Nashville Apartment Boom Continues as CIT Lends $42M on New Suburban Project
By Mack Burke February 18, 2021 1:43 pm
reprints
If you were to drive through the middle of metropolitan Nashville on Interstate 40, the number of construction cranes in and around the city’s downtown area might shock you.
Nashville has become a centerpiece in the narrative of lenders and investors rushing into high-growth secondary markets. Its growth is undeniable, and the commercial real estate community has long been attracted to its prospects.
CIT Group just recently added to the frenzy with a $42.4 million construction loan it provided to a partnership between Crescent Communities and Pearl Street Partners to build a new apartment complex in a suburb situated on the southwest border of metro Nashville.
Earlier this month, Crescent and Pearl Street’s development partner, McShane Construction, broke ground on Novel Harpeth Heights, a 22-acre site at 615 Old Hickory Boulevard in Nashville’s Bellevue neighborhood, that will soon host a collection of four-story rental buildings comprising 322 units. The unit makeup will include studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom layouts, ranging from about 549 square feet to around 1,530 square feet, according to property information from Crescent and McShane’s websites.
Chris Niederpruem, a managing director and head of CIT Real Estate Finance, said his group was “pleased” to help facilitate the construction of the project — designed by HEDK Architects — given the experience and track record of the sponsorship, which is “especially familiar with the opportunities in the greater Nashville market.”
Ben Collins, senior managing director for the Western region at Crescent, said in a statement that the firm and its partners benefited from CIT’s “expertise and agility” in arranging and originating the financing, adding that the “growing market for housing in greater Nashville makes it an attractive location for multifamily development.”
Once construction wraps in about two years, with the first units scheduled to be delivered in late 2022, the development will feature a central clubhouse building resembling a “country farmhouse,” and the site will have about 28,000 square feet of shared amenities, including outdoor spaces, lap pools, a fitness studio, a game room-focused patio with a fire pit, a library, a business center with “micro offices,” a demonstration kitchen and bar, a dining lounge, and pet-friendly amenities like a dog spa and dog park, as per information from McShane’s website.
