Remarks from the Mayor's Office

• 

  John Cooper

  John Cooper is the ninth mayor of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County. Since taking office in 2019, he has achieved some historic results for residents – including making Nashville’s teachers the best-paid in Tennessee. The financial turnaround Mayor Cooper helped engineer has enabled record neighborhood investments in schools, transportation, and parks. Meanwhile, Oracle Corporation is investing $1.2 billion and creating 8,500 jobs in Nashville; the economic development project is unrivaled in the state’s history. After adopting a Metro Transportation Plan for the first time, Nashville now has a local Department of Transportation, dedicated entirely to pedestrian safety, neighborhood infrastructure improvements, and better traffic management. The city has more than tripled its affordable housing resources, including a first-ever Metro Housing Division. Nashville is co-leading a private-public partnership to construct 100 megawatts of local, utility-scale solar power. Meanwhile, the mayor’s latest capital spending plan creates 60-plus acres of public green space– including a city park in one of the last districts that still has none. John Cooper served as an At-Large Member of Metro Council from 2015 to 2019. He brings more than 30 years of business and financial experience in retail, banking, and real estate to his leadership. He is the founder of The Heritage at Brentwood, a large, continuing-care senior living community, and Happy ReTales, a volunteer- directed, pet products retail store where all profits benefit animal rescue. Mayor Cooper holds a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and a master’s degree in business from Vanderbilt University. He was born in Nashville and raised in Shelbyville. He and his wife, former Constitutional law professor Laura Fitzgerald Cooper, have three teenage sons and three dogs. They attend Christ Church Cathedral.

  The City of Nashville

  Mayor

  Keynote

  John Cooper

  Mayor

  The City of Nashville

• 

  LaTanya Channel

  Director of Economic Growth and Small Business Dev.

  City of Nashville

Investing in Industrial: Supply & Demand, Leasing Activity, Site-Selection and More

From the latest acquisitions to the newest players, how Nashville is planning for an influx of demand and vacancies, loans and finances, site selection, leasing activity and more.

• 

  Dusten Estes

  Dusten Estes serves as Senior Vice President of Originations and National Director of Business Development for Stonemont Financial Group. He joined Stonemont in 2016 and has taken on a variety of roles and responsibilities during his time at the firm. Mr. Estes has been heavily involved in the capital raising and development side of the business, and has played an integral part in the phenomenal growth that Stonemont has experienced over the last 7 years. He is primarily focused on deal origination for industrial development and helps lead the national originations team through managing high-profile tenant relationships, working to identify sites and executing agreements for tenants’ national development ventures. While at Stonemont, he has originated over $1 billion in build-to-suit and speculative industrial development projects. Mr. Estes began his real estate career in the residential development business, where he oversaw and managed the construction and development of over 600 single-family homes as a construction manager. He then spent several years in site selection and development for retail restaurants, and has franchised and owned over a dozen restaurants in the Pacific Northwest. Additionally, Mr. Estes successfully repurposed 400,000 square feet of flex industrial buildings in the Northeast U.S. into indoor trampoline parks during his time as owner and founder of Flight Trampoline Parks, which he sold in 2015. Mr. Estes and his wife currently reside in Alpharetta, GA with their four children.

  Stonemont Financial Group

  Senior Vice President

  Dusten Estes

  Senior Vice President

  Stonemont Financial Group

• 

  Mia Keller

  Mia leads the development of all industrial, multifamily, and mixed-use projects in the Nashville market. Her responsibilities include site selection, contract negotiations, project due diligence, governmental approvals, and predevelopment budgets for land closing. Mia has completed $690 million in transactions in her career and is exclusively focused on growing Pizzuti’s presence in the Nashville market across multiple product types.

  The Pizzuti Companies

  Vice President, Development

  Mia Keller

  Vice President, Development

  The Pizzuti Companies

• 

  Patrick Poole

  Patrick leads Al. Neyer’s expanding presence in Middle Tennessee. As the Nashville Market Leader, he is responsible for site acquisitions, oversight of our projects through the entire development process, as well as serving our tenants, investment partners, and design-build construction clients. Patrick’s strategic perspective as a real estate attorney adept in the negotiation of purchase agreements and joint ventures, matched with his strong entrepreneurial drive and commitment to client service, make him a crucial asset to the company.

