Land Acquisition & Entitlement Services in Nashville, TN
BDG Partners provides land acquisition and entitlement services in Nashville for builders, developers, and landowners: identifying high-potential sites, evaluating highest-and-best use, and navigating Metro’s rezoning, SP zoning, and approval processes. Most brokerages sell land. We help you decide what it can become first.
Land & entitlement at a glance
- 40+ builder and developer partnerships across Middle Tennessee
- On-market and off-market site sourcing, including Compass Private Exclusives
- Feasibility, density, and entitlement-pathway analysis before you commit capital
- Rezoning and SP zoning strategy through Planning Commission and Metro Council
- Davidson County added ~9,300 residents in 2025; Metro projects ~90,000 housing units needed in ten years
Send us your site. We will tell you what it can become, what it cannot, and what the difference is worth.
Site Selection
Land acquisition in Nashville: strategic site selection
We assist clients in acquiring land and development opportunities with a clear strategy, and the work goes far beyond locating property: identifying on-market and off-market opportunities, evaluating highest-and-best use against zoning and neighborhood plans, analyzing development feasibility, density, and entitlement pathways, assessing infrastructure, utilities, access, and regulatory constraints, and supporting negotiations, due diligence, and closing. Raw land, transitional property, or an existing asset ready for redevelopment: the decisions are grounded in Nashville’s planning framework, not guesswork.
Entitlements 101
What are entitlements, and why do they decide your project?
Entitlements are the legal approvals required to develop, redevelop, or change the use of a property. They define what can be built, how, and whether a project moves forward at all. In Nashville they include rezoning, Specific Plan (SP) zoning, conditional and special use permits, variances, site plan approvals, and overlay district compliance. They are especially critical for adaptive reuse, where industrial, office, or commercial buildings are repositioned into residential, mixed-use, or creative space and nonconforming uses meet overlay requirements.
Entitlements are often the difference between properties that appear promising and projects that are truly viable, financeable, and marketable.
| Process | Metro fee (2026) | Typical timeline | Approval path |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rezoning (standard) | varies by district/size | 3–6 months | Planning Commission (~30–45 days) → Metro Council, 3 readings |
| SP zoning, Tier 1 (0–5 units) | $2,900 | 4–6 months | Community meeting → PC → Council |
| SP zoning, Tier 2 (6–25 units) | $4,500 | 4–6 months | Same |
| SP zoning, Tier 3 (26+ units) | $6,100 | 6+ months | Same, higher scrutiny |
| Variances / special exceptions | case-by-case | 1–3 months | Board of Zoning Appeals |
Fee schedule per Metro Planning, verified mid-2026; confirm current fees at application. Timelines assume uncomplicated cases; controversial or complex requests run longer.
The Power Tool
Specific Plan (SP) zoning: Nashville’s most flexible instrument
A Specific Plan creates a custom zoning district tailored to one project, with negotiated standards written directly into the zoning ordinance: height and density, permitted uses, setbacks and buffers, architectural standards, site design and circulation. It offers flexibility for complex or creative developments and certainty for investors and lenders, because the approved outcome is defined in black and white. Much of Nashville’s recent infill exists because someone ran the SP process well. We help clients decide when SP is the right tool and guide the strategy from pre-application through Metro Council.
Navigating Metro
How we navigate Metro Nashville Planning and Zoning
Nashville’s land use is governed by Metro Code Title 17, one of the region’s most detailed zoning frameworks, layered with overlays, neighborhood plans, and long-range policy. Our value is anticipation: interpreting the code and overlays, identifying opportunity and constraint inside existing zoning, shaping entitlement strategies that align with neighborhood plans, anticipating Planning Department feedback before applications are filed, guiding clients through Planning Commission and Metro Council, and coordinating the attorneys, planners, and engineers a project needs. Fewer redesigns, fewer delays, fewer surprises.
Value Creation
Adaptive reuse, and why entitlements move land value
Adaptive reuse plays a growing role in Nashville’s urban core: unlocking value by reimagining existing buildings rather than starting from dirt, through nonconforming uses, overlay requirements, and parking constraints that punish the unprepared. And across every project type, the arithmetic is the same: land approved for its highest use is worth a multiple of land that merely might be. The right entitlements unlock value, reduce regulatory risk, increase marketability, and create shovel-ready opportunities. Whether you are preparing land for development or repositioning a property for sale, entitlement strategy is where the money is made or lost.
