December 06, 2016

Real Estate Notes: Next phase of Capitol View to start

Nashville Post

December 6, 2017

The next phase of Capitol View — a roughly $750 million 32-acre mixed-use district on downtown’s fringe — will soon be underway via $73 million in construction financing provided by Northwestern Mutual.

Capitol View’s total capital investment is now 70 percent committed, according to a release.

Boyle Investment Company and Northwood Ravin Development are co-developers of Capitol View, which sits in the North Gulch.

Construction will begin this month on Block D, located at the northeast corner of Charlotte and 11th avenues. The estimated investment for the block is approximately $115 million. The phase will consist of a mixed-use structure with 60,000 square feet of ground floor retail, 40,000 square feet of second floor loft-style offices and 378 residential units.

Northwood Ravin will develop the multifamily portion of the project and will build apartments atop the retail and restaurant amenities.

Work on the block located at the northeast corner of Nelson Merry Street and 11th (Block E) will follow. That building will offer 24,000 square feet of ground floor retail and 300,000 square feet of Class A office space above. Space in both blocks is now available for prelease.

Spanning a land mass once known as “Hell’s Half Acre,” Capitol View was once home to European immigrants who lived among pistol fights and saloons, according to the release.

Northwestern Mutual owns the bulk of the massive site.

“Northwestern Mutual is proud to continue building our real estate investment portfolio in Nashville,” Henry Lange, regional director for Northwestern Mutual Real Estate, said in the release. “We believe this phase of Capitol View will be unlike any project in the market.”

Capitol View will be anchored by Nashville-based HCA and Lifeway. HCA opened its headquarters building in October for three of its subsidiaries, HealthTrust, Sarah Cannon and Parallon. HCA and Lifeway will bring a collective more than 3,000 employees daily to the district.

“We are proud of the strong response to Capitol View, enabling us to establish a lively, urban community that is transformative for a historically significant and highly strategic area of downtown,” said Jeff Haynes, managing partner of Boyle Nashville. “Led by two of Nashville’s legacy companies, HCA and Lifeway, Capitol View is well on its way to becoming an in-town district, thoughtfully planned from the ground up to offer enriching experiences for people to live, work, shop and be entertained.”

Northwestern Mutual originally conceptualized Capitol View in 2006.

“Capitol View is progressing rapidly as a direct result of Northwestern Mutual’s confidence in the Nashville market and commitment to urban planning, and we could not be more pleased with the progress,” Haynes added.

Capitol View has been planned to complement the nearby Marathon Village, and the wide sidewalks will be lined with 22,000 granite cobblestones, repurposed from trolley tracks discovered during work performed on nearby Jo Johnston Avenue.

A portion of Nelson Merry Street, named for the first minister of Capitol Hill Baptist Church, that runs through the community has been nicknamed ‘Festival Street’ and can be closed off for community events and street festivals, the release notes.

The utilities have all been updated and upgraded as part of the development. Capitol View will also feature a 2.5-acre Urban Activity Park that connects to Nashville’s greenway system and over 190 miles of trails throughout Davidson County.