Downtown Memphis News & Developments (CBD, South Main, Riverfront, Medical District, The Edge, Uptown)

[VSRJ]

^ I thought that was part of the design but hopefully not.

[Memphis4ever]

On 10/17/2020 at 10:48 PM, VSRJ said:

^ I thought that was part of the design but hopefully not.

Lets remember this is a microsoft paint rendering that is clearly put here to show an idea.  I am totally sure the tower will look nothing like that, we all are.  While I do think it is a little out of place now it could help spur redevelopment and not sit alone too long.  Realistically I think this tower may be reduced to about 25 stories but either way as long as its over 20 floors I dont care lets get it started.  Also Tom Intrator has plans for the land but with no financing in place he is not guaranteed anything.  Its nice to see memphis finally stack a mixed use concept vs spreading it over 10 acres.

[dxfret]

A tower of any significant height in this very empty part of downtown is unrealistic.  The developers have harmed their project’s credibility by releasing such an amateurish rendering.  Street activation in this area is very weak — Bass Pro Shop has been badly hurt by the pandemic, and the renovated convention center is too far away to help.  Memphis needs to focus on trying to revitalize its older central downtown core, starting with the demolition of 100 North Main and Sterrick Bldg.   Projects like this one, the proposed Union Row, and the very scaled-down One Beale, are simply too much for downtown Memphis. 

Edited October 19, 2020 by dxfret

[VSRJ]

Yeah I give this a 0.1% chance of happening, and that's being generous.

As much as I'd like to see a shiny tall building adding some life to the skyline, I'm very content with developers continuing to rehabilitate/repurpose older buildings — especially in this economy. I'd rather see something actually come to fruition rather than lofty proposals stuck in development hell for a decade (looking at you, One Beale).

[MDC26]

21 hours ago, dxfret said:

A tower of any significant height in this very empty part of downtown is unrealistic.  The developers have harmed their project’s credibility by releasing such an amateurish rendering.  Street activation in this area is very weak — Bass Pro Shop has been badly hurt by the pandemic, and the renovated convention center is too far away to help.  Memphis needs to focus on trying to revitalize its older central downtown core, starting with the demolition of 100 North Main and Sterrick Bldg.   Projects like this one, the proposed Union Row, and the very scaled-down One Beale, are simply too much for downtown Memphis. 

I agree that the amateurish rendering did hurt the initial credibility, but maybe they didn't want to spend any money until they know if the city would even sell them the land, or time was of the essence and didn't have time for a serious workup before the meeting.  I disagree that the convention center is too far away.  Alone, this project would not be a good idea, but combined with the planned 18 N Main projects, it will fit right in.  

[DRG901]

 

Some pics in the MBJ of the convention center renovation

See inside: Renasant Convention Center's $200M renovation nears completion

https://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/news/2020/10/20/200m-renovations-to-renasant-convention-center.html?cx_testId=40&cx_testVariant=cx_32&cx_artPos=0#cxrecs_s

[VSRJ]

It looks really nice! The timing is incredibly unfortunate, but hopefully by late next year or early 2022 we'll start to see conventions and other mass gatherings resume.

[DRG901]

 

‘Mobility Center’ crowns $62M plan to improve Downtown parking, walking

Well, this will take care of another surface parking lot.  

 

https://dailymemphian.com/section/neighborhoodsdowntown/article/17660/downtown-memphis-mobility-center-beale-street-tourists

 

 

[DowntownUrbanite]

On 10/23/2020 at 7:23 PM, DRG901 said:

 

‘Mobility Center’ crowns $62M plan to improve Downtown parking, walking

Well, this will take care of another surface parking lot.  

 

https://dailymemphian.com/section/neighborhoodsdowntown/article/17660/downtown-memphis-mobility-center-beale-street-tourists

 

 

While I agree this facility is needed and looks great, a huge opportunity will be missed without additional development above the garage. In addition, the removal of the 600 space Riverfront Garage for the 140 space garage under the Brooks Museum will be a disaster for the Downtown Core. The City should include an RFP for building another hotel, office, or condominium tower above the parking garage. As far as the new parking structure it will be great for the Entertainment District but more parking will be needed between Union and Madison Avenues.

