MEMPHIS | Development News

[Johnny Ryall]

Midtown mixed-use project planned
Michelle Corbet, Reporter - Memphis Business Journal

A local businessman has a $2 million to $3 million plan for the empty parking lot and art gallery at the corner of New York Street and Central Avenue across from Central BBQ.

http://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/p...t-planned.html

[Johnny Ryall]

Congressman Cohen introduces two aerotropolis bills
Michelle Corbet, Reporter - Memphis Business Journal

In April 2014, Memphis Airport City, the 50-square-mile radius around the Memphis International Airport, released a master plan that recommends developing 40 million square feet of industrial space that would create more than 20,000 jobs, increase property values by $1.2 billion and generate $30 million in additional annual taxes.

http://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/n...otropolis.html

Memphis Airport aerial shot - Wendy Whittemore

[Dr Nevergold]

Originally Posted by nashvol85

It is a neat building and definitely worthy of saving -- but let's not get carried away.

Not getting carried away at all, its how I see things. Some of our great modernist buildings of today are under threat just like our older architecture was during urban renewal. Just like planners in the urban renewal era took for granted the architecture of the past they were trying to destroy, planners of today don't appreciate modernist architecture and the masterful simplicity these buildings represent. These mistakes often do repeat themselves, and instead of renovating and repurposing we're opting to destroy buildings that have a shelf life of hundreds of years. There are modernist structures being demolished all over the place. These steel and concrete buildings can arguably last longer than any type of construction in history if they are maintained, renovated, and repurposed as needed. They're much stronger and more durable than any of the brick and mortar buildings so many people adore from the more distant past. I'm not saying they don't need major renovations and groundwork changes. A lot of modernist buildings need a complete rebuild of the lobbies and plazas to connect them to the environment as many were put on top of ugly parking garages or slabs of concrete facing the street with no connection. Yet, I'd opt for repurposing and reconstruction rather than demolition and replacement.

For example, the UPBank tower in Memphis is (I think) vacant. Its a beautiful example from this era as well. It needs to be cared for, rebuilt, repurposed. They could lop off the top of the building and replace the space ship with something more modern, but tear it down? I'd hate to see that day come. It would be a terrible loss for the city.

Re: Tunica, I think the entire Tunica experiment was built way too far outside of the Memphis proper area and its just out of place in so many ways. The new I-69 connections may make it easily accessible, but its still a remote handful of casinos in the middle of farmland with nothing connected to it for many miles around.

But its already done, the casinos are there, and the highways have been built. It does need to be marketed as a regional attraction and integrated with the Memphis market. While it is a bit displaced, its still part of the Memphis market.

[Chris Warren]

MATA changes course, wants new trolley fleet

Local transit officials have changed course on the future of Memphis trolleys, deciding to buy new trolleys instead of rebuilding the old ones that were idled last year after two caught fire.

The Memphis Area Transit Authority could buy 17 to 19 modern vintage replica trolleys if the City Council approves spending nearly $32.2 million over the next five years — including nearly $11.3 million over fiscal year 2016. The project was included in the $55 million capital improvements budget Mayor A C Wharton presented Tuesday.

“We have decided to take a different direction,’’ Ron Garrison said Wednesday. He’s president and general manager of Memphis Area Transit Authority.

The new fleet should increase ridership from about 1 million yearly.

“When we — not if — when we do this and do it right, we’re going to have two or three million riders a year,’’ he said, adding, “It’s going to be one of the catalysts that brings that Downtown core back to life in a way that will just knock everybody’s socks off.”

The new trolleys will take about two years to manufacture at a cost of up to $1.5 million each.

In the meantime, MATA also wants to buy new and used rubber-wheeled buses built to look like vintage trolleys — with wood sides and whistles — to run along the Downtown and Madison Avenue trolley routes. The agency wants six to eight buses initially, and eventually 18 to 20 of them at $150,000 to $180,000 each.

“As many as we can to make the service work real well and it to be more fun and increase ridership until we get these new vintage replica trolleys here,” Garrison said.

Now, MATA is running green hybrid transit buses along the trolley lines following the trolleys’ suspension in June 2014 after two trolleys caught fire within a six-month window. The American Public Transportation Association reviewed the incidents at MATA’s request and found the fires were caused by faulty electrical systems that weren’t addressed because of a number of systemic safety lapses at MATA.

MATA initially estimated the cost to bring back the trolleys at between $6 million and $37.5 million, with options ranging from just repairs to buying new modern trolleys.

Until last week, the agency had continued studying the option to refurbish.

