Oracle Corp.’s planned campus in Nashville will serve as the business software giant’s world headquarters, placing it in a city that’s a center for the U.S. health care industry, company chairperson Larry Ellison said.

Ellison spoke about Oracle’s plans for its Nashville offices during a conversation about health care technology with former U.S. Sen. Bill Frist at the Oracle Health Summit last week.

In 2021, a Tennessee panel approved $65 million in state incentives for Oracle, with the company planning to bring 8,500 jobs and an investment topping $1 billion to Nashville over a decade. Then-Mayor John Cooper’s office announced that the company, currently based in Austin, Texas, planned to build the new campus with 1.2 million square feet (111,400 square meters) of office space. In 2020, Oracle announced it was moving its headquarters from its longtime home in Redwood City, California, to Texas.

Frist, a doctor and businessman, asked Ellison why Nashville was chosen. Ellison, whose company bought electronic medical records company Cerner in 2022, called the city “a health center.”

“We’re moving this huge campus, which will ultimately be our world headquarters,” Ellison said. “We’re moving that to Nashville.”

Ellison then joked that he “shouldn’t have said that.”

The Nashville mayor’s office said in 2021 that Oracle paid $254 million for 60 acres (24 hectares) in downtown Nashville and offered $175 million upfront for public infrastructure, including a pedestrian bridge over the Cumberland River, environmental cleanup, a sewer pump station and a riverfront park.

Ellison said plans for the riverfront campus include a community clinic, a concert venue, a hotel and a restaurant.

County unemployment below 5% across Tennessee

Newly released data from the Department of Labor and Workforce Development documented unemployment rates below 5% in each of Tennessee’s 95 counties in March. County unemployment rates for the month range from 2.2% to 4.6%.

During the month, the jobless number decreased in 12 counties across the state. Ten counties recorded rates that did not change from month to month, while 73 counties did see a slight uptick in their unemployment levels.

Williamson and Moore counties both had rates of 2.2% in March. For Williamson County, that represented an uptick of just 0.1% when compared with February’s statistic. In Moore County, unemployment increased by 0.3% during the month.

Cheatham County had the next lowest rate at 2.3%, up 0.1% from its February number.

Clay County had Tennessee’s highest unemployment rate in March. At 4.6%, the county’s rate jumped up by 0.6%. Lauderdale County had the second-highest unemployment rate for the month at 4.5%, a slight increase of 0.1 of a percentage point.

As reported April 18, Tennessee’s statewide unemployment rate for March came in at 3.2%, a 0.1% drop when compared with the previous month. The statewide rate is adjusted to consider seasonal impacts on employment, while county unemployment rates are not adjusted.

NashBio, CuriMeta partner on data sets

CuriMeta, a provider of life science-focused, advanced real-world health data, and NashBio, a real-world, multi-omics data company, announced a data licensing agreement that will bring together each organizations’ distinct expertise in real-world data.

NashBio provides real-world clinical, genomic and imaging data to their health care and life science research partners through their biobank, BioVU.

Created at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Vanderbilt University, BioVU is one of the richest and largest de-identified EMR and linked biospecimen repositories in the world.

This advanced RWD helps advance novel discoveries and the development of new, more personalized therapeutics and diagnostics.

Similarly, CuriMeta partners with academic medical centers and health systems to ethically and compliantly curate, de-identify and aggregate disparate repositories of health data, including radiology and pathology images, genomics and specialty data sources. This collaborative approach results in data sets with high-explanatory power that can be compliantly exchanged with researchers to advance the science of medicine and develop lifesaving cures.

This collaboration will bring together specific multi-modal, multi-omic data sets from both CuriMeta and NashBio, allowing life science researchers to tap into particularly diverse data relative to patient location, age, ancestry and disease and enable research that would otherwise not be possible.

‘Learn to Fly’ month offers Tennessee opportunities

In celebration of national “Learn to Fly” month in May, Tennessee Flight Training is hosting a series of open house events at all five of its locations across the state. Aspiring pilots will have the opportunity to take a tour, meet experienced pilots and instructors, and learn the steps to achieving a rewarding career in aviation.

