A prolonged shift in office space demand led by dramatic changes to the way people work has pressure-tested the entire commercial real estate industry, from property sales to new developments. And in Nashville, employers are opting for high-end offices in fashionable neighborhoods as a recruiting and retention tool.

When Drew Kitchen was setting up the Nashville office of national law firm Maynard Nexsen, he picked Wedgewood Houston for its walkability, vibrant bars and restaurants, and central location for commuters. "We were obviously drawn to the creative vibe of the neighborhood and space," Kitchen said. "It's everything we wanted in an office. It can be a recruiting tool." Now, Kitchen takes clients for lunch in the neighborhood and grabs coffee at local cafes between meetings. His employees do the same.

Several neighborhood hotspots have emerged as popular new work centers for companies hoping to lease offices nice enough to lure their employees back, Wedgewood Village by AJ Capital Partners [being one of them]...

Those developments all have a few key things in common. They're massive and master-planned, so developers and their leasing teams have total control over the mix of retail, restaurants, and other businesses moving in. The developments also include apartment buildings, which contribute to walkability in the resulting mixed-use neighborhoods.

"We can control all those pieces in neighborhood development," said Taylor Camp, head of leasing at AJ Capital. "I can sit in a board room and say, with conviction,' Here's what's going to be moving in next door.' It's a large development and a long-term project, but we control it through our development pipeline and our master plan."

"At the end of the day, we're competing with spare bedrooms," Camp said. "If you're an employee and your company is asking you to come back to the office, you're going to ask, 'Why should I come back?' What we're pitching is, regardless of how many days per week you come back or what you do, this neighborhood is going to be a place where you're going to want to spend time."

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