Barnes & Thornburg expands Nashville presence with Broadwest lease months after opening new local office

A rapid office expansion follows the firm’s 2023 market entry

Barnes & Thornburg LLP has moved quickly to establish a larger footprint in Nashville, signing a lease for nearly 26,000 square feet in the Broadwest office tower in Midtown. The commitment came within months of the Indianapolis-based firm’s May 2023 Nashville launch, reflecting both near-term growth needs and longer-term competition among national firms for talent and clients in Middle Tennessee.

The space is located on the building’s eighth floor at 1600 West End Ave. The lease was disclosed in late 2023, with an effective start date of June 1, 2024. In May 2024, the firm announced its Nashville office had relocated into the Broadwest space, citing double-digit growth since opening.

Why Broadwest matters in Nashville’s office geography

Broadwest is one of Nashville’s largest newer office developments and is positioned at the edge of the central business district, offering access to downtown, Vanderbilt-area institutions, and major transportation corridors. For professional-services employers, that location can support recruiting across neighborhoods where many white-collar workers live and where related industries—including health care, higher education, and finance—are concentrated.

In Nashville, office decisions by law firms often balance three factors:

• Proximity to client industries, particularly health care, finance, and real estate.

• Access to courts, government agencies, and downtown business centers.

• Workplace design and amenities aligned with post-pandemic usage patterns.

Building the Nashville team: a practice mix anchored by health care and corporate work

The Nashville office opened with the addition of five partners and has been positioned as part of the firm’s broader national platform. Public reporting around the launch described an initial focus that included health care and capital markets capabilities, a mix that aligns with Nashville’s role as a national hub for health care companies and health care-related deal activity.

The firm’s Nashville lease more than doubled the size of its prior local office footprint, signaling an expectation of continued hiring and practice development.

Context: national law firms continue to test Nashville’s growth story

Nashville has increasingly attracted Am Law firms seeking a presence in fast-growing Sun Belt markets, alongside established local and regional practices. Leasing activity by firms is unfolding amid broader uncertainty in the U.S. office sector, where newer buildings with strong amenity packages have generally outperformed older properties. In that environment, a larger long-term commitment at a newer tower can function as both a recruiting tool and a statement of intent in a competitive legal market.

For Barnes & Thornburg, the Broadwest move formalized a permanent location within a year of opening in Nashville—an accelerated timeline that underscores how quickly the city can translate into staffing growth and space needs for expanding professional-services employers.