Peabody Place

[HOME_TOWN_GUY2]

Two more tenants are leaving the Peabody Place, leaving behind an almost empty second floor. Not a good start of the year for downtown retail. Why is retail not flourishing in downtown? Residential population has been increasing consistently and they get plenty of foot traffic from all the beale street visitors and sports fans. CCC was in the process of developing a retail strategy whatever happened to that...

bizjournal article

[Rural King]

I would say the type of stores in Peabody Mall are not specialized and/or attractive enough for tourists nor downtown residents compared to other venues they frequent regulary to build up sufficient trade. Basically what I'm saying is that none of the stores target the right demographics to make the mall a "to go" location for any particular reason for any particular group.

[mandrws1]

An outlet mall would be great. Or at least put some different stores there. Why would I go downtown to Victoria's Secret or Foot Locker when I can just drive 10 minutes to Oak Court. I'm surprised Belz hasn't done something unique with this beautiful retail center yet. People drive from miles and miles to go to the outlet malls in Gatlinburg, etc. That would be great for Peabody Place IMO.

[James Owen]

Muvico is leaving Peabody Place as well, with the entire space to be converted into an expansion of the Peabody Hotel. This is part of a bigger plan to convert the mall into a factory outlet.

http://memphis.bizjournals.com/memphis/sto...0286800^1574032

One bright side to all of this: at least Jillian's is staying around.

[ponderjb]

I wonder what types of outlet stores will go in there?

[sleepy]

Muvico is leaving Peabody Place as well, with the entire space to be converted into an expansion of the Peabody Hotel. This is part of a bigger plan to convert the mall into a factory outlet.

http://memphis.bizjournals.com/memphis/sto...0286800^1574032

One bright side to all of this: at least Jillian's is staying around.

[The Memphian]

I wonder what types of outlet stores will go in there?

[Rural King]

I hate to see Muvico go. I'd like at least to see at least one or two screens stay. I think it's healthy for any downtown to have a movie theatre.

For the place in general, I think it either ought to go really upscale, which would attract tourists and locals alike or more realistically, put in something that would cater to residents--a grocery in the old Tower Records and so on.

I think the retail outlet idea would work as well.

[WestTNNative]

I think an outlet mall in Peabody Place is a great idea. The only thing Belz would have to keep an eye on is Tunica. If the Tunica outlet mall goes more upscale, retailers may not want to have a location in both Tunica and Memphis, at least initially. I've never been to the Tunica mall, but if demand in Tunica continues to grow, I wouldn't be surprised if the current mall goes more upscale or another mall is built. There's been a void in the Memphis market for outlet stores since the Belz mall in Lakeland died down.

[Rural King]

^ I was at the Lakeland outlet mall over the weekend and it is in a decline. Its still a well maintained facility, but it is rather dreary with the lack of activity and empty storefronts. Hopefully it can be turned around, and/or Peabody can be developed to fill the void.

[jmduke]

MBJ reports Dan McGuinness pub will be leaving Peabody Place soon, but will probably reopen in some other location downtown. See to see this Belz investment, which I think was a great concept with poor tenant choices (shopping found elsewhere in the metro area/too many movie screens), slowly fail. Apparently there is still high demand for hotel rooms downtown for them to add the suites (along with the impending Hyatt and Indigo), but this choice to move away from retail is not a good long-term development.

http://memphis.bizjournals.com/memphis/sto...tml?jst=b_ln_hl

[sleepy]

MBJ reports Dan McGuinness pub will be leaving Peabody Place soon, but will probably reopen in some other location downtown. See to see this Belz investment, which I think was a great concept with poor tenant choices (shopping found elsewhere in the metro area/too many movie screens), slowly fail. Apparently there is still high demand for hotel rooms downtown for them to add the suites (along with the impending Hyatt and Indigo), but this choice to move away from retail is not a good long-term development.

http://memphis.bizjournals.com/memphis/sto...tml?jst=b_ln_hl

[mandrws1]

We all know that this is nothing more than "posturing" to get the various final approvals required for the merger of Delta and Northwest.

Given the increasingly dire state of the airline industry and the ongoing cutbacks due to high oil prices, there is absolutely no way that Memphis will survive as a hub for the new Delta. Maybe MEM will be a focus city, but never a hub. Cincinnati will meet a similar fate.

What is truly laughable is that the CEO is saying there may be flights from Memphis to Paris and Tokyo. Give us a break, we are not stupid. The only nonstops to those cities from Memphis will be on FedEx.

[jmduke]

CA and MBJ had recent articles about Belz's plan to transform Peabody Place into Peabody Suites. Looks like ~160 suites will be added to the downtown hotel market in a few years with the retail portion of the first floor staying intact and Texas de Brazil and Encore staying put. It's unfortunate the retail "experiment" didn't pan out but I think a lot of that was overkill on movie screens (22 was too many) and on retail that already existed in the region. Their comments about upscale boutiques are encouraging and fit the market of tourists and convention attendees.

Adding these suites plus the Wyndham's transition to Crowne Plaza and the addition of a Courtyard and Hotel Indigo at the Tenoke Bldg. is very encouraging news for the downtown hotel market; convention planners must be happy.

CA: http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2008/...moving-forward/

MBJ: http://memphis.bizjournals.com/memphis/sto...tml?jst=b_ln_hl