I had honestly been under the impression (and from random gossip around town) that Belz had always eventually planned to convert Peabody Place Mall into suites; mainly they proposed and built the mall to cover the overhead coast of the construction and development, and then would receive tax credits for the redevelopment in downtown. Don't place any weight on that, though...it's only gossip, but I guess it's worth mentioned for something to talk about.

I honestly think trying to redevelop that into meeting space is a good idea, BUT not in place of a new convention center. I think that a 60 million dollar renovation of the convention center isn't enough and that with only 60 million it would be done extremely half ass, but it is what it is. I don't trust the city with that 60 million to do it right (which as I stated above that won't be enough, IMO). We got BSL for roughly 50 million, does Wharton honestly think 60 is enough to bring the Cook up to seismic code, remodel, and rebrand? I don't think he's naive that far off base, but seriously, let a private company come in and develop whatever new space is to be developed.

Collins also has a point.

Another article, this one from the MBJ which gives a little more detail.

Mayor's Downtown Rotary speech puts spotlight on Peabody Place
http://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/b...tlight-on.html

If they push and get a new convention center around Autozone, what becomes of Cook? I've pushed the Crowne Center in KC as an example of kids centric attractions. It would tie into the the more family oriented pull of Bass Pro and should be tied into the Pinch redevelopment.

Ideally, something similar to that or a proposal that in a way benefits the general public or something similar to what is planned or Sears Crosstown is the best. Nashville is redeveloping their old convention center (or at least this is what's included in the proposals, I can't remember which combination the winning proposal had) to have a House of Blues (possibly), an African American music museum, commercial space, and a tower that will have office space and probably a hotel or residential component. A solid amount of mixed use development is probably the only feasible way to go, the biggest problem here in Memphis will be keeping the amount of people using whatever happens to it stable.

I think retailers would work extremely well there...an actual grocery store for downtown, an urban Target, etc. The City and the Downtown Memphis Commission continually talk big talk about how they want to grown downtown in residents and businesses, yet there's not the proper amenities and resources present to support that population.

While I like Wharton's idea for expanded meeting space, I don't think that it meets the high demand for competition with Nashville, who is fastly blowing by Memphis as the premier metro city in TN. Here's an idea the mayor should propose. Redevelop Peabody Place into a world class Conference Center. Then plan for a new convention center in undeveloped blighted land south of FedExForum.

No doubt. I'm curious to what will be said tomorrow, especially from Collins. Not to get political (which in this case it actually pertains to development), but as the FOX13 article mentioned his district has been constantly passed over for redevelopment funding even though it was considered a priority. With that being said, they had better try to keep from using City funds to redevelop Peabody Place and concentrate that effort toward a new convention center, but that new convention center would only be doable with a tax increase, and we all know how that will go down.

Belz more than likely has the money to redevelop it on their own, but if they think that the City will pay for it, they'll let the City make that move. Between the shortage of hotel rooms and the limited amount of meeting space, I doubt that the Peabody Place would attract any conventions of a decent size that would make that a wise investment for the City.

Hi! I enjoy reading this thread. My sister went to college in Memphis, so I've spent some time in the city, so it's interesting to learn about what's happening there.

I just wanted to ask you guys if there's been any news or developments on the Tennessee Brewery? I read on here a few months ago that the owner wanted to demolish it. Are they still planning to?

it seems to be the same pattern over and over, spend, spend, spend, on various structures---regardless of how much the first or third paid consultants recommend---do it, the project, by the same few decision-makers, the way they want, w/out following the paid for recommendations, e.g. the two-way auto traffic on the mall, after it was made emphatically plain in writing that, if no recommendation was accepted, but one, the directional problem should be fixed. what happened? nothing! the mayor stated that the city didn't have the approximate 1 million dollars to invest in signage and directional signals for traffic. consequently, after whining about getting more businesses to locate on the mall, it was all for nothing. later, however, the fastest job i've ever seen completed was the stadium, completed even before the projected date---for the football games, two i believe. they had the money for that.

