S2.9 Dean Stratouly: Dylan’s Nashville Skyline, Revisited

Climbing the Charts with Angie Lawless and Brandon Miller

In the recently released Travel + Leisure rankings of "The 24 Best New Luxury City Hotels Around the World,” readers likely nodded at Xenodocheio Milos in Athens.; however, #2 was likely to come as something of a surprise: Four Seasons Hotel Nashville. In the words of Travel + Leisure, “It wasn’t that long ago that a pairing of the Four Seasons and Nashville would’ve seemed unlikely. But times have changed for both the iconic hotel brand and Music City.”

The Four Seasons Nashville is not just a luxury hotel, however. The tower also has 144 private residence, luxury condominums. Many local real estate observers were skeptical that Nashville had a deep enough luxury market to support this sort of project, a project where a handful of units had listing prices in the eight figure ranges. Spoiler alert—all the Four Seasons Residences were sold before construction was even complete.

So, how was Four Seasons persuaded to plant a flag in Nashville, and how did Nashville attract Four Seasons?

On this very special episode of Climbing the Charts, we sit down with Dean Stratouly. He’s the CEO of the Congress Group, based in Boston, and has been, for almost a decade now, the driving force behind the answers to those questions. Dean shares with us how he went from selling nuclear power plants to developing skyline shaping properties – like the Four Seasons Nashville.

And Dean isn’t done in Nashville; he's just getting started. Dean offers unvarnished takes on today’s real estate market, explains how Nashville can ensure better and smarter development, and offers his assessment of the current state of Music City: “I’m as bullish on Nashville today as I was seven years ago when I got here. It continues to have all the potential, more potential than just about any other market that I’ve seen in the last three or four years.”

Join us for a conversation that will raise your real estate IQ and inspire you as to what’s possible on one’s professional journey, including the role of chance encounters and self-manufactured luck.