Where The Growth Is
Where Nashville’s next development cycle is happening
The East Bank is the headline: 550 riverfront acres, 130 of them Metro-owned, being remade around the new stadium with major zoning legislation passed in April 2026. The transit-oriented corridors (Gallatin, Charlotte, Murfreesboro, and Nolensville Pikes) reward density done well. And the late-2025 DADU ordinance, BL2025-1007, quietly rezoned most urban-core lots for a second unit by right, with companion legislation creating new residential districts. Davidson County is growing by roughly 9,300 residents a year against a projected need of 90,000 housing units in a decade. The demand is not the question. The entitlement path is.
The Ground Floor Of The Next Nashville
90,000 housing units needed in ten years. The sites that deliver them are being entitled now.
Why Work With BDG Partners
Why builders and landowners choose BDG Partners
We are not an engineering firm, and that is the point. Engineers and planners execute drawings; we lead the strategy and the deal. BDG Partners pairs 40+ builder and developer partnerships with deep knowledge of Metro Planning and Zoning, an investor-minded advisory approach across development, redevelopment, and adaptive reuse, and the resources of Compass behind it. Because we also market the finished communities, our feasibility work is grounded in what end buyers actually pay, which is the number every pro forma lives or dies on.
End to end, the engagement runs six steps: site identification and acquisition strategy, due diligence and feasibility, zoning and entitlement planning, application coordination and approvals, market positioning for sale or development, and ongoing advisory as the market moves.
Good To Know
Nashville land and entitlements: frequently asked questions
What does land entitlement mean in Nashville?
Entitlements are the legal approvals that determine what a property can become: rezoning, Specific Plan (SP) zoning, conditional use permits, variances, site plan approvals, and overlay compliance under Metro Code Title 17. A parcel’s value depends less on its dirt than on what it is approved to hold, which is why entitlement strategy drives land economics.
How long does rezoning take in Nashville?
Plan on three to six months for an uncomplicated request: community engagement and council-member consultation, then a Planning Commission public hearing (roughly 30 to 45 days), then three readings at Metro Council, where the second reading is the public hearing. Complex or contested cases, and many SP applications, run longer. Preparation before filing is the biggest schedule lever.
What is SP zoning and what does it cost?
Specific Plan zoning creates a custom district for one project, with negotiated standards written into the ordinance. Metro’s application fees run in tiers: $2,900 for up to 5 units, $4,500 for 6 to 25, and $6,100 for 26 or more, as of mid-2026, plus your design and consultant costs. Its value is certainty: the approved outcome is defined before you build.
Can I rezone my residential lot or add a second unit?
Often, yes. Since ordinance BL2025-1007, most urban-core lots allow a detached accessory dwelling unit by right, up to 850 or 1,200 square feet by lot size, and some corridors support full rezoning to higher use. The answer is always parcel-specific: zoning district, overlays, and neighborhood plans decide it, and we review those before recommending anything.
Do entitlements really increase land value?
Substantially. Entitled, shovel-ready land trades at a premium because the buyer’s risk and timeline shrink: the density is approved, the use is certain, and lenders can underwrite it. For many owners, securing the right approvals before selling is the highest-return project they will ever run on the property.
Do you work with homeowners, or only developers?
Both. Developers engage us for site sourcing, feasibility, and entitlement strategy. Landowners and homeowners engage us to answer a simpler question: what is my property really worth to a builder, and what approvals would raise that number? Either way, the first conversation is free and the analysis is specific to your parcel.
Work With Us
Unlock what your site can become
Bring us a parcel, a portfolio, or a thesis. We will map the entitlement path, the timeline, and the value on the other side, before you commit capital.
Request a site evaluation
Prefer to talk? Call 615-854-7502 or email [email protected].
Own land in a growth corridor? Your parcel may be worth far more entitled than listed as-is. Find out what a builder would really pay, and what approvals would raise the number.