Hotel Investor Buys Nashville’s Citizen Plaza at Discount

The downtown Nashville office selloff has claimed another high-rise.

The state of Tennessee sold the Citizen Plaza office tower in downtown Nashville for $16 million, the Nashville Business Journal reported. It marks the latest in a string of steeply discounted office sales reshaping the city’s core.

The buyer, a business entity tied to local investor Nishith Jobalia, paid $65 per square foot. His company MNJ Hospitality owns other commercial and hospitality properties in the region, including the Best Western Franklin Inn.

The 15-story building at 400 Deadrick Street spans 245,000 square feet and was mostly vacant at the time of sale, with just one floor leased through the end of the year, according to CBRE marketing materials.

The state had owned Citizen Plaza since 1986, when it purchased the property for $25.36 million, or $104 per square foot. Adjusted for inflation, that price exceeds $73 million in today’s dollars. This $16 million price sits well below the Davidson County Assessor’s 2025 valuation of $74.85 million. State officials have not publicly commented on the transaction.

The property had been on and off the market since 2018 after the state relocated 800 employees. A potential deal with Metro government collapsed in 2022, and the building was relisted in 2023.

Jobalia has not publicized plans for the building, but marketing materials suggest potential for hotel or mixed-use redevelopment.

The sale continues a growing wave of distressed and below-market office trades in downtown Nashville.

Last December, Philips Plaza sold for $94 million less than its prior valuation, and Parkway Towers and the Court Square Building changed hands at a combined loss of roughly $26 million. Fifth Third Center went under contract to sell at a loss last week following a number of major tenant departures, including its namesake Fifth Third Bank.

Nashville’s top office properties have lost nearly $400 million in appraised value this year amid rising vacancies and tenant flight to newer buildings. Citizen Plaza’s location — diagonally across from UBS Tower and just blocks from the state capitol — gives it long-term potential, but its steep discount shows a downtown office market still working through post-pandemic correction.

— Judah Duke