Harbor Town Inn

[northernbizzkit1]

Interesting Stuff

This is great for Harbor Town and whatnot, but here is what REALLY interested me:

Excerpts:

"The Inn is another addition to a growing list of hotels planned or underway in the Central Business Improvement District.

Belz Enterprises is considering an addition or expansion of The Peabody Hotel."

"And Cascade Development Partners, which has offices in Utah and California, is planning a 250-room hotel as part of a $200 million plan to transform the block east of Fourth Street between Union and Gayoso into a mixed-use project."

Whaaaaat? Expand the Peabody? Where would they be able to do this? IMO, the only place they could do it would be to have a sattelite location in that parking garage by the Peabody Place Office tower. I believe in the initial planning for Peabody Place, this location was going to house an Embassy Suites. I'd love to see this expansion take place...I wonder how big of an expansion we're talking here...100 rooms? 200? Hopefully it would be in the form of a sleek, modern tower to contrast with the historic structure.

The 250-room hotel is supposed to be a part of the "Gateway to Downtown" right? If so, I wouldn't expect this to be something out of the ordinary, IMO. Perhaps an Embassy Suites or Sheraton?

[Rardy]

Interesting Stuff

This is great for Harbor Town and whatnot, but here is what REALLY interested me:

Excerpts:

"The Inn is another addition to a growing list of hotels planned or underway in the Central Business Improvement District.

Belz Enterprises is considering an addition or expansion of The Peabody Hotel."

"And Cascade Development Partners, which has offices in Utah and California, is planning a 250-room hotel as part of a $200 million plan to transform the block east of Fourth Street between Union and Gayoso into a mixed-use project."

Whaaaaat? Expand the Peabody? Where would they be able to do this? IMO, the only place they could do it would be to have a sattelite location in that parking garage by the Peabody Place Office tower. I believe in the initial planning for Peabody Place, this location was going to house an Embassy Suites. I'd love to see this expansion take place...I wonder how big of an expansion we're talking here...100 rooms? 200? Hopefully it would be in the form of a sleek, modern tower to contrast with the historic structure.

The 250-room hotel is supposed to be a part of the "Gateway to Downtown" right? If so, I wouldn't expect this to be something out of the ordinary, IMO. Perhaps an Embassy Suites or Sheraton?

From downtownmemphis.com:

"Cascade Development Partners is in the planning and design phase for a massive $200 million project at the corner of Fourth and Union. Plans include construction of an 8-story structure for mixed residential and commercial use, consisting of approximately 500,000-sf of residential units that range in size from 800sf - 2000sf. The commercial space is expected to include around 93,000-sf of ground floor retail/restaurant space, about a third of the size of Peabody Place Entertainment and Retail Center. Developers are also planning to include a 250-room hotel in the project."

This is a $200,000,000 project! I visited Cascade's website a while back, but now I can't get to it.

[Clobber]

Interesting Stuff

This is great for Harbor Town and whatnot, but here is what REALLY interested me:

Excerpts:

"The Inn is another addition to a growing list of hotels planned or underway in the Central Business Improvement District.

Belz Enterprises is considering an addition or expansion of The Peabody Hotel."

"And Cascade Development Partners, which has offices in Utah and California, is planning a 250-room hotel as part of a $200 million plan to transform the block east of Fourth Street between Union and Gayoso into a mixed-use project."

Whaaaaat? Expand the Peabody? Where would they be able to do this? IMO, the only place they could do it would be to have a sattelite location in that parking garage by the Peabody Place Office tower. I believe in the initial planning for Peabody Place, this location was going to house an Embassy Suites. I'd love to see this expansion take place...I wonder how big of an expansion we're talking here...100 rooms? 200? Hopefully it would be in the form of a sleek, modern tower to contrast with the historic structure.

The 250-room hotel is supposed to be a part of the "Gateway to Downtown" right? If so, I wouldn't expect this to be something out of the ordinary, IMO. Perhaps an Embassy Suites or Sheraton?

Maybe they could add some residences to make them taller . . .

[bluff2085]

From downtownmemphis.com:

"Cascade Development Partners is in the planning and design phase for a massive $200 million project at the corner of Fourth and Union. Plans include construction of an 8-story structure for mixed residential and commercial use, consisting of approximately 500,000-sf of residential units that range in size from 800sf - 2000sf. The commercial space is expected to include around 93,000-sf of ground floor retail/restaurant space, about a third of the size of Peabody Place Entertainment and Retail Center. Developers are also planning to include a 250-room hotel in the project."

This is a $200,000,000 project! I visited Cascade's website a while back, but now I can't get to it.

Got it... Cascade Partners Website

I was at this website awhile back, too. The rendering they had was pretty basic, but it appeared to be a large 6-8 story red block. Now the rendering portrays 3 separate buildings: one low-rise and two slender towers that look like they're around 20 stories tall. The project description obviously hasn't been updated b/c it doesn't even include the 250-room hotel. Could they be making a high rise out of this one...

[jmduke]

All interesting news. I walked down to Harbor Town yesterday, and I guess the new River Inn will be built on the two small parcels of land on the west side of the apartment buildings on Harbor Town Square. These look awfully small, but I guess New Urbanism can cram a lot of hotel (well, 28 rooms) into a little space. A nice addition, and having two new restaurants within walking distance will be handy. I hope some new renderings appear soon because the pic in the newspaper didn't have much context.

