Evan Holladay

Real Estate Developer, Investor and Builder of beautiful things and affordable housing! Lover of entreprenuership & sustainability.

[Evan Holladay @EvanHolladay]

Highways are already salted in preparation for the snowmageddon. Over or under 50 inches?

[Evan Holladay @EvanHolladay]

"You need millions of dollars and years of experience to develop affordable housing."

That's what everyone told me when I started.

After developing over 2,300 units, I've learned the real barrier isn't money or experience - it's believing you can't start without those things.

Here's how you can actually get started:
1. Joint Ventures: Bring value, not capital. Local knowledge, site control, political relationships - these matter more than your bank account.

2. Start Small - An 8-unit project or nonprofit partnership builds the track record you need. Everyone starts somewhere.

3. Master the Financing Stack - Affordable housing runs on public and private capital. Your job is structuring deals, not funding them yourself.

4. Control the Dirt - Get sites under contract and entitled. I've created $1.2M in land value before breaking ground.

The photo below is from closing day in 2020 (hence the face mask 😷) for one of our first deals for Holladay Ventures - where I brought relationships and hustle instead of capital. Crazy that was almost 5 years ago today!

My latest video breaks down each strategy with real examples - including exactly how that $1.2M in value was created.👇

Watch the full YouTube video here: https://t.co/8VRAG2hmbz

I want to hear from you: what's holding you back from your first development deal?

[Evan Holladay @EvanHolladay]

That’s affordable housing!

[TaraBull @TaraBull]

It costs $38/night to stay at Circus Circus in Las Vegas. At $1,159/month, that's cheaper than a one-bedroom apartment. What's the worst that could happen? Just get a remote job.

[Evan Holladay @EvanHolladay]

Couldn’t agree more

[Smarkreilly🚶‍♂️🚴‍♂️🚍🚉🌴 @smarkreilly]

Trump is trying to sell off pristine wilderness for "housing." Meanwhile, cities like Louisville have over 30% of land dedicated to vehicle storage. We need a plan to re-populate our cities and protect the wilderness.

[Evan Holladay @EvanHolladay]

They’re married together?! https://t.co/82HERm17QT

[Evan Holladay @EvanHolladay]

Grateful to be able to talk about two of my favorite topics - affordable housing and transit and how they are "married together"!

“The mayor @freddieoconnell said it best, 'affordable housing is public transit and public transit is affordable housing,'” Holladay said. “They’re married together.”

But with any good development, according to Holladay, it has to start with the community and its leadership — both the community organizations and the council members who represent those districts.

https://t.co/61WUw10fiZ

[Steve Cavendish @scavendish]

In Early voting, transit is up BIG.

Transit will pass in Nashville

For: 131,608
Against: 62,221

[Nashville MDHA @NashvilleMDHA]

#MDHA is happy to support Shelby House by providing three funding sources:
• Project-based vouchers in partnership w/@HUDgov
• Affordable Housing Gap Financing on behalf of @MetroNashville in partnership w/@OHSNashville
• Payments in lieu of taxes (PILOT) w/@TN_Housing_Dev

[WeGo Public Transit @WeGoTransit]

Roll to the Poll with us on November 5th - ride all day for free on fixed-route service!

We also can get you to early voting sites. Click here for more information: https://t.co/zVnWdgROCr

[Clay Capp @claycapp]

What a joy to cut the ribbon on Shelby House yesterday—195 affordable homes for Nashville families! And, the next phase is underway next door. Congratulations @EvanHolladay⁩ on this great project. A warm welcome to all new residents; we are so proud to have this in District 6!

[Evan Holladay @EvanHolladay]

Grateful to be working with @freddieoconnell and @claycapp and many others to make meaningful change creating quality affordable housing in East Nashville! More to come! 🎉🙌🏗️🏘️

[Freddie O’Connell @freddieoconnell]

Today we cut the ribbon on Shelby House, which brings 195 new affordable homes to East Nashville, alongside expanded recovery capacity at Samaritan Recovery Community.

This project used multiple parts of our affordable housing toolkit, with 16 different financing elements.

[Evan Holladay @EvanHolladay]

🚌 Today is the last day to VOTE for TRANSIT in Nashville! 🚌

We went canvassing this weekend for transit and brought Evie along to make sure we sealed the deal with each voter - who can say no to her?! 😊😁👶🏻

Nashville has historically underinvested in our transit system and now is our time to make up for that!

When I first started working in Nashville 11 years ago and eventually moved here, one of the first things that stood out to me was the lack of sidewalks across the town. Walkability and safety and access for pedestrian traffic is so important not only for a healthy city but also sometimes as a means of last resort transit for families with lower incomes that cannot affordable the cost of car ownership. This is one of the many reasons why I am so passionate about the Transit Referendum and making sure we upgrade our transit network for ALL of Nashville. 🚌🚌🚌

[Deborah Varallo @Deb_Varallo]

The #Housing Matters Summit continues. @EddieLatimer is interviewing @EvanHolladay & @TonyGNashville on bringing nonprofit & forprofits together. Hank Helton interviewed @MattAWiltshire, Dale Mitchell and Mick Nelson finding the finance. @nashchamber

[Freddie O’Connell @freddieoconnell]

It’s almost time to choose how we move.

https://t.co/1GqsUDPGbu

[Evan Holladay @EvanHolladay]

What is your favorite library branch in Nashville? Reply with a picture

[Evan Holladay @EvanHolladay]

Used to live right around the corner from this 4-plex and loved it! Just need to update those awnings 😁

[East Nashville Urban Design @UrbanEastNash]

Quadplex. Very likely the cheapest housing in this very much gentrified neighborhood.

Not ruining character. Just providing a place for non-wealthy people to live.

We should allow more density like this within our popular neighborhoods.

[Evan Holladay @EvanHolladay]

Worth a watch

[Jonathan Berk @berkie1]

“We built cities all over America that are designed for automobiles and not designed for people... Our housing costs are high, in part because of the way that we've designed our cities."

- @GovDougBurgum North Dakota comments during the @NatlGovsAssoc winter meetings

[Clay Capp @claycapp]

Big community meeting about the first 30 acres of the East Bank tonight! Thank you to ⁦@mendesbob⁩ for the thorough presentation, ⁦@JacobKupin4D19⁩ for hosting, and the community for the great comments and questions! Am eager to hear from D6!

[Evan Holladay @EvanHolladay]

What conference?

[Hannah Pechan @hannah_pechan]

Grainy slide from national affordable housing conference. Nashville is currently utilizing all Market and Non Market fixes (not rent control/caps - preempted).

[Sean Parker is FOR Transit @SeanForFive]

Half of our city are tenants.

“I don’t like renters” is not a compelling argument.