Starbucks Corp. recently unveiled its plan to open a second headquarters in Nashville, bringing thousands of corporate jobs to the city.

The coffee giant plans to invest $100 million in its new headquarters and hire as many as 2,000 workers at its new location over the next several years.

More specifically, Starbucks plans to move into the Peabody Union complex in downtown Nashville by 2027, where it will occupy the whole building.

However, Starbucks corporate jobs will come to Nashville much earlier than that, with the company planning to open a temporary office in a building in the Gulch in May.

Demand at apartment properties in particular could benefit from additional job growth in the metro, as rent prices slowly fell in recent years with new supply coming online.

➤ US equity REITs own 33 multifamily properties in the Nashville greater metropolitan area, with four of these properties within a 5-mile radius of Starbucks' planned second-headquarters locations and 17 REIT-owned multifamily properties within a 10-mile radius.

➤ Mid-America Apartment Communities Inc. owns 12 multifamily properties in the Nashville greater metropolitan area, the most of any US REIT, totaling 4,375 apartment units. Meanwhile, UDR Inc. owns eight multifamily properties in the metropolitan statistical area (MSA), followed by Independence Realty Trust Inc. with five multifamily properties.

➤ Population growth for the Nashville greater metropolitan area has significantly outpaced the broader US since 2020 and is projected to grow another 5.7% over the next five years. That being said, apartment rent for the region has slowly declined during recent years.

REIT multifamily properties in Nashville

S&P Global Market Intelligence identified 33 multifamily properties in the Nashville greater metropolitan area owned by equity real estate investment trusts that trade on the Nasdaq, NYSE or NYSE American.

Mid-America Apartment Communities owns 12 multifamily properties in the Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro–Franklin, Tenn. MSA, totaling 4,375 apartment units. UDR owns eight multifamily properties in the Nashville greater metropolitan area totaling 2,260 units, followed by Independence Realty Trust with five multifamily properties totaling 1,397 apartment units.

NexPoint Residential Trust Inc. and Camden Property Trust each own three multifamily properties in the MSA, totaling 1,338 units and 1,193 units, respectively. BRT Apartments Corp. also owns two properties in the Nashville greater metropolitan area totaling 702 apartment units.

Camden Property Trust's 430-unit Camden Music Row is the closest REIT-owned multifamily property to the Peabody Union complex in downtown Nashville, just 1.3 miles away. Mid-America Apartment Communities' MAA Charlotte Ave and MAA Acklen along with NexPoint Residential Trust's Residences at Glenview Reserve are also within a 5-mile radius of Starbucks' planned second headquarters.

Thirteen additional REIT-owned multifamily properties are within 10 miles of the Peabody Union complex — six owned by UDR, three owned by Mid-America Apartment Communities, two owned by NexPoint Residential Trust and one each owned by BRT Apartments and Camden Property Trust.

Population and apartment rent growth

Population for the Nashville greater metropolitan area has increased significantly since 2020, up 9% over the time period, ranking it in the top-10th percentile for population growth by MSA, according to Claritas estimates.

For comparison, the population for the US is estimated to have grown by 3.5% over the same time period.

Population for the Nashville greater metropolitan area is projected to grow by an additional 5.7% by 2031, compared to 2.6% population growth for the US as a whole.

Despite the strong population growth in the Nashville greater metropolitan area, apartment rent for the region has slowly come down during recent years, according to data from Zillow Economic Research.

The Zillow Observed Rent Index tracking multifamily residences in the greater Nashville metro closed March at $1,640.63, down 4.8% from its peak in July 2022.

The Zillow Observed Rent Index represents a smoothed measure of the typical observed market rate rent across a given region. The index is a repeat-rent index that is weighted to the rental housing stock to ensure representativeness across the entire market, not just those homes listed for-rent.