Nashville’s significant growth and popularity have impacted surrounding communities—suburban and rural alike. On this tour, see how Lebanon, a growing satellite city in Nashville-adjacent Wilson County, has adapted to Middle Tennessee’s growth over the past few decades. From increased residential density, to bringing in retail and hospitality to reenergize pockets of the city, to supporting manufacturing and shipping industries, explore how the public and private development sectors have worked together to help the city maintain its own identity in the face of explosive regional growth. Catch the Music City Star at the Downtown Riverfront Station, Nashville’s only commuter rail line, and ride into Lebanon to explore the first Transit-Oriented Development in Tennessee. Then continue the tour by bus to see Lebanon’s historic downtown square and state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities that are significantly contributing to the city’s unique growth and popularity. End with lunch at a local brewery and then return to the convention center for afternoon speakers.

Nashville’s thriving nonprofit sector is transforming real estate into engines of community impact! This tour explores how organizations creatively reuse their buildings and lead with new construction to power their missions, address urgent social needs, and strengthen neighborhoods. 

The journey begins at the Tennessee Justice Center, where office space doubles as a hub for families and a platform for advocacy. At the Nashville Rescue Mission Women’s Campus, see how design and operations come together to provide housing and recovery for women in crisis. The tour then visits Inspiritus’s new mixed-use housing project that demonstrates how purpose-built environments can expand nonprofit capacity and long-term outcomes. 

Next, stop at the Nashville Food Project, where kitchens, gardens, and distribution centers are intentionally designed to fuel large-scale food security efforts. Finally, experience Thistle Farms, a nationally recognized social enterprise that combines manufacturing and retail to sustain recovery and empowerment for women survivors. 

Along the way, gain insights into the real estate strategies—site selection, financing, design, and partnerships—that help nonprofits turn physical spaces into mission-driven assets for lasting community impact.

Discover how thoughtful planning and strategic redevelopment can preserve historic character while supporting modern growth. This guided walking tour of Franklin’s historic downtown offers a compelling, real-world example of how heritage and innovation can coexist—and even thrive—together. 

Located in rapidly growing Williamson County, Franklin has successfully transformed its storied past into a dynamic present. Explore Main Street and the surrounding downtown and see firsthand how restoration, adaptive reuse, and strong community partnerships have created a vibrant, economically sustainable district. 

Highlights of the tour include: 

• Preservation success stories that shaped Franklin’s identity, 

• Innovative redevelopment strategies that respect historical context, and 

• Insights from local stakeholders who led the transformation. 

Whether you’re a planner, developer, preservation professional, or simply passionate about placemaking, this tour offers valuable insights into how cities can honor the past while building for the future. 

Please note: This is an all-day walking tour, so comfortable footwear is recommended. A scheduled lunch break is included.

Join us for an e-bike tour exploring how Nashville’s rapid growth and attempts to add infrastructure intersect with cycling. Beginning in The Nations, the ride will weave through some of the city’s most dynamic districts, offering a firsthand look at both the progress and the gaps in Nashville’s bike network. Along the way, participants will stop at key developments, such as oneC1TY and Capitol View, to hear from project representatives and discuss how cycling access was considered in planning and design. 

The route highlights greenways, bike lanes, and major civic spaces, while also pointing out challenges of ensuring connectivity, safety, and mobility equity in a rapidly growing city. From bustling commercial corridors to cultural landmarks such as Centennial Park and Music Row, riders will experience the opportunities and barriers to making cycling a more integral part of Nashville’s future. 

This tour is designed to spark conversation about mobility, urban design, and community impact, while giving participants a street-level perspective on how development decisions shape the cycling experience. This moderately hilly, moderate comfort e-bike supported ride will include roughly 10 miles of bike riding with a “no rider left behind” attitude!

Join ULI for an in-depth tour of Nashville International Airport (BNA), a national case study in large-scale infrastructure expansion. As one of the fastest-growing airports in the United States, BNA is undergoing a multi-billion-dollar capital improvement program designed to increase capacity, modernize facilities, and enhance operational efficiency. Participants will gain a behind-the-scenes perspective on the planning, engineering, and construction strategies shaping the airport’s transformation—including terminal expansions, airside and landside improvements, and integration with regional growth demands. The tour will also highlight the onsite Hilton BNA Hotel & Conference Center, a unique public/private development enhancing the airport’s role as a gateway for business and tourism. Participants will hear about the engineering, design, and construction strategies driving BNA’s transformation and the integration of aviation and transportation infrastructure to meet unprecedented growth in a rapidly expanding metropolitan market.

