Bridgestone/Firestone to consolidate headquarters

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (July 15)—Bridgestone/Firestone Americas Holding Inc. has signed a letter of intent to lease about 210,000 square feet of space in the Highland Ridge Tower in Nashville to act as its new headquarters. BFS intends to sublease about 135,000 square feet of space from the Tennessee Valley Authority, currently the major tenant in the building, and lease approximately 75,000 of vacant space from the building landlord Gaedeke Holdings Ltd. of Dallas, the company said in a statement. Headquartered in Nashville since 1992, BFS has about 800 employees in four separate locations in the "airport corridor" portion of the city. BFS said it has wanted to consolidate its headquarters under one building for awhile to increase ease of communication and facilitate a sense of teamwork among its Nashville-based employees. The parties expect to finalize the transactions by midsummer. BFS said it expects to complete the move to the new headquarters by January 2003.