Taking out 600 spaces in return for 140 at the Brooks Museum will be very detrimental to the U of M Law School, Cossitt Library, Cotton Museum, Hu Hotel, Shrine Building,  Brinkley Plaza, Broadnax Building, Business Men’s Club/Crump Firm Building, Cotton Exchange Building, Memphis in May, Memphis Tourism, the many condominiums and apartments in the Cotton Row Historic District, as well as the many great restaurants (Flight, Bardog, Maciel’s, Little Tea Shop, Felicia Suzanne’s, McEwen’s, Curry n Jerk, Benyays, Mesquite Chop House, Couthouse Deli, Front Street Deli, Bogies Delicatessen, Peanut Shop, Cafe Keough, Starbucks), and the many other retail and office establishments nearby.

I suspect there will be additional spaces added to the basement of the Brooks Museum to accommodate and satisfy those stakeholders.

Edited October 26, 2020 by DowntownUrbanite

[DRG901]

Renovation of the Marine Hospital  into apartments wrapping up, from The Daily Memphian

Transformation for historic Marine Residence nearly finished

https://dailymemphian.com/subscriber/section/business/article/17647/transformation-of-historic-hospital-marine-residence-memphis

[James Owen]

2 hours ago, DowntownUrbanite said:

While I agree this facility is needed and looks great, a huge opportunity will be missed without additional development above the garage. In addition, the removal of the 600 space Riverfront Garage for the 140 space garage under the Brooks Museum will be a disaster for the Downtown Core. The City should include an RFP for building another hotel, office, or condominium tower above the parking garage. As far as the new parking structure it will be great for the Entertainment District but more parking will be needed between Union and Madison Avenues.

Taking out 600 spaces in return for 140 at the Brooks Museum will be very detrimental to the U of M Law School, Cossitt Library, Cotton Museum, Hu Hotel, Shrine Building,  Brinkley Plaza, Broadnax Building, Business Men’s Club/Crump Firm Building, Cotton Exchange Building, Memphis in May, Memphis Tourism, the many condominiums and apartments in the Cotton Row Historic District, as well as the many great restaurants (Flight, Bardog, Maciel’s, Little Tea Shop, Felicia Suzanne’s, McEwen’s, Curry n Jerk, Benyays, Mesquite Chop House, Couthouse Deli, Front Street Deli, Bogies Delicatessen, Peanut Shop, Cafe Keough, Starbucks), and the many other retail and office establishments nearby.

I suspect there will be additional spaces added to the basement of the Brooks Museum to accommodate and satisfy those stakeholders.

I can see why you would be concerned as land along the riverfront comes at a premium. While we still don't know exactly how large the new Brooks Museum will be or how much space it'll actually utilize on that block, I'd suspect many of those issues raised will be addressed in short order.

[Memphis4ever]

4 hours ago, DowntownUrbanite said:

While I agree this facility is needed and looks great, a huge opportunity will be missed without additional development above the garage. In addition, the removal of the 600 space Riverfront Garage for the 140 space garage under the Brooks Museum will be a disaster for the Downtown Core. The City should include an RFP for building another hotel, office, or condominium tower above the parking garage. As far as the new parking structure it will be great for the Entertainment District but more parking will be needed between Union and Madison Avenues.

Taking out 600 spaces in return for 140 at the Brooks Museum will be very detrimental to the U of M Law School, Cossitt Library, Cotton Museum, Hu Hotel, Shrine Building,  Brinkley Plaza, Broadnax Building, Business Men’s Club/Crump Firm Building, Cotton Exchange Building, Memphis in May, Memphis Tourism, the many condominiums and apartments in the Cotton Row Historic District, as well as the many great restaurants (Flight, Bardog, Maciel’s, Little Tea Shop, Felicia Suzanne’s, McEwen’s, Curry n Jerk, Benyays, Mesquite Chop House, Couthouse Deli, Front Street Deli, Bogies Delicatessen, Peanut Shop, Cafe Keough, Starbucks), and the many other retail and office establishments nearby.

I suspect there will be additional spaces added to the basement of the Brooks Museum to accommodate and satisfy those stakeholders.

Good point as a matter of fact if the city lets the other developer put his skinny 35 floor building on top of this garage the city is willing to pay for then we could really activate the corner and sustain both developments.

[TheKernel91]

21 hours ago, DowntownUrbanite said:

While I agree this facility is needed and looks great, a huge opportunity will be missed without additional development above the garage. 

