Last year, a city known more for music than multifamily development led the nation in new construction growth rates, with luxury high rises popping up from downtown to the Gulch to along the Cumberland River. Nashville, attracting an abundance of debt and equity funding from sources old and new, is now considered an institutional-grade market. The driving force behind this growth: technology. Today, singers, songwriters and studio artists share the city with a growing number of software developers, systems architects and startup founders — and all of these innovators need a place to live, work, shop and play. Nashville’s tech evolution started from a solid foundation in healthcare, automotive and education, including HCA Healthcare and its associated startups, spinoffs and subsidiaries and an automotive hub that includes North American headquarters for Nissan and Korean tire manufacturer Hankook, as well as EV and battery cell manufacturing plants for GM. Twenty nine institutions of higher education, including Vanderbilt University, further helped develop a strong pipeline of tech talent. This ecosystem and a business-friendly climate have attracted some of the nation’s top tech employers: Amazon, who chose the metropolitan area for its much-coveted Center of Excellence; Oracle, relocating from Austin; and Capgemini, whose …
