Blackstone lends $310 million on a Starbucks-anchored Nashville tower

Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies has provided a $310 million bridge loan on Peabody Union, a newly completed office, apartment and retail complex on Nashville's Cumberland River whose office space is fully leased to Starbucks, brokerage JLL said Nov. 4.

The deal shows where office lending still works. The 249,988-square-foot office component at 50 Peabody is 100% leased to Starbucks, which plans to make it its Eastern Headquarters when it moves in during 2027. That commitment drew competing bids. “We had a significant amount of interest from a variety of lender types,” said Ed Coco of JLL Capital Markets, who led the team that arranged the loan.

The borrower is a joint venture of PGIM, the asset management arm of Prudential Financial, and the developers Stiles Corp. and Hensler Development. The three-year loan carries two one-year extension options. Stiles, based in South Florida, has developed more than 54 million square feet since 1951. Hensler's earlier Nashville projects include the residential tower The Adelicia.

Peabody Union, completed in 2025, totals 665,000 square feet in the South Bank district of downtown Nashville. Besides the office building, it includes Olive at Peabody Union, a 27-story tower with 355 apartments averaging 1,020 square feet, and 52,735 square feet of restaurant and retail space.

The retail space is the next test. It was 49.9% leased at the time of the financing, with restaurants including Moxies, Ometeo and Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams scheduled to open in 2027, the same year Starbucks moves in, according to JLL and REBusiness. PGIM and Stiles did not respond to requests for comment from Commercial Observer.