Exploring Life & Business with Christian Paro of C615

Today we’d like to introduce you to Christian Paro. Them and their team share their story with us below:

Christian Paro, East Nashville real estate investor whose foray into the world of coworking, starting with Center 615 in 2012. It was more serendipity than anything else. We were looking for a commercial building on Main Street, fervently believing in the future potential of the 5-block corridor from 5th St. to Five Points. After adding Studio 615 in 2015 and Five Points Alley Shops in 2020, one common thread is that we offer affordable spaces for offices, meetings, events, production, retail, and restaurants that are scaled appropriately to the neighborhoods in which they exist.

Our business model allows small businesses the ability to scale up or down within our footprint. And for larger businesses, we offer a great option for satellite staff or small teams to flourish in a diverse work environment with lots of free amenities. Our next big endeavor is a 321 residential unit / 50,000 sq. ft. commercial space SP development on 52 acres behind Studio 615. This master plan came to fruition after spending a few days in the woods, flagging specimen trees.

This passion for trees and public space is derived from my first job with New York City Parks and Recreation. Once completed, the greenway and several other dedicated public spaces will be land trusted to the Metro Nashville Parks Department.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Ha ha ha. Smooth road… Actually, the acquisition of the three buildings on Main Street that comprise Center 615 did fall into place rather naturally, however, the renovation of those buildings, the oldest of which was 75 years old, had its challenges. Old buildings can be quite difficult to bring up to code. And at Studio 615, retrofitting a warehouse for video production was a tricky one to execute. Of course, the biggest struggles came in March of 2020.

We had just started major renovations on Five Points Alley Shops when the tornado hit all three buildings at Center 615 and all 10 structures at Five Points. We lost almost half our office, tenants, at Center 615 due to the pandemic and Covid challenges delayed our completion of Five Points Alley Shops for about 10 months. The past two years have, by far, been the roughest.

What matters most to you?
Community. I and all of my staff reside in East Nashville. All of my projects are in East Nashville. When I moved to Nashville in 2005, I was told it was a dangerous place that I should avoid. Then after finally visiting and seeing all the historic homes and potential of once-thriving commercial corridors, I decided to put all of my time and energy into this neighborhood. I’d like to think that my projects helped make the neighborhood safer over the last ten years.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: c615.co

Image Credits
Rory White, Johnathan Jones, and Grace Woodie.