An entity affiliated with New York-based Morris Weintraub Associates has purchased the historic Lower Broadway building home to Merchants for about $12.6 million, Nashville Business Journal reports.
The seller was Tower 401 Broadway LLC, with the address the same from which the LLC derives its name.
The acquisition price is the equivalent of about $715 per foot, ranking among the higher such figures ever yielded in a local real estate transaction, according to NBJ.
Of note, the property (pictured) had been for sale since late 2016 and saw, in mid-2018, a reduction in the asking price and a change in listing brokers.
Tower 401 Broadway originally was asking, via El Segundo, California-based Matthews Real Estate Investment Services, $15.5 million for the building, which opened in 1892. The listing price dropped to $14.5 million, with the LLC having enlisted the New York office of Marcus & Millichap to handle marketing.
Merchants, owned and operated by Nashville-based Strategic Hospitality (led by Benjamin Goldberg and Max Goldberg), is the building’s sole tenant. It has a long-term lease, according to a loopnet.com listing.
Tower acquired the property in January 2006 for $2.125 million, according to Metro records. The building spans 17,700 square feet and sits on 0.11 acres.
Vanderbilt building lands gold LEED ranking
The Vanderbilt University Engineering and Science Building has landed gold LEED status by the U.S. Green Building Council.
The seven-story building fronts 25th Avenue across from Hawkins Field and incorporates elements of both traditional and contemporary architecture.
LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) status is the rating system used to rank buildings based on environmental and cost-saving green features.
Of note, 42 trees that were felled on the site were recycled into paneling and trim for the building. The price tag was about $109 million.
“Receiving gold status shows we are on the right path when we carry out building and renovating on campus,” Mike Perez, VU associate vice chancellor of administration for facilities, said in a release. “Making sure we are approaching these projects with long-term sustainability in mind has been a significant shift since the launch of FutureVU.”
The building includes laboratories, classrooms and a state-of-the-art cleanroom that houses both faculty and student learning and innovation. Its lighting saves energy through LED bulbs as well as occupancy sensors allowing lights to be off except where people are working.
Clark Construction served as general contractor.
Mitsubishi to invest in Midtown project
The real estate investment wing of Japan-based Mitsubishi Corp. is an investor in the looming development of a Midtown site with a 25-story mixed-used building, Nashville Business Journal reports.
With addresses of 2004-2012 West End Ave., the properties recently sold for $10.3 million, NBJ reports, citing Metro records.
The deal follows the Metro Council having recently approved a rezoning to allow construction of the building, to rise next to boutique hotel Graduate Nashville (which is under construction) and across from the Cathedral of the Incarnation.
The council approval came as the Scottsdale, Arizona-based Cleveland Associates LP & Nordman Associates, which own the 0.41-acre site, withdrew a rezoning request that, were it approved, would have allowed short-terms rentals in the 360-unit building.
Cleveland Associates is affiliated with Chicago-based developer Clark Street Holdings LLC. Of Note, the company acquired Palmer Plaza in Midtown, located only two blocks to the east of the site, in March 2015 for $50 million. CA Ventures has been created to handle the project and created DRI/CA Nashville LLC for the most recent purchase, the 2004 West End Ave. parcel last home to a Taco Bell building and sold by Graduate Nashville TRS.
On the 2010 site sits an empty building previously occupied by Jack in the Box. That structure will need razing to accommodate the tower. In addition to 360 rental apartments, the high-rise will offer a garage with 420 parking spaces and ground-level retail space spanning 6,500 square feet.
To the east of the parcel slated for the 25-story tower is the aforementioned 12-story, 203-room Graduate hotel, which had been scheduled to open in the fall.
Opendoor makes progress since mid-2018 launching
Opendoor, the San Franciso-based residential real estate company that buys houses from sellers seeking a quick and efficient transaction, has made some progress since launching in Nashville last May.
According to a release, Opendoor has scaled the local team to 20 employees; infused more than $2 million into the Nashville small business community through its work with local contractors and tradespeople; grown market share to nearly 2 percent; and has paid local agents more than $400,000 on commission.
Via Opendoor, and in simple terms, when a person sells a home to Opendoor, that seller pays her/his agent's commission. Much like with a person selling in a conventional manner, the seller and the agent have an agreement. And that stays in place regardless of the person selling to Opendoor or selling on the open market.
When someone is working with an agent and buys an Opendoor home, in contrast, Opendoor pays the agent's commission.
Opendoor will soon have some competition locally as Zillow Homes — which deploys a somewhat similar model — is set to enter the market.
