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Source: Nashville Business Journal
Date: December 19, 2024
Several long-anticipated Nashville storylines played out this year — with some big surprises along the way.
After failed attempts from two previous mayors, Nashville voters passed Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s transit referendum by a 2-1 margin.
Metro also solidified a developer to carry out its vision of the 30 acres around the new Tennessee Titans stadium — and while we’re talking East Bank, it looks like Carl Icahn may finally let go of his scrapyard land.
After years of preparation and pitches, Nashville’s airport landed not one, but two additional overseas flights — both of which will take off this spring.
But there were also a few things people might not have seen coming. The most notable example: Larry Ellison tapped Nashville as Oracle Corp.’s next world headquarters.
It’s yet to be seen what 2025 has in store for Music City, but it sure doesn’t look like things are slowing down. Until then, join us as we count down the top business stories of 2024.
10. Lower Broadway continues to break records as safety concerns rise
It was a year of celebrity bar openings and announcements, expensive real estate deals and tourism records in downtown Nashville this year.
Eric Church’s Chief’s, Morgan Wallen’s This Bar + Tennessee Kitchen, Luke Combs’ Category 10 and more all welcomed fans.
Undeveloped land downtown is becoming harder to find — and much more valuable. Arizona-based Fundamental Income Properties paid $16.25 million for a 0.05-acre sliver of a downtown parking lot, or $7,461 per square foot, setting a Nashville record.
With downtown Nashville growing both in offerings and number of visitors, the questions of safety and equity in who’s benefiting from that tourism were raised.
The Mayor’s Office of Nightlife partnered with Red Frogs Support Network, which now has tents on Lower Broadway every weekend offering early intervention and harm minimization services.
The Nashville Black Hospitality Group launched in August to ensure that Black businesses are able to benefit from Nashville’s surging tourism industry. The Nashville Convention and Visitors Corp partnered with Amazon to launch the Music City Chart Climbers program, connecting business owned by people of color, LGBTQ+, women, the disability community and veterans to opportunities
— Julia Masters
9. State overhauls central health care law
This year, Gov. Bill Lee signed into law a bill that completely reforms Tennessee’s certificate of need program over the next five years by eliminating permitting requirements for certain types of medical facilities and lightening restrictions for others.
The bill was contentious in Nashville’s health care community and underwent numerous amendments before passing. It essentially changes certificate of need requirements -— if not completely removing them — for freestanding emergency departments, intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) habitation facilities that are licensed by the Tennessee Department of IDD, burn units and neonatal intensive care units.
The first change, which takes effect in July, is hospital systems will be able to build a freestanding ER within 10 miles of their hospital without a certificate of need. Competitors will be able to build a freestanding ER outside of that 10-mile radius without a certificate.
Established nationwide in 1972 by the federal government, a certificate of need is a permit for the establishment or modification of a health care institution, facility or service at a designated location, according to the Tennessee Department of Health. The nationwide mandate was abolished in 1987, and individual states have been able to make the decision on whether to keep the program or get rid of it for good. Tennessee has made numerous changes over the years.
The bill, filed under SB2009 and HB2269 and sponsored by Sen. Shane Reeves (R-Murfreesboro) and Rep.Clark Boyd (R-Lebanon), was put together by the Certificate of Need ReformWorking Group, made up of Republican Tennessee lawmakers.
— Nikki Ross
8. The ‘anti-woke’ wave hits home
This year has been a ticker-tape paradeof a certain kind for conservative activist Robby Starbuck — with a slew of publicly traded Fortune 500 companies shredding their DEI goals, advocacy and programs as Starbuck mounted pressure campaign after pressure campaign from his rural Franklin residence.
Starbuck's latest win was Franklin-based Nissan Americas, announced Dec. 18. Others who backtracked after his social media-driven boycotts — or his threat of them — include Walmart Inc., Ford, Toyota, Harley-Davidson, Lowe’s, Stanley Black & Decker, Boeing, John Deere, Coors, Jack Daniel’s. And that’s not the complete list.
In fact, Starbuck found his first target in his backyard: Brentwood-based Tractor Supply Co. In a matter of three weeks, Tractor Supply got rid of DEI roles and hiring goals, as well as its targets for cutting carbon emissions. The company said it would stop sponsoring “nonbusiness activities,” such as pride festivals, and stop submitting data to the Human Rights Campaign, a national LGBTQ+ advocacy group.
“Obviously, it was a difficult situation that played out in a public arena, and that’s unfortunately become increasingly common in business, [with] the divisive sentiment we have in our country,” CEO Haw Lawton told analysts in July. He said that executives “moved fast to try to remove the perceived political and social agendas from our policies.”
