Five years after buying a Music Row condo unit for his second home, Oklahoma City-based Vanderbilt alum Fred Hall is gearing up to expand his family’s portfolio in that area beyond an office building acquired in fall 2013.
Private investment firm Hall Capital will be an equal joint venture partner and co-investor along with developer Pat Emery’s Spectrum | Emery Inc. in 18th & Chet.
By early fall, construction should begin on that new office building on four parcels totaling just more than an acre at the northeast corner of 18th Avenue South and Chet Atkins Place in Midtown Nashville.
“This is my neighborhood,” said Hall, whose daughter graduated from Vanderbilt on Friday. “That’s why we’re concentrating, not exclusively but primarily, on this area. This is the second of many real estate deals we’ll do (in Nashville).”
Fred Hall
Design is underway on 18th & Chet, which would expand ties between Hall Capital and Spectrum | Emery. The firm Pat Emery leads locally was a minority investor in Hall Capital’s November 2013 acquisition of the now fully leased office building at 54-60 Music Square East, which Spectrum | Emery also manages.
The just more than half an acre, which the Hall Capital-Spectrum | Emery partnership looks to complete buying this summer, is roughly 10 feet from Music Row. That makes the property with addresses 812, 816, 818 and 820 18th Ave. S. exempt from a freeze on rezoning within the core of the city’s music industry hub pending development of a plan to guide growth and preservation of that area.
“That’s one of the reasons we were attracted to this property,” Hall said. “It’s as Music Row as can be, but not underneath the hold. That’s what’s enabling us to go right ahead and start construction.”
Hall cites three tenants of its office building at 54-60 Music Square East needing room for growth as one sign of strong local demand for space.
“We were looking at another place close by that we can help tenants grow instead of move out of this area,” he said.
Hall declined to provide an estimated cost for 18th & Chet, but said financing isn’t an issue with Hall Capital typically providing at least half of the private equity in deals.
18th & Chet has generally been described as creative offices. The concept is expected to be similar to the building Panattoni Development Co. just developed on Music Row that’s anchored by performing rights organization SESAC.
Most recently, multifamily development and acquisition firm Charlotte, N.C.-based Terwilliger Pappas had the just more than an acre where 18th & Chet is planned under contract with plans for a 200-unit project that would have included live-work units.
Pat Emery
Broker David Creed and Stan Snipes of SVN Nashville are handling the listing of the four parcels, which include the three-story, 5,000-square-foot office building at 818 18th Ave. S. where independent music publisher HoriPro Entertainment Group is the tenant.
Priam Ventures LLC is the listed owner of 818 18th Ave. S. Joe E. Dixon Sr. is the listed trustee for 812 18th Ave. S., while Cassetty Holdings LLC owns 816 18th Ave. S., and Whitehardt Properties LLC owns 820 18th Ave. S.
Elsewhere in Nashville, Emery’s Spectrum | Emery and San Diego-based commercial real estate development firm OliverMcMillan are pursuing redevelopment of downtown’s old Nashville Convention Center site into the mixed-use Fifth + Broadway project. Spectrum | Emery is also developing office buildings at the mixed-use Franklin Park site in Cool Springs.
Beyond real estate, the 96-year-old Hall Capital locally is looking at two non-real estate investments in private companies, Hall said. The firm also has interests in automotive manufacturing and distribution, a niche in which Hall Capital is also looking for opportunities here.
In addition to Emery, Nashville figures on Hall Capital’s boards include finance veteran T. Clark Akers, health care entrepreneur William “Billy” Webb and banking and investments veteran Moore Rhett.
“We have a lot of love, connectivity and hope for the future in Nashville,” Hall said.