“What has come to light is that to rebuild for what is acceptable for safety oversight would take longer and be more expensive, not be as reliable or safe or long-lasting,” Garrison said.

The new trolleys should last 30 to 40 years, he said, adding, “so the investment is very, very well worth it.”

Buying new vintage replica trolleys as well as the trolley-looking buses ‘‘is not THE plan,” Garrison said. “These are pieces we are looking very seriously into.”

MATA also plans to refurbish some of its old trolleys to augment the new replica trolleys “as we have money,” Garrison said.

The rail service could resume as soon as 2017.

The agency already has $4 million to $5 million in grants and matching money available for the purchases, said Tom Fox, MATA deputy general manager.

The $32.2 million to purchase modern replicas would come from $6.4 million in local government revenue and $25.7 million in 80 percent federal match funding

No new lines and we have to wait till 2017

• Video Link

I can't take the year long waits; first One Beale and now this.

[arkitekte]

Originally Posted by Dr Nevergold

For example, the UPBank tower in Memphis is (I think) vacant. Its a beautiful example from this era as well. It needs to be cared for, rebuilt, repurposed. They could lop off the top of the building and replace the space ship with something more modern, but tear it down? I'd hate to see that day come. It would be a terrible loss for the city.

100 N Main. It's vacant, or mostly vacant. The current owner has plans to redevelop it, but he's having some financial and legal troubles (being sued by a former development partner, owes quite a few backed taxes to Memphis and Shelby County as well). The restaurant at the top is actually one of the main reasons why its on the NRHP.

[arkitekte]

Originally Posted by Chris Warren

MATA changes course, wants new trolley fleet
No new lines and we have to wait till 2017

I can't take the year long waits; first One Beale and now this.

Yeah, this makes little sense to me. "Bringing the downtown core back..." is mentioned, but no progress or even a master plan to connect midtown to downtown and South Main is in the works. Who do they think populated downtown back in the day? Folks from Bartlett and Germantown?

New trolleys aren't going to bring Memphians downtown. New trolleys downtown will appease tourists for sure, but if you want Memphians downtown you need modern street cars that actually will bring people from Cooper Young, Overton Square, etc.

[Sooper_rebel]

Originally Posted by arkitekte

New trolleys aren't going to bring Memphians downtown. New trolleys downtown will appease tourists for sure, but if you want Memphians downtown you need modern street cars that actually will bring people from Cooper Young, Overton Square, etc.

I've been to Nottingham, UK and I don't know why we don't run these types of trams for the city. They would utilize current trolley lines if necessary but could be added on main thoroughfares to be a more modern system of transit.

[Johnny Ryall]

MATA board moves on $55 million Central Station redevelopment
Memphis Biz Journal

At its meeting Monday, the board gave permission to staff to negotiate with private developers on the project. The Central Station project is slated to include a hotel, a movie theater and more than 200 apartments. MATA is partnering with Henry Turley and Archie Willis III on the redevelopment.

http://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/b...l-station.html

Memphis Biz Journal

[Johnny Ryall]

Kroger invests in Midtown land
Michelle Corbet, Reporter - Memphis Business Journal

The Mid-South’s grocery store giant has purchased about 18 acres of mostly vacant land near the intersection of Poplar Avenue and North Cleveland Street in anticipation of future development associated with Crosstown Concourse.

http://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/n...town-land.html

Memphis Biz Journal

[James Owen]

Originally Posted by Sooper_rebel

I've been to Nottingham, UK and I don't know why we don't run these types of trams for the city. They would utilize current trolley lines if necessary but could be added on main thoroughfares to be a more modern system of transit.

That's because our leaders decided a long time ago that is wasn't worth investing any money into something modern like a light-rail system that Mayor Herenton was pushing for at one time. I personally think modern streetcars would work best along the Madison Avenue line, especially with the amount of investment UT is planning to put into revitalizing the Medical District over the next decade. The trolleys - for nostalgic and tourism purposes - should only be used for Main Street and the Riverfront Loop, but nothing more.

Originally Posted by Johnny Ryall

Kroger invests in Midtown land
Michelle Corbet, Reporter - Memphis Business Journal

http://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/n...town-land.html

Memphis Biz Journal

This made no sense to me, especially after Kroger recently spent a few million to fix up their current store on Poplar and Cleveland. If they wanted to build a replacement store, Kroger should have just bought the property and done so back then instead of waiting until after the fact. All they're doing is just throwing away money with this transaction.

