Commercial Real Estate Investing in Nashville

Meg Epstein: 

Thanks for having me. 

Elana Margulies-Snyderman: 

Absolutely. To kick off the conversation, tell us a little about your firm and how you got to where you are today. 

Meg Epstein: 

Sure. I started the firm about ten years ago in Nashville. I moved from California here and just saw an incredible opportunity in commercial real estate to sort of take advantage of all the growth that was happening in the Southeast and bring more modern design and more niche asset classes to Nashville. So, it's been a great run. We full circled about over $300 million in projects and 10 different projects, so it's been busy. 

Elana Margulies-Snyderman: 

Great. Meg, thanks for that brief background and journey. As a follow-up, given your focus on commercial real estate investing in Nashville and surrounding markets, I would love to hear your high-level outlook for the space. 

Meg Epstein: 

I think we're definitely heading into a much better market than we were. I think it's pretty difficult to just say commercial real estate in general. I think the asset class matters a lot. Obviously, you're seeing a lot of distress and office and now multifamily being so oversupplied in many markets. I think fundamentally, if interest rates go down, we'll continue to see more investment being made. Me being focused on the Southeast, I wouldn't say that we've hit tons of distress, or at least not in the asset classes or major secondary markets that we focus on, and so 2025 is looking like a much better year than the last few years where it's just been relatively slow. 

Elana Margulies-Snyderman: 

Very exciting to hear, Meg. As a follow-up, I would love for you to touch on some of the specific greatest opportunities you see in your space and why. 

Meg Epstein: 

Sure. I think niche asset classes or alternatives in general is what I typically focus on. I try to see where the puck is going and focus on asset classes that aren't quite yet institutional. That being, we have a new industrial outdoor storage platform that I see a lot of opportunity in, and we also have a residential flexible living platform, meaning you can short-term rent out our residences. And so, what we try to do is find a more niche take on real estate and look and see where the puck is going in terms of like self-storage 20 years ago was not an institutional asset class, neither was student housing. We kind of like to be on the forefront of those trends and look at something that can be scaled and made less mom and pop and more institutional. 

Elana Margulies-Snyderman: 

Meg, on the other hand, what are some of the greatest challenges you face in your space and why? 

Meg Epstein: 

I think like any developer, mainly post-COVID costs and production became very challenging. And when interest rates went up, basically ground-up development just wasn't feasible. We focused a lot on industrial, for example, multifamily, and to build those same product types, it just doesn't make sense anymore. You have to underwrite rents that are really unrealistic, that are just not feasible markets like Nashville even despite tons of growth. And so, I think we have to be a lot more creative again about what asset classes we're doing and then be really cognizant of ground-up development and be able to be able to make projects pencil these days. That's the hardest part. 

Elana Margulies-Snyderman: 

Meg, to shift gears a bit, ESG has been top of mind for the investment industry the last handful of years and wanted to see how your firm is addressing that topic. 

Meg Epstein: 

Yeah, if I'm being honest, we are a relatively small scrappy firm and I've never gotten any sort of preferential treatment for being a woman-owned business to be honest. It's been mainly just merit-based and based on the real estate that I've offered in my project returns is how I've gotten my institutional investors. So, it's always something that we try to keep in mind and incorporate, but I'd say we're pretty a meritocracy in the end. 

Elana Margulies-Snyderman: 

Meg, as a follow-up, as you addressed, you are a woman-owned business and wanted to hear your thoughts on what you're doing to inspire other future generations to follow in your footsteps. 

Meg Epstein: 

I've always tried to inspire other women to get into commercial real estate because I think that that's extremely important. I was on the board and I've been a big part of a group called BrainTrust, which is basically a group that helps women take their companies to the next level, kind of similar to a YPO-type group that's been an amazing group to be a part of and share. I also have mentored many women and I'm starting to volunteer for a nonprofit called Rocks the Street, which is basically helping women get into more finance-related roles. So, it is something that I've been working on for many years and I really love working with even younger interns and women like that that I've mentored over the years have gotten a lot out of shadowing and hearing my story because I didn't start out with anything and was able to make a lot of headway. 

Elana Margulies-Snyderman: 

Meg, we've covered a lot of ground today and wanted to see if you have any final thoughts you would like to share with us. 

Meg Epstein: 

I think that going forward, the future is certainly in the Southeast. I think there's a lot of opportunity to address unmet demand and just think outside the box and not just kind of do what investors tend to do over and over again even as trends are changing. So, focusing on niches that have proven to be having an advantage like what we're doing in outdoor storage or our investment condo product is where I'm headed and I'm going to continue to head. 

Elana Margulies-Snyderman: 

Meg, I wanted to thank you so much for sharing your perspective with our listeners. 

Meg Epstein: 

No problem. 

Elana Margulies-Snyderman: 

And thank you for listening to the EisnerAmper podcast series. Visit EisnerAmper.com for more information on this and a host of other topics and join us for our next EisnerAmper podcast when we get down to business. 

_{Transcribed by Rev.com}