Nashville ‘lifestyle’ apartments turn to virtual events, move-in incentives during pandemic – Tennessean
A look at the websites of Nashville’s high-end apartment buildings reveals a common thread: expansive shared workspaces, outdoor patios and pools, event venues, hotel-like services and organized community activities.
Some of Nashville’s newest apartment buildings aren’t just selling a living space anymore — they’re selling a lifestyle.
The COVID-19 pandemic shut down most of those highly-advertised amenities in March, leaving these buildings to find creative ways to offer residents virtual and sanitized versions of that promised lifestyle. Some had the serendipitous realization that with a few tweaks, their existing amenities were surprisingly well-suited to “the new normal.”
Residences at Capitol View, which opened in the North Gulch area in 2018, boasts a ground floor with restaurants that consistently offered carry-out options during COVID-19 shutdowns, shops and a Publix grocery store.
“It was a selling point before, and I think even more so now, having those things so close to you and being open is really important,” Ashley Van Fossen, community manager at Residences at Capitol View, told The Tennessean.
An ‘all in one’ approach
Kenect Nashville, a new apartment building and social club hybrid on 19th Avenue South, embraces a similar model. Though it is still under construction, it will offer 21,000 square feet of retail space on its ground floor in 2021.
A 16,000-square-foot coworking space with plenty of room for social distancing is slated to open in late October, and the building will eventually include a community kitchen, a gym and fitness studio, soundproof studios, outdoor spaces and more. Memberships to the social club amenities are also available for non-residents (residents have automatic memberships).
“All in one big building, it offers you everything that you need within reach,” said Avi Niego, Executive Director for Kenect Nashville. “You don’t really have to go anywhere if you don’t want to. And obviously, there’s some advantages to that during the pandemic.”
The move toward sleek shared workspaces, event spaces and other lifestyle-centric amenities has been several years in the making for Nashville’s apartment offerings.
In 2014, a 275-unit luxury apartment building on Davidson Street, now called Infinity Music Row, announced that it would feature a shared recording studio and a live performance venue with seating for 50. A 328-unit SoBro building now called The Burham Nashville announced plans for a two-story coworking and events space on its ground floor in 2017.
Creating a virtual community
Residences at Capitol View shut down its shared spaces during phase one of Nashville’s pandemic plan, and fitness classes, bingo games and trivia nights went virtual, Van Fossen said. They launched a courtyard concert series, featuring a DJ and local musicians that residents could watch from their balconies and patios. A “wellness room” could be reserved for exercise or meditation for a single resident, with cleaning between reservations.
When restrictions eased, the building reopened its shared workspaces and fitness center with social distancing rules. Virtual offerings will continue as long as there is a need, according to Van Fossen. Three private workrooms and a conference room are now offered for two-hour bookings.
“We definitely saw an increase in (workroom) use, especially with so many people working from home and wanting to get out of their apartment for a couple of hours, it just gives them that ability,” Van Fossen said.
Kenect Nashville similarly pivoted cooking demonstrations, music shows and fitness courses to a virtual platform for residents who have already moved into the building as it continues to take shape. By October, the coworking space will offer a change of scenery for those working from home, a place to print documents, and spaces for small meetings, all regularly sanitized.
“I think there was a … shift already in creating a new product, a new way of living, but the pandemic kind of accelerated it,” Niego said. “… For the next six months to a year, it’s probably the new reality we have to adjust to.”
Attracting new renters during a pandemic
The pandemic led to buyer and renter hesitation in the Nashville housing market in the spring, but people are still moving to Nashville, and some apartment complexes are looking to attract new tenants with move-in deals.
Van Fossen said Residences at Capitol View saw interest in new leases drop at the beginning of the pandemic as employers put hiring on hold and uncertainty abounded, but lease renewals rose.
“In the last two months, we’ve definitely seen leasing pick back up,” she said. “Not quite pre-March numbers, but there’s definitely more of an interest.”
The health and economic concerns brought by the pandemic may actually accelerate population growth in smaller cities like Nashville, according to a summer 2020 report by Marcus & Millichap, a national brokerage firm. More people working from home, social distancing needs and economic instability may lead to people looking for less expensive, less dense housing than can be found in larger cities, the report states.
The number of Nashville apartment complexes offering move-in incentives has increased significantly from last year, according to a report from real estate website Zillow. In July, 37.9% of Nashville rental listings offered some type of concession, including a month of free rent, waived or reduced deposits and fees, gift cards or perks like free parking. In July 2019, 21.1% offered such incentives — the same percentage of Nashville rental listings with concessions in February before the pandemic hit.
But the typical rent price remains steady: $1,662 per month in July, up 2.3% year over year, according to Zillow.
Van Fossen’s building is offering a $500 gift card at move-in on certain units, according to its website. They also offer a look-and-lease special for those who apply within 48 hours of an in-person or virtual tour: waived application and administration fees, credited toward the first month’s rent.
A representative for Kenect Nashville said demand has been fairly steady, and the building has “stayed leasing consistently.” Because the building and some of its amenities are still under construction, Kenect Nashville is offering one month of free rent and a waived administration fee with a 12-month lease. Other incentives are available for faculty members of the nearby Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Tours go virtual
As cities around the nation shut down in an effort to slow the spread of the virus, the housing rental industry faced a dilemma: capturing interest without the aid of in-person tours.
Bevan White, vice president of marketing at Pegasus Residential, a southeastern property management company with properties in Tennessee, told Zillow that the company switched to virtual leasing in late March, increased concessions at some properties and added smart home features in others to increase value and interest.
“Teams have used teaser photos, pre-recorded walk-throughs of amenities and even personalized recorded messages to capture renters’ interest before conducting a full virtual tour,” White said.
Virtual tours have proved to be a vital tool for Residences at Capitol View, Van Fossen said, so much so that she thinks they will be a permanent feature.
“I think it’s really great for people moving (from) out of state, or people that are super busy and aren’t able to stop by,” she said.
Reach Cassandra Stephenson at ckstephenson@tennessean.com or at (731) 694-7261. Follow Cassandra on Twitter at @CStephenson731.
Published 6:00 AM EDT Sep 4, 2020
