Baker Donelson law firm has signed a multiyear lease and will move its Nashville office in 2021 to Broadwest, the new urban, mixed-use community rising in Nashville’s expanding core.
Baker Donelson will occupy about 70,000 square feet of Class AA space in the top three floors of the 21-floor office tower being built on a full city block at 1600 West End Avenue, across from the West End-Broadway split.
Broadwest is being developed by Propst Development.
Baker Donelson ranks among the 70 largest law firms in the country and is the fourth-largest law firm in Nashville. The firm’s Nashville office, currently at 211 Commerce Street, includes 100 lawyers.
“Broadwest will provide our team members a highly efficient and sustainable office environment in a premier location,” said Brigid Carpenter, Baker Donelson managing shareholder.
“Our attorneys, staff and clients alike will appreciate the modern office space, easy access to transportation corridors, ample secure parking, on-site amenities and nearby restaurants.”
Designed by Cooper Carry architects, the Broadwest office tower is being built to LEED’s high standards and will feature a two-story atrium lobby, 10-foot, floor-to-ceiling vision glass, flexible floor plans, 10 high-speed destination dispatch elevators and a dedicated freight elevator.
Rising next to the office tower is the 34-story tower Residences at Broadwest condominiums, with 196 units, a 14-floor luxury Conrad Nashville by Hilton hotel. The two towers will be connected by an additional 125,000 square feet of retail and creative office space, with a 1.5-acre pedestrian friendly plaza.
National Seating sold to private equity firm
Nashville-based National Seating & Mobility has announced owner Court Square Capital Partners has sold the company to Cinven, an international private equity firm.
The transaction is expected to be completed in 45 days.
NSM is a provider of complex rehabilitation, mobility and accessibility solutions in the U.S. and Canada.
“This acquisition aligns with our company’s continued trajectory of growth, future business goals and, most importantly, our mission,” says Bill Mixon, NSM CEO.
“Our partnership with Court Square these past three years has led to outstanding growth and significant technological and operational advancements. We look forward to exploring a future of possibilities for those we serve with Cinven and their team of global health care investment experts.”
Cinven is a leading international private equity firm focused on building world-class European and global companies with investments in key sectors.
Columbia honored for fitness initiative
The Greater Nashville Regional Council has presented a Local Government Award to the Columbia and its parks & recreation department in recognition of the city’s recreation and youth fitness engagement initiative for Riverwalk Park Fitness Zone.
The projects that garnered this award are the outdoor fitness zones located at Riverwalk and Fairview Parks.
The outdoor fitness zones were designed with exercise stations ideally suited for those ages 14 and older and are built in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The city partnered with Maury Regional Health Care Foundation and Columbia Breakfast Rotary to make these outdoor exercise fitness zones possible.
The GNRC Local Government Awards honor partnerships and initiatives by local governments and public/private in the greater Nashville region, which have exhibited outstanding accomplishment and achievement or innovation in various areas of public service.
Healthstream, Medline announce alliance
Nashville’s HealthStream and Medline have formed a strategic alliance that will offer a range of workforce-development and quality improvement programs to help long-term care providers.
The last quarter of the year could be difficult for providers as they face a handful of new CMS-mandated regulations, including phase three of the Requirements of Participation (RoP) and its corresponding implementation.
The new strategic alliance between the two companies will champion and expand HealthStream’s specialized workforce development programs, including a “Compliance Essentials Program” and “Professional Development Program” that drive clinical development and meet compliance requirements.
Each program provides a comprehensive solution to an important, urgent need and is comprised of the specific content, platform functionality, and tracking components required to drive success.
UBTECH names MNPS among 22 grant winners
Metro Nashville Public Schools have earned a UBTECH Education Early Innovator grant, one of 22 school systems winning the awards.
The grants offer free access to high-quality STEM robotics and coding opportunities and will provide two years of free robotics kits, curriculum and professional development to K–12 school systems interested in integrating robotics instruction into STEM programs.
UBTECH Education launched program as part of its effort to help address inequities in STEM education, leveling the playing field by exposing more students to robotics and engineering – not just those students who can participate in out-of-school camps, clubs and classes.