How did Wedgewood-Houston transform from a fading industrial district to a bustling hub of creativity and community? In the past five years, nearly 2,000 residential units have been developed in the neighborhood, joined by new office, retail, and restaurants, turning WeHo into one of Nashville’s most rapidly changing communities. On this walking tour, explore the neighborhood’s dramatic transformation—from its warehouse roots to its new identity as a center for living and gathering. Along the way, learn the role of the Opportunity Zone, the influence of South Nashville Action Partners (SNAP) community group, and the challenges of managing explosive growth without the infrastructure to match. Come see firsthand the opportunities, tensions, and energy driving WeHo’s evolution.

Join us for a tour showcasing some of Nashville’s most creative approaches to affordable housing. Projects will include motel conversions supported by PILOT agreements, collaborations with faith-based institutions, market-rate affordable housing, and housing cooperatives, each demonstrating a different way Nashville is expanding innovative housing options. 

On this tour, hear directly from development teams about the challenges they faced, why they chose their unique approach, and how they turned ideas into success. 

Whether you’re coming from a small town or a large city, you’ll walk away with practical insights and inspiration for how out-of-the-box strategies can bring affordable housing to your community.

Nashville’s East Bank transformation is underway. The 338-acre stretch of riverfront land has been underutilized since the mid-20th century. The vision, however, is a new East Bank with neighborhoods, offices, parks, and cultural amenities, designed to connect East Nashville and downtown. 

In this tour, visit the Titans’ New Nissan Stadium—an innovative entertainment anchor that is currently under construction and will be operational by early 2027. Fallon & Company, the adjacent 30-acre master plan team, will discuss how this once-peripheral area of Nashville will transform into a modern example of multimodal connectivity, environmental resiliency, and equitable opportunity through public and private investment.

Join us on a walking and bus tour through decades of public and private investments that shaped today’s Music City. We will begin with a walking tour from Music City Center to Bridgestone Arena, a 1996 investment that catapulted the growth of downtown Nashville. Then, we will walk among the stars through the Walk of Fame Park and past some of Nashville’s premier performance venues. We will traverse the Siegenthaler Pedestrian Bridge, which was converted in 2003 to provide a pedestrian-only connection between Downtown Nashville and the future East Bank neighborhood. 

From there, we will hop on a bus and venture north of the State Capitol to visit Tennessee’s Bicentennial Mall where we will experience part of the 1996 celebration of Tennessee’s 200th birthday. We will then stroll along the Music City Greenway to see the signature guitar scoreboard at First Horizon Park, home of the Nashville Sounds, and hear about the return of minor league baseball to North Nashville. We will continue along the greenway to view private developments that stemmed from Nashville’s public/private investment and vibrant greenway system. Our tour will conclude with a bus ride back to Music City Center as we learn how the 2013 investment became an anchor for the emerging SoBro neighborhood.

Join us for a walking tour through Nashville’s SoBro, Southbank, and Rolling Mill Hill neighborhoods as we explore how these districts along the Cumberland River continue to fuel the city’s growth. This multi-stop tour will highlight past, present, and future of development along the Southbank corridor, showcasing the projects that have transformed the area into a vibrant place to live, work, and play. Along the way, you’ll hear from private developers and public liaisons who have been instrumental in shaping these neighborhoods. From the history of Rolling Mill Hill to the rapid growth of SoBro and the investments launching Southbank’s future, this tour offers a unique perspective on the evolution of the riverfront. Participants will gain a deeper understanding of the developments already in place, the partnerships that made them possible, and the opportunities ahead. This tour is an inspiring look at how collaboration and innovation are transforming Nashville’s core.

Join us for a walking tour of Nashville’s “Honky Tonk Highway.” You may know it as the vibrant district offering live music 365 days a year and serving as a major destination for over 27 million visits in the past year. You will learn the development business stories of this area, which stretches from the historic warehouses along the Cumberland River to the newly developed 5th and Broadway mixed-use development. In the last decade, this district, encompassing only seven blocks of the city’s core, has seen more than $962 million in commercial transaction volume. Join us as the developers, city officials, contractors, and designers who have been part of this transformation share the stories behind the Honky Tonks.

