Nashville, Tennessee: Oracle Breaks Ground on $4.5 Billion World Headquarters on the East Bank

Oracle broke ground on Tuesday, Nov. 10, on its future global headquarters on Nashville's East Bank, starting vertical work on a riverfront campus that local leaders have chased for more than five years. The Tennessean put the projected investment at $4.5 billion. Oracle described the project in its own announcement as a long-term capital investment in the East Bank and the regional economy, and as a base for growth in cloud, artificial intelligence and health care technology.

Co-CEOs Clay Magouyrk and Mike Sicilia led the ceremony with Governor Bill Lee, Mayor Freddie O'Connell and Tennessee Economic Development Commissioner Stuart McWhorter. Oracle's announcement also listed Governor-elect Marsha Blackburn and U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty among the officials on hand. Magouyrk thanked the city for its welcome. "We're very thankful that we get to be in a place like this," he said. Lee, who courted Oracle as governor in 2019, called the company's decision to build in Nashville a turning point. "This company will change the trajectory of this city and this state forever," he said.

What the campus will include

Oracle put the campus at about 78 acres in its announcement, while The Tennessean described an 82-acre site. Both accounts agree on the main pieces: office buildings, retail space and a 120-room Nobu hotel and restaurant. Oracle said its investment includes $175 million for public infrastructure, including a pedestrian bridge across the Cumberland River, a public park, greenway connections and street improvements. The Tennessean said the plan includes a two-acre public park and the bridge will land downtown in Germantown's Neuhoff development. The campus was designed by Foster + Partners, and Oracle said the plan keeps more than 1,900 trees on a former industrial site. Most of the office campus will be restricted, with a fence between the secure buildings and the public areas, The Tennessean reported. Crews spent much of 2026 leveling the site and installing underground infrastructure. Oracle said the first buildings are expected to open in 2030.

A deal five years in the making

Metro Council approved the Oracle deal in 2021. Under that agreement, the company committed to creating 8,500 new jobs by the end of 2031, and The Tennessean reported it was eligible for a $65 million state economic development grant and up to $175 million in Metro property tax discounts tied to an initial $1.2 billion investment and infrastructure work in River North. The projected investment has since grown to $4.5 billion, and the plan changed shape. Oracle first described dual headquarters in Austin, Texas, and Nashville. In April 2024, founder Larry Ellison said in his first public Nashville appearance that world headquarters operations would move to Tennessee. "It's not going to look anything like a corporate campus. What we're building is a park," Ellison said at the time. O'Connell said the project shows how public and private work can line up on "economic development, infrastructure, those things that better the lives of Tennesseans."

The site sits in an East Bank area that held about 500 acres of undeveloped or industrial land around Nissan Stadium a few years ago. The Tennessee Titans' new stadium is set to open nearby in 2027, and homes and businesses have already opened next door at the River North development. Oracle will keep the site open to neighbors this week, with three days of public celebrations and open-house events from Nov. 12 to Nov. 14 at 2141 Waterside Drive, including live music, food trucks and three-dimensional models of the campus.