Back in 2005, local real estate icon Bob Parks had the vision to create flex office space in Smyrna, which was mostly unheard of in Smyrna and Rutherford County at the time.
He worked with Dow Smith Company on his idea, and Seven Oaks Business Park was born.
Seven Oaks is a professional flex office complex located just off Interstate 24, two miles north of State Route 840 and two miles south of Sam Ridley Parkway. The high-end, multi-building development includes 2,000 square feet of incremental finished tenant offices, loading docks with 10x10 overhead doors in the rear, and warehouse/condo space throughout the development. Dow Smith Company has designed and constructed seven buildings on the property, with an eighth to open soon and a ninth on the way.
Shortly after Seven Oaks opened, the Great Recession hit in 2008 and business slowed. But in the past 10 years, Seven Oaks has seen rapid growth with the amount of square footage there tripling. The business park currently has a total of 76,000 square feet. It is home to such businesses as Procon Products, Elrod Engineering, C&C Electric, Protein Snack Shop, Dr. Chris Thompson, The Concrete Company, Premier Title, and WWL Logistics.
John Blankenship, one of the owners of Seven Oaks, says there are three main reasons tenants are attracted to the business park.
• Location: “Everybody says about real estate it’s location, location, location. With this space, it really does come down to location,” Blankenship says. Seven Oaks is so centrally located, it’s a stone’s throw from I-24 and mere minutes from 840. Local business owners in the park can get to Nashville quickly when they need to, but they don’t have to make the commute every day.
• Affordability: While Seven Oaks offers everything you’d find in a Nashville business park and Dow Smith Company can help tenants build out spaces to their specifications, rent is considerably more affordable. Blankenship says tenants would expect to pay 35% more for the same space in Nashville.
• Flexibility: “We can do flex space of we can do office space,” Blankenship says. “So it makes it convenient for a lot of folks.”
Joey Rhyne, Partner & Design-Builder at Dow Smith Company, says he’s been excited to see all of the growth and change at Seven Oaks. He’s grateful to get to participate in Bob Parks’ vision coming to fruition.
“We’re just thrilled to be out here,” Rhyne says. “2005 was a long time ago when we started this it seems like. So we’ve grown and I’ve grown with Seven Oaks Business Park. We appreciate Bob Parks originally giving us the opportunity to work out here.”
For more information about Seven Oaks Business Park, contact John Blankenship at 615-896-4040 or jblankenship@theparksgroupcommercial.com.
