Memphis' South End

[memphismike]

Another example of New Urbanism is popping up in Downtown Memphis. We already have the internationally recognized Harbor Town and Uptown on the north end of downtown. Now, a new neighborhood is popping up on Memphis' south end; and, appropriately enough, it's called South End.

The area was previously Memphis' "warehouse district", but had fallen into disrepair in recent years. Now, with a combination of condos, apartments, single-family homes, street level retail and parks all within a very walkable proximity, the well-planned neighborhood is starting to come to fruition. The new neighborhood is expected to add another 5,000-7,500 residents to Downtown's current population of 22,500.

You can read more about Memphis' South End by visiting their new web site, www.southendmemphis.com.

This forum seems to be dominated by Nashville posts, but Memphis has a lot of great projects going on Downtown...to the tune of over $2 billion. That includes up to 4 new towers that could reshape the skyline, from 16 stories to 28-30 stories (Horizon, Vue, Beale Landing Tower), warehouse conversions, the further development of our world-class medical center, a new biotech park, the new Uptown neighborhood, the development on Main Street, the new streetscape and signage plan, several new hotels, restaurants and clubs and much more.

Great web sites to visit for more information include:

www.downtownmemphis.com (under the "develop" channel)

www.uptownmemphis.org

I'm not trying to make this a competition between Memphis and Nashville, which usually happens on this site when you try to highlight something about either city. I just wanted to represent Memphis since we seem to be outnumbered here. I think it's great that Memphis and Nashville are growing and developing into a pair of "world-class" cities that represent Tennessee well.

[Clobber]

Another example of New Urbanism is popping up in Downtown Memphis. We already have the internationally recognized Harbor Town and Uptown on the north end of downtown. Now, a new neighborhood is popping up on Memphis' south end; and, appropriately enough, it's called South End.

The area was previously Memphis' "warehouse district", but had fallen into disrepair in recent years. Now, with a combination of condos, apartments, single-family homes, street level retail and parks all within a very walkable proximity, the well-planned neighborhood is starting to come to fruition. The new neighborhood is expected to add another 5,000-7,500 residents to Downtown's current population of 22,500.

You can read more about Memphis' South End by visiting their new web site, www.southendmemphis.com.

This forum seems to be dominated by Nashville posts, but Memphis has a lot of great projects going on Downtown...to the tune of over $2 billion. That includes up to 4 new towers that could reshape the skyline, from 16 stories to 28-30 stories (Horizon, Vue, Beale Landing Tower), warehouse conversions, the further development of our world-class medical center, a new biotech park, the new Uptown neighborhood, the development on Main Street, the new streetscape and signage plan, several new hotels, restaurants and clubs and much more.

Great web sites to visit for more information include:

www.downtownmemphis.com (under the "develop" channel)

www.uptownmemphis.org

I'm not trying to make this a competition between Memphis and Nashville, which usually happens on this site when you try to highlight something about either city. I just wanted to represent Memphis since we seem to be outnumbered here. I think it's great that Memphis and Nashville are growing and developing into a pair of "world-class" cities that represent Tennessee well.

South End seems to be a nice extension of South Main. I was hoping that area would be the location of a new football stadium. I guess we'll have to find somewhere else to build the new Liberty Bowl, whenever that might be...

[mandrws1]

I'm glad that you did highlight some of the happenings of Memphis! The biotech park is REALLY getting underway with the implosion of the old Baptist hospital this weekend. It should be a sight to see! One of the biotech research buildings is already under construction on Manasas and Madison. MLGW is preparing water lines and electricity infrastructure for the 28 story Vue on Main to be built and the Harbor Lights condos are preparing to go up across the street from the Pyramid on Front Street. St. Jude's radiation building is presently going up across North Parkway(7 stories) from its brand new 8 floor garage and the list goes on. The 18 floor Goodwyn condos are really coming along, just feet away from the savvy Madison Hotel. The list goes on.....