I read there will be a restaurant on top, with other things inside. So atleast it won't be a dead garage 

[MDC26]

21 hours ago, DowntownUrbanite said:

While I agree this facility is needed and looks great, a huge opportunity will be missed without additional development above the garage. In addition, the removal of the 600 space Riverfront Garage for the 140 space garage under the Brooks Museum will be a disaster for the Downtown Core. The City should include an RFP for building another hotel, office, or condominium tower above the parking garage. As far as the new parking structure it will be great for the Entertainment District but more parking will be needed between Union and Madison Avenues.

Taking out 600 spaces in return for 140 at the Brooks Museum will be very detrimental to the U of M Law School, Cossitt Library, Cotton Museum, Hu Hotel, Shrine Building,  Brinkley Plaza, Broadnax Building, Business Men’s Club/Crump Firm Building, Cotton Exchange Building, Memphis in May, Memphis Tourism, the many condominiums and apartments in the Cotton Row Historic District, as well as the many great restaurants (Flight, Bardog, Maciel’s, Little Tea Shop, Felicia Suzanne’s, McEwen’s, Curry n Jerk, Benyays, Mesquite Chop House, Couthouse Deli, Front Street Deli, Bogies Delicatessen, Peanut Shop, Cafe Keough, Starbucks), and the many other retail and office establishments nearby.

I suspect there will be additional spaces added to the basement of the Brooks Museum to accommodate and satisfy those stakeholders.

Brinkley Plaza Garage is 310 spots on Front between Madison and Monroe, directly across the Cossitt Library.  Parking can be fun has 402 spots on Union between Front and Main, right across from Mesquite.  One Commerce Parking garage has 3000 spots on Union between Main and 2nd.  I ate at Benyays yesterday and parked at Parking Can Be Fun.  I think parking will still be sufficient for this area.  

17 hours ago, Memphis4ever said:

Good point as a matter of fact if the city lets the other developer put his skinny 35 floor building on top of this garage the city is willing to pay for then we could really activate the corner and sustain both developments.

What 35 floor building are you speaking of?

[DowntownUrbanite]

3 hours ago, MDC26 said:

Brinkley Plaza Garage is 310 spots on Front between Madison and Monroe, directly across the Cossitt Library.  Parking can be fun has 402 spots on Union between Front and Main, right across from Mesquite.  One Commerce Parking garage has 3000 spots on Union between Main and 2nd.  I ate at Benyays yesterday and parked at Parking Can Be Fun.  I think parking will still be sufficient for this area.  

What 35 floor building are you speaking of?

That is what most people believe until they understand each of the garages you mentioned  garages are not City owned and do not offer bulk monthly parking rates due to existing commitments and capacity issues. Most historic  buildings in the Downtown Core (Madison to Gayoso and Second to Front) lack their own parking and rely on the Riverfront Garage for monthly parking arrangements. This will be an interesting issue to follow with the stakeholders involved in those blocks.

[MDC26]

2 hours ago, DowntownUrbanite said:

That is what most people believe until they understand each of the garages you mentioned  garages are not City owned and do not offer bulk monthly parking rates due to existing commitments and capacity issues. Most historic  buildings in the Downtown Core (Madison to Gayoso and Second to Front) lack their own parking and rely on the Riverfront Garage for monthly parking arrangements. This will be an interesting issue to follow with the stakeholders involved in those blocks.

I knew they weren't city owned garages.  You can get monthly passes, but don't know if they offer a "bulk" price.  Right now all those garages are listed at 50-60% full online.  Don't know if this is indicative that they have more monthly passes available or not.  I wonder if Cobblestone Landing will be free to park once they repair it.  

[DowntownUrbanite]

Nylon Net Building Demolition Board of Adjustment Meeting October 28, 2020

Demolition of this structure would be extremely detrimental to the South Main Area and the Board of Adjustment should defer the request until more study can be completed. We must find a way to preserve at least portions of this landmark especially along Vance Avenue.

In 2004 LRK created a beautiful design for the building which kept the original structure and added several floors above which can be found at the link at the end of this reply. What a great vision that 2004 design was for the property. I hope the Board of Adjustment does the right thing and Carlisle reaches out to LRK to discuss the 2004 design.