Tour North Nashville, exploring the intersection of history, culture, preservation, and development in one of the city’s most significant Black neighborhoods. This tour will visit a range of projects that highlight North Nashville’s resilience and innovation—from affordable housing at varying scales, to the campuses of North Nashville’s HBCUs, to small-scale community-led developments, and large-scale Metro Nashville transportation initiatives. North Nashville’s strength is rooted in a long history of confronting challenges—from the displacement caused by urban renewal, to resisting unwanted neighborhood changes, to rebuilding in the wake of the 2020 tornado. While these projects differ in size, funding, and scope, each share a common goal: advancing grassroots development that prioritizes community identity and resists the pressures of gentrification. This tour offers ULI professionals an opportunity to see firsthand how design and investment can honor cultural heritage while shaping a more equitable future.

This tour travels to Cool Springs, a 1990s suburban development originally centered on a mall, and explores how suburban hubs are being transformed as vibrant, mixed-use destinations with activity that extends beyond traditional workday hours. In Cool Springs, retail, dining, residential, and office spaces are intentionally integrated to create dynamic communities of work, leisure, and connection. Explore the success of placemaking that emphasizes strategies for walkability and a mixture of uses, attracting diverse users, and supporting economic growth in rapidly evolving suburban corridors. The tour will spotlight new as well as established developments in Cool Springs that have been revitalized with engaging retail, dining, and entertainment experiences, offering fresh inspiration for the future of suburban development.

For decades, communities have grappled with a fundamental development challenge: how to attract major industrial investment while maintaining a high quality of life? Clarksville, just an hour northeast of Nashville, has cracked the code. 

Over the past 17 years, this dynamic city has transformed 24 square miles into one of the South's largest industrial parks that is home to global giants including Hankook Tire, LG, Google, and Q&B Foods, while simultaneously creating amenities that make industrial employment family friendly and community centered. 

This comprehensive half-day tour will take you to LG’s cutting-edge Innovation Lab, The Youth Academy childcare facility that’s redefining workforce support, and picturesque downtown Clarksville, where the Downtown Commons and the F&M Bank Arena are at the center of economic development and entertainment infrastructure. See firsthand how Clarksville balances manufacturing with quality of life, creating a replicable model for industrial growth that communities actually want.

The Nations, once defined primarily by its industrial roots, has evolved into one of Nashville’s most dynamic and sought-after neighborhoods. Historically, the community was anchored by warehouses, factories, and workshops that gave the area its gritty character and economic foundation. Those industrial elements remain an essential part of the landscape, preserving the authenticity and history of the neighborhood, while The Nations has welcomed a wave of new development that brings fresh energy and modern convenience. Trendy restaurants, locally owned retail shops, craft breweries, and thoughtfully designed residential communities now line The Nations’ streets, attracting both longtime Nashvillians and newcomers. Real estate growth has been balanced with the preservation of iconic landmarks, ensuring the neighborhood maintains its distinct identity while continuing to expand. What makes The Nations unique is this coexistence—the industrial backbone is not being erased but instead stands alongside new construction and revitalized spaces. The hum of industry, the charm of historic buildings, and the vibrancy of new development all converge to create a neighborhood that honors its past while embracing its future.

Discover how three of the nation’s leading colleges and universities are redefining the role of the urban campus to serve their students and positively impact Nashville. This tour offers a unique view of how institutional strategy is influencing Nashville's growth, culture, and community fabric, serving as a powerful catalyst for urban transformation. 

Begin at The Meharry Living and Learning Center, a ULI Nashville award winner and discuss innovation in the design of the HBCU’s campus. Travel next to Vanderbilt, where the buzz around the new stadium district and innovation hub shows how a campus can energize and impact an entire neighborhood. For your last stop, head over to Belmont, where the new Fisher Center for the Performing Arts stands as a testament to the growing role of academic institutions in defining a city’s cultural geography. This tour offers an in-depth look at how these campuses are integral to Nashville’s civic and economic life.

Welcome to the heartbeat of hospitality innovation—Nashville, Tennessee. Experience some of the city’s most iconic and upscale hotel properties on an exclusive guided tour through downtown. From boutique elegance to towering luxury, this curated walk showcases the architectural brilliance, brand strategy, and investment potential behind Nashville’s booming hotel scene. You’ll meet property leaders, explore design-forward spaces, and gain insights into how these hotels are shaping the future of urban hospitality. Whether you’re scouting your next investment, benchmarking amenities, or simply soaking in the Southern charm, this tour promises a front-row seat to the best of Nashville’s high-end hotel market.

