Williamson County may be celebrating, but for downtown Nashville, it's time for a reluctant goodbye.
As Nissan North America moves its offices out of the AT&T Building to a flashy new headquarters in Cool Springs, many who live and work downtown are beginning to rue the loss of a company that had quickly left its mark on the city center when it moved in two years ago.
The automaker's departure means that nearly half of the city's biggest skyscraper is about to be emptied, with no one certain how long it might take to find a new tenant. The vacancy also comes as downtown tries to adjust to a slowing economy and the addition of two new office buildings — one completed near the Ryman Auditorium and another rising south of Broadway near the Schermerhorn Symphony Center.
On top of that, downtown is losing an employer that brought in 1,500 workers and contractors, all of whom gave the area a boost as they dined out, bent their elbows at local bars or took up residence in condos and apartments.
"They've been a really good group to have there in the mix," said Ron Gobbell, a downtown architect, resident and past chairman of The District, downtown's main business association. "They will be missed."
Nissan occupied 280,000 square feet of the AT&T Building, the distinctive, twin-spired skyscraper at Third Avenue North and Commerce Street. Its offices took up the third floor through the 15th floor, space that it took over two summers ago, after BellSouth decided to reduce its presence in the building.
(BellSouth has since been acquired by AT&T, which continues to occupy the 16th to the 30th floors.)
Nissan swept in only a few months after BellSouth started its consolidation, quickly plugging a hole before it could really be felt.
The Japanese automaker had already decided to sell its regional headquarters in Southern California and move to Middle Tennessee in late 2005 when it began shopping for a large block of office space that it could use until its new headquarters was built in Cool Springs. Those gleaming new offices will be dedicated later this week, and several hundred workers have already moved in.
Putting Nissan in downtown's AT&T Building was a quick fix that helped everyone in 2006.
Such good fortune is unlikely to fall on the downtown area twice, said Mark Woolwine, one of the brokers with CB Richard Ellis responsible for leasing the space that Nissan is vacating.
This time around, CB Richard Ellis is approaching a wide variety of companies, including other downtown tenants whose leases are up, suburban firms that might consider a move into Nashville and major companies outside the region that could open a Nashville office.
"Nissan was a unique event," Woolwine said. "It's like anything else. We're looking at all kinds of users."
Other buildings openBrokers also have to contend with a slower national economy that has made companies wary of putting a lot of money into real estate deals — even those as seemingly simple as signing a lease for new office space.
"Downtown overall will weaken, certainly, over the next six to 12 months," said Whit McCrary, a principal with Colliers Turley Martin Tucker. "Companies are feeling the economy."
On top of that, the AT&T Building faces more competition.
One block away, the SunTrust Plaza building opened last winter, adding 300,000 square feet to the downtown office market. That building is almost filled, but most of its tenants have come from other downtown towers that, like the AT&T Building, are now looking for renters.
Meanwhile, construction is under way on a 500,000-square-foot tower called the Pinnacle at Symphony Place. That building won't be completed for another 18 months, but it, too, is trying to sign up tenants.
Filling the AT&T Building "is a very high priority, and it's something we've actively been thinking about since the day Nissan moved into the building," said Janet Miller, chief economic development and marketing officer for the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce.
Tower has advantagesThe AT&T Building, however, is not without its charms.
In addition to being the city's tallest building, it's one of downtown's most state-of-the-art. The tower's floors average about 20,000 square feet apiece, a size that companies favor these days because it gives them flexibility. And because it was built for a telecommunications firm, its floors can be lifted up, making it easy to install information technology equipment.
The AT&T Building also has its own food court, private parking garage, security desk and conference centers. And, with a quoted price of $19 a square foot, it's actually cheaper to rent than the average office building in Cool Springs, Brentwood, Midtown or Green Hills.
Brokers and economic development officials are marketing the building for a wide variety of uses, including call centers and regional headquarters.
"I'd love to see another company like Nissan, a corporate headquarters, that is going to bring in another group of well-paid urbanites," said Gobbell, the downtown architect. "But I have no clue whether that's feasible or not."
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