[Chris Warren]

Project on South Front Moves Closer to Launch

MBJ:

Developers are inching closer to launching a mixed-use project on a strategic corner of South Front Street Downtown.

The development team of Robert E. Mallory, John H. Dicken Jr. and Vince Smith Jr. hope to raze an aging, low-density one-story office building at 266 S. Front Street and erect a mixed-use project featuring multi-story apartment buildings and commercial space.
The development team, which has already received a 10-year payment-in-lieu-of-taxes incentive and development loan, has one more hurdle to jump. It appears before the Downtown Memphis Commission’s Design and Review Board Wednesday, May 6.

Located at the southeast corner of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue and South Front, the 1.7-acre site currently is home to a 33,318-square-foot Class C office building built in 1957.

The development team hopes to sweep that away, along with a surface parking lot, and replace it with three new multi-story buildings linked by an outdoor courtyard that will include 145 apartments and space it believes will be perfect for a new restaurant.

A DMC staff report on the project said the current office building is “clearly not the highest and best use of the property” and that the new project will “further solidify the linkage and pedestrian connection” between the Downtown core and the booming South Main Historic Arts District. The project also supports the Downtown development agency’s goal of increasing property values through new development and residents with “appropriate urban infill.”

A 76,611-square-foot, three-story apartment building would be positioned along the northern property line parallel to MLK Avenue. A four-story, 60,174-square-foot apartment building will be situated on the southern end of the property. The third building, a two-story, 8,000-square-foot commercial space, would face Front Street.

The three-story apartment building will be built first, with the four-story apartment building and the two-story commercial space to be completed in the second phase of development.

The developers believe the two-story commercial structure will be attractive to restaurant operators and likely will include special event space. Once they sign a tenant for the commercial space, the developers will return to the board for design approval.

The mix of apartments will include 450-square-foot “micro units,” one-bedroom lofts measuring 830 square feet and several 937-square-foot two-bedroom units. The staff report said the “vast majority” of the apartments would be of the one-bedroom variety.

The landscaped courtyard tying the three buildings together will include a fountain, benches and an outdoor pavilion. The existing sidewalks will be widened and landscaped with new trees.

While some of the resident parking will be provided on-site in the alley at the east and west end of the site, most parking – up to 150 spaces – will be housed in the nearby Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division parking garage across MLK Avenue from the site, an arrangement approved April 21 by the Memphis City Council.

Because of the site’s prominent location, DMC staff has “some concern” about the plan for the extensive use of cement siding on a public-facing wall. The developers have proposed including traditional brick and metal panels to help the project fit in better with its existing surroundings.

[James Owen]

Looks like the One Beale project is about to get bigger, according to this article:

One Beale Application Includes Meeting Space
By Bill Dries
Memphis Daily News

http://www.memphisdailynews.com/news...meeting-space/

The Carlisle Corporation’s planned development for its One Beale project at Riverside Drive and Beale Street includes an “assembly/performance hall and convention center” as well as a lounge or nightclub with more than 125 seats.

Carlisle Corp. is also seeking to raise the maximum building height to 450 feet for the twin tower complex with initial plans for 20,000 square feet of office space, another 40,000 square feet of retail and meeting space – including a 6,500 square foot restaurant, 280 apartments and a 300-room hotel.

[James Owen]

An alternative plan for the vacant French Quarter Inn property has surfaced:

French Quarter Inn could be razed for new hotel
By Michelle Corbet
Memphis Business Journal

http://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/n...velopment.html

Plans to demolish the 77,800-square-foot building and build Hotel Overton have been submitted for consideration by the Land Use Control Board.

In December 2014, NCE Realty and Capital Group LLC purchased the property for $1.9 million with hopes of renovating. However, because of poor conditions and the outdated functionality of the site and building, the owners decided to start over, the letter of intent says.

Plans call for a five-story, 75,600-square-foot boutique hotel consisting of 134 suites, a restaurant, fitness center, meeting rooms, ballroom, hotel bar, pool, rooftop bar and associated retail.

The application also requests a parking structure that can accommodate 140-plus parking spaces.

[Chris Warren]

Originally Posted by James Owen

Looks like the One Beale project is about to get bigger, according to this article:

One Beale Application Includes Convention Meeting Space
By Bill Dries
Memphis Daily News

http://www.memphisdailynews.com/news...meeting-space/

450 FT!!! Tallest in the City; just 4 FT. shorter than the tallest in Birmingham

[arkitekte]

Glad to see the additional use proposals for One Beale. The additional height is also nice, but the added pedestrian traffic will be the best part, IMO. I'm looking forward to a few return trips in the coming years to see how much South Main has developed. I'm highly anticipating a few unique infill projects that are closer to Beale.



