Heart of Memphis - Memphis Daily News
http://www.memphisdailynews.com/editorial/ArticleEmail.aspx...
Heart of Memphis
Downtown projects keep city’s core bustling
By Andy Meek
The day before Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam was the keynote speaker this summer at the
Downtown Memphis Commission’s 2011 Annual Luncheon, he went for a jog in Nashville
wearing his “Believe Memphis” Grizzlies T-shirt.
Twenty-four hours later, he stood before a
podium in Memphis to address an audience
of the city’s movers and shakers at The
Peabody hotel about Downtown Memphis – a
topic that even the governor acknowledged
seemed odd for the state’s chief executive.
Yet Haslam felt compelled to assure the
crowd that other cities across Tennessee
“would kill” to have the same kind of
corporate presence in their downtowns that
Downtown Memphis has.
He said Memphis’ Downtown core has assets
like FedExForum and AutoZone Park that do
something other cities sometimes have a hard
time with – presenting families with the
kinds of entertainment options that
encourage them to come out at night.
Construction crews are making a
variety of improvements to some of
Downtown Memphis’ most iconic
sights, including The Pyramid, One
Commerce Square and the
Mississippi riverfront.
(Photo: Lance Murphey)
“If Tennessee is going to be a great state, Memphis has got to be a great city. It’s really that
simple,” Haslam said. “If Memphis is going to do well, then Downtown Memphis has to be
the strong heart.”
Part of what’s determining the future of that heartbeat is a flurry of development both large
and small in this relatively tiny slice of the city. The development includes the
transformation of The Pyramid arena into a Bass Pro retail store, the latest step of which
includes Montgomery Martin Contractors LLC being named the lowest bidder for the
demolition contract the city wants to award so that transformation can begin.
The landmark One Commerce Square tower is being remade almost from top to bottom.
Among the work that’s happening there, the demolition phase of construction has started the
process of putting an Independent Bank branch in the lobby. Construction on that is
expected to be finished in the first quarter.
1 of 5
12/2/11 9:12 AM
Heart of Memphis - Memphis Daily News
http://www.memphisdailynews.com/editorial/ArticleEmail.aspx...
The tower’s lobby also is getting new seating areas, TV monitors and a security desk. Not to
mention, also on the way are the employees of Mesaba, a sister company of Pinnacle Airlines
that’s moving its headquarters to the tower from Minnesota and joining Pinnacle itself in
being based at One Commerce.
That’s a far cry from only a few years ago,
when the departure of SunTrust Banks Inc. as
one of the major tenants of One Commerce
helped the building go to the brink of
foreclosure before a group of local investors
bought it and now are wooing a stream of
new tenants to the property.
Demolition has begun on the
interior of The Pyramid in
preparation for Bass Pro Shops'
planned megastore. The city of
Memphis is completing demolition,
seismic, mechanical and site work
before turning the building over to
Bass Pro on Aug. 1.
(Photo: Lance Murphey)
Elsewhere Downtown, construction is
moving along at Beale Street Landing. And
new restaurants and retail shops continue
flocking to the South Main Historic Arts
District, some of the newest being the retail
store Shop Girl New York and fine dining
restaurant Rizzos Diner.
That’s not to say Downtown and its
supporters haven’t been disappointed by a
few things recently.
At press time, the NBA lockout was still going
on, leaving the follow-up to the Memphis
Grizzlies’ most recent magical season still
unwritten – and FedExForum still without
the packed crowds of Grizzlies fans.
A few days ago, the International Folk Alliance confirmed the organization and its annual
conference are moving from Memphis to Kansas City, Mo. Folk Alliance president Louis
Meyers said the conference outgrew the Marriott Hotel, where the conference has been held
each February for the last several years.
All that said, here’s a snapshot of Downtown today – what’s on the drawing board, what’s
moving down the track and what’s recently been unveiled:
One Commerce Square
If anyone gave an award to one Downtown address for the most activity, the most attention,
the most tenants and the most promise still to come all in one location, this landmark tower
would easily claim that prize.
2 of 5
12/2/11 9:12 AM
Heart of Memphis - Memphis Daily News
http://www.memphisdailynews.com/editorial/ArticleEmail.aspx...
The tower has been attracting new occupants at a steady clip since it was saved from
foreclosure and bought back from US Bancorp by a group of local investors. In the past year
or so, it’s landed tenants like Electrolux, GASC, Pinnacle and Independent Bank.
According to Melissa Alexander of Cushman & Wakefield/Commercial Advisors Asset
Services, Pinnacle’s 170,000-square-foot buildout will be finished by the middle of this
month, six weeks ahead of schedule. The company has moved into nine floors, with four
more to go. LEED certification is under way, and Pinnacle is currently working on a recycling
program, with the remainder of the building to follow.
One Commerce’s annex has been converted into event space and has booked eight events so
far, everything from holiday parties to fundraisers to weddings.
