Overview
Erica Garrison is a land use and zoning attorney in Holland & Knight's Nashville office. Ms. Garrison has more than 20 years of experience advising on complex entitlement, municipal regulatory and government affairs matters across Nashville and Middle Tennessee.
With strong connections to agencies across Nashville and the surrounding mid-south area, Ms. Garrison's practice focuses on entitlement and land use projects, helping to shape the landscape by permitting and entitling numerous projects that have beneficially impacted the city's skyline. She counsels clients involved in complex transactions with the Metropolitan Government of Nashville, as well as works with the city council on a regular basis and obtains state and local incentives for businesses relocating to Tennessee. She also provides guidance on negotiations with the Nashville Planning Commission, Zoning Appeals Board (BZA), Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency (MDHA), and state boards and commissions.
In addition, Ms. Garrison assists clients with a wide array of procurement work, from helping them respond to requests for proposal (RFPs) to contesting the issuance of an RFP award. She regularly represents clients on a myriad of state regulatory matters, including land use, zoning, entitlement matters, metropolitan and state regulatory engagements and incentive structuring.
Prior to joining Holland & Knight, Ms. Garrison was an attorney at a national law firm in its Nashville office.
Representative Experience
- Assisted AllianceBernstein with securing state and local incentives to relocate its new headquarters to Nashville
- Assisted Bridgestone Americas Inc. with government relations matters by utilizing incentive mechanisms available, including the use of Payment in Lieu of Tax (PILOT) agreements
- Assisted Lifepoint Health Inc. with securing state and local incentives for the company's new headquarters in Nashville
- Assisted Ryman Hospitality Properties Inc., formerly Gaylord Entertainment Company, with government relations and state tax incentive matters
- Represented the City of Chattanooga and its Industrial Development Board in reconfiguring Tax Increment Financing (TIF) policies and programs
- Advised OliverMcMillan and Spectrum in their partnership to co-develop the $400 million Fifth + Broadway mixed-use project on the site of the original convention center in Nashville
- Assisted Monroe Investment Partners in the comprehensive zoning and land use, master planning and entitlement process for the 100-acre River North development in downtown Nashville
- Assisted GBT Realty Corporation in the rezoning of a site in the midtown area of Nashville for an office, hotel and residential development
- Assisted Oldacre McDonald with land use, planning and zoning matters for the Century Farms mixed-use, master-planned development southeast of Nashville
- Assisted multiple developers and owners with the rezoning of properties throughout Middle Tennessee for large multifamily and commercial development projects, including highly complex projects in the Wedgewood-Houston and Midtown neighborhoods
- Representation of numerous hotel and mixed-use developers to secure overall height modifications in downtown Nashville
- Assisted Buckingham Corporation with the rezoning of a site in the Vanderbilt University area of Nashville
- Assisted Piedmont Natural Gas/Duke Energy with environmental, government relations, litigation and real estate matters related to natural gas pipeline projects
- Handled numerous high-profile procurement projects and bid protests before the City of Nashville
- Handled numerous mining/quarrying projects throughout Tennessee focused on the rezoning and permitting of those projects
Credentials
- University of Notre Dame Law School, J.D.
- DePauw University, B.A.
- Tennessee
- Tennessee Court of Appeals
- Supreme Court of Tennessee
- Nashville Bar Association
- Tennessee Bar Association
- American Bar Association
- Harry Phillips American Inn of Court
- Tennessee Repertory Theatre, Board Member, 2014-2015
- West End United Methodist Church, Board of Trustees
- Nashville Convention and Visitor's Bureau, Board Member
- Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands, Volunteer, 2008-2016
- The Best Lawyers in America guide, Municipal Law, 2023-2025; Land Use and Zoning Law, 2026; Economic Development Law, 2026
- In Charge – Government/Politics, Nashville Post, 2022, 2023
- Dean Knoop Legal Aid and Public Defender's Award, University of Notre Dame Law School
- DePauw Merit Scholar, DePauw University
- Carson Newman History Scholar, DePauw University