Nashville Office Market Starts Year With Mixed Performance

May 12, 2026

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The first quarter was marked by modest construction activity and lower sales volume, Yardi Matrix shows.

Exterior shot of 2 Music Square West, an office building in Nashville, Tenn. — The property at 2 Music Square W. sold earlier this year at $374.75 per square foot. Image courtesy of Yardi Matrix

The office sector in Nashville, Tenn., ended the first quarter of the year with mixed fundamentals, according to Yardi Matrix. Construction activity remained limited compared to its peers, while office investment was among the lowest in the country.

Nashville’s office vacancy edged higher than the national average, while its coworking sector continued to expand, with the metro recording the highest flex space share among similar markets.

Investors in Nashville generated $26 million in office deals year-to-date through March, with properties selling at $226 per square foot—exceeding the national average of $220 per square foot.

The metro ranked second-to-last among the top 25 U.S. office markets by total dollar volume. Among peer markets, Dallas led with $859 million, followed by San Diego ($393 million) and Houston ($390 million).

Nashville’s office pricing placed it eight nationwide, outperforming Dallas ($222 per square foot) and San Diego ($197 per square foot), among others. Charlotte was the only peer market with higher pricing, where properties sold at $461 per square foot.

The $9.5 million sale of 2 Music Square West in the city’s Music Row district marked the largest office transaction since the start of 2026. Business Made Simple acquired the 25,350-square-foot office building from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, which had occupied the property as its headquarters since 1986.

The second-largest transaction was the $8.4 million sale of One Northcase in Goodlettsville, Tenn. Dollar General purchased the 51,690-square-foot building from the Armed Services Mutual Benefit Association.

Nashville’s construction activity totaled 426,248 square feet of space underway at the end of the first quarter of 2026, representing 0.7 percent of its existing stock—above the 0.4 percent national average. Among similar markets, San Diego led with 1.7 percent, followed by Austin’s 1.0 percent.

At the end of March, Dallas had the largest construction pipeline among Nashville’s peers, at 2.3 million square feet underway, followed by San Diego’s 1.7 million square feet. Markets with slower development activity included Tampa (346,000 square feet), Charlotte (204,544 square feet) and Orlando (186,925 square feet).

The largest project underway in the metro is a 143,184-square-foot development at 430 Chestnut St. AJ Capital Partners broke ground in September 2025, with completion scheduled for October this year. The property is part of Wedgewood Village, a mixed-use urban redevelopment that will include office, retail and residential space.

Vacancy pressures persist

Building at 1320 Adams St. in Nashville — Oracle Corp. signed a long-term lease for 116,000 square feet at 1320 Adams St. Image courtesy of Yardi Matrix

Vacancy in Nashville office space reached 18.9 percent as of March, above the 17.8 percent national rate.

Lower rates were recorded in Tampa (13.7 percent), Phoenix (16.6 percent), Charlotte (17.9 percent) and Orlando (18.4 percent). Austin continued to post the highest vacancy nationwide at 26.2 percent.

Nashville’s average asking rents reached $32.04 per square foot in March—slightly below the $32.80 per square foot national average.

Among peer markets, listing rates in Austin and San Diego placed fifth and sixth nationally, at $46.48 and $45.18 per square foot, respectively. More affordable average rents were recorded in Charlotte ($31.96 per square foot) and Tampa ($31.74 per square foot).

Oracle Corp.’s 116,000-square-foot long-term deal is one of the largest recent leases in Nashville. The company secured the space at Cousins Properties’ Neuhoff mixed-use development. The move comes among shifting tenant behavior generated various corporate relocations, including Oracle’s 2024 relocation announcement. With this leasing agreement, the company brought its Nashville office capacity to 2,000 seats across three locations.

As of March, Nashville’s coworking inventory reached 2.1 million square feet across 117 locations, according to CoworkingCafe data. The metro outpaced Tampa and Austin, each with nearly 2 million square feet, as well as Charlotte (1.7 million square feet) and Orlando (1.5 million square feet). In contrast, Dallas led among peer markets with 6.9 million square feet.

The metro’s share of flex office space as percentage of all leasable office space reached 3.3 percent—above the 2.3 percent national average. Nashville recorded the highest figure among similar markets. Strive Workspaces recently entered the Nashville coworking market, opening its first location in Tennessee in January.

Regus remained the leading coworking provider in Nashville, with operations totaling 284,014 square feet. Other top companies include Espaces (263,001 square feet), Spaces (128,000 square feet), Industrious (106,667 square feet) and Three One Three (61,853 square feet).

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