Nashville City Scoop: Pace of New Contracts to Slow

Nashville’s 2021 construction starts likely to fall to lowest level in five years

Dodge Data & Analytics’ 2021 forecast anticipates a sharp decline in non-residential contracts.

City Grill

Sean Buck
VP and Nashville Division Manager
JE Dunn Construction

While new starts have decreased notably in the hospitality and retail sectors, Buck says there’s been little slowdown in other project sectors, including multifamily, which is responding to the city’s increase in population. While noting “some delays” in project starts due to the pandemic, Buck sees “a lot of activity in the fourth quarter of 2020 and the first two quarters of 2021 as businesses and investors start to look more toward secondary markets such as Nashville for investment and relocation.”

Firm in Focus

JE Dunn Construction
29 Hermitage Ave., Nashville
President, East Region: Dan Kaufman
Southeast Employees: 364
What’s new: The contractor is currently progressing on the 20-story Hyatt Centric hotel in Nashville’s SoBro area. The project also includes a parking garage with space for roughly 350 vehicles.