51 replies to this topic

[Memphis Love]

I really hope this project gets going, this is exactly what is needed for this area of Midtown and will hopefully help out with the Sears Crosstown project as well.  

[Memphis Love]

rumor has it that an IKEA and Crate & Barrel might be coming to this site, is this site really big enough for an IKEA anyway?

[PCGrad02]

Now that would be FANTASTIC if the site design was streetscape sensitive.

[teeg]

Memphis Love, on Jan 18 2008, 11:20 AM, said:

rumor has it that an IKEA and Crate & Barrel might be coming to this site, is this site really big enough for an IKEA anyway?

They're building a new IKEA over here in Charlotte -- 345,000 sq ft, 1,700 parking spaces, on 25 acres.  I can't imagine why they need that much space, but then I've never been to an IKEA.

[Memphis Love]

IKEA's are usually very large, like 4 Wal-Marts.

[tigergreen]

Memphis Love, on Jan 18 2008, 10:20 AM, said:

rumor has it that an IKEA and Crate & Barrel might be coming to this site, is this site really big enough for an IKEA anyway?

that's just speculation - i posted that idea on the goner board, and the midtown blogger picked it up from there, i think.

the reason i guessed either of those two is the fact that supposedly they're talking to retailers that have locations in atlanta, but not in memphis yet...both of those would fit the midtown vibe.

[James Owen]

UPDATE:

The site plan for the mixed-use development at Poplar and Cleveland has been modified, and now consists of space for two big-box anchors instead of one.

http://www.memphisda...e.aspx?id=37713

[jmduke]

I know it's a old story from the CA, but the city council approved the Poplar/Cleveland planned development by WSG Memphis, of which Target is an interested party.
http://www.commercia...-moves-forward/

[J0e]

Memphis Love, on Jan 18 2008, 11:20 AM, said:

rumor has it that an IKEA and Crate & Barrel might be coming to this site, is this site really big enough for an IKEA anyway?

An IKEA in Memphis? I would tend to think that there would be one built in the Nashville area before MEM. However, I do see a Crate & Barrel. That would be nice.

[PCGrad02]

Memphis would be an interesting market for an IKEA due to the fact that it could draw from Little Rock, St. Louis, Nashville, Jackson.  Also, the rail network/airport cargo hub makes a strong case for a location here.  However, Tenn is long enough that two IKEA stores could easily be supported.

[James Owen]

It appears that the proposed mixed-use redevelopment of Poplar and Cleveland is dead, according to the Memphis Daily News. It's very unfortunate.

http://www.memphisda...e.aspx?id=48814

Quote

Midtown Big-Box Site Foreclosed
Once eyed by Target, parcels to be auctioned

Friday, March 26, 2010, Vol. 125, No. 59
ERIC SMITH | The Daily News
Dozens of Midtown properties slated for a major mixed-use redevelopment have been foreclosed and will be auctioned off to the highest bidder.

WSG Memphis LLC, the Miami-based firm whose ambitious plans might have landed a Target store at the intersection of Poplar Avenue and Cleveland Street, defaulted on a $14 million loan through Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. dated April 30, 2007.

The first-run foreclosure notice begins on Page 44 and also at The Daily News Online, www.memphisdailynews.com.

WSG during the past three years had amassed residential and commercial parcels that comprised about five city blocks and at least 26 acres. Now those properties will be sold at an April 19 substitute trustee’s sale at 11 a.m. on the Shelby County Courthouse steps.

Lehman Brothers on March 5 assigned Stewart G. Austin Jr. and Mathew Brinner of Glankler Brown PLLC as substitute trustees in the matter. They replaced original trustee James C. Warner.

Per newspaper policy, calls to the parties involved, such as the property owner, deed holder or trustee, are prohibited until the notice is published.

WSG bought most of its parcels, all of which are south of Poplar Avenue and on both sides of Watkins Street, in May 2007 in an $11.6 million deal that comprised several transactions.

The company filed a 26.27-acre development plan in January 2008 with city officials. In its completed form, the development was set to include a mix of neighborhood retail shops, larger retail stores and restaurants.

The plan is known to have caught the eye of Target officials at one time as a possible site for a new store that would have anchored the development.

The audience at a May 2008 Central Gardens Association meeting was told by a representative of the project it would possibly include 550,000 square feet of retail and 300,000 square feet of residential use.

In a 2008 letter to Mary Baker, deputy director of the city-county Office of Planning and Development, a project representative said the plans were slated for an area of the city that “desperately needs redevelopment.”

Already, WSG’s apparent lack of significant construction activity at the site generated questions about the future of the property. Now those plans are clearly in jeopardy as the owner struggles with its loan payments and as the recession toils on.

Also, Lehman Brothers in September 2008 filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, further complicating WSG’s tenuous financial situation.

[jmduke]

03/29/10 Memphis Daily News editorial on the WSG default seems to be a bit optimistic in assuming a large-scale project can be developed there. I hope something happens, but it will take some other company with very deep pockets to make a mixed-use development happen, and it's very unlikely in this economy.
http://www.memphisda...e.aspx?id=48856