Its a very exciting time in Memphis (besides the budget crisis of course)!

[it's just dave]

I think about ready for another trip to Memphis. It's been a couple of years and I need a long weekend. A trip to see the Baptist implosion, no metaphor intended, would be great. When I was a youngster at school in Martin, my buddies and I would come to Memphis. I saw the Baptist Hospital and it just blew me away by its sheer size. I'm counting on some news coverage around here. It'll be an interesting story.

The rivalry will always be there, but one thing I've noticed about things like that is that familiarity lessens contempt. It's those who know the least about our cities that stir it all up, it seems. UP has been great in teaching me about our great city to the west. It's a quick trip to Memphis, I wish I could visit more often.

[ricky_the_great]

This forum seems to be dominated by Nashville posts, but Memphis has a lot of great projects going on Downtown...to the tune of over $2 billion. That includes up to 4 new towers that could reshape the skyline, from 16 stories to 28-30 stories (Horizon, Vue, Beale Landing Tower), warehouse conversions, the further development of our world-class medical center, a new biotech park, the new Uptown neighborhood, the development on Main Street, the new streetscape and signage plan, several new hotels, restaurants and clubs and much more.

quick question. on emporis.com... it has this building thats approved called the RiverView its 16 stories. Does anyone know what that is. cuz i cant find an ounce of info on that building. and its been on emporis for at least 2 years

[memphian]

We can look at an almost immediate stop in city-funded improvements here in Memphis because the city is beyond broke. The news last night reported that the City of Memphis is cutting somewhere near $2 billion in projects over the next couple of years. Personally I am glad this is happening (so we can try to asses our spending habits here and regroup) but if our mayor gets another pay raise I'll probably just have to move and forget that this place even exists.

[sleepy]

We can look at an almost immediate stop in city-funded improvements here in Memphis because the city is beyond broke. The news last night reported that the City of Memphis is cutting somewhere near $2 billion in projects over the next couple of years. Personally I am glad this is happening (so we can try to asses our spending habits here and regroup) but if our mayor gets another pay raise I'll probably just have to move and forget that this place even exists.

None of the projects in this thread are city of Memphis projects.

I doubt that $2 billion figure as well, as the Commercial Appeal says there are $240 million in proposed capital improvements scheduled for this fiscal year. I doubt if the entire state of Tennessee has $2 billion in capital improvements scheduled for anytime soon.

And the city is not "beyond broke". While its reserves went from $25 million to $500,000, the city is solvent.

[sleepy]

quick question. on emporis.com... it has this building thats approved called the RiverView its 16 stories. Does anyone know what that is. cuz i cant find an ounce of info on that building. and its been on emporis for at least 2 years

A few years ago, there was a proposal for a 16 story apt/condo project in the southend area. I guess that got superseded by the Horizon and other southend projects.

[mandrws1]

I hate the way the mayor keeps bumping up his pay and the pay of his flunkies too. A six figure salary is MORE than enough for a public service job. For every $30,000 raise he gives one of his top execs, that could be one less sanitation worker who gets laid off. I digress...

With all of the residential towers going up, I've always wondered why the two mayors haven't done more to influence office tower construction downtown? Its like Memphis has two skylines, downtown and east Memphis. Many visitors to the city never even see the many other towers that are scattered throughout the city.

[sleepy]

I hate the way the mayor keeps bumping up his pay and the pay of his flunkies too. A six figure salary is MORE than enough for a public service job. For every $30,000 raise he gives one of his top execs, that could be one less sanitation worker who gets laid off. I digress...

With all of the residential towers going up, I've always wondered why the two mayors haven't done more to influence office tower construction downtown? Its like Memphis has two skylines, downtown and east Memphis. Many visitors to the city never even see the many other towers that are scattered throughout the city.

Yeah, I'm not trying to say the city's finances aren't mismanaged, just that the city isn't "beyond broke". I suspect what they'll do is just cut out the $200 million in capital improvements, according to the CA. I imagine 90% of those improvements are meaningless to the ordinary citizen anyway.