The building has its own website, www.onecommercesquare.com, and is the only office
building in Memphis with its own Twitter account, @OneCommercesq.
The Pyramid
October saw a lot of progress on the renovation of The Pyramid into a Bass Pro retail store, a
project that’s been in the works for years and moved forward in fits and starts.
The city of Memphis last month filed an application for a $2.5 million building permit to
start construction work on the revamp of the arena, which opened as such in November 1991
and closed with the opening of FedExForum as an arena and concert venue.
The permit application was for interior modifications to include removing the seating bowl
for the 20,000-seat arena the structure was originally built to hold.
Also last month, the Memphis City Council approved moving the iconic Ramesses the Great
statue from in front of The Pyramid to the University of Memphis campus.
In late September, the city issued a request for proposals for companies that wanted to
handle demolition work at the site. According to the office of Memphis Mayor A C Wharton
Jr., Montgomery Martin was the low bidder for that contract, and that work has begun.
In August, the Center City Revenue Finance Corp. approved the bond financing to make the
city’s redevelopment possible. Downtown Memphis Commission president Paul Morris said
the CCRFC issued about $197 million worth of bonds for the project.
Great American Steamboat Co.
Great American Steamboat Co., a new entity formed from the remnants of the old Delta
Queen Steamboat Co., is signing up passengers for the maiden voyage of its refurbished
riverboat The American Queen – the largest steamboat ever built.
The company, based at One Commerce Square, has sent out email blasts to subscribers of
3 of 5
12/2/11 9:12 AM
Heart of Memphis - Memphis Daily News
http://www.memphisdailynews.com/editorial/ArticleEmail.aspx...
publications like The New York Times and Smithsonian magazine.
The American Queen, which is 418 feet long and 89 feet high, is one of the new riverboats
that will dock at Beale Street Landing, which is still being finished. The other boat is the
Queen of the Mississippi, owned by a separate company, which will stop in Memphis on its
overnight river cruises.
GASC CEO Jeff Krida has said his company will be hiring hundreds of local people to
accommodate the boat’s more than 400 passengers.
In a blog post on the company’s website, www.greatamericansteamboatcompany.com, GASC
president Christopher Kyte said the company recently finished an 11-city road trip to gin up
interest among travel agents for the riverboat cruises.
South Main
New restaurants and retail shops continue sprouting up in South Main, which also is a
hotbed of entrepreneurial activity and research.
The Seed Hatchery business development program hosted in the EmergeMemphis building
at 516 Tennessee St. is gearing up for its second season. Applications are being accepted now
for the 90-day program, during which potential start-ups will be mentored and refined. At
the end of that period, those companies will get the chance to pitch their ideas to a group of
investors. Six startups will be chosen to go through the program, and they’ll get $15,000
each. Sponsors include Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz PC; Butler, Snow,
O’Mara, Stevens & Cannada PLLC; The Marston Group; Rackspace; a>m ventures and
archer>malmo.
Elsewhere in South Main, Shop Girl New York is one of the newest retail additions. The
upscale ladies clothing and accessories boutique picked a 1,500-square-foot space at 515 S.
Main St. The shop recently got a $40,000 retail forgivable loan and a $5,000 façade
improvement grant from the Center City Development Corp.
An artist studio and gallery is opening at 492 S. Second St. That 9,000-square-foot building
will have space for two artist studios, a gallery and space for a restaurant. Construction is
expected to be finished in February. That project got a $52,000 development loan from the
CCDC.
And fine-dining restaurant Rizzos Diner recently opened at 106 GE Patterson Ave.
Other Downtown activity
What once was a fenced-in, unsightly hole in the ground across Main Street from the Subway
restaurant Downtown has now been filled in with dirt. Morris said that hole has been filled
and compacted, and the property owner has committed to fixing the sidewalks around the
lot. Morris also said, “We’ve been in discussions with the property owner – it’s not a done
4 of 5
12/2/11 9:12 AM
Heart of Memphis - Memphis Daily News
http://www.memphisdailynews.com/editorial/ArticleEmail.aspx...
deal by any means – about the concept of putting an art and dog park in that location.”
The now vacant Chisca Hotel is reportedly under contract with the same local development
partnership behind the One Commerce project. The hotel was built in the early 1900s and
was donated to the Church of God in Christ in the 1970s for $10. COGIC left there in the late
1990s. In addition to once serving as COGIC’s headquarters, perhaps the Chisca’s biggest
claim to fame is it’s where Elvis Presley’s landmark record, “That’s All Right (Mama),” first
was broadcast in July 1954.
And a new business called Memphis Pedicab Co. is now offering rides Downtown. Wharton
presented the company with a certificate of convenience and necessity earlier this month,
which will allow the company to operate Downtown. Pedicabs are rickshaw-looking tricycles
that are not motorized. See Page 12 for more.
5 of 5
12/2/11 9:12 AM