as for the comment about the peabody suites, what ark stated was not a rumor, part of the conversation about the suites and the reasons given for the delay is written in this very forum. after the trouble in orlando and finally getting it opened, memphis took the hit because of the same old line "hard times" excuse, and needed time for capital recovery, etc. actually, the thing that the same old rulers that want a personal finger in every pie which profits them, blocked the proposal of building a highrise (initially, it was the vue), the hole in the ground was upsetting this group suddenly---i guess as good a reason as any, since they knew the logistics of the four corners, after all building a building that would bring citizens downtown was silly to waste a busy corner, when they could build a "world class, upscale, luxury (INSERT ADJECTIVE) parking lot. why can't dumb memphians understand.

all of these things link back to no leadership, no real concern for the citizens of this county nor memphis, no desire for urgency, creativity, and no interest in much more than pensions for many over-paid do-nothings, the proverbial schools topic, and the worry of giving mandates to companies, industries, and businesses contracts, regardless of their ability to do the work, to whomever is described as a minority, meaning blacks and women, which neither are in shelby county, should that be part of minority definition. it is difficult to keep having pride over the things that could go on in memphis, if we had qualified people to do the work. what a shame.

Memphis Skyies to Light Up Blue Downtown

The Commercial Appeal

Hilton Garden Inn developer buys Downtown's old Greyhound property

The Commercial Appeal

I think they're planning to start demolition on August 1, but there are 3 or so individuals who are interested in buying it. I've been inside and structurally everything is pretty sound, but converting it into something that would make money would be a pretty steep task.

Nice to see that Memphis is moving forward with plans for a new facility to house the Memphis Music Hall Of Fame Museum. I saw in an article last night that it would be like a visitor's center to Beale Street. Not to pat myself on the back, but I proposed this idea to former Mayor Myron Lowery via Twitter a while back and he liked it. He must have passed it on to higher officials.:cheers:

Saw this:

Domestically they indicate that they may look into building more Sesame Place, Discovery Cove or Aquatica style parks, while saving the SeaWorld brand for potential new international projects…

Memphis should be beating the door down as part of a Peabody Place redo or a Cook redo if a new convention center happens. Sea World is now basically ran by Blackstone group that has a significant piece of Merlin that runs the Lego Discovery Center and SeaLife Aquarium at the Crown Center that I referenced. As part of Sea World they control the marketing rights of Sesame St.

I can't help but think that Memphis could use the synergies of location with major east/west and north/south interstates with 22 and 69 in the near future and possible partnership or location close to St. Jude to attract these weekend getaway type attractions plus give the kids and families of St. Jude a getaway when it's ok.

Just my pipedream.

wayward, i like your idea or whoever proposed it. the mention of access highways is part of my post a few days ago. memphis has all of these 6 transportation logistics routes, also, the geographical location of memphis is a plus for the area. i believe memphis has been said to be w/in 6-8 hours from over 1/3 of the nation. i have yet to hear how much budget is dedicated to tourism, pr for the city, etc., but i do know that is one of the critical variables identified by the city of memphis for income.

as for the bank, i think that is a great idea, however, i hope some money is spent contracting a professional photographer, w/ the right equipment, in order to get it on the record. perhaps helicopter photos from 500 ft. over the city proper need special permission. someone w/ a loud enough voice should begin now knocking on the heads of those who can make good things happen.

ark's comment re: the grocery/market, urban target, etc., is another one of those ideas that the city commission can't seem to get done, even though the public has asked for them over and over. has the building stopped at st. jude, and is there a good current photo of it? that entire area could support a mickey d's, arby's, etc. people do eat fast food in the pinch district, as well as st. jude. a tremendous amount of building and project work has suddenly begun, but i guess much of it is tied to promised projects years ago. it seems that the medical center downtown signage and the structural towers to help beautify and act as landmarks seemed to be out of the picture, if wharton's comments are to be taken into consideration. again, proposals, but rarely in details at the announcements. again, has the fbi made a decision about location and a building downtown?

I'm not for sure about the FBI's decision on their future location.

I'll try to go take some photos of the St. Jude Expansion tomorrow. No promises.

The Cutler Property Group Announces Acquisition of Two Buildings in Downtown Memphis, Tennessee
http://www.marketwired.com/press-rel...ee-1890715.htm

I see this as positive.

Let me ask this, and it may have been done before many pages back, but if you knew that redevelopment would replace 201 Popular, would you move the courts and jail (not City administration) to a more central location?

