Tourbineau Real Estate Partners Takes on Nashville Conversion

A new-to-town firm that focuses on buying and converting distressed properties has found its first pocket of opportunity in Nashville, and it’s betting on more.

Tourbineau Real Estate Partners was part of the joint venture partnership behind the $12.5 million purchase of downtown’s Parkway Towers office building in December, which represented a $21 million discount from its previous trade, the Nashville Business Journal reported. The seller in that deal, Wheelock Street Capital, paid $33.5 million for the tower in October 2019.

The firm, alongside Nashville-based investment firm Realm, is planning to convert the 204,600-square-foot office building, at 404 James Robertson Parkway, into residences or a hotel. The purchase price came to $61 per square foot.

The conversion of large office buildings has become increasingly common across the nation, but Nashville has not seen much of the action until recently.

The firm, led by Jonas Sylvestor, was established a year ago with the sole purpose of buying distressed assets, including office and industrial, that are vacant or nearing vacancy, and bringing them to their “highest and best use,” Ryan Torzsa, Tourbineau’s vice president of investments, told the outlet.

The firm has established an office in Nashville, as well as Seattle and Raleigh, but its deals span all over the country, including San Francisco and Honolulu.

Office distressed-sales volume was up by more than 50 percent from 2023 to 2024. The country had the highest percentage of distressed sales compared to overall sales volume in more than a decade last year, according to CoStar research.

Distress is just rearing its head in Nashville, but recent sales may represent the first dominoes to fall, providing more opportunities for players at the bottom of the market.

Parkway Towers, Tourbineau’s first project in Nashville, was built in 1986 and is the perfect fit for conversion, Torzsa said.

Floorplate size and parking ratios are important factors when considering conversions, but the 21-story tower has the right bones, he said.

The location has been a “no man’s land” between downtown, Germantown and the East Bank, Torzsa said. But as Nashville attracts developers, and work picks up on the East Bank, this project will be in the center of it all, he said.Nearby, Dolly Parton is working on converting the 211 Commerce office building into the Songteller Hotel. Imagine Hospitality is converting the historic Morris Memorial building into a boutique hotel with a speakeasy. And two Chicago firms are teaming up for a hotel and apartment development.