Dallas firm StreetLights Residential is entering the Nashville market through a land investment downtown.
The developer spent $17 million on 0.71 acres of land at 210 10th Avenue N with ambitions to turn what is currently an electric substation into hundreds of apartments, according to the Nashville Business Journal.
StreetLights has had its sights on the downtown property since 2020, as paperwork filed with the city reports plans to build 360 apartment units at the square site, which is zoned for 30 stories.
Serving as a substation, the site was owned by Nashville Electric Service and the Metropolitan Government of Nashville.
The land sits behind the Downtown YMCA — on the other side of which Nashville developer Tony Giarratana plans to build a 60-story residential tower — and is just steps away from the billion-dollar master development Nashville Yards.
Nashville Yards is a Class A+ 18-acre mixed-use development that includes 2,000 residential units and 1,000 hotel rooms.
The owners, San Diego-based Southwest Value Partners, are also planning an experiential music venue in partnership with AEG, set to open in 2024. AEG is the world’s largest owner of sports teams and venues, owns the Crypto.com arena (formerly the Staples Center), and runs the world-famous Coachella music festival.
As Nashville Yards wraps up construction on its next-generation urban environment layered with pedestrian pathways and open green spaces this year, it is expected to create quite a draw.
StreetLights’ proposed residential tower is its first Nashville project. Its current developments are located in Dallas, Austin, Atlanta, and California, according to the company website.
Nashville has been a red-hot real estate market for years, even ranking No.1 ahead of DFW on the Urban Land Institute’s “must-watch markets” heading into 2023, as The Dallas Express reported.
However, Music City is not immune to the challenges many real estate markets are facing due to high-interest rates.
“My biggest concern is inflation and whether the Fed can get that under control. If they can’t, we’re definitely going to see more interest rate rises, and that would be devastating to the market. It would bring home sales down to a screeching halt,” said Greater Nashville Realtors President Steve Jolly.