Same here. I wonder what kind of retail they're focusing on. Bail Bonds? :haha:

Only if that redevelopment would produce the same number of people downtown daily (not counting inmates of course). I don't know how many people work at 201, but I assume that it's a fairly large amount. I don't necessarily assume that the majority of the folks that work there or who have daily business there remain downtown to eat or whatnot (at least at lunch I haven't run into many people who work there) so the economic impact of 201 might not be as big as I might think it is.

well, as for the justice complex, i really think we need to start think about keeping many of the current solid buildings, instead of building something and tearing it down in 7 or 8 years. of course, i would have probably marched in the streets, if they had followed harold collins' suggestion, as well as a few other commission members, to destroy the pyramid. i have been asked about the pyramid by many, many individuals in other cities. some were coming to memphis for vacation, business, and the like. others have commented on the various landmarks that memphis has in downtown. the pyramid is often cited, as is the river, the forum, and certainly st. jude. another example is the expenditure of money on private rooms, etc. at the med, while they were making plans to completely build a new trauma center and tower. why did they build something that they have planned to tear down the entire time. though the randolph highrise is a building that belongs to ut (i think), it is a good looking building, but they want to tear it down. it makes no sense. if carlisle were to build the one beale project, as he stated he would, when he stated that they were just going to let the market recover, which might be about 7 years---that has come, so why did he build a multi-million dollar headqters on property that would ultimately tear a building down that would be less than 3 or 4 years old. i know why he left the beltz property, due to his alleged big plans for the 120 luxury suites. now, it seems as if the old gang is trying to scratch is back by trying to convince most folks that we need that particular building for a convention building. first, how much space is there, in the first place. second, it would be a parking headache for those living in that area, and those trying to find parking, w/ the exception of the convenient car garage that covered the hole on the busy corners, instead of putting a useful hotel or rental highrise.

i am glad to hear that canada has interest in memphis. maybe they will stumble on some ideas that will diversify the look of the downtown area. we talk so much about diversity, let's use some in this situation. i have heard, about a year ago, that some investors (legitimate) were in the city, visiting from mexico. they were interested in both rental properties, buying property, and locations for possible manufacturing/industry.

what happened to the foote homes deal that had virtually been secured, according to lipscomb over a year ago. the heritage trail seems to be following that of the trail of tears. there 6 year plan times 2 +10 years to complete must have had phoenix and company behind it. i am just glad someone out of memphis bought the bus station downtown. now, are they going to build the garden during 2014 instead of the reported 2015 start? i just assumed that it was a wrong date, but i realized how the average project, if it is ever built, takes about 6 or 7 years, if there isn't 3 to 4 phases. it will probably take the urban land institute to tell everyone of the leaders of these other projects where to build buildings and parking lots, garages, and sidewalks.

See below.

Or the next page. My bad.

Heritage Trail Likely to Continue Despite Rejection
https://www.memphisdailynews.com/new...ite-rejection/

i think, if memory serves me correctly, i posted on this subject approximately 3 or even possibly 4 times during th last twelve months. i know i have become somewhat contemptible lately regarding some of my thoughts and feelings regarding some of the same patterns that seem to be repeated by various leadership in the city proper, certainly the millstone known as the city council, and some of the administrators in the city government. too, i have noticed at least three diametrically opposed positions suddently put forth by the city mayor, but w/ no reasonable explanation.