Grant winners will implement the company’s award-winning UKIT solution and curriculum in their elementary and middle school classrooms. Developed by experts who helped write the NGSS, the UKIT solution immerses students in hands-on learning by merging modular robotics construction with engineering, math and language arts, as well as physical and life sciences.
Optimum solutions sold to Kronos
Nashville’s Optimum Solutions, a human resources, payroll and timekeeping solutions firm, has been acquired by Kronos Incorporated.
Optimum works with more than 600 organizations.
The acquisition will extend the reach of award-winning Kronos HCM solutions, including Workforce Ready and Workforce Dimensions HCM, to Optimum customers, which are concentrated in the manufacturing, health care and retail industries.
Kronos will continue to support all acquired customers through a dedicated Optimum team.
Hire Dynamics opens second office
Hire Dynamics, whose Nashville office was recently ranked a top-five staffing agency in the state by Top Rated Local, has announced it is opening a second Nashville office.
The news comes as the region recently marked a historic low unemployment rate of 3.2% statewide according to a March 2019 report by the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
“Nashville is one of the most dynamic markets I’ve seen,” says Brenda Franklin, senior director of operations for Hire Dynamics.
Hire Dynamics’ new Nashville Century Boulevard office brings a staff with 25 plus years of experience in serving executive, administrative, business and operational professionals.
Gardner School receives investment
The Gardner School, founded and headquartered in Nashville, has announced Quad Partners has agreed to invest in the company.
The Gardner School, which operates 20 preschools in Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio and Virginia, is a network of state-of-the-art, academically-focused preschools.
The school’s programs are designed to encourage each child’s growing need for independence and an emerging sense of self while nurturing intellectual growth, exploration and socialization in a safe, supportive environment.
Equity for the investment will come from Quad Partners V LP, an education-focused private equity fund with $229 million of capital commitments raised in 2018.
Report: Nashville’s market maturing
The 2019 State of Startups in the Southeast eBook recently reported Nashville and Charlotte are continuing to mature at a rate far exceeding that of the Innovation Hubs.
BIP Capital, one of the most active venture capital firms in the southeastern U.S., delivered the report, a comprehensive overview of the venture capital and startup ecosystem in the region.
“Last year’s research revealed the Southeast as an attractive place to invest relative to the more established and capital-intensive Innovation Hubs of Boston, the San Francisco Bay Area, and New York City,” said Mark Buffington, CEO at BIP Capital. “With that in mind, we wanted to know for our 2019 report exactly how mature the Southeast’s venture ecosystem has become. Macroeconomic trends tell us to expect increasing valuations. Therefore, using pre-money valuation as a proxy for maturity, we examined how stable the pre-money valuation is in each region. We were pleased to find that the overall rate of maturation in the Southeast is exceeding that of the Innovation Hubs.”
The gap in revenue multiples between the Southeast and the Innovation Hubs is closing, with revenue multiples increasing at a faster pace in the Southeast.
More capital is being deployed by Southeast investors than ever before, creating less opportunity for outside funds to invest in the region.
Chaatable makes list of vegetarian eateries
Nashville’s Chaatable has been named to the OpenTable list of the 2019 50 Best Restaurants for Vegetarians in America.
According to data from OpenTable, plant-based diets and meat alternatives have become much more prevalent in 2019 than previous years with reviews featuring “plant based” increasing by 200% since 2017.
Additionally, there were less than 100 reviews before 2016 that mention “vegan,” but that number has since increased by almost 15,000 per month.
Chaatable is a project from Morph Hospitality’s Maneet Chauhan and husband Vivek Deora. It is in Sylvan Heights and features Indian street food.
Novus Advanced to expand in Lawrence County
Novus Advanced Manufacturing has announced the expansion of its manufacturing operations in St. Joseph.
The steel framing manufacturer will invest $2 million and create 174 new jobs in Lawrence County.
Novus, a subsidiary of Hunt Services, Inc., is a manufacturer of steel framing components and accessories for the construction of commercial and residential structures. The company specializes in manufacturing steel panels for the hospitality and retail center sectors. The company has had operations in Lawrence County since 2016.