NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Alex S. Palmer & Co. is ready to begin construction on its West End Summit project, after HCA affiliates Parallon Business Solutions and the Sarah Cannon Research Institute (SCRI) signed a lease on the property at 1600 West End Avenue.
“With our anchor tenants officially signed, we can set our sights on preconstruction of the towers,” said Alex S. Palmer, president and managing partner of the company. “West End Summit is going to change the landscape of midtown Nashville and create a new identity for our West End corridor. We couldn’t be prouder to have secured our lease agreement with Parallon and Sarah Cannon Research.”
The signing ensures 475,000 square feet of Class A office space for Parallon Business Solutions and SCRI, with Parallon requiring approximately 350,000 square feet, and SCRI approximately 125,000 square feet. In total, West End Summit is a $265 million private investment that will bring nearly 2,000 jobs to midtown Nashville.
Parallon Business Solutions will relocate approximately 750 jobs to Nashville with plans to add approximately 800 to its workforce by 2017. SCRI will consolidate 200 Nashville-area employees into one office with plans to double in size by 2017. This is believed to be the largest number of new permanent jobs created by one economic development project in Davidson County in two decades.
West End Summit’s two high-rise towers – Parallon Tower is approximately 22 stories and the SCRI Tower will be approximately 17 stories – will offer an additional 300,000 square feet of Class A office space for commercial tenants after the Parallon and SCRI offices are completed. The towers will be Silver LEED-certified, and will boast a parking garage with more than 2,800 parking spaces.
“This project is a big win for Nashville, and as it moves forward, it sends a strong message about Nashville’s attractiveness to companies that are growing and adding jobs,” Mayor Karl Dean said. “This development represents a private investment of more than $200 million and brings two corporate headquarters, 2,000 jobs and the construction of two Class A towers to our vibrant Midtown area. This further validates the type of optimism developers have in Nashville and the confidence that leading companies like HCA have in the city’s future.”
Palmer first envisioned West End Summit in 1998 when his company began assembling parcels of land near the Broadway and West End Avenue split. The company has aggressively marketed the project throughout the economic downturn of the last four years.
“After many years of pursuing this project, to have signed these two world-class tenants is a tribute to the perseverance of our team and the quality of this project,” Palmer said. “I couldn’t be prouder, or more eager to begin construction.”
About Alex S. Palmer & Co.
Founded in 1982, Alex S. Palmer & Co. is one of Nashville, Tenn.’s most accomplished commercial real estate development companies. Palmer has developed a number of properties in Nashville and around the country, including the 18-story Palmer Plaza, the Burton Hills III and IV office buildings in Nashville’s affluent Green Hills neighborhood, and the Gateway Office Complex and Gateway II buildings in Nashville’s suburban Maryland Farms development.
Outside of Nashville, the company developed the FBI Headquarters building in Denver and the IRS Compliance Services Building in Fresno, Calif. Palmer also developed and provides tenant management for the Veterans Administration Regional Office in San Diego and Alameda County Office Building in Heyward, Calif.