Dimension at Mallory Park Phase II Finds First Tenant in Verus Healthcare

This press release was originally released on March 21, 2017.

Verus Healthcare Anchors Project

NASHVILLE, Tenn. March 21, 2017 – Southeast Venture announced today that Franklin-based Verus Healthcare has signed a lease to occupy 34,561 square feet of office space in the second phase of the project. The healthcare supply company is the first to lease space in the 63,236 square-foot project and plans to move into the space in August.

Mallory Park

“We are thrilled to have found a larger office space with a higher parking ratio that keeps us well-positioned within Brentwood/Cool Springs’ flourishing healthcare center. Our company’s growth necessitated that we move from our current space in Cool Springs in order to continue providing the same high level of care to our patients around the country,” said Rich Roberts, CEO of Verus Healthcare.

Mallory Park

Dimension at Mallory Park was specifically designed to accommodate companies like Verus Healthcare who are looking for higher density office space.

“Verus Healthcare is a perfect fit for the office space in Mallory Park,” said Michael Finucane, principal at Southeast Venture. “The higher parking ratios present a different opportunity than what’s traditionally been available in the Brentwood/Cool Springs office market. For a company experiencing growth like Verus, this space easily allows them to put more people into less space.”

Mallory Park

Dimension at Mallory Park Phase I was leased in full to Quorum Healthcare Corporation and completed last fall.

About Southeast Venture:

Founded in 1981, Southeast Venture is a diversified commercial real estate and design services company guided by a mission of “Building Value by Valuing Relationships.” The firm provides and coordinates the delivery of brokerage, development, architectural and interior design and property management. This unique, comprehensive approach to commercial real estate offers a cost effective and efficient way of meeting its clients’ commercial real estate needs. For more information, visit SoutheastVenture.com, or find Southeast Venture on Twitter @SEVentureCRE.

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Southeast Venture Announces Large-Scale Mural at Silo Bend

This press release was originally released on March 23, 2017.

Australian artist to paint lifelike mural on 200-foot tall Silo

NASHVILLE, Tenn., March 23, 2017 – Today Southeast Venture, in conjunction with Councilwoman Mary Carolyn Roberts and Art Consultant Brian Greif, announced plans for a large-scale mural to be painted on the 200-foot-tall abandoned silo at the new mixed-use development, Silo Bend.

Australian artist Guido van Helten has been contracted to paint the mural. Van Helten is known for his large-scale, site-specific murals that feature monochromatic portraits and local elements.

Guido van Helten – Fort Smith, AR

“This mural will be one of Silo Bend’s defining features,” said Mary Carolyn Roberts, councilwoman for District 20. “The enormous painting will be seen from almost a mile away and will be representative of The Nations community. We’re very excited to work with Guido and look forward to seeing his mural unveiled.”

Van Helten’s work can be found across the globe, from Australia to the United Kingdom and from Iceland to Mexico. Before beginning his work, Van Helten invests time and effort in developing the concept for a location by visiting the site and learning about the area’s culture, traditions and people.

Guido van Helten – Brim Silos in Australia

“Van Helten is especially talented at capturing the emotions of his subjects,” said Brian Greif, art consultant and owner of 2:32 AM Projects. “He primarily uses a monochromatic color scheme and features images of local subjects to highlight the culture of the area. We’re thrilled to bring his work to Nashville and to The Nations community.”

Van Helten is scheduled to visit Nashville on May 8 when he will spend four to five days meeting with residents of The Nations, learning about the neighborhood and developing his concept. Once he begins, it will take approximately six days to complete the mural.

Guido van Helten – State of Mexico

To learn more about Van Helten and see his portfolio, visit http://www.widewalls.ch/artist/guido-van-helten/.

About Southeast Venture:

Founded in 1981, Southeast Venture is a diversified commercial real estate and design services company guided by a mission of “Building Value by Valuing Relationships.” The firm provides and coordinates the delivery of brokerage, development, architectural and interior design and property management. This unique, comprehensive approach to commercial real estate offers a cost effective and efficient way of meeting its clients’ commercial real estate needs. For more information, visit SoutheastVenture.com, or find Southeast Venture on Twitter @SEVentureCRE.

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Nashville’s Warner Parks deserve to be treasured

(This article originally appeared in the Tennessean on June 8, 2016)

In a city that’s quickly becoming more urbanized, Nashville is privileged to have one of the nation’s largest city parks— Percy Warner Park. The combined 3,100 acres of Percy Warner and its smaller and equally beautiful counterpart, Edwin Warner Park, compose America’s 19th largest park within a municipality.