 

https://storyboardmemphis.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Screen-Shot-2020-10-27-at-12.34.06-PM.png

https://storyboardmemphis.org/planning-board/a-vision-for-the-nylon-net-building-7-vance/

[MDC26]

 

https://dailymemphian.com/section/business/article/18172/designers-convention-center-revamp

[VSRJ]

It looks really nice. Can't wait to see it in person. Hopefully the forthcoming covid vaccines allow conventions to resume by late next year/early 2022. This will be a really nice facility and hopefully a cheaper alternative to Nashville's Music City Center.

[dxfret]

It’s hard for any city to compete with Nashville’s Music City Center and the staggering array of hotels and attractions offered in our state’s capital.  The old Cook Convention center badly needed major upgrades. I dislike that they sold the naming rights to a Renasant, a Mississippi-based bank.  Memphis will remain a smallish market for conventions, but hopefully they will be able to attract more and better conventions once Covid-19 is behind us. 

[DRG901]

Yeah this is a huge improvement.   The Cook should have been replaced/upgraded decades ago.   I was always one to think a completely new cc build on the Union Row site by the Forum/AZP/Beale would have been perfect (that was floated around 2007-08 or so if my memory is correct?) but understand $$ doesn't grow on trees and think they did a great job updating what they had.  Timing is bad but hopefully the world gets back to some sort of normalcy with crowds/conventions and I think it'll have no problem getting better events than the past.   On the bright side, I'm happy this was all financed and under construction before Covid hit or we'd probably be looking at a huge delay or it would've been scrapped altogether.

[DRG901]

Developers plan to tear down a vacant office building in the Medical District and replace it with apartments, from the Memphis Business Journal

 

https://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/news/2020/11/19/patton-taylor-plan-medical-district-apartments.html

"CTLP LLC just purchased the vacant medical office building at 220 S. Claybrook St. for $1.8 million. The partners plan to demolish it in January and replace it with roughly 84 apartments.

"It’s a great spot, right across the street from Methodist Hospital [and close to] the Southern College of Optometry and [University of Tennessee Health Science Center]," Taylor said. "We think it's very appealing to a lot of different people from young professionals to … residents and medical students."

The nearby hospitals, via the Memphis Medical District Collaborative, have long pushed for more housing in the district and insisted there's plenty of demand. Taylor agrees with that assessment, especially given the long-running success of The Bristol on Union.

Taylor said he expects his new building to land rents somewhere between the prices at The Bristol — about $1.70 per square foot, according to its website — and The Citizen, the new building about 1 mile east on Union Avenue that's renting for about $1.90.

The new property will include four stories of units above a first-floor parking garage and should be completed in the summer of 2021, Taylor said."

 

 

What's currently there to be demolished:

 

 

 

Edited November 19, 2020 by DRG901

[VSRJ]

^ Nice! That building looks a little prison-esque.

[MDC26]

30 minutes ago, DRG901 said:

Yeah this is a huge improvement.   The Cook should have been replaced/upgraded decades ago.   I was always one to think a completely new cc build on the Union Row site by the Forum/AZP/Beale would have been perfect (that was floated around 2007-08 or so if my memory is correct?) but understand $$ doesn't grow on trees and think they did a great job updating what they had.  Timing is bad but hopefully the world gets back to some sort of normalcy with crowds/conventions and I think it'll have no problem getting better events than the past.   On the bright side, I'm happy this was all financed and under construction before Covid hit or we'd probably be looking at a huge delay or it would've been scrapped altogether.

 

35 minutes ago, DRG901 said:

Yeah this is a huge improvement.   The Cook should have been replaced/upgraded decades ago.   I was always one to think a completely new cc build on the Union Row site by the Forum/AZP/Beale would have been perfect (that was floated around 2007-08 or so if my memory is correct?) but understand $$ doesn't grow on trees and think they did a great job updating what they had.  Timing is bad but hopefully the world gets back to some sort of normalcy with crowds/conventions and I think it'll have no problem getting better events than the past.   On the bright side, I'm happy this was all financed and under construction before Covid hit or we'd probably be looking at a huge delay or it would've been scrapped altogether.

But will there be another convention hotel to go with it?

https://wreg.com/news/pandemic-puts-loews-hotel-on-hold-in-downtown-memphis/

 

[DRG901]

8 minutes ago, MDC26 said:

 

But will there be another convention hotel to go with it?

https://wreg.com/news/pandemic-puts-loews-hotel-on-hold-in-downtown-memphis/

 

I hope so... I was expecting this.  Terrible time for anyone to finance a hotel.  Hopefully once the market improves but who knows how things will pan out for the next couple of years.