Why Williamson County is a Top Choice for Home Buyers and Sellers Amid Rapid Growth

The Williamson County cat is out of the bag.

Many would argue it has been for a while, sparked by Nissan’s announcement to move its North American headquarters from Los Angeles to Franklin in 2005. Since then, Mars Petcare, Mitsubishi Motors and, soon, In-N-Out Burger have followed suit — and that's just to name a few.

On the surface, Williamson County’s “suburban headquarters hub” title seems great, but the area’s rapid boom has put the county at a crossroads.

“I truly believe Williamson County has an identity crisis,” Mike Honious, CEO of Geodis in Americas, said on a panel at the Nashville Business Journal’s Growth of Nashville: Williamson’s Surge event on Feb 5.

“You have an identity crisis because you don't know if you want big corporations coming in,” Honious continued. “You don't know if you want growth to come or go. You're a little confused.”

While business and job opportunities are seemingly thriving in the buzzy suburb, the county’s surge comes with a cost.

The average home price in Williamson County is around $830,000 today, compared to Nashville’s which is close to $525,000, according to Luis Parodi, vice president at Republic Bank and chairman of the board of Williamson Inc.

“The cost of land is obviously going up. It used to be 30% of the cost [for a project], now it's almost 50% and sometimes 60%. When we consider that, we have to explore the factor of density,” Parodi said on the panel. “We have to be more creative … to create affordable housing and attainable housing."

There have been several episodes of anti-growth sentiment flare-ups in Nashville's surrounding counties in recent years. Last year, the Williamson County commission debated its $400,000 contract with Williamson Inc. to serve as the economic development arm of the county.

“When you see bouts of frustration like that … I hope that we don't see too much of that here. Polarization I don't think is healthy for anybody,” said panelist Thomas McDaniel, partner at Boyle Investment Co. “We've had some candid dialogues with the city over the past year or two about things like occupancy counts and interpretations of those.”

McDaniel sees real estate growth opportunity in existing mixed-use hubs like Cool Springs and Brentwood.

“The reality is that most growth still can happen right here where we are…. One of the interesting things that we're going to start seeing soon is... infill in Brentwood and in Cool Springs, selectively, at first,” McDaniel said. “Part of it is out of economic necessity. We've got some obsolescence issues, amazingly. But, the majority of the growth is still going to happen in this same core area. We don't want growth going everywhere”

It's already spreading. Just last week, the owner of the Mall at Green Hills announced its plans for a massive luxury outlet mall in Thompson’s Station with potential for residential, hotel and big-box retailer space.

“We're putting some parcels where parking was [in Franklin], and I think we're going to see some more of that,” Rebecca Ozols-Goss, owner at Bell Construction Co., said on the panel. “But as much as the spread does add to the congestion, I think people are still really excited about... Spring Hill, Thompson's Station, Leiper’s Fork... That's going to continue to drive growth in those areas.”

Williamson County’s appeal is still evident with its public schools ranked among the top in the nation and a low cost of living. News continues to break with national companies, like Memphis’ TruGreen, moving their headquarters to the neighborhood.

“When we meet with companies that are looking at moving here from California, we don't have to give them any kind of sales pitch," McDaniel said. "It’s already decided, it's so compelling."

But everyone wants to be the last. There’s fear that the initial draws to the county— cost of living, less traffic, etc.— are starting to fade and will, if they haven’t already, begin to push longtime residents away.

“We probably have 600 [employees] in our location in Brentwood, and 300 of them live in Williamson County. It's really important that they understand they have an opportunity to, ‘I can work here, but I can live here. I can do both, and I love it,’ Honious said. “Williams County's got something great. Just don't screw it up.”