Memphi's downtown has been rated as one of the best safest downtowns in all of America. The Sterick Building is in bad shape but with the right vision it could be resurrected. These negative (it won't work in Memphis) attitudes and outlooks are what's holding Memphis back from growing and being a world class city.

Overton Square's revamp tweaked by developers
By Tom Bailey Jr.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Responding to earlier complaints their plans for Midtown's Overton Square were too suburban, developers this week unveiled a more urbanized concept.

The developer will formally submit the plans to the Office of Planning and Development on Dec. 3.

"Now I've given everyone what they've asked for," Leland Clark, a partner in Sooner Investment, told The Commercial Appeal Thursday in an interview at Midtown's Starbucks. "I've created a streetscape, I've created an urban environment."

Response was positive from three types of stakeholders who have seen Clark's latest changes this week.

"What they've done is an improvement and I think it's a work in progress," said Jackie Nichols, executive producer of the adjacent Playhouse on the Square.

Jason Hood, president of the adjacent East End Neighborhood Association, said the developers "certainly want to preserve the character of the neighborhood, and want to create a more pedestrian-friendly environment, even more so than what exists there today."

Sam Cantor, a broker of businesses whose office on Madison is a stone's throw from the site and a resident of the nearby Evergreen Historic District, said, "I'm telling you, it knocked my socks off."

At issue is the 5-acre block of Overton Square, bounded by Madison, Cooper, Monroe and Florence. The district of retail, restaurants and theaters is considered by some to be the heart and soul of Midtown.

The site now consists mostly of old, vacant retail buildings lining Madison, with a vast parking lot behind.

Clark proposes to raze the existing buildings and build five new ones:

A 53,108-square-foot grocery with a 107-space parking garage underneath at Monroe and Florence

A 14,000-square-foot building for shops at Madison and Florence

Two retail buildings of 5,385 and 3,890 square feet near the corner of Madison and Cooper

3,500 square feet of shop space at Cooper and Monroe

Opposition to the redevelopment plan has centered on several aspects, including the large parking lot between the front of the grocery and Cooper. That's a typical suburban configuration, unfriendly to pedestrians, the eye and any sense of place or community, critics argue.

As a compromise, Sooner Investment now has two retail buildings, instead of just one, up to the sidewalk along Cooper, leaving a gap in the middle so passersby on Cooper can still see the front of the grocery.

The developer also uses pedestrian paths, landscaping and green islands to break up the L-shaped parking lot into three sections of 56, 36 and 100 spaces.

The plan also calls for 17 angled parking spaces on Madison and eight parallel spaces on Cooper. On-street parking is often desirable among urban planners because it slows traffic, which is better for pedestrians.

The 14,000-square-foot building on Madison would be set back 25 feet farther from the street than the existing building that houses Memphis Pizza Cafe.

The extra space not only makes the angled parking possible, but allows for wider sidewalks and more landscaping, Clark said.

And the corner of Madison and Cooper will feature a parklike area between two buildings.

Critics also said Overton Square's character would be sacrificed by the demolition of richly detailed buildings that date to the 1930s.

Sooner Investment is not backing down on this issue. For them, the old buildings must go.

Getting them compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act is a problem, their "hodgepodge" configurations make them hard to lease and their wood frames make them more of a fire and safety issue, Clark said.

And opponents have also worried about the quality of the grocery being planned.

The project's idea came from Associated Wholesale Grocery, which approached Sooner Investment saying it wanted to build on the site a "high-end, perishable-food-oriented supermarket," Clark said.

"They said it was probably one of the most under-served areas in all of Memphis for this type of operation."

Associated Wholesale Grocers operates a line of groceries, from discount to higher-end. But since it also supplies independent groceries, the store's name could possibly be Overton Square Grocery, he said.

I too believe in the citizens of Memphis, and there is no question that help from the surrounding metro would go a long way in making a franchise here possible. I believe we have the best potential owner in Fred Smith & rumors have been swirling about him purchasing a team namely the ST. Louis rams & Jacksonville Jaguars. Here is a list of possible franchises we could land .
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/79776-n...e-new-orleans-m

Everything you just said is true. However, minds can be changed, and if Memphis put together a package and got advanced funding availabe for a stadum (needs to be private sector money), pre-sold enough season tickets and box suites and recieved enough support from local corporations (including Toyota in Tupelo) I garuntee you that if Memphis did these things they would be a serious contender. This isn't the same Memphis that went for a team almost 20 years ago now. We all know that.

However, an NFL team in Memphis will never work downtown. It needs to be out east, where the money is. It needs to be out off of I 40 near the new intersection of 40 and 269, and we don't need to waiste our money on a stadium until papers have be signed, but a group trying to lure the Saints could go ahead and purchase some land to show their seriousness. I know it could happen, because I believe in Memphis. Now as most of you know, I don't believe in our state government,or even our local government for that matter, but I do believe in the citizens of Memphis all of the way from here to Jackson and Tupelo and Little Rock, and we all together could make this happen.

Saw an article in CA, I believe, that said that the airport is trying to get funding to redue the landscaping on the road that leads to the airport. It'll probably pass but it looks like folks on the city council are playing politics with it. Nothing serious just some grandstanding I believe. Also, they're supposed to get funding from TDOT to redue the airways blvd/I-240 intersection. Don't know when funding for that will come but the project is on the TDOT website.