Adjacent to downtown and its robust development, East Nashville is also experiencing rapid growth. Join us for a tour of Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency’s Cayce Transformation, which is reshaping the 63-acre Cayce Place community into a vibrant, mixed-income neighborhood. 

This ambitious, multiphase project blends modern, energy-efficient housing with active green space, and essential community amenities—all designed with extensive input from residents and guided by a “one-for-one” principle, that ensures existing residents have the opportunity to move into new homes as soon as they are completed. 

Learn how MDHA and its partners capitalized on HUD’s Rental Assistance Demonstration program and are combining public and private financing, major infrastructure upgrades, and community visioning to create a more inclusive, connected, and thriving neighborhood that honors Cayce’s legacy while building for the future. 

Wrap up with a visit to the recently completed Shelby House and Samaritan Recovery Community (SRC) to hear how the development team and nonprofit leveraged a partnership with MDHA to increase affordable housing capacity and build on the services SRC has been providing to the community for over 50 years.

Discover the modern heartbeat of ever-evolving downtown Nashville at Nashville Yards and Fifth + Broadway. These premier, mixed-use developments have transformed the way locals and visitors enjoy and experience downtown Nashville. 

This tour takes you behind the scenes of the development process, exploring how class A+ office, hospitality, entertainment, vibrant retail and dining, luxury residential, pedestrian pathways, and open green spaces and plazas come together in thoughtful design, infused with energy in the center of Music City. Gain insight into the design, construction, and operational strategies that make these properties a model for modern city business, lifestyle, and entertainment.

Christmas Day 2020, a bomb detonated on 2nd Avenue in downtown Nashville, damaging 65 buildings in the historic center of the city. Recovery of this important historic street began with the goal to restore the affected zone and grew into an opportunity to rethink and revitalize 2nd and 1st avenues and Riverfront Park. Through strong community engagement, ULI Advisory Services panel guidance, and a robust collaboration across Metro agencies, the re-imagined 2nd Avenue streetscape includes outdoor dining and sustainable design elements, including new urban trees and plantings, designed to welcome tourists and Nashvillians. This tour will explore the recovery and rebuilding efforts for both the city and private owners and highlight the importance of rebuilding together.

Join us for a guided look at how East Nashville’s most creative small-scale projects are shaping the city’s future. This tour highlights quirky, small-scale adaptive reuses and micro-developments that make a big cultural and economic impact, from The Wash—a former car wash transformed into six micro-restaurants—to Fatherland District and Five Points Alley—where small parcels and flexible leases help launch local entrepreneurs. We’ll also visit The Wilder and other projects that showcase design-driven approaches to residential and alternative hospitality. Micro- and small-scale developments create opportunities for developers with financially feasible projects, often adaptive reuses or small-lot infill, and for business owners with affordable storefronts, shorter leases, and flexible spaces that support entrepreneurship. Together, these “small but mighty” projects reveal how developers and business owners alike can find accessible entry points into Nashville’s growing market and punch above their weight in terms of community, placemaking, and economic impact.

East Nashville has long been a magnet for artists, a launchpad for small businesses, and a neighborhood known for embracing innovation—whether through detached accessory dwelling units (DADUs), urban farming, road diets, or bike lanes. Despite facing multiple tornadoes, East Nashville has shown remarkable resilience, adapting zoning codes and reworking its streets for multimodal use while preserving its historic character and unique sense of place. 

This tour will explore East Nashville’s historic neighborhoods and its vibrant core at Five Points. Participants will visit several ULI Nashville award-winning projects, including two developments impacted by the 2020 tornado that were restored and revitalized. The tour will also highlight adaptive reuse and rehabilitation projects that embody the district’s artistic spirit—from a church transformed into a boutique hotel to a former car wash reimagined as a hub for pop-up food stalls.

Adaptive reuse in Nashville is anything but one-size-fits-all. From breathing new life into historic landmarks to transforming former churches, warehouses, and even temporary “placeholder” buildings, these projects illustrate the creative ways the city is reimagining its built environment. This tour showcases a variety of successful adaptive reuse models that highlight both the lessons learned and opportunities of repurposing existing structures. Attendees will hear from project stakeholders, including developers, consultants, and community leaders, about the processes of adaptive reuse and its role in catalyzing growth through investment and development in Nashville’s neighborhoods.

