Investment, industry, and workforce explored with top construction leaders
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Writer: Mirella Franzese
July 2024 — With Tennessee currently seeing a sizable shift and growth in its population density, real estate leaders are discussing strategies to capitalize on the region’s heightened economic activity by expanding their development pipeline and investing in different industries.
The second panel of the Invest: Nashville 2023-2024 Launch Conference, titled ‘Prosperity Pathway: Development opportunities across Middle Tennessee and the strategies needed to ensure sustainable, equitable growth,’ covered workforce growth in the construction industry as well as the heightened focus on people in designing and building the places where we gather to live, work, and play.
“We are seeing more investment in the Midtown area where there is opportunity for growth due to proximity to healthcare services. Doctors and nurses need short-term rentals, as do family members of patients who are in the hospital for extended periods of time,” said Elizabeth Goodwin, senior managing director and Tennessee market leader for CBRE, in a discussion with fellow panelists, John Vardaman, advanced technology core market co-leader for DPR Construction, and Suzannah Gills, business manager of Turner Construction. Centric Architecture Principal David Plummer served as moderator for the discussion.
CBRE reported increased industrial leasing activity and subsequent positive absorption for Q1, which is decreasing net vacancy in the area.
In healthcare real estate, DPR Construction is building on the strength of Nashville’s leading industry. In November 2023, the company announced the undertaking of a renovation and expansion project for HCA Healthcare’s TriStar Horizon ICU to better serve the healthcare needs of the local community in Middle Tennessee.
Deeper into the discussion, Vadarman addressed the challenges facing employment within Nashville’s construction industry and subsequent impact on development.
“We’re all competing for the same labor pool, which is causing a huge shift in our workforce. We have gone from needing to grow more to needing to grow better. Half of our labor force are construction management personnel, and the other half are hourly craft workers. We are focused on educating our people as a way to manage the pain of development.” said Vardaman.
According to Business Insider, the construction industry is facing a labor shortage of about 500,000 workers this year, which is pushing up housing costs amid a national housing shortage.
Goodwin connected the workforce shortage in Nashville and the rising need for affordable housing to the growth in more cost-effective markets around East and Middle Tennessee, like Chattanooga or Knoxville. In fact, Knoxville’s short supply of housing spaces will continue to attract residential developers to the area and lead to a projected increase of 11.1% in the number of homes sold in 2024.
Gills highlighting future opportunities for growth in marginalized neighborhoods around Nashville.
“45% of residential units that are going to be built in the East Bank are going to be available to people who make less than the average net income in Nashville,” she said, who is partnering with the Tennessee Builders Alliance (TBA) to build a multi-year development project- which includes the construction of the 1.8-million-square-foot new Nissan stadium– that converts underused parking lots to mixed use spaces.
For more information, visit:
https://www.dpr.com/
https://www.cbre.com/
https://www.turnerconstruction.com
https://www.centricarchitecture.com/
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