The Warner Parks are one of Nashville’s greatest gems, granting residents access to luscious forests, hiking and cycling trails, picnic areas, scenic overlooks and much more.

In true Nashville style, the Warner Parks have only gotten bigger and better with time. In 2014, H.G. Hill Realty Company generously sold 250 acres of pristine old-growth forest, well below appraisal price, to Friends of Warner Park. The nonprofit turned the property — now called Burch Reserve — over to Metro for free, so that it could be used as an addition to Edwin Warner Park. I commend H.G. Hill for their generosity and efforts to preserve this valuable, unspoiled natural land.

Located north of Highway 100 across from Edwin Warner Park, Burch Reserve will extend Edwin Warner across the highway, and will include an underground pedestrian tunnel beneath the CSX railroad tracks. This new section of the park will be open to the public this fall.

H.G. Hill, along with Friends of Warner Parks, worked diligently to save from development this uninhabited land, which is considered one of the largest old-growth forests in an urban area in our region. Thanks to them, we will now be able to enjoy Burch Reserve’s native Tennessee wildlife and vegetation, such as oak and hickory trees, walnut trees and tulip poplars, for decades to come.

A true asset to Nashville, the Warner Parks provide a wide variety of things to do and see outside our small-big city. Boasting eight miles of bike trails and more than 10 hiking trails of varying lengths and skill levels, the Parks are a perfect place for a scenic afternoon ride or a sunrise run with friends. Percy Warner is also home to two public golf courses — the 18-hole Harpeth Hills Golf Course and the 9-hole Percy Warner Golf Course.

For the history buffs, the Warner Parks are listed on the National Register of Historic Places and are home to several Nashville landmarks. The Cedar Glen Spring House, the Hodge House and the World War I Memorial all tell great stories of Nashville’s past. The Allée/Belle Meade Steps are said to be the “front door” to the parks and make for a memorable and scenic climb.

Each year, Percy Warner Park is home to the iconic Iroquois Steeplechase, the nation’s oldest continuously run steeplechasing event — celebrating its 75th anniversary this year — and America’s second largest steeplechase race by size of purse. The races are run on a course in Percy Warner Park that was constructed by the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s.

More than 25,000 Nashvillians and tourists attend the Iroquois Steeplechase each year. And it’s all for a great cause. The event has raised more than $10 million for the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt since 1981.

At the race or on the trails, the parks provide a place for the Nashville community to gather. Everyone is welcome to make use of this gift to our community — but, unfortunately, money doesn’t grow on trees. It is up to us, the residents of Nashville, to preserve this local treasure.

If you’ve ever enjoyed a hike, horse race, picnic or otherwise at Percy or Edwin Warner, I urge you to consider giving back through one of the parks’ many initiatives. Join beFRIEND Warner Parks, attend a Full Moon Pickin’ Party or volunteer your time at the Nature Center or on ParkWatch — your local parks and the Nashvillians of tomorrow will thank you.

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Wood Caldwell is managing principal of Southeast Venture, a diversified commercial real estate company. He writes about Middle Tennessee commercial real estate issues once a month for The Tennessean. Reach him at wcaldwell@southeastventure.com

Nashville’s ‘it’ status is 35 years in the making

By Wood Caldwell

(This article originally appeared in the Tennessean on March 21, 2016)

In 1981, Ronald Reagan was president, Music City (and the world) was introduced to MTV and our commercial real estate firm opened its doors. The view through our doors has certainly changed in the past 35 years.

The Nashville skyline has transformed dramatically. The American General Tower (now Tennessee Tower) was the city’s tallest building in 1981, because the AT&T headquarters — aka “The Bat Building” — had not arrived. Other skyline-defining buildings missing in 1981 included 5/3 Center, One Nashville Place, Nashville City Center, Pinnacle at Symphony Place, the Schermerhorn Symphony Center, Bridgestone Arena, Viridian Tower, Encore, the Renaissance Hotel, Downtown Hilton Hotel, Omni Nashville Hotel, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, and the Music City Center, to name but a few. Today, our skyline is ranked as the 12th most beautiful in the nation by Thrilllist.