As far as the French Quarter Inn at Overton Square, would it be asking too much for them to build up to the sidewalk to stay consistent with the rest of the block face at Overton Square. Sure this is a hotel that wants a front drive/drop off point, but Overton Square is regaining much of its walkability and a front drive somewhat kills that (not as much since this is east of Cooper, but still...). Almost anything is better than what's there, but it should be done in a way that's best for the neighborhood.

[kingchef]

although the alleged ht proposal is somewhat disappointing to the few who might post on this forum, an individual, group, and other money-backing sources are important to step up and hand a nice project to memphis. i thank mr. carlisle for his work and the vision ot his project. i don't know what it costs to back set floors on top of floors, in order to give larger hts. at the end of the project, but apparently, the chisca took some of the money from this project (this is only speculation on my part), and therefore that roughly 68 million caused a reduction in the flagship status of the project. btw, i didn't know that the towers, on this final draw, was to be of equal ht. certainly, another reason for the reduction in ht. as i understand it, the building would have to be a good deal over 500 ft. to be seen from most of down town. still, i say, "thank you", mr. C. for what you are doing. now, may some one else will take on a building like both b'ham and nashville, as well as atlanta and others that are virtually straws. they, in my opinion, are not very attractive. most of these buildings seem to stand pretty much by themselves, and are there to really pad the skyline, until other buildings may come along.

i really would like to see two or three highrises on the poplar side of the jc. there seems as if there is so much wasted property in that area. as for the infill, the mpo, written about 2005-07, addresses this issue. the master plan has a good deal of information in it, but much of it has yet come to fruition. one of the ideas that i think would help is the signage in the medical districts. too, the building of aerial monumentss, etc. bell towers, high clock towers, and the like.

we have to remember that highrises have their purposes, especially to arouse interest of citizens, other businesses, and corporations that are always looking out for business opportunities. just because a particular business doesn't locate here or a building that is supposed to make:" new york and atlanta stand up and take notice...", doesn't mean memphis has no identity.
i think more work needs to be done by the downtown business representatives to offer incentives, seek out certain types of corporations, and get some of the money that memphis has by private investors to build a highrise that would make the kind of business it wants to locate down town.

[Dr Nevergold]

I agree, they shouldn't buy new vintage trolleys (which sounds like the option they are focusing on) and should but new light rail vehicles to run on the streetcar line. There are low floor LRV's, like Atlanta, like Seattle, like other cities that are compatible with the technology used in Memphis. Memphis doesn't have to build new infrastructure, they just need to order the vehicles and get them on the line.

The fact that TDOT has so little experience and the federal representation from this state is so anti-transit doesn't help.

So if it takes two years, it takes two years, the new manager at least gets it that they need new vehicles. I just hope he opts for newer LRV's before making the purchase order. It sounds like the MATA board has some challenged people when it comes to understanding the needs of transit, one of them was highly skeptical of investing any new money on an interview I've seen in the past month.

[Johnny Ryall]

More coverage from Memphis Biz Journal w/ nice rendering that doesn't seem to reflect increased height. Although, good to hear that they're going for Memphis' new tallest.

One Beale applies for further hospitality/entertainment uses
Michelle Corbet, Reporter-Memphis Business Journal

http://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/n...one-beale.html

Carlisle Corp.

[Johnny Ryall]

Kimbal Musk opening restaurants in Shelby Farms, Crosstown
Meagan Nichols, Staff Reporter-Memphis Business Journal

A family of restaurants with locations in Colorado and Illinois has inked two leases in Memphis. Kimbal Musk and Hugo Matheson, of The Kitchen, will open a community bistro in the Heart of the Park development in the same building as the FedEx Event Center at Shelby Farms Park and a community pub in the Crosstown Concourse.

http://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/n...farms-and.html

rendering: Shelby Farms Park Conservancy

[Johnny Ryall]

Originally Posted by Chris Warren

450 FT!!! Tallest in the City; just 4 FT. shorter than the tallest in Birmingham

Although, it would be nice to see a relatively small spire take this proposal into the 500' - 600' range. The lightweight structure would only take up minimal square footage on the roof. Not affecting amenities or utilities, whatever they have planned for it. If 450' and a new tallest is what we can get from this project, I'm all for it. With this on the south end and the Pyramid coming back online with an observation deck & LED package on the north end, Memphis' downtown skyline is taking a considerable step forward regardless.