth markets throughout the United States. Southwest Value Partners has a disciplined and high energy approach to asset acquisition, operating execution, value creation, and asset disposition. To learn more about Southwest Value Partners, visit www.swvp.com. Nashville Yards is a 19-acre mixed-use development located in the heart of downtown Nashville. The walkable, urban community features high-end hospitality offerings, including Grand Hyatt Nashville and the historic Union Station Nashville Yards; The Pinnacle, a state of the art, indoor live music and event venue developed in partnership with AEG and operated by AEG Presents; over 2 million square feet of Class-A+ highly amenitized office space, which includes two towers anchored by Amazon, a creative office building anchored by Creative Artists Agency, and Pinnacle Tower, a multi-tenant tower anchored by Pinnacle Financial Partners and Bass, Berry & Sims; The Emory and The Everett, 673 luxury condominium residences for sale and multi-family residences for lease across these two towers; The Goddard School, a 260 child accredited education center; and a wide variety of exceptional restaurants along with retail, fitness, cinema, healthcare and entertainment offerings. The development has 7+ acres of open plazas, courtyards, and green spaces, including the Ascension Saint Thomas Landing. To learn more about Nashville Yards, visit www.nashvilleyards.com or follow @NashvilleYards on X and Instagram.