these ridiculously long range plans are ludicrous, and makes the city, as a whole, appear somewhat out of touch w/ reality, if these government officials are giving project dates, which supposedly are to begin in 3 or 4 years and, on top of seemingly common approaches to so many city projects, there is the average 10-12 years w/ 3 and 4 phases, in order to get the project completed. where would le bonheur find itself, should it be operated as some portions of local government and the city of memphis operates; if st. jude were to operate in the manner that memphis has no doubt been operated? really, could we see fred smith taking the clues for operating fedex in the manner memphis has been governed over the last 20+ years, international paper, and the other fortune 500 companies in the city and in our county? certainly, memphis has many diverse and wonderfully successful operations of many kinds. people who think for themselves, who are not delusional, and attempt to get as much information as the informed reader and civic-minded individual is able to obtain, would reach a conclusion that suggests major changes and strong leadership for tn's largest city and county. i think that the media in memphis seems to enjoy reporting the negative, every piece of dirty laundry available about the city---sometimes delivered w/ glee, and has a knack for interpreting report, etc. in a negative light, even when nothing is negative. i recall at least two readers commenting on the federal reserve quarterly report a couple of years back. i believe the comments were to the editor of the CA, as these two readers were remarking, and making a good argument about the absolute misinterpretation of the report, which i had read a day or so before i saw these letters to the CA. at the time that i read the other comments, i was amazed how these folk saw the clearly biased and wrong conculsion, by turning the points of the argument against memphis, when in reality, i believe that memphis was ahead of st. louis, louisville, and the other cities in the federal district. often, i think this sort of thing happens all too often. about the only action that preempts a long take on media stamping of the city is the frenzy that the news stations wait for, w/ baited breath, is a rain shower and some lightening strikes in little rock, ark. (i have more to say on this, not just to give leaders a beat down, but i love this city, and something needs to be righted, not that my opinion will do so, i just have some things to say about good and the bad. consequently, i may have to put it in another post.)

Generally when developments are introduced in phases it's not a very good sign; that's why I considered OneBeale dead when they re proposed it in 3 or 4 phases.

As far as the public housing phasing, the first or second major development (the housing on Poplar across from LeBonheur, sorry for not using it's given name, but I'm too lazy to look it up) had issues with the original architecture firm that was located in STL that was working on it, that's why Architecture Inc. here in Memphis finished the design of that project. I don't know the full story behind why that firm in STL stopped working on it...they could have gone under, or had issues with the government on their contract.

For the City to be so determined to restructure it's public housing, they're dragging feat. The south of Forum area has a lot of potential and what's going on in South Main right now could turn that area into a lot. They need to get it together.



Johnny Ryall, DoomJ, VSRJ, where y'all at? It's been a while since you've posted.

Ha, still around, kind of slow news week(s). Thanks for adding to discussion & posting! :cheers:

Meh, been busy, got a good one for ya, though:

http://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/n...d-come-to.html

Looks like a terrible plan.

Are we so desperate for developments that this is what we get? People on Twitter were all giddy like a 25 story tower was just proposed. The overall idea of retail in the South Forum area works fine, but lose the parking lot, push it up to the street, lose the drive through (seriously why is this called a shopping center? It's a fast food restaurant). It's disturbing that OPD would recommend this for approval. Props to the Downtown Memphis Commission for actually attempting to stick to the various design guidelines for a change.

I know I sound overly negative, but if you're going to try to redevelop a neighborhood, do it right so you don't have to go back in 25 years and re do everything once the property values drop. Well done developments seldom have to worry about that.

You ain't overly negative. The plan sucks. Preach on.

Just saw somewhere it's going to have a Ticketmaster location and a CVB visitor's center. Ick.

http://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/n...hs-tunica.html

Forgot about this one: Harrah's Tunica is closing.

That SOFO development sucks. If that get's built, it'll close in short order and/or get bulldozed in the future for something worthy.

As for Tunica, Indian Casinos in Okie has sapped marketshare along with Ark's electronic games at the horse and dog track. I can bet the ponies at Oaklawn on my smart phone.

Tulsa has two casinos Hard Rock with an excellent entertainment venue and the another one and the Creeks are converting the River Spirit into a Margaritaville themed casino with extensive pools.

The SOFO development is a cool idea and I like the design. Has that old school 1950's diner look. However the location is BAD. It will be stuck in the GHETTO and that is not gonna create business except for gangsters. They need to make sure that area gets redeveloped and quick within opening or like you said, it will be closed down.

I wonder if Hard Rock will be interested in buying it? Although they already have the HRH Casino in Biloxi. But it's only a 250-room hotel, too.

I like the whole concept and idea for The SOFO (kinda reminds me of The Varsity in Atlanta for some reason), but not so much the location, which is surrounded by vacant and underdeveloped plots of land. Maybe if it was part of a much broader development with apartments, some ground-level retail, etc; it could succeed, but alone, The SOFO will have a very short life span at that spot.