The ground-level view of downtown has changed just as significantly for the better. Pockmarked with shuttered storefronts, strip clubs and porn shops, Lower Broad was far from a tourist Mecca. In fact, the Nashville Convention Center was built in the mid-1980s with no windows or doors on the Broadway side of the building because the street was such an eyesore.

The only real foot traffic downtown was on Second Avenue (then known as Market Street), where some enterprising entrepreneurs had purchased the old warehouses there and begun to transform them into retail stores, restaurants and office space. But even this part of town was largely deserted after dark. People just didn’t go downtown, no matter how much you enticed them, which was proven when a beautiful shopping mall was built where the downtown public library sits today. It lasted about two years.

The idea that the industrial area south of Broadway, now known as SoBro, or the grimy and depressed area near the railroad switching yard, aka The Gulch, would someday be home to some of the most valuable real estate in town would have been outlandish, had anyone been crazy enough to suggest this.

Union Station Hotel was still an abandoned train station. The Frist Center for the Visual Arts was still a post office. Cummins Station was an abandoned warehouse. The city’s largest strip club, the Classic Cat, was next door to Hume Fogg High School. The Hall of Fame was in a rather small, barnlike building on Music Row. Where the Roundabout Building is today sat a portion of Hank Williams home, which someone had moved there as a tourist attraction (though I never saw it attract anyone). There was no Music Row Roundabout, no “Musica” statue — just a confusing intersection of five streets.

Looking outside of Downtown Nashville, there was no Cool Springs and The Mall at Green Hills was a modest, one-story affair. In contrast, Hickory Hollow Mall was the highest grossing mall in the state and its cousin north of town, Rivergate, was also minting money.

For a night on the town, Hillsboro Village was the only urban, mixed-use part of town, and it was becoming the trendy restaurant hub of Nashville, thanks to pioneering restaurateur Jody Faison, who launched Faison’s in the early 1980s and essentially founded Nashville’s independent restaurant landscape. Within a few years, Randy Rayburn opened Sunset Grill, and Hillsboro Village’s restaurant run began in earnest.

The striking difference between then and now is the result of enlightened city leaders and local real estate visionaries working together to build a better city. It has been a privilege to have a front-row seat to this incredible transformation.

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Wood S. Caldwell is managing principal of Southeast Venture, a diversified commercial real estate company. He writes about Middle Tennessee real estate deals once a month for The Tennessean. Reach him at wcaldwell@southeastventure.com.

Everyone Loses In The Controlled Economy Advocated By Affordable Housing Movement

By Wood Caldwell, Managing Principal at Southeast Venture

In order to keep up with the 80+ new people moving to Middle Tennessee every day (that’s over 30,000 a year, with a large portion of this influx coming to Davidson County), construction of apartment, condominium and mixed-use developments has hit record-breaking levels, and this boom must continue to in order catch up with demand. Indeed, the relatively high rental rates for apartments in some parts of Nashville are a function of this imbalance between supply and demand. When supply meets demand, rates will moderate. This kind of adjustment to reality is the beauty of a free market economy.

Unfortunately, there is a movement to control rents by exchanging development incentives for “affordable housing.” Let me say, everybody loses in a controlled economy. As stated before in other articles, it would be a “self-inflicted recession.” This is Nashville’s future if such a plan prevails.

Should everyone who puts in a good day’s work be able to afford to live in our city? Certainly, and there is plenty of moderately priced housing in Nashville already. Is it in the hip neighborhoods like downtown, East Nashville, Sylvan Heights, Germantown or 12 South? No, yet this is what this movement demands.

But why? Is this really a noble cause? Isn’t it rather like demanding that all Nashvillians who drive a late model Chevrolet be upgraded to a Cadillac at public expense? Is this something we should raise property taxes to pay for? It is worth harming our city’s economy?

The latest salvo in the affordable housing “crisis” is a proposed ordinance from the Metro Planning staff, mandated by Metro Council, which seeks to enforce affordable housing quotas by taking away certain key incentives from developers unless a certain number of units in their residential projects are rented or sold at below-market rates. Currently, developers are allowed to build taller buildings by adding floors when their projects include characteristics like public parking, eco-friendly design or mixed-use ground floor elements such as retail and restaurants.

Therefore, height bonus equals needed downtown public parking, “green” designed buildings and mixed use projects: key elements essential for creating a vibrant downtown. It’s a win-win. The irony of this proposal is that it was the Metro Planning Commission and Metro Council that voted to incorporate these bonuses years ago to stimulate development and bring people back downtown.

