Rezoning creates Potential for Apartment Developers in Midtown

Challenge

Intrigued by the recent interest in America’s new “it” city, an investor hired Stan Snipes to assist him in purchasing land in the Midtown area of Nashville, Tennessee. With Snipes’ help, the investor acquired approximately 0.67 acres of prime real estate on the corner of 21st Ave and Elliston Place. The tight, oddly shaped site housed two buildings, which contained an old dry cleaning shop and a urology office. Due to the size of the site, the property was not an ideal location for a development site. But on such a visible corner in Nashville’s popular midtown area, the site needed to be redeveloped with more density to reach its maximum value. This was a perfect opportunity to build vertically for potential apartment development. 

Solution

Snipes contacted the city of Nashville in order to rezone the property so that a larger, more structured, vertical development could take place on the site. The city of Nashville had already proposed the rezoning of several properties in the Midtown area to match the increased demand for multi-story urban offices, hotels and apartment sites. With the cooperation of the city, the property was rezoned and Snipes quickly found a local apartment developer who was eager to purchase the property. We priced the land based on the number of units, which could potentially be built, as opposed to the cost per square foot of land that was typical for the area.

Results

• Rezoning for Increased Density. With the city of Nashville’s cooperation and assistance, we were able to rezone the Midtown property to match the need for more density.
• Higher Sales Price. By increasing the allowable height, we were able to increase our asking price, and sell the property based on the number of units which could be built, rather than the cost-per-square foot, for which it was originally purchased.
• Maximized Investor Proceeds. Because of our creative repurposing of the site, our investor yielded a profit which was $62 per square foot or 148% above historical comparable sales in the Midtown area at that time.