Starbuck’s movement is part of a national wave of DEI pushback that is leading more companies to reverse the moves they made just four years ago, following the 2020 murder of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer. The resistance is buoyed by last year’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down affirmative action programs in college admissions — and last month’s election win by former President Donald Trump. Much of that pushback is emanating from figures residing in Middle Tennessee.
“We won’t stop until wokeness is extinct,” Starbuck wrote on X.
— Adam Sichko
7. O’Connell begins mending Metro’s relationship with the state
Mayor Freddie O’Connell has found a way forward with state Republican leaders — for now.
He took office during a legislative onslaught against the city that marked the latest and sharpest surge in animosity between city and state leaders — with each taking action that inflamed the other. That tension did not flare in 2024, much to the credit of O’Connell. He worked directly to mend relationships with top state lawmakers and sought to show he wasn’t looking for a fight, and he was looking for areas of common interest, such as the East Bank, affordable housing and transportation.
We’re about to see how durable those new bonds may be.
Concerns are bubbling up among some Metro watchers following the presidential election of Donald Trump and this month’s vote by Metro Council — widely considered to be the most progressive in recent memory — to narrowly reject a contract that would have given Metro Police access to privately owned security camera footage, with the owner’s permission.
Other topics, such as license plate readers or a potential renewed push for racing at the Nashville Fairgrounds, could similarly trigger backlash that could shadow the newly created East Bank Development Authority or conversations about major Nashville corridors primed for transformation under the city’s newly approved transit referendum.
All are factors sure to frame Metro’s ongoing deliberations over which lobbying firm to hire to represent its interests before the state General Assembly.
“For our part, for the administration, we have very good relationships with both the executive and legislative branch,” O’Connell said. “I don’t feel like it’s a good atmosphere to operate in to just have the outcome of the federal election cause respective legislative bodies to become reactive to one another. So we’re going to have to try to maintain that level of trust.”
— Adam Sichko
6. A year of turnover in Nashville’s prominent C-suites
Nashville saw numerous leadership changes over the course of 2024. To kick off the year, HCA Healthcare Inc. did a shakeup of its entire C-suite, including naming a chief operating officer for the first time since Sam Hazen stepped into his current role of CEO.
This year, three of Nashville’s largest brokerages — CBRE, Cushman & Wakefield and Avison Young — all welcomed new leaders. Elizabeth Goodwin, Dave Sansom and Lisa Maki took the reins from the longtime leaders of their firms, respectively.
The Business Journal learned Tony Detter, former Asurion CEO, was no longer on the company’s board as co-chairman. His departure was one of many the company saw at the beginning of the year, during the same time the company was conducting an internal investigation into allegations it breached terms of a contract with a key client.
November saw a staggering amount of changes at the top.
After nearly 16 years as the leader of Barge Design Solutions, Bob Higgins announced he will be stepping down as CEO come Feb. 28, placing Carrie Stokes at the helm.
While she’s not retiring by any means, Dr. Shubhada Jagasia, CEO of Ascension Saint Thomas Midtown and West, passed along her presidential duties at the West Hospital to Harrison Kisser. She remains president of the Midtown campus.
Todd Meredith made an abrupt exit as CEO of Healthcare Realty Trust (NYSE: HR), placing board member Constance Moore as interim CEO.
Ralph Schulz, the longtime CEO of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, announced his retirement. And the chamber board’s current chair, Dr. C. Wright Pinson, who is helping lead the search for the next CEO, announced in December his retirement as deputy CEO of Vanderbilt University Medical Center, passing on the baton to Jane Freeman.
— Nikki Ross
5. BNA lands two international flights in 48 hours
Nashville is well on its way to becoming a global city.
At the heart of that blossoming reputation is Nashville International Airport’s ability to attract a growing number of international flights, connecting Music City to more tourists and business opportunities across the world.
Within a week of each other this fall, Icelandair and Aer Lingus publicly announced their plans to bring Nashville nonstops to Reykjavik and Dublin, respectively.
Demand was so strong for Icelandair’s seasonal flight service that the airline bumped up the start time five weeks, to April 10. Aer Lingus’ year-round flight will begin April 12.
Until these announcements, Nashville’s only international nonstop was British Airways’ packed London route, which debuted in 2018.
International travel at BNA has reached record highs, with an average of 4,352 people each day leaving Nashville for an international destination or arriving in Music City on such a route. In BNA’s last fiscal year, nearly 1.6 million international passengers arrived or departed.