Most employers want office parks. But you have to wonder if FedEx was planning its new headquarters and tech operations now instead of 10 years ago, that they might be tempted to put them downtown.

Autozone did some landswap deal with the city as part of a deal to get their headquarters downtown.

[memphian]

Okay true, the monies weren't all allocated for improvements but also for salaries of police, fire and other services. I'm just repeating what I saw on the news last night. But they did say in the $2 billion range for a few years out. The local media does like to make a splash with their news stories here. Here is a link:

http://www.wreg.com/Global/story.asp?S=4060347

[memphismike]

The $2 billion figure is on www.downtownmemphis.com, and represents public and private projects. In fact, it lists all projects and the total investment in that project.

None of the projects in this thread are city of Memphis projects.

I doubt that $2 billion figure as well, as the Commercial Appeal says there are $240 million in proposed capital improvements scheduled for this fiscal year. I doubt if the entire state of Tennessee has $2 billion in capital improvements scheduled for anytime soon.

And the city is not "beyond broke". While its reserves went from $25 million to $500,000, the city is solvent.

[sleepy]

The $2 billion figure is on www.downtownmemphis.com, and represents public and private projects. In fact, it lists all projects and the total investment in that project.

Looking at that figure, it also includes completed projects.

The city projects total less than $10,000,000, much of it already done.

The big figure is a rerouting of 2nd St. at 100 million. But it's listed as a joint city/federal deal so I'm not sure what the city is on the hook for.

[memphismike]

I'm talking about total investment. According to downtownmemphis.com, the following investment is planned/underway/recently completed:

Planning Stages:

Private Projects Cost: $1,173,673,000

Public Projects Cost: $269,316,000

Total Cost: $1,442,989,000

Under Construction:

Private Projects Cost: $1,032,925,500

Public Projects Cost: $28,500,000

Total Cost: $1,061,425,500

Recently Completed:

Private Projects Cost: $56,196,000

Public Projects Cost: $261,755,000

Total Cost: $317,951,000

TOTAL INVESTMENT IN DOWNTOWN MEMPHIS: $2,822,365,500

[sleepy]

I'm talking about total investment. According to downtownmemphis.com, the following investment is planned/underway/recently completed:

I know you are. I was trying to clarify the figure for Memphian, who seemed to be under the impression that the $2 billion was a total City of Memphis budget figure for capital improvements

[tombarnes]

Pictures of the Baptist Hospital before its demise...

http://www.baptistonline.org/aboutus/medic...oto_gallery.asp

Videos of the implosion from the Memphis Bioworks site...

http://www.memphisbioworks.org/newsroom_20...8_implosion.php

[Bears]

From todays Flyer:

http://www.memphisflyer.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A11706

[sleepy]

From todays Flyer:

http://www.memphisflyer.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A11706

Great article, thanks.

Wow! It's $400 million worth of projects on 30 acres with 3000 residents. For reference, that works out to 65,000 per square mile. Now that's a silly calculation in a way, but within those 30 acres, it'll be awfully dense, particularly since none of the developments are high rises. A positive thing is, it's many different projects, so there will be architectural diversity and eclecticism.

There are already 8 projects under construction. And none of this includes the numerous projects going on further north of GE Patterson outside the SouthEnd.

[Hankster]

Great article, thanks.

Wow! It's $400 million worth of projects on 30 acres with 3000 residents. For reference, that works out to 65,000 per square mile. Now that's a silly calculation in a way, but within those 30 acres, it'll be awfully dense, particularly since none of the developments are high rises. A positive thing is, it's many different projects, so there will be architectural diversity and eclecticism.

There are already 8 projects under construction. And none of this includes the numerous projects going on further north of GE Patterson outside the SouthEnd.

This all sounds like a really great development for downtown Memphis. More an more people moving downtown will definitely result in more retail as well. The South End is really starting to hum!