Widely known for owning some of Nashville’s most coveted development sites, GBT Realty has been working quietly behind the scenes for years to prepare its next big act.
Brentwood-based GBT Realty Corp. is doubling down on its retail development roots, with plans to close and start construction on 33 new projects in 2026, according to GBT CEO Brian Dawson.
The execution of the $1.3 billion pipeline is the culmination of a years-long effort which involved tweaking the company’s organizational structure, making a massive investment in technology and raising capital to pursue new retail development — GBT’s bread and butter — on a scale the firm has never done before.
“We grew the organization by over 10% last year after we realigned the organization. The reason we had to tweak the organizational structure was so that we walked, talked and acted like capital demands us to and put us in position to serve our retailers in a more efficient and effective manner,” Dawson told the Business Journal. “Life changes, and it wasn’t that GBT was broken. But we wanted to get ahead of the curve strategically.”