Tennessee isn’t stopping with three international routes. Stuart McWhorter, commissioner of the Department of Economic and Community Development, has requested more money to recruit additional routes.
— Julia Masters
4. Companies flee downtown buildings, epicenter shifts
Nashville’s downtown faced different battles than most across the nation.
While other cities are fighting to bring tourists and entertainment back into their business districts, that remained Nashville’s strength. But our downtown’s boom caused many companies to flee the area this year. Big-name firms like Sony Music Publishing, Regions, JE Dunn Construction and Butler Snow left their downtown headquarters for neighboring submarkets like Midtown and Germantown.
Other firms fled the immediate area, but they didn’t go far. Southwest Value Partners’ Nashville Yards is opening next year, with many industry professionals saying the 19-acre project is shifting the epicenter of downtown. Several new office and retail tenants secured spots in the new neighborhood in 2024.
Tony Giarratana hopped on the bandwagon, completing two new residential towers and securing financing for the state’s tallest tower, which are all next door to the massive new development.
— Sophia Young
3. East Bank’s future comes into focus as plans for ‘downtown 2.0’ take shape
New companies, legal controversies and coveted land listings rounded out another big year for Nashville’s East Bank.
The Fallon Co. was selected to develop the 30 acres of Metro-owned land surrounding the new Tennessee Titans stadium project which made significant headway.
Famed billionaire Carl Icahn made a long-awaited decision to put the longtime scrapyard site on the market, with a buyer now under contract to buy the site.
The East Bank Development Authority was established, the area’s first major development opened and GBT Realty revealed its big plans for the neighborhood.
While significant headway was made, this year’s events reiterated the fact that Nashville is still years away from a revitalized East Bank. Little was heard, for instance, from Oracle Corp. on the timeline for its future tech campus.
Further delaying redevelopment is a legal battle between Metro and two developers who claim they are being prevented from developing on their East Bank land while the city solidifies its plans for a major boulevard.
— Sophia Young
2. Voters pass landmark transit referendum
Faster buses running around-the-clock, more sidewalks and synchronized traffic lights are on their way to Nashville.
Following a decade in which two prior transit expansions either failed by a wide margin at the polls or never made it onto the ballot, Davidson County voters approved Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s transit referendum on Nov. 5, making it a milestone vote for the rapidly changing city. The campaign, which won by a 2-to-1 margin, with about 183,000 votes cast in favor to about 96,000 votes against, finally came out on top.
The plan, financed heavily by the city’s business community, creates Nashville’s first dedicated tax revenue for transit by raising local sales taxes to 9.75% beginning in February, adding half a percentage point to the existing rate.
Core features of the transit plan include: “bus rapid transit,” or dedicated center lanes reserved for buses; creating or upgrading almost 90 miles of sidewalks; 600 intersections with automated traffic signals; 24/7 bus service every day of the year; 12 transit centers and 10 new express or connector bus routes.
Overall, the proposed plan will take an estimated 15 years and could cost $6.9 billion.
— Ella Castronuovo
1. Larry Ellison dubs Nashville Oracle’s world headquarters
April 23, 2024, was Larry Ellison’s first public appearance in Nashville. And it was a doozy.
The chairman, co-founder and chief technology officer of Oracle Corp. declared that Nashville would become the Fortune 100 software company’s global headquarters. The words had a seismic energy that shot through the Midtown hotel ballroom where he was on stage.
The pronouncement was maybe the only way to top what already ranked as the largest economic development deal in Nashville history, with Oracle pledging 8,500 jobs by the end of 2031 on a $1.35 billion riverfront East Bank campus. It was a surprise to Oracle’s press team, who suddenly were fielding calls from CNBC and many other media outlets. It was a surprise to Austin, where Oracle had rerouted its headquarters just four years earlier.
Ellison’s announcement still sizzles today, mainly because he and Oracle are working to demonstrate that this is no off-the-cuff decision. Oracle’s private meetings this fall with everyone from Gov. Bill Lee to employees of Metro Water Services to Meharry Medical College CEO Dr. James Hildreth Sr. leave the clear impression the company means what it says.
There’s a lot that remains to be determined, including the look of the campus (now being redesigned by the architect who build Apple’s iconic ring-shaped Silicon Valley headquarters). Also unclear is whether the headquarters label will mean an increase in job count, or trigger a spurt of high-ranking executives to relocate to the region, or make Oracle a prominent new player in the city’s philanthropic community.
And yet: “This huge campus, which will ultimately be our world headquarters …” has a certain ring to it that could resonate for decades to come.
— Adam Sichko