Family Office Buys Nashville Grocery Center Anchored by Tennessee's Top Whole Foods

The 92,470-square-foot Franklin property sold at 100% occupancy with shop tenants averaging more than $800 per square foot in sales.

By the Family Office Real Estate Daily Desk·Sunday, October 11, 2026·1 min read

Editorial summary of reporting byJLL Our editorial standards →

The answer · checked against JLL

Which family office bought the Whole Foods-anchored retail center in Nashville and what were the deal details?

JLL Capital Markets arranged the sale of Southside at McEwen, a 92,470-square-foot grocery-anchored retail center in Franklin, Tennessee. Nuveen sold the property to a high net-worth family office advised by Lincoln Property Company. The center is 100% leased and anchored by the top-performing Whole Foods Market location in Tennessee, with in-line shop tenants averaging more than $800 per square foot in sales.

Key facts

JLL Capital Markets arranged the sale of Southside at McEwen, a 92,470-square-foot grocery-anchored retail center located at 1554 W McEwen Drive in Franklin, Tennessee.
Nuveen sold Southside at McEwen to a high net-worth family office advised by Lincoln Property Company.
Southside at McEwen is 100% leased and anchored by a 45,047-square-foot Whole Foods Market that ranks as the most visited location in Tennessee and among the top-performing stores nationally.
In-line shop tenants at Southside at McEwen average more than $800 per square foot in sales, according to JLL.
Built in 2012 and situated on 10.5 acres, Southside at McEwen features tenants including Lululemon, Flower Child, Solidcore, Bricktop's, Kendra Scott, Fab'rik and PNC Bank.
The JLL Capital Markets team was led by Senior Managing Director Jim Hamilton, Managing Director Brad Buchanan, and Senior Analyst John Perry Hilton.

Family Office Buys Nashville Grocery Center Anchored by Tennessee's Top Whole Foods — Image: editorial illustration · Story sourced from JLL

A high-net-worth family office acquired Southside at McEwen, a 92,470-square-foot grocery-anchored retail center in Franklin, Tennessee, JLL Capital Markets announced. Nuveen sold the property. Lincoln Property Company advised the family office buyer.

The center is 100% leased and anchored by a 45,047-square-foot Whole Foods Market that ranks as the most-visited location in Tennessee and among the top-performing stores nationally, JLL said. In-line shop tenants average more than $800 per square foot in sales.

The tenant roster includes Lululemon, Flower Child, Solidcore, Bricktop's, Kendra Scott, Fab'rik and PNC Bank. Multiple shop tenants pay substantially below current market rates, creating mark-to-market potential, JLL said.

Built in 2012 on 10.5 acres, the property sits at 1554 W McEwen Drive in Franklin's Cool Springs corridor. It has direct visibility and access along West McEwen Drive and Mallory Lane near Interstate 65.

The center is positioned within one of the Nashville area's most established mixed-use environments, surrounded by luxury residential communities, Class A office properties and complementary retail destinations. It benefits from proximity to Northside at McEwen and The McEwen office campus, creating a live-work-play environment that supports consumer traffic throughout the day, JLL said.

Nashville continues to attract corporate relocations and expansions across healthcare, technology, finance and professional services sectors, supporting long-term demand for high-quality retail real estate, JLL said. The combination of grocery anchoring, tenant performance, occupancy and embedded rental growth opportunities positioned the property as a compelling investment, the firm said.

The JLL Capital Markets team was led by Senior Managing Director Jim Hamilton and Managing Director Brad Buchanan, along with Senior Analyst John Perry Hilton.

The Deployment Angle

Family Office Real Estate Daily Desk · our analysis, not the source's

The family office buyer structured this as a direct ownership play advised by Lincoln Property Company rather than an LP allocation or co-GP partnership. That route makes sense when tenant credit is investment-grade, occupancy is full, and the operator can execute lease renewals without institutional committee approvals. The Whole Foods anchor occupies 45,047 square feet of the 92,470-square-foot total, meaning the grocery tenant represents roughly 49% of the net rentable area and likely a similar share of base rent.

The deployment arithmetic favours modest leverage. If shop tenants pay substantially below market and average more than $800 per square foot in sales, renewals should allow 10% to 20% rental increases on a portion of the in-line space over the next three years. On a $20 million to $25 million basis — a reasonable range for a fully leased Nashville grocery centre of this size — a 50% loan-to-value position would require $10 million to $12.5 million of equity and leave room to refinance into rental growth without margin calls.

Underwrite the Whole Foods lease expiration as the primary refinancing risk. If the anchor has more than seven years remaining, price the investment on shop-tenant upside and treat the grocery rent as stable income. If the Whole Foods lease is inside five years, model a renewal at flat to modest growth and assume some downtime or tenant-improvement capital. The $800-per-square-foot shop sales justify confidence in re-tenanting risk, but only if those figures hold through a slowdown.

Avoid structured co-investment on single-asset grocery retail unless the deal includes a programmatic commitment to acquire similar centres. The edge in this sector comes from local leasing relationships and speed on lease-up, which a passive LP position does not capture. A family office running its own acquisition programme or partnering with a repeat operator like Lincoln can act on off-market flow. Anything requiring a third-party syndication or a blind-pool vehicle will arrive too late or too expensive.

Questions this story answers

01Who sold Southside at McEwen and who bought it?

Nuveen sold Southside at McEwen to a high net-worth family office. Lincoln Property Company served as investment advisor to the buying family office. JLL Capital Markets represented Nuveen, the seller, in the transaction.

02What is the occupancy rate and tenant sales performance at Southside at McEwen?

Southside at McEwen is 100% leased. In-line shop tenants average more than $800 per square foot in sales, according to JLL. The property also has significant mark-to-market potential, with multiple shop tenants paying substantially below current market rates.

03What is the Whole Foods at Southside at McEwen's performance ranking?

The Whole Foods Market at Southside at McEwen is a 45,047-square-foot location that ranks as the most visited Whole Foods in Tennessee and among the top-performing stores nationally, according to JLL.

04Where exactly is Southside at McEwen located and what is the surrounding environment?

Southside at McEwen is located at 1554 W McEwen Drive in Franklin, Tennessee, within the Cool Springs corridor. The property has direct visibility along West McEwen Drive and Mallory Lane near Interstate 65, and is surrounded by luxury residential communities, Class A office properties, hospitality uses and complementary retail destinations.

05What is driving long-term retail demand in the Nashville market?

According to JLL, Nashville continues to attract corporate relocations and expansions across healthcare, technology, finance and professional services sectors, supporting long-term demand for high-quality retail real estate.

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Original reporting

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