Regarding the Embassy Suites, we are still waiting for one almost nine years after Belz issued the press release announcing the project. I wonder what the holdup is, as there's definitely a market for this type of hotel downtown.

Didn't know the Cascade development was going to be that big...$200M is rather impressive. The Downtown Memphis website mentions a hotel, but the Cascade website does not. Think it might be a different developer or Cascade changing the project? Initially, Cascade was talking about a single mid-rise tower, but their crude pic shows what appears to be two tall buildings...interesting.

[ATLBrain]

It looks like this proposal includes two towers. So did I count accurately... Memphis DT proposals include 1 Beale (2 towers); Candy Factory (2 towers); Horizon (2 towers); St. Mary's (1 tower). So in all, is that 9 towers proposed? Not shabby at all for Memphis DT... and these don't even include all the infill.

[Clobber]

It looks like this proposal includes two towers. So did I count accurately... Memphis DT proposals include 1 Beale (2 towers); Candy Factory (2 towers); Horizon (2 towers); St. Mary's (1 tower). So in all, is that 9 towers proposed? Not shabby at all for Memphis DT... and these don't even include all the infill.

Candy Factory hasn't been announced, just discussed a lot here, although reportedly they were one of the objectors to One Beale in August. I didn't realize that the Cascade included one or two towers either. So there's some confidence in five, hopefully ten (if the Vue replacement on Main can become a tower too, add that to Candy Factory's 2 and Cascade's 1 or 2).

I also want to make sure that the orange on the website is not the Radisson (or whatever it is these days -- Hilton?). The Radisson would be to the left of all of that?

[bluff2085]

Candy Factory hasn't been announced, just discussed a lot here, although reportedly they were one of the objectors to One Beale in August. I didn't realize that the Cascade included one or two towers either. So there's some confidence in five, hopefully ten (if the Vue replacement on Main can become a tower too, add that to Candy Factory's 2 and Cascade's 1 or 2).

I also want to make sure that the orange on the website is not the Radisson (or whatever it is these days -- Hilton?). The Radisson would be to the left of all of that?

I'm not positive but I thought the Radisson was west of AZP. Also, the height of the blocks on the website are much taller relative to the surrounding structures (AZP and Eschelon), more so than the Radisson would be.

[Clobber]

I'm not positive but I thought the Radisson was west of AZP. Also, the height of the blocks on the website are much taller relative to the surrounding structures (AZP and Eschelon), more so than the Radisson would be.

Radisson is just south of the logoman entrance. Folks cross the street right where TGI Fridays is, and they land at the main gate. So based on that logic, you (and I) answered my own question. Thanks.

[Fellowmann20]

Wow! 9 towers for downtown Memphis and possibly 10! I hope every single one of these projects are built!

[watnow1425]

and many more to come

[Clobber]

Wow! 9 towers for downtown Memphis and possibly 10! I hope every single one of these projects are built!

Although, at this point in time, I'd rather see one 40 than two 20's.

[northernbizzkit1]

Although, at this point in time, I'd rather see one 40 than two 20's.

or one 100 than five 20s hehe

[TennBear]

One thing all of you tower fans need to remember is that once a building gets above 30 stories, it starts to get a lot more expensive. You really need to have economies of scale to have it make sense. Sometimes companies (banks mainly) will build taller buildings in order to promote themselves even when it is not justified by other reasons. Memphis isn't gaining the amount of office space downtown to warrant massive skyscrapers. I find it a positive that the economy is doing well enough that there are new condo buildings downtown at a time when most of the country is pulling back from construction.

[Rardy]

One thing all of you tower fans need to remember is that once a building gets above 30 stories, it starts to get a lot more expensive. You really need to have economies of scale to have it make sense. Sometimes companies (banks mainly) will build taller buildings in order to promote themselves even when it is not justified by other reasons. Memphis isn't gaining the amount of office space downtown to warrant massive skyscrapers. I find it a positive that the economy is doing well enough that there are new condo buildings downtown at a time when most of the country is pulling back from construction.

Interesting article in today's Commercial Appeal. Basically Memphis is relatively immune from the national economy's ups and downs and because of our slow, steady growth, our housing market stays arguably healthy. This article contains some spin, but I definitely think there's truth to it.

[fieldmarshaldj]

or one 100 than five 20s hehe

You wouldn't want to be in that 100-floor sucker when the next New Madrid quake hit.

[jmduke]

River Inn of Harbor Town now has a preliminary website up and running: http://www.riverinnmemphis.com/

[jmduke]

Amos at the CA profiled the impending opening of the River Inn at Harbor Town: http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2007/...luxury-at-last/

We walked by the area yesterday afternoon and it certainly is nice. They had a group of people over at Currents cooking, serving, and eating, so it appears they are in hiring/training mode. A fellow was setting up the bar at Tugs. The design of the Inn is compact and reminiscient of something European; I hope they do well.

[DoctorGonzo]

The Harbor Town inn looks absolutely lovely.

[gatesofmemphis]

I'm hoping that the umbrellas on the 4th floor are for a bar. It would be a great place to have a toddy.

[gatesofmemphis]

I was on Mud Island today and went in to the Inn. The 4th floor umbrella space (on the north side) will be a bar and light dining. It opens this Monday. I didn't get its name though.