  Al. Neyer

  VP, Nashville Market Leader

  Patrick Poole

  VP, Nashville Market Leader

  Al. Neyer

• 

  Ward Pickens

  Ward Pickens is a real estate attorney in Holland & Knight's Nashville office. He assists real estate development companies, REITs, real estate owners, banks and other real estate lenders with transactional matters ranging from the acquisition of real property and development financing to leasing and the disposition of commercial property.

  Holland & Knight LLP

  Associate

  Moderator

  Ward Pickens

  Associate

  Holland & Knight LLP

Analyzing Nashville's Industrial Development Pipeline

Learn Nashville's latest development strategies, tenant demand, design trends, and other opportunities.

• 

  Melissa Alexander

  Melissa Alexander, SIOR serves as Senior Vice President for Foundry Commercial. Considered one of the foremost industrial brokers in Nashville, she leads the Foundry Industrial Brokerage team in her hometown of Nashville, TN. Melissa has more than 16 years of real estate experience focusing on the leasing, sale and development of industrial properties in Tennessee as well as across the US. Melissa got her start in industrial in Memphis, TN where she previously served as Principal of the Cushman & Wakefield (C&W) affiliate there. She served as the only female partner and only female broker in the firm. Melissa has a strong business presence locally and online. She is consistently named one of the top Commercial Real Estate Influencers to follow on Twitter and LinkedIn. In 2018, she launched #CREchat with colleague, Casey Flannery. The monthly chat hosts Commercial Real Estate thought leaders from across the US and has garnered participation and praise from CRE professionals, organizations such as CREW, SIOR, Bisnow and CoStar as two women bringing change and innovation to the industry. The chats have since evolved into a podcast called CREchat Live. Melissa regularly serves as a speaker/panelist for national conferences and media outlets such as GlobeSt.com, Bisnow, Nashville Business Journal, Arco Murray’s Women in Construction, CREI, Drastic Summit and Counselors of Real Estate. Outside of work, you will find Melissa hanging out by a fire pit, watching sports or traveling with her husband, John, and their two children.

  Foundry Commercial

  Partner

  Melissa Alexander

  Partner

  Foundry Commercial

• 

  Ken Erickson

  With more than 20 years of diverse, national experience in real estate acquisition and development, Ken Erickson serves as Chief Development Officer for CA South. With the ability to construct and facilitate cohesive teams, evaluate, and provide sound real estate development judgement, interface with public agencies, and liaise with key stakeholders, Ken is responsible for all things development related. Ken has had a distinguished career in both the private and public sectors, most recently as Vice President at the publicly traded REIT Brixmor Property Group. Ken attained the office of Managing Director of a national real estate development platform with InSite Real Estate; and has served as Senior Director of Development with the national hotel and water park entity Great Wolf Resorts. Ken holds several certifications and licenses including Project Management Professional (PMP), Professional Geologist (PG), a licensed real estate agent, and acted as Keynote Speaker for an international audience on the future of sustainable tourism.

  CA South

  CDO

  Ken Erickson

  CDO

  CA South

• 

  Shea Hopkins

  VP of Industrial Development

  Clarksville-Montgomery Co. IDB

• 

  Brett Garrett

  Brett has over 14 years of experience in the construction industry and focuses particularly on delivering projects via the design-build methodology. He established ARCO/Murray’s Nashville office in 2017 to better serve clients in Middle Tennessee and has managed the completion of millions of SF of warehouse and distribution space in the region to date.

  ARCO/Murray

  President

  Brett Garrett

  President

  ARCO/Murray

• 

  Philip Head

  Focused on booming multifamily real estate sector Real estate private equity funds, syndicators, developers, investors, and owner-operators involved in the multifamily real estate sector rely on Philip Head for counsel in transactional matters. Negotiating the complex joint ventures and multi-tiered ownership structures necessary for sophisticated acquisition and financing vehicles, Philip has closed apartment acquisitions, dispositions, and re-financings with an aggregate value in excess of $9.5 billion. Philip has guided borrowers through the intricacies of financing multifamily properties through the: Freddie Mac Seller Services Program Fannie Mae Delegated Underwriting and Servicing product line HUD/FHA insurance program In addition to his multifamily experience, Philip assists developers, owners, and tenants in the development and leasing of stand-alone and multi-tenant office, industrial, retail, and healthcare properties.

  Holland & Knight LLP

  Partner

  Moderator

  Philip Head

  Partner

  Holland & Knight LLP