This ordinance now goes to Metro Council for consideration. Hopefully, they will vote it down, just as the Planning Commission voted unanimously not to recommend it to the Council. This ordinance’s heavy-handed approach to forcing the development of below-market housing will have the unintended consequence of severely slowing development of residential real estate throughout Nashville. Everyone loses.

It’s also worth noting that nowhere in the ordinance is there anything about paying for this plan – even though the planning staff’s report estimated it would cost $10 million a year to compensate property owners for the money lost due to “affordable housing” quotas. Where is this $10 million coming from? This obviously means a tax increase. Either that, or cutting funding to other city services like education and public safety.

Again I ask, is this a sacrifice we want to make so that people can move from affordable housing in Antioch or Madison into a place they can’t afford in downtown or East Nashville? Is it really that important for our city to subsidize a hip lifestyle for everyone? Surely we have more pressing issues.

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Southeast Venture Rises in Nashville Business Journal’s Book of Lists

Once a year, the Nashville Business Journal recognizes Nashville’s top commercial real estate companies in its much-read Book of Lists. The latest list, released a little over a month ago, makes it clear how much our firm has grown in the past year. In 2014, Southeast Venture is ranked as the #4 CRE firm by sales volume (up six places from last year) and the #8 CRE firm by lease volume (up seven places from 2013).

We wanted to take a moment here to commemorate some of the major sales and leases that contributed to this big jump in rankings.

In March 2013, the Viera Cool Springs multifamily property sold for $44 million to Viera Holdings, LLC. Southeast Venture Broker Tarek El Gammel represented the buyer and was assisted by Southeast Venture Broker Ashley Bishop.

Also in 2013, HealthSpring’s MetroCenter campus sold for $36.4 million to out-of-state investor, Griffin Capital Corporation. Southeast Venture Principal Cam Sorenson attracted the interest of several U.S. and global investors for the Southeast Venture developed property before it ultimately sold to Griffin.

Other notable deals:

• $57 million sale of the Lakes of Bellevue, and the $16 million sale of Marina Point in Chattanooga, both brokered by Tarek
• MTSU’s $11.1 million purchase of MTMC’s old hospital campus, brokered by Southeast Venture Principal Axson West
• Department of Children’s Services deal for the Plaza I building in MetroCenter, 2013’s largest lease, brokered by Principle Todd Alexander and Broker Jimmy Pickel

It’s important for us to take time and appreciate the consistent hard work, proactive nature and victories of our team. Todd’s leadership with Southeast Venture’s team of brokers played a large role in advancing our Nashville Book of Lists rankings. Thank you for sharing in the celebration of our incredible team, clients and big wins of 2013!

– Wood Caldwell

The Southeast Venture Difference

In the video below, Southeast Venture’s seven principals describe why they’re proud to be a part of Southeast Venture.

 

Jon Petty — Southeast Venture’s 2013 Heavy Hitter

We’re proud to announce that the Nashville Business Journal has named Southeast Venture Affiliate Broker Jon Petty one of its 2013 Heavy Hitters in Commercial Real Estate. Jon was recognized as a one of the top-performing CRE brokers in the Nashville area Thursday night at the Nashville City Club.

He was one of 54 total honorees, and one of 10 in the retail category. The list was broken into four categories: retail, office landlord/owner rep, office buyer/tenant rep and industrial. The NBJ ranked brokers by their total square feet sold, purchased and leased in 2012.

Jon has been a member of Southeast Venture’s brokerage team since 2007. He specializes in representing retail tenants with site selection and lease negotiations. In 2012, he brokered 41 deals, the largest of which was a 42,000-square-foot office building acquisition in Maryland Farms for the Tennessee Hospital Association (THA).

THA purchased the old M. Lee Smith Publishers building at 5201 Virginia Way in June 2012. Southeast Venture’s architecture and interior design team designed the renovation of the building’s interior and also updated the building’s exterior. Additionally, THA engaged Southeast Venture to sell or lease their existing headquarters located near the Nashville fairgrounds at 500 Interstate Blvd. S.

Jon has also been an integral part in finding homes for new restaurant ventures that are tapping into Nashville’s burgeoning foodie scene. He recently brought celebrated Miami restaurant Sardinia to a 7,000-square-foot space in Park View Towers and Prima—the newest fine-dining option from Miranda Whitcomb Pontes and Jim Lewis—to a 7,000-square-foot space in the Terrazzo in the Gulch.

