Lion Real Estate Leases Top-Tier Office in Nashville Yards

A Dallas-based firm known for snapping up Class B and C multifamily assets across the Sun Belt has opened an office in one of Nashville’s most high-end towers.

Lion Real Estate Group signed a lease in the Pinnacle Tower at Southwest Value Partners’ Nashville Yards, the billion-dollar mixed-use development that’s quickly becoming the new hub for corporate tenants downtown, the Nashville Business Journal reported.

Other tenants in the tower include PwC, Bass Berry & Sims and Pinnacle Financial Partners, alongside co-working operator Industrious.

The move underscores a growing split in Nashville’s real estate market, where distress is playing out in Class B and C assets even as interest in top-tier office and mixed-use space is strong. Lion has historically focused on value-add apartment deals in secondary markets but is joining some of the nation’s most prominent firms in one of the city’s most expensive office towers.

Lion owns five suburban apartment complexes in the Nashville area. The firm paid $44.6 million last year for a Crieve Hall multifamily property, according to previous reporting by the outlet.

Founded in 2007, the firm has offices in Dallas, Los Angeles and Nashville, where co-founder and co-CEO Jeff Weller is based, according to LinkedIn. It’s unclear whether the company had an office in Nashville prior to this lease.

Nashville Yards is evolving into a magnet for finance, legal and tech tenants. The Pinnacle music venue has recently opened, and the site is expected to add restaurants and retail in the coming months.

The Pinnacle Tower, developed by Southwest Value Partners, is one of the crown jewels of Nashville Yards, a multi-phase, multi-billion-dollar redevelopment many say is reshaping — or even repositioning — the city’s downtown core.

The tower opened in 2022 and has 35 stories of Class A office space, with amenities like a rooftop terrace, fitness center and direct access to the retail and entertainment corridor. Nashville Yards itself spans 18 acres and is set to include residential, hotel and entertainment components, including an Amazon office hub and a 1,100-seat concert venue operated by AEG.

— Judah Duke