While I'm not sold on the whole converting of the old Peabody Place Mall into a conference center, at the end of the day, something needs to be done with it other than just letting it sit there collecting cobwebs. My biggest gripe, however, is when it comes to doing big projects in Memphis, particularly publicly-financed ones, there's always been an insistence of cost over quality, and the end result winds up being anything but first-class in design. As arkitekte mentioned, spending $60 million to spruce up the current Cook Convention Center will not get you much compared to the $500+ million Nashville spent building Music City Center. With that much money, at the very least, you can give the place a new paint job, new roofing, and maybe re-skin the older portion of the building, but that's about it, and you would still wind up with an undersized, outdated facility.

Why not just refurbish it back into a entertainment complex? I'm always hearing people in Memphis say there's nothing to do at night for young adults. It failed before because of poor security and trouble makers running people off. With new security, it could become the premier EC in the midsouth and a major destination for young adults (not criminals and gang members) and families and out of town visitors. The location near the Pyramid fits well too.

With the right creative minds involved, Peabody Place could become Memphis' own indoor version of Universal's 'City Walk'.

But after all, it is Memphis and we know how things end up. So it'll probably become an outlet mall or something stupid and tacky.:rolleyes:

Well, Harrah's Tunica closing puts a considerable dent in my position regarding sustainment of Tunica Resorts. Although, it is only fair to realize that it must be viewed through the eyes of Caesars Ent. looking to reduce overhead and energize 2 smaller properties. The fact that it's being "closed" instead of sold makes me think they're going to mothball it or sell/ redevelop the land into something non-gaming related to discourage further competition. Perhaps stay on track with a top-notch golf resort. All this takes me back to my point that Tunica Resorts needs something else now to encourage growth such as a major amusement park and/or water park, etc. Don't get me wrong, the Tunica Resorts-Lula district remains with 8 or 9 casinos. Not to mention, 2 adjacent properties down there became one after a hotel tower was acquired & its small gaming floor closed in favor of the larger... Also, this movement last week (below) was touted as a sign of overall long term health.

Tunica casino sells for $62 million
Memphis Biz Journal

http://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/n...2-million.html

Tunica CVB
http://media.bizj.us/view/img/1850951/fitz.jpg

As far as the entertainment complex goes, how far are you willing to take that entertainment? Clubs? It's not too far removed from Beale and it's not in a heavily residential area so that might work. I just don't know how security would work since there's so many entrances and exits and closing those would screw with the life safety plan for the building in case of a fire. Security would have to be airport tight.

Ideally retail would be the best, but there's not enough people wanting/willing to shop in downtown. Put an urban Target or an actual grocery store in there and it would work. Hindsight is 20-20 and it was pretty foolish to build a mall in the heart of your CBD (at least with the population that our's has). If you added an additional 40k residents then it would probably still be a good idea.

As far as Harrah's closing, is it not Tunica's largest? That in the long run will probably give the other casinos a boost.

Still here. I've been lurking as there hasn't been much to discuss (sadly). I did grab a shot of Gather on Southern (University of Memphis) yesterday. It's looking good...at least from the front:

http://i58.tinypic.com/2cfa5hi.jpg

I'd close off a couple exits and leave the main front as the primary. As for the entertainment, I'd have:

House Of Blues restaurant as the anchor,
Billiards pool hall
Bowling alley
Mega sized arcade
Country music bar with live entertainment
Comedy club,
Upscale lounge club
ESPN ZONE Sports Bar
Cheesecake Factory
Upscale movie theater
Indoor Miniature Golf

Practically everything I just listed Memphis doesn't provide as entertainment for families. And it's a tourist town. Please explain that to me?:koko:

You wouldn't have to keep extremely tight for any of those, IMO. Closing some of the exits in a layout like Peabody Place would be pretty hard to get by coding due to the amount of people that would be in there at any given time unless you completely moth balled a section in the redevelopment.

The main issue with any of these as well as some other developments is the amount of people that live downtown. Whenever there's a basketball game downtown or a specific weekend the area is packed, but on your average week night there's not much action. Most developers and companies will look directly at the amount of residents in that specific area rather than the metro, especially in instances like we have where there's quite a bit of vacancy downtown.

First and foremost is working on adding residential units that aren't at the ass end of Harbor Town.

