Panattoni Eyes Second Midtown Office Building
Tuesday, September 8th 2015
NASHVILLE, TN – The developers completing Music Row’s first office building in at least a decade already have a purchase contract on nearby land — setting the stage for their second act.
Panattoni Development Co., run regionally by brothers Whitfield and Hayne Hamilton, has leased almost all of its 96,000-square-foot office building under construction at 35 Music Square East. The major tenants are SESAC, which works on royalties and licensing, and the Country Music Association, which announced its lease on Sept. 4.
Panattoni is under contract to buy CMA’s existing home, one block away, at 1 Music Circle South. CMA owns that property. Whitfield Hamilton said he expects to close on that purchase by the end of the year, waiting until after CMA finishes moving its offices. He declined to disclose the purchase price.
It’s early, but the Hamiltons said they’re eyeing a comparable office building on that site. The two properties are the same size, each about 0.9 acres.
“We’d love to replicate what we’ve achieved with our first one,” Whitfield Hamilton told me. “We think we’d see non-music companies look at that location as well, as the push toward urban infill just keeps coming.”
Hayne Hamilton concurred. “The difference of being on this side of I-40, versus what it looks like on the other side during rush hour, it’s pretty material,” he said.
Panattoni, headquartered in Sacramento, has built office buildings in other markets — but not Nashville, until the Music Row building. Panattoni is best known as an industrial developer. Most recently, the company built a 1 million-square-foot hub in Mt. Juliet for the sports apparel company Under Armour.
Panattoni has just 7,000 square feet remaining in its office building at 35 Music Square East. Tenants are renting their space for $35 per square foot— a huge jump from existing Music Row office rents, and a reminder of how little top-grade office space is available to rent in the city these days.
The $31 million building is set to open Dec. 1; Fifth Third Bank financed construction.