Mixed-use developments surge in Southern markets
Writer: Mirella Franzese
June 2025 — Mixed-use developments are booming across Southern U.S. markets as return-to-office trends pick up and employers shift focus toward attracting talent through high-quality office, residential, and entertainment venues.
In cities like Nashville and Tampa, these developments are driving a population surge and fueling market growth.
“A constant theme for these markets is the ability to combine living, working, and recreational spaces in one location,” Dave Bevirt, COO of Tampa Bay-based Ellison Development told Invest:. “While I hate using the phrase ‘live, work, play,’ it is a concept that really works.”
According to DLR Group’s mixed-use design leader, Jose Sanchez, such spaces have evolved beyond traditional places to sleep, shop and be entertained. “In 2025, they will become living landscapes where housing reflects local character, retail mingles with culture, and entertainment districts shift with changing tastes,” Sanchez wrote in a recent report.
The momentum has been partly driven by the return of in-person work and stabilization of the office market in major U.S. cities. According to data from Placer.ai, office visits in Miami are down just 17.3% from pre-pandemic levels, while Atlanta office visits are down 29.3%. For comparison, office visits nationwide are 32.2% below March 2019 levels as of March 2025.
“I don’t think we’re ever going to quite get back to work pre-pandemic. I think that there’s been structural changes,” said R.J. Hottovy, head of analytical research at Placer.ai, in an interview with HR Brew.
With return-to-office policies sustaining demand for integrated, all-encompassing districts, employers in Nashville and elsewhere have capitalized on the trend.
“Employers are growing confident in their return to office strategy, which in turn is fueling confidence in making decisions about their office footprint,” said Avison Young’s senior analyst Brennan Forster as cited by the Tennessean.
“There’s still plenty of investor interest, especially in office products, and we continue to buck the national trend in that sector,” echoed Cushman & Wakefield’s Nashville managing partner Dave Sansom, who recently spoke with Invest:.
Projects combining multifamily and retail are increasingly common across Tennessee’s capital, according to Sansom. The Nashville Downtown Partnership currently lists 12 projects under construction in the urban core and another 46 proposed and pending approval. Among them are Gulch Union, Nashville Yards, Five City, Neuhoff, and Peabody Union.
Beyond Nashville, lenders and financial institutions continue to monitor Florida for mixed-use opportunities, according to Bevirt.
“Given the growth we’ve seen over the last five to six years and the success of other developments, lenders are willing to fund similar mixed-use projects in the future,” he said. In Tampa Bay, urban-integrated developments are taking market share from standalone office buildings, driving real estate values and creating compelling opportunities for investors, Bevirt added.
“If you look at commercial markets across the United States, in suburban areas, the value of these assets is primarily in the land, with little value in the improvements themselves. Mixed-use developments are where the value lies, both in terms of residential and office spaces,” said Bevirt.
Specifically, high quality office spaces in mixed-use districts are valuable resources for companies seeking to recruit and attract top-tier talent in an increasingly competitive labor market.
On the housing side, multifamily developments are also seeing a national surge. More multifamily buildings are under construction now across the U.S. than in any year past — with the exception of eight states — according to a Construction Coverage analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data.
Roughly 29% of existing U.S. housing stock consists of multifamily units, though this varies significantly across regions. The South, Midwest, and Mountain West have historically invested less in medium- to high-density housing. Southern cities remain among those with the lowest rates of new multifamily housing compared with the North and West, primarily due to reduced demand and lower home prices.
Southern markets have not kept pace with the national multifamily boom. In the Memphis, Tenn.-Miss.-Ark. metro, for instance, new housing units make up just 24.5% of authorized multifamily structures.
Still, Nashville’s strong fundamentals as a business ecosystem are attracting corporate relocations and sustaining office space demand — which, in turn, fuels mixed-use development despite macroeconomic headwinds and construction cost pressures.
“With a relatively low cost of living, low real estate taxes and a low cost of doing business, it’s a place where talent wants to be. People want to relocate to Nashville. That energy continues to propel the city forward,” Bevirt said.
Top image via Ryan Gandolfo/caa
For more information, please visit:
https://nashvilledowntown.com/
https://www.ellisondevelopment.com/