I am most impressed with the setback and the width of the sidewalk that fronts Southern. I'm not a huge fan of the choice of color for the facade, but that's not too big of an issue. The back side however...I drove by last weekend and it scared me.

Have they broken ground on the other apartment building yet?

Have you seen the boutique bowling alleys? There's a new one that just opened up in Vegas that a concept themed to more of a blues vibe could be something that fits your ideas. I'm trying to get a local guy to convert the old bowling alley up here in NWA that was turned into an event center and little used. Anyway, Check this out:
http://blog.totalrewards.com/las-veg...ik-Kabik-3.jpg
http://cdn.thedailymeal.com/sites/de...561f_promo.jpg
http://www.thrillist.com/entertainme...llist%20Digest

Let me clarify, Sucks for that location.

Cook is obsolete and needs repurposed, a new convention center near the entertainment geared to adults core is preferable. Any money spent on Cook being still used as a convention center is wasted money. I haven't stepped foot in Cook since the end of the Wonders series.

I apologize for posting three times in a row, the trouble with Tunica is it's in the middle of nowhere. That story tells the tale, with Harrahs/Grand attracting 3 million and change pre recession and half that now. In that time, Arkansas has allowed it's two tracks to add electronic gaming, Indian Casinos in Oklahoma have evolved into Tunica equivalent or better locales and the Gulf Coast has evolved. I 69 is decades away from extending beyond where it ends in Tunica Co. The grand plans pre recession, like theme parks and such are now just dust in the wind. That's why I think Harrah's closed the big one and not the two smaller venues, it's basically just a Memphis/North Mississippi with a little of East Arkansas market now.

Not that I've noticed, but I haven't driven past the spot in a few weeks. I'll have to check it out to see if anything has changed. It's good to see some dense developments in the area -- they're much needed.

Now THAT'S what Memphis needs!

Seem to remember some chatter about Taylor Berger and others wanting to do a bowling alley concept like that in an old warehouse on Broad.

post 2406 has both statements w/ which i agree, and those w/ which i don't. i think we would have to define what parameters make up a "sports...world-class facility...?" to me, it would have to be significantly larger than the average sports arena, perhaps, it would need to accommodate several sports events/venues, which could be played at the same time as the largest sports event. i believe it would have to have some leading architectural elements, which saves space, improves the audience experience, technology improvements which enhances various areas of sports games, concert presentations, and so on and so forth.

the benefits best offered by the peabody is served by following through w/ a hotel. make it a highrise, make it mid to upper in luxury accommodations, and building a large vertical car garage. to me, this makes sense, as we know that there continues to be a need for hotel accommodations, and for that matter, for car parking. a convention center is needed, if we want to make it a core principle for city growth, originiation of distanation, and the rest of that line. much of the work is completed, as one considers the smartest and best thing for the city. the other plan, seems to benefit one or two individuals, in addition to adding a possible tax ht. it seems that building a 6-7 hundred million dollar convention center would serve memphis' needs in several ways. having a new convention center will let those who sell memphis get in the door w/ the "product." if it is built well, and it has an interesting design that attracts several organizations, curiousity will help bring in conventions. conventions that have been turned down, due to size of the cook, might very well return to a larger venue. i wonder if a permanent segment of the cook could be used for traveling shows, exhibitions, and specialty acts. i would love to see changing venues every 6 months or so, such as the ones w/ the exhibitions of catherine the great, the titanic, and the egyptian exhibition. if i recall correctly, these were very interesting and they brought a number of people into the city. we didn't have to have nashville to lead them into memphis, nor pigeon forge. they came because they wanted to see the exhibit, and many came as family units.

Meh, the bowling alley/concert hall isn't bad, but not something that would transform entertainment in Downtown Memphis. We just had Minglewood Plaza open up a handful of years back in Midtown. Sure it doesn't have the novelty of bowling lanes to the side of the stage, but is a similar concept on a larger scale than what's shown in the picture and probably has more amenities for entertainers (Minglewood Hall is known for that). Any new major-proposals for Downtown or Midtown Memphis with a concert hall as one of its main components & revenue streams is not financially sound. This city is already saturated with concert venues, especially Downtown & Midtown. Also, more small - large size venues have risen to the east & south. What we need first & foremost is more active promotion like what Green Machine Concerts is starting to address. The boutique bowling alley idea by itself is cool and I think it would do good if strategically placed in Midtown.

