Nashville Commercial Real Estate Wrap-Up – July 2020

Nashville Yards. Image courtesy of CBRE

With coronavirus cases still up across Tennessee, Nashville remains in a modified Phase 2 of its reopening plan.  Shelby and Davidson counties, which coincide with most of metro Memphis and Nashville, continued to record an accelerating pace of infections, a fact that has also affected real estate activity across good parts of the state. Nonetheless, Nashville has had its share of real estate headlines in July, with Amazon, Nashville Yards and the historic Union Station Hotel leading the way. Here’s our list of commercial real estate must-knows for the past month: 

1. DEVELOPMENT – Amazon unveils plans for Mt. Juliet facility.

Panattoni Development Co. will build the 79-acre, 855,000-square-foot project, with completion scheduled for late 2021. This will be the seventh Amazon fulfillment center in Tennessee, following similar facilities in Charleston, Chattanooga, Lebanon, Murfreesboro, Memphis and Nashville. The center is also slated to become the second in the state to use robots for mapping routes around the warehouse and handling heavy lifting.

2. DEAL – Setzer Properties buys shipping terminal for $17.3 million.

Traditional Bank provided a one-year, $14.6 million loan for the acquisition of the 98,889-square-foot facility. The seller, XPO Logistics, had bought the asset in 2015. The main building of the property has 67,270 square feet of industrial and 12,579 square feet of office space. Situated at 401 Enos Reed Drive, the property is within 5 miles of both downtown and Nashville International Airport. The asset is also less than 1.5 miles from interstates 40 and 24.

3. DEAL – REIT sells historic Union Station Hotel for $56 million.

The buyer, Southwest Value Partners, financed the acquisition through a five-year, $30.3 million loan from International Bank of Commerce. The new owner tapped Dimension Development to manage the property, which is part of the Autograph Collection flag. The seller, Pebblebrook Hotel Trust, had bought the 125-key asset six years ago for $52.3 million and invested $15.5 million in renovations by 2016. Located at 1001 Broadway, the hotel is adjacent to Frist Art Museum and within 1 mile of the state capitol.

4. DEAL – Medical office building changes hands for $33 million.

Saint Thomas Health acquired the 163,539-square-foot property from a Florida-based private investor. The buyer already owned the land and was leasing it to the seller via a ground lease agreement. Located at 2011 Murphy Ave. on 5 acres, the six-story building is adjacent to TriStar Centennial Medical Center and Saint Thomas Midtown Hospital. Downtown Nashville is less than 2 miles from the property.

5. MANAGEMENT – CBRE to manage Nashville Yards.

The 17-acre downtown campus, which is being developed by Southwest Value Partners, is slated to encompass more than 3.5 million square feet of office space, approximately 1,000 multifamily units and 400,000 square feet of retail and entertainment space. The project will include a 20-story, 566,000-square-foot Class A office tower to be occupied by Amazon, which is scheduled for completion in 2021. CBRE’s Associate Director David Cheek will be coordinating management efforts.