In Jon’s Heavy Hitter’s Q&A he talks about three personality traits that brokers need to have; the rise of Providence in Mt. Juliet; his franchise experience; and the art of feng shui in leasing.

You can read the full write-up from today’s Nashville Business Journal below.

Riding Elevators

by Ashley Bishop, CCIM

Southeast Venture has been servicing Nashville’s CRE community for over 30 years. Ask most anyone about Southeast Venture and they’ll tell you we’re wired-in and do a great job for our clients.

This foundation took years to build, and required extensive networking among key decision makers. One of our principals is a gentleman named Axson West, and unless you’ve spent some time with him, you couldn’t know what a character he is. He is networked in with more people than anyone I’ve ever known, and his methods are truly unique.

Relatively speaking, networking presents the same challenges now as it did 30 years ago. In CRE, we are focused on forging long-term relationships with bankers, developers, attorney’s, investors and property owners. It’s a balancing act to spend networking and also maintain our business flow.

There are more ways than ever to be social while spreading the word about what we do. There’s the Chamber of Commerce, the Mayor’s office of Economic and Community Development, CCIM, NAIOP as well as many civic organizations. I’ve had success with some of these; however, where I’ve been most successful is tapping into resources like LinkedIn and Twitter.

Axson didn’t have these options 30 years ago. He had a pocket full of business cards and comfortable shoes. One of the funniest stories I’ve heard him tell is how he developed many of his contacts, and he is still doing business with them to this day.

Axson, like most during the “early days,” networked through church, various civic clubs and the chamber to name a few. Although, in addition to these, Axson used to go downtown, pick a skyscraper, and ride the elevators. When he got to the top, he would ride back down, and along each stop, he would introduce himself, tell some jokes, hand out a card, and wait for the next floor.

He did this for years, and made some good friends and alliances along the way. If that’s not unique enough, back in the days when he had his Series 7 License and was selling apartment syndications, which provided tax incentives for high-income earners, he had five different CPA’s prepare his annual tax returns; one in Memphis, Knoxville and three in Nashville. He built relationships with them, which yielded investor referrals.

I’ve never purposely ridden up and down elevators, but I have found several unique ways of networking, which suit me. I’ve had the most success using LinkedIn. LinkedIn turns a cold call into a warm call. It allows me to get to know the background on a person, where they’ve worked in the past, what positions they’ve held and even what their hobbies are.

I use Twitter regularly (you can follow me @ABishopCCIM), and periodically I write a blog entry. I use Twitter as a non-evasive way of staying in front of prospects (multiple times daily) with information on Nashville as it relates to CRE. I also use apps like Hootsuite for Twitter, which allows me to schedule my tweets; super for gathering news early and distributing it at different times throughout the day/week. Hootsuite also provide the ability to link your tweets across the various LinkedIn groups you belong to. Tweets sent this way become discussion forums in your LinkedIn Groups.

We all develop our own ways to network with those we seek to do business with. We find our most comfortable setting, and work it diligently. Internet platforms have worked great for me. Elevators and CPA(s) worked great for Axson. Regardless of the method, networking is key success in most industries, especially in CRE. It’s the reason our 30-year-old company is still servicing clients today.

H.G. Hill Realty Company & Southeast Venture Purchase Additional Land for 12 South Lofts Project

Development to bring high-end apartments, retail to 12 South neighborhood

H.G. Hill Realty Company and Southeast Venture have purchased two additional sites totaling 0.4 acres for use with the planned retail/multi-family building in the 12 South neighborhood.

The additional land immediately north of the original 0.8-acre site at 2310 12^th Ave. S. will give the project a total of 1.2 acres. The building will be a mixed use development comprised of 90 luxury rental apartments and 9,800-square-feet ground floor retail. The apartments will consist of primarily one-bedroom units.

Located next to 12 South Taproom and Grill, the project includes a 98-space below grade parking garage for residents, and 48 surface spaces for retail patrons. The development will be executed through a joint venture between H.G. Hill Realty Company and Southeast Venture. Southeast Venture’s architectural and interiors department will be carrying out the building’s design.

Work on the project is expected to start in mid April, with completion set for the summer of 2013. We look forward to working with H.G. Hill Realty on the development of this property, and hope to create a building for the residents of the 12 South neighborhood that’s unique and true to the area.

To read more about this project, check out our earlier entry.