One of the nation’s preeminent flight schools, Tennessee Flight Training has been headquartered at Nashville International Airport for nearly 15 years and has served more than 3,000 student pilots. The company is hosting open house events at the following locations and times (subject to change, all times local):

• Crossville Memorial Airport (CSV): Saturday, May 11, 11 a.m.-2 p.m.

• Maury County Regional Airport (MRC): Tuesday, May 14, 5-7 p.m.

• Nashville International Airport (BNA): Thursday, May 16, 5-7 p.m.

• Shelbyville Municipal Airport (SYI): Tuesday, May 21, 5-7 p.m.

• Cleveland Regional Jetport (RZR): Thursday, May 23, 5-7 p.m.

Customized to the student’s schedule, Tennessee Flight Training offers dynamic instruction that leads student pilots from novice to the highest levels of certification in two to three years. This training method provides a valuable alternative for those who prefer not to spend the time and money seeking a college degree, which is not required to become a professional pilot.

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TNECD announces Downtowns participants

The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development last week announced the 12 Tennessee communities selected to participate in the ninth round of the Tennessee Downtowns program.

The communities selected are Adamsville, Baxter, Byrdstown, Camden, Decatur, Gleason, Jellico, Loudon, McEwen, Munford, Spring City and Wartrace.

“The investments we make in rural Tennessee benefit all Tennesseans, and the Tennessee Downtowns program allows us to equip some of our most rural communities with the tools needed to better develop and revitalize their downtown districts,” says TNECD Commissioner Stuart C. McWhorter.

TNECD provides the Tennessee Downtowns program to communities that want to pursue the Main Street America approach to downtown revitalization. Since its inception in 2010, 78 communities have participated in the Tennessee Downtowns program, and the newly designated communities bring that total to 90.

The Tennessee Downtowns program helps local communities revitalize traditional commercial districts, enhance community livability, spur job creation and maintain the historic character of downtown districts.

The two-year program coaches selected communities and their steering committees through the steps of launching effective renewal efforts. Tennessee Downtowns includes community training through the National Main Street Center’s Four-Point Approach and a $15,000 grant for a downtown improvement project.

The 12 newly selected communities all have downtown commercial districts established at least 50 years ago and demonstrated their readiness to organize efforts for downtown revitalization according to Main Street America principles.

Redfin: Buying home costs more than ever

The median U.S. home price rose 5.2% year over year this week, and mortgage rates hit their highest level since November 2023. Prices continue to rise partly because there are still serious buyers searching for homes.

The median U.S. home-sale price hit a record $383,725 during the four weeks ending April 21, up 5.2% from a year earlier – one of the biggest jumps since October 2022.

The average weekly mortgage rate hit 7.1% last week, its highest level since November 2023, as it became clear the Federal Reserve would keep interest rates high longer than expected. High prices and mortgage rates drove the median monthly housing payment to a record $2,843, up 13% year over year.

Prices are soaring despite the fact that there’s more inventory than last year. New listings are up 10.2% year over year, though growth in listings may be losing momentum as stubbornly high rates solidify the lock-in effect. Prices are being buoyed by the fact that inventory remains low despite the recent improvement.

Demand is holding up fairly well in the face of 7%-plus rates, though some indicators are starting to show a slowdown.

MTSU kicks off $54M building renovations

Two of Middle Tennessee State University’s original five buildings are getting a significant upgrade through a $54.3 million renovation project of Kirksey Old Main and Rutledge Hall.

MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee was joined by other university leaders last week to announce the upcoming construction project that is scheduled to begin in mid-May with an expected completion by the summer of 2026.

Upon completion, Rutledge Hall will transform from a dormitory to an academic building that houses the University Studies Department, which will relocate from KOM, while Kirksey Old Main will continue to be home to the Mathematics, Computer Science, and Data Science departments within the College of Basic and Applied Sciences.

“This project, more than any other since I’ve been at MTSU, seems like a bridge from MTSU’s origins to its future,” said Greg Van Patten, dean of the College of Basic and Applied Sciences. “In renovating the original main building on the campus, we are providing a new home for these programs.”

Meanwhile, Rutledge will receive an expanded lobby addition and new interior stairs through renovation work that “preserves the original character of Rutledge while accommodating the needs of a modern educational environment,” McPhee said.

The project’s designer is Anecdote Architectural Experiences while the contractor is Messer Construction Co., both under the guidance of the university’s Campus Planning Department.