As for the proposed Peabody Suites, we won't have to worry about it becoming a failed tourist mall/entertainment center again because Belz & others capital will never flow into such an idea. The Peabody Place MALL COMPONENT, in my opinion & certainly others, was horrible from the beginning. Don't get me wrong, the upscale apartments, 15-story Class A office tower, etc. are an absolute success. The mall always felt like a cheap capitalization on top of the historic grit of Beale Street. It had a honeymoon period, but was never a real hit with Memphians and it definitely isn't something tourist want to visit. People hanging out downtown want to take in the culture & history of Memphis, not go shopping in a mall with chain stores. Peabody Suites should go full steam ahead in some form or fashion. Would a "Peabody Conference Center" perform better than Peabody Suites and result in more external hotel development? I would hope so, but only if Belz were majority partner & oversee property management.

Belz.com
http://belz.com/peabodyplace/map-large.gif

Moving on from "Peabody Suites vs. Peabody Conf. Center", should the city stop there? No, but the conference center proposal would allow them to skimp on meeting space while building another mid-sized convention center in the neighborhood that concentrated on large-room events. That coupled with continued upgrades to the Cook CC would probably be the way to go from both a fiscal & growth-based approach. The Nashville convention market grew for years with dual-major facilities (Nashville CC & Gaylord Opryland Resort & CC) before building Music City Center. Memphis should NOT spend $700million - $1Billion, more like $300-$400million and offer incentives for a hotel tower.

I agree with all of that above. What's hard is the fact that we know with the Cannon Center, Mud Island Amphitheater, the Orpheum, The Forum, Minglewood, Landers Center, (and I guess you might as well throw in venues like the Botanical Gardens since they've constructed their permanent stage, and the Levitt Shell since it's busy most of the weekends throughout the summer) that the market is over run with venues. However, as you mentioned above people want authentic Memphis/history/culture when they come to Memphis, and while we have cotton, barbeque, civil rights, etc. our money maker is music.

1 venue downtown that functioned similar to Minglewood might not be too bad, but if it were developed, it would IMO need to be smaller than Minglewood and be busy damn near every night of the week.


I think that $300-$400 million is enough to build a new convention center; I think that spending anything over than that isn't necessarily a good idea at this time. I don't however think that a redevelopment of the Cook CC should be attempted until well after a new space is constructed. Open the Cook CC up to a private redevelopment if you need to.

I'm torn over the City putting money into Peabody Place. Belz obviously knows that the City is desperate for "better" meeting space and they also know that it's the City's cheapest option. Other than the removal of dead space in the heart of the CBD (and the new tourist dollars, although I don't know how much of an impact it would be), the City doesn't gain anything with Peabody Place. If the City goes with the "Help Belz w/ Peabody and fix up the Cook" plan, they still lack the amount of actual meeting space that would attract new conventions.

Sprucing up old space isn't going to get other private developments started IMO. There needs to be some major or at least slightly major development to break ground first. Once that happens everything else will fall in line.

For anyone who wants to read it, here's the mayor's statement about the Cook CC, Peabody, and other things related. I love how the Main Street Trolley is supposed to be the key to connecting the Cook to PP...I'm sure that will work fine as long as there's no more than 50-100 people that need to transition from the PP to the Cook in no less than 40 minutes. Maybe they can give out some segway coupons.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bj51v5zIUAA384W.jpg:large

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bj519B-IgAAwt57.jpg:large

Sorry they're small, but if you right click and open the images in a new tab, you can zoom in on them which will make them a little easier to read. Also, if you're on Twitter, Paul Morris from the Downtown Memphis Commission (@memphismorris) and Steve Ross from the Flyer (@vibinc) have been having a good discussion about this.

Earlier Morris stated that they needed roughly 200-400 new hotel rooms near the Cook to justify the rehab/redevelopment of the Cook. Good luck finding a developer willing to build a 400 room hotel tower without the promise of a new look convention center with new look conventions. If that were the case, then the Marriott/Sheraton would have continued with their new tower construction.