Condo builder bucks market

The last few years haven't been kind to condominium projects, but that hasn't deterred Brian Kemp.

Kemp, a Middle Tennessee real estate agent-turned-developer, and his partner, a Nashville builder, are pushing ahead with a proposal to build a $140 million riverfront condominium — more than two years after winning approval for the plan from Metro officials.

Calling the project Cascadia, their firm, BK Partners, will start marketing a 217-unit building on the northwestern corner of Pennington Bend next month.

With a strategy that stresses luxury and convenience, Kemp believes his firm can persuade buyers to shrug off a slowing economy and buy a unit in a 16-story high-rise.

The question is whether enough buyers will bite.

Two years ago, lenders were approving buildings like Cascadia in droves, as buyers and investors snatched up units in the latest condo projects. Now few lenders want to touch condos, and developers across the country are shelving such projects.

On top of that, Cascadia is testing an unproven part of Nashville's condo market — the riverfront. In recent years, condo projects have been proposed along the Cumberland from one end of Nashville to the other, but so far only one has been built.

BK Partners will need to commit at least half of the building — which would feature its own organic market, restaurant and collection of private waterfalls, all within minutes' drive of the city — to buyers to persuade lenders to finance the deal, Kemp says.

But after spending years to line up the land, design the building and set up the sales, construction and marketing teams, Kemp says he and partner John Broderick, the president and chief executive of Broderick Builders, have done enough legwork to make the project a success.

They are going to bring their Cascadia to market, even in the current economy.

"Two years ago, I could have put a rendering out and started taking deposits," he said. "Instead, I took a five-year, methodical approach to make sure what we were building was the most beautiful place to live in Nashville."

Project was modified

Kemp's determination to build may not have changed, but a good deal about his project has changed over the last two years.

Originally called Le Rivage, French for "the shore," Kemp's building was conceived as a less expensive and more secluded alternative to downtown's red-hot condo market. In an interview in June 2006, Kemp described Le Rivage as a 10-story building with 188 condos priced from $199,000 to $485,000.

Two years later, Kemp plans to build six stories higher, which will let him add nearly 30 more units and expand their size.

Cascadia's smallest condos will have 1,081 square feet, and its largest will have 4,750, Kemp says. The large majority — about 140 units in all — will be about 1,900 square feet, enough for a substantial two-bedroom flat.

The extra space will come at a price. Units in Cascadia are priced from about $300,000 to more than $1 million.

Kemp has added a dog park, a private movie room, a large atrium and a dozen waterfalls, including a four-story cascade at the building's entrance.

Elements that remain are a substantial retail component and a focus on the river. Kemp plans to build an 800-square-foot day dock on the building, a connection to Metro's greenways and grounds oriented toward the Cumberland.

"We saw that all the projects that were being developed were more urban," Kemp said. "We wanted on-the-water, resort-style living."

Riverfront views are rare

Still, a riverfront project on the Cumberland would be unusual for Nashville.

Three other developers have announced riverfront condo projects near Nashville in recent years, but the only one that has actually been built is The Braxton Condominiums at Harpeth Shoals Marina in Ashland City.

Even in nearby cities where riverfront projects have thrived, interest in new developments has ebbed.

In Chattanooga, for instance, developers and lenders are waiting to see whether the market can absorb the units that have already been built before forging ahead with new projects, said Bill Sudderth, a developer in that city and the former president of a nonprofit that led the reconstruction of Chattanooga's riverfront.

"Clearly here the river is a tremendous draw," Sudderth said. "But I think everybody's kind of waiting to see how this plays out."

Kemp, however, believes that Cascadia's look, luxury amenities and location can overcome the skepticism. BK Partners will market its building to buyers across the region and to people who want a home that is convenient to downtown and Nashville International Airport.

One potential source of buyers is people associated with the Grand Ole Opry, which is broadcast from the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center complex, just one mile away from the Cascadia site, Kemp said.

"Gaylord is evidence that people enjoy the Music Valley area," Kemp said. "This is one of the most beautiful pieces of land in Nashville."

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