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Pinnacle Airlines moving to Downtown Memphis

mempho

By mempho
in Memphis

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The Memphian Whistle-Stop

The Memphian

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This great news! Hopefully this will be the start of more businesses coming back to downtown Memphis. I wonder what the Pinnacle logo will look like on top of One Commerce Square. :)

Very good news. I too am hoping more businesses will locate/relocate downtown. Maybe Nike will take a look at Downtown. Pinnacle could be setting the tone for more relocations.

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mempho Unincorporated Area

mempho

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This great news! Hopefully this will be the start of more businesses coming back to downtown Memphis. I wonder what the Pinnacle logo will look like on top of One Commerce Square. :)

Not only that, but would they be a part of a redesigning from top to bottom of it as well? This is definately exciting news...

Is it possible that they would be a part of redesigning it as well?? Very interesting...

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Rural King Town

Rural King

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^ I doubt it. They are currently trying to cut costs after losing a big deal that cost them several hundred million in revenue according to the article. New signage is probably the best one could hope for. The building itself, on the exterior at least, is probably in good shape so I would doubt we will see its facade reworked anytime soon no matter who becomes its primary tenant.

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sleepy Burg

sleepy

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Well, it's certainly good news.

Downtown is an attractive place nowadays and above all, cheap for offices, no doubt far cheaper than East Memphis.

In some way, perhaps this could be a trend in the making in terms of the "aerotropolis" idea. MEM is the economic engine of the area, and as more businesses are invested in the distribution/aviation hub, it might well make sense to put MEM related offices downtown than out on the Poplar corridor. The airport is way, way more convenient from the CBD than way out Poplar.

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jmduke Whistle-Stop

jmduke

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Wow...I go on a 4-day trip and come back to this good news; this didn't even make the crew room rumor list. Interesting how Pinnacle's ALPA council also has their offices in One Commerce Square.

I do hope this deal goes through and Pinnacle conducts their initial and newhire training at the downtown location. Pinnacle currently houses their newhires/trainees/interviewees at hotels around the airport, notably the HI-Select, Radisson, and Homewood Suites and newcomers to Memphis get a very poor impression of the city based on that area. Several trainees have been robbed or had their cars vandalized on nearby hotel properties and they incorrectly assume most of Memphis is depressed and crime-ridden from spending much time in the Airways/Millbranch/Brooks Rd. area.

When I was hired, I was the only Memphis resident in my newhire class and it wasn't until I took fellow classmates to Cooper-Young/Midtown, Downtown, and East Memphis that they realized this was a pretty decent city after all. Downtown has enough mid-range and extended-stay properties to fill the demand from Pinnacle should they decide to relocate training.

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jmduke Whistle-Stop

jmduke

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Well, the article stated 150K square feet which is double what Pinnacle currently leases in the Nonconnah Corp. Center. That leads me to believe they may bring Colgan's small HQ to Memphis from Manassas, VA and combine operations; I don't know of any major organic growth plans within the company but it good news if there is.

Pinnacle probably has about 500-600 people at its current HQ, so if they expand and go for all 150K at Commerce Square, you might be looking at 900-1000 folks. The employees at Nonconnah range run the entire income range from $8-10/hr analysts to dispatchers to accountants to VP-types and above. You'd get a pretty good shot in the arm for the downtown lunch business with a bump in retail activity as well.

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mempho Unincorporated Area

mempho

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Well, the article stated 150K square feet which is double what Pinnacle currently leases in the Nonconnah Corp. Center. That leads me to believe they may bring Colgan's small HQ to Memphis from Manassas, VA and combine operations; I don't know of any major organic growth plans within the company but it good news if there is.

Pinnacle probably has about 500-600 people at its current HQ, so if they expand and go for all 150K at Commerce Square, you might be looking at 900-1000 folks. The employees at Nonconnah range run the entire income range from $8-10/hr analysts to dispatchers to accountants to VP-types and above. You'd get a pretty good shot in the arm for the downtown lunch business with a bump in retail activity as well.

I guess there is a down side to every story, it turns out that the reason for Pinnacles growth is the outsourcing of Northwest Airlines to do their work for them. How do I know? I just did an interview with a man who lost his job of 20 years with Northwest Airlines because of this.

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tennreb Whistle-Stop

tennreb

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I guess there is a down side to every story, it turns out that the reason for Pinnacles growth is the outsourcing of Northwest Airlines to do their work for them. How do I know? I just did an interview with a man who lost his job of 20 years with Northwest Airlines because of this.

NWA has been doing this ever since they created Pinnacle.

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  • 11 months later...
jmduke Whistle-Stop

jmduke

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I was not aware Pinnacle was still considering options to consolidate their HQ. CA states they are still considering leasing in One Commerce Square or moving to a bigger facility at the airport. I think it's also a good sign in that they may sense some stability in the Delta contract which allows Pinnacle to start making more long-term corporate decisions.

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2008/...6-202815754725/

MBJ has some additional details: http://memphis.bizjournals.com/memphis/sto...03/daily32.html

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jmduke Whistle-Stop

jmduke

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Looks like Olive Branch is getting into the Pinnacle HQ bidding war. My hunch is they would probably like to stay in the airport area and consolidate the HQ at the old FedEx HQ in the Nonconnach Corp. Center...but I still hope they move to Commerce Square downtown. I also think Memphis and Shelby Co. will sweeten the deal to keep them in Memphis one way or another.

Memphis Daily News: http://www.memphisda...e.aspx?id=51402

Commercial Appeal: http://www.commercia...offer-move-its/

Interesting commentary from MDN a few weeks back: http://www.memphisda...e.aspx?id=51080

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