This bus tour explores how Nashville’s parks and greenways form a connected system that links neighborhoods, history, culture, and ecology across the city. Participants will visit a wide range of parks and open spaces from the natural landscapes of Shelby Bottoms to the more formal, civic heart of Bicentennial Park, from pocket parks like Noble Park to major community gathering spaces such as Centennial Park and Ascend Amphitheater. Along the way, attendees will hear directly from designers, municipal leaders, and community partners about the funding, design, and construction behind these projects. The tour highlights how the system supports diverse programming and experiences, including nature centers, water access, trails for recreation and mobility, playgrounds, live music, and historic interpretation showcasing how Nashville’s parks are rooted in place while building a resilient and connected public realm for the future.

Step into Nashville’s ultimate urban transformation. Once a rail yard, the Gulch is now one of Nashville’s most vibrant neighborhoods and a national model for mixed-use, high-density development. This walking tour offers an inside look at the strategies, partnerships, and policies that shaped the Gulch and earned it one of the first LEED Neighborhood Development certifications in the country in 2009. 

Participants will visit key sites including Gulch Crossing, Gulch Union, Noble Park, Canopy Hotel, and Paseo South Gulch. Along the way, attendees will hear from the developers, planners, and designers behind this transformation and explore topics such as zoning, adaptive reuse, historic preservation, and placemaking. Gain practical insights into creating vibrant, sustainable urban districts.

Germantown, Nashville’s first suburb, has transformed from a 19th-century working class residential and industrial district into one of the city’s most dynamic intown neighborhoods. With a backdrop of historic mills, warehouses, historic neighborhoods, and riverfront infrastructure, Germantown is redefining how cities can blend preservation, adaptive reuse, and bold new density. 

This tour explores the evolving landscape of Germantown, where modern growth is thoughtfully layered over the neighborhood’s industrial roots. Participants will see how historic architecture and infrastructure are anchoring a wave of reinvestment as they combine adaptive reuse with carefully scaled new development that respects the neighborhood’s fabric. Neighborhood projects include new office and residential towers, public space and greenways, and curated retail and hospitality. Along the way, the tour touches on riverfront revitalization, adaptive reuse, and the integration of public space, resilience, and urban density—offering a glimpse into Germantown’s role in shaping the future of Nashville’s urban core.

Join us for an eye-opening tour of some of Nashville’s most impactful projects and programs serving the city’s unhoused community. We’ll kick off the tour with an orientation in Nashville’s core, highlighting long-term strategies such as critical outreach services and creative housing solutions that combat homelessness and create both transitional and permanent supportive housing rooted in sustainable communities. Learn about Nashville’s Continuum of Care—the planning body responsible for coordinating funding and delivery of housing and services for those experiencing homelessness. 

The next stop is Room in the Inn, which started from the simple act of a religious leader opening the parish doors to those seeking sanctuary in their parking lot to now partnering with 200 congregations and 7,000 volunteers. From there, travel to the Village at Glencliff to see how tiny homes are being used to house the medically vulnerable, unhoused Nashvillians to safely recover. Along the way, hear directly from the changemakers cultivating these resources—affordable housing developers, outreach providers, clergy, city leaders, and those with lived experience. Their stories will offer a powerful, comprehensive look at the challenges and opportunities facing this imperative initiative. Explore other bold, forward-thinking developments that challenge the norms of what affordable housing can look like. 

Don’t miss this chance to uncover the often-overlooked story of Nashville’s most underserved residents and the strides our city is taking to close the gaps in outreach services and permanent supportive housing for this community.

Nashville’s growth isn’t just out, it’s up. This tour showcases Music City’s innovative residential and office towers that are shaping Nashville’s skyline as well as urban work and living. Attendees will tour downtown’s newest high-rise, luxury residential, and the Nashville Yards’ mixed-use development, Pinnacle tower, and will hear from industry leaders about the strategies behind overcoming site constraints, regulatory hurdles, and infrastructure challenges to bring high-rise visions to life. These high rises don’t exist on their own. Attendees will also experience the entertainment-driven and other one-of-a-kind amenities that draw residents, tenants, and visitors to these developments.