Ep. 23: Tony Giarratana: How Downtown Living Went From Illegal to Nearly 20,000 and Where We Go From Here

On July 21, 2006, the New York Times published an article entitled: “Creating Demand for City Living in Nashville.”  The piece’s author, Lisa Chamberlain, noted that at that time, the frenzied pace of downtown residential development was slowing in major cities like New York and Chicago, but in cities like Nashville, “where no residential population had existed, people are suddenly hungry for an urban lifestyle and are willing to pay for it.”  Just three years prior to the publication of this article, there were all of 10 units for sale in downtown Nashville, but then something happened:  “one developer, Anthony Giarratana, is credited with single-handedly creating a market for residential housing in the central business district.”

 

Booming downtowns with arts and culture and thousands of residents don’t happen by accident, and Tony is the first to admit that nothing significant is accomplished single-handedly.  Nonetheless, the story of how Nashville went from having almost no downtown residents in 2003 to about 17,000 twenty years later in 2023 is a truly incredible story that spans law, politics, zoning, vision casting, as well as a truly remarkable levels of persistence (imagine making pitches to 69 banks before a single one says yes to your first residential tower project (The Cumberland).  There's perhaps no better person to tell this utterly fascinating story than the man, the myth, the legend himself: Anthony “Tony” Giarratana.

 

Tune in for this very special episode, which includes a proper telling of how downtown Nashville came to be what it is today, as well as a wide-ranging discussion of many hot issues, including the East Bank redevelopment, 2024 market forecasts, why 30,000 residents is the magic inflection point for downtowns, why Nashville should embrace taller builders, as well as why he will never complain about “chores.”  Tony also shares a book everyone should read, as well as some eloquent nuggets of hard-won wisdom about the role of kindness in life and in business.