Nashville Retail Market Report

Downtown growth extends south as first-ring suburbs soften. Retailer bankruptcies drove a bifurcation in Nashville’s retail market last year, with vacancy at properties over 50,000 square feet rising above 6 percent, while smaller buildings remained near 2 percent. Inner-ring suburbs such as Madison and Antioch have faced the most pressure, while vacancy in faster-growing outer areas like Franklin and Murfreesboro held below 4 percent. With limited construction, well-located space is expected to be steadily backfilled, though closer-in suburbs may lag as tenants remain hesitant to lease larger floor plans. Meanwhile, retail vacancy in the urban core dropped below 5 percent last year after record net apartment absorption of more than 4,000 units helped strengthen daily foot traffic. Just south of downtown, Wedgewood-Houston continues to evolve from an industrial district into a higher-end commercial hub, underscored by Hermès opening its first Nashville boutique there and signaling growing tenant interest in locations with consistent pedestrian flow and street-level activity.