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Sears Crosstown redevelopment

tnse

By tnse
in Memphis

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tnse Whistle-Stop

tnse

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Anyone want to comment on this article on the redevelopment of the Sears Crosstown building in Midtown? It seems like a pretty daunting task to redevelop the area. It doesn't seem like it could happen anytime soon. But do any forum members want to throw out ideas? Would something like a grocery store plus residential work? Ideas?

http://memphis.bizjournals.com/memphis/sto...2466000^1421509

Oh I know, How about a Bass Pro Shop with a giant fish on top? Sorry, I had to throw it out there. :P

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James Owen Whistle-Stop

James Owen

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If I were redeveloping Sears Crosstown, I'd probably make the first two levels up front into an urban-style supermarket ala Harris Teeter, with room for retail and small business opportunites, and make the upper levels a combination of high-end and market-rate housing. Probably gut out the middle sections to create an atrium area if possible.

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G-townTN Whistle-Stop

G-townTN

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The problem I have found with the sears crosstown building is that it lies in a residential neighborhood. It seems like the other sears buildings are in developed urban areas. For the project to work, memphis would have to declare the area as a destination spot and encourage other growth to accompany the redevelopment of the building, kind of like what is happening in the gultch in nashville. I personally don't see this happening because of the residents of the area and laws regarding historical districts. If anything was proposed in that area it would most likely be shot down the same way the tennessee brewery project was shot down. People in memphis need a vision for the future and right now, not many have that.

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gatesofmemphis Unincorporated Area

gatesofmemphis

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The problem I have found with the sears crosstown building is that it lies in a residential neighborhood. It seems like the other sears buildings are in developed urban areas. For the project to work, memphis would have to declare the area as a destination spot and encourage other growth to accompany the redevelopment of the building, kind of like what is happening in the gultch in nashville. I personally don't see this happening because of the residents of the area and laws regarding historical districts. If anything was proposed in that area it would most likely be shot down the same way the tennessee brewery project was shot down. People in memphis need a vision for the future and right now, not many have that.
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sleepy Burg

sleepy

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Citizens opposed the Tennessee Brewery because It would have destroyed a good chunk of the original brewery and swallowed the rest with an ugly neo-modernist hulk. This would have a) dwarfed single-family homes feet away, eroding the investments made by those families; and b) violated land use codes put in place to protect the economic viability of the district.

Those citizens do have a vision -- that good design is a prerequisite to long-term economic success of a community. And that expediently ugly architecture and economically successful communities are mutually exclusive.

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G-townTN Whistle-Stop

G-townTN

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Citizens opposed the Tennessee Brewery because It would have destroyed a good chunk of the original brewery and swallowed the rest with an ugly neo-modernist hulk. This would have a) dwarfed single-family homes feet away, eroding the investments made by those families; and b) violated land use codes put in place to protect the economic viability of the district.

Those citizens do have a vision -- that good design is a prerequisite to long-term economic success of a community. And that expediently ugly architecture and economically successful communities are mutually exclusive.

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bluff2085 Hamlet

bluff2085

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Isn't Sears crosstown big enough to become a destination on it's own?. I don't know. I'd like to see it go primarily residential w/ retail only on the first one or two floors. If there is enough demand for new office space downtown let's bring it to the core where it's needed. As for the Tennessee Brewery project, it's too bad they couldn't cut it design-wise--I was a little excited about a modern addition to the Brewery. The proposal for the Supply House annex [9 stories] is right down the street too, though that project seems to be stalled or on the verge of dead [as does Horizon...]. Still imo larger denser projects in Southend might even validate the neighborhood's self-proclaimed liveability, enough to court even more demand for urban living in Memphis without necessarily damaging the neighborhood's historic integrity.

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  • 1 month later...
gatesofmemphis Unincorporated Area

gatesofmemphis

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"Nettles would not elaborate on the pending sale of the landmark building, a Midtown eyesore since its closing in 1993."

I wish Mr. Maki would phrase his highly arguable personal editorial comments as that rather than a seemingly factual adjective. Beyond my belief that Sears Crosstown is awesomely beautiful, closeup and from afar, what does empty have to do with eyesore? Did Graceland become an eyesore on August 16, 1977?

We have many butt-ugly buildings that people use every day. I think the U of M Holiday Inn is probably the butt-ugliest. Should Maki, when talking about an awards ceremony at that hotel, say "the awards were held at the University of Memphis Holiday Inn, a Memphis eyesore since its completion in 2002."?

Obviously made me angry.

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northernbizzkit1 Hamlet

northernbizzkit1

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"Nettles would not elaborate on the pending sale of the landmark building, a Midtown eyesore since its closing in 1993."

I wish Mr. Maki would phrase his highly arguable personal editorial comments as that rather than a seemingly factual adjective. Beyond my belief that Sears Crosstown is awesomely beautiful, closeup and from afar, what does empty have to do with eyesore? Did Graceland become an eyesore on August 16, 1977?

We have many butt-ugly buildings that people use every day. I think the U of M Holiday Inn is probably the butt-ugliest. Should Maki, when talking about an awards ceremony at that hotel, say "the awards were held at the University of Memphis Holiday Inn, a Memphis eyesore since its completion in 2002."?

Obviously made me angry.

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tennreb Whistle-Stop

tennreb

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It's currently a mix of retail and commercial space, I believe office space demand was high enough at the time of renovation to forgo the added complexity of throwing residential into the mix - something which certainly isn't the case in Midtown - though the added presence of a strong residential component would probably make the Crosstown building a more interesting place than the Landmark Center.

Right now, the center consists of:

- A 13 Screen Cinema

- Best Buy

- 600,000+ square feet of office space

- Sports Center

- Day Care Center

- Parking for 1,700 cars

- Direct access to light rail (30 second walk)

It's always a bit hilarious to watch people getting off the train there at Fenway Station assuming they are at Fenway Park.

If anything, I would like to see a mixed-income element, but with much better management than Uptown Square - a complex I ran away from the moment my lease was up. I really wish that I had originally signed at Gayoso instead. Letting in lower-income residents is fine, but letting some of them run the place into the ground and ruin it for the others who are trying to improve their situation is not. The latter is precisely what happened at Uptown Square, and might have something to do with the fact they changed management companies several times. There needs to be strict enforcement of quality of life rules from Day 1, or else you create an atmosphere where certain attitudes are allowed to pervade the entire community. Sadly, my experience with the Memphis apartment market indicates that poor management is a rampant problem - even the "luxury" property I once worked at in Cordova was nothing short of an embarrassment in the way that the entire complex was permitted to be ravaged by the residents - all of whom were paying top-dollar to live there.

Anyway, the developer of the Landmark Center has some more pictures and information on their site.

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Memphis Love Whistle-Stop

Memphis Love

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the way i see it the bldg is too large for that area to be developed (i believe 1.2 million sq. feet which is bigger than Wolfchase Galleria). My original post was to maybe tear down the majority of the bldg and keep the front part with the tower, since that is really the only part of the bldg i believe to be of any use architectually speaking. That bldg will never be developed as is, so a new radical approach must be used to develop the property and the area.

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Memphis Love Whistle-Stop

Memphis Love

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we'll see I can pretty much guarantee you that the Sears Bldg will sit there for probably the majority of my lifetime as a vacant structure.

FYI I wasn't saying demolish the entire bldg like you guys continue to think, i was saying to scale it back to a smaller amount of square footage to make it more appealing.

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