At least one Nashville apartment complex has fully converted into nothing but short-term rental units. The transition comes in a moment when the popularity of Airbnb and other services is changing the way some people invest in property.
In the case of McMillin Court in Midtown Nashville, the renters are gone and the 16 rooms now cater to travelers.
In a few ways, the gray-and-yellow building is done up like a vintage motel. It is two stories tall, and in the shape of a horseshoe. All the rooms have their own doors to the outside.
The kicker is the blue-and-yellow neon sign, which even touts “no vacancy.” That message is delivered with a wink — because these are short-term rentals, you can’t just roll up and get a room. There’s no front desk. Instead, guests like Luke Graham, of London, booked online.
“It ticked all the boxes really,” said Graham, 33. “A good rate. It’s easy to book … For me, it’s like, as long as you can get in and secure, that’s all you need.”
Airbnbs tend to run cheaper than hotels, especially with Nashville’s rising rates.
But what’s really unusual about McMillin Court is how it flipped to short-term rentals.
New Metro numbers show more than 300 such units are now licensed inside multifamily apartment or condo buildings, mostly downtown. On a smaller scale, a row of condos on Hayes Street are also used for short-term rentals. Several units are permitted with
the Riverfront Condos in Germantown, and downtown on 2nd
Avenue North above Laser Quest.
These arrangements are one outcome that housing advocates feared: taking relatively affordable units off the market.
Yet it’s easy to see why a property owner would have interest. Nightly bookings of a unit can draw $4,000 in a month, compared to $1,200 in rent.
That’s feasible at McMillin, even though it has been a fixer-upper.
“Structurally, everything was fine. But it was showing the years of use,” said property manager Clay Louallen.
He said the roof was replaced, along with flooring, cabinets, tile, toilets and all of the bathtubs.
In a past life, this building was the Phoenix Apartments, surrounded by razor wire. It burned once and was condemned for awhile around 2003, when a squatter was murdered on site. There’d been another killing there in 1996. (View changes at the apartment through Google Street View images from
2009,
2015 and
2016.)
The property isn’t nearly so ominous now, although a security guard still circles the apartment and the neighboring restaurant on a golf cart.
Louallen says Midtown needs more rooms for tourists. But also places that are more home-like for business travelers or family members who have loved ones being cared for at nearby hospitals.
“That if they have to be here for a month’s time, they can feel like it’s their home. They can come in and wash clothes,” he said. “There’s basically not anything in this apartment that you could need that’s not provided for you.”
Visitors are flocking to this format. Louallen cleared off his desk calendar to show that most days this month are booked. And further out, parts of the building are already reserved through January.
He says that’s proof of the demand for short-term rentals — and the business potential.
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