MDC26

It’s great that a magnificent older building, that has sat empty for years, will be restored. However, this will just cause a large vacancy in the 6th tallest building, while the 2nd & 3rd tallest buildings already have vacancy issues. I really think the Boyle and Donaghey buildings are best suited to be converted to residential, while Regions, Bank of America, and Tower buildings are not suited for residential and best use is commercial. Overall, a net positive as it will remove blight and restore the beauty of the building.

Wow, I was just wondering the other day when it was going to open. Only took 5 years.

Mobility Center opens https://dailymemphian.com/section/neighborhoods/article/37712/memphis-downtown-mobility-center-opens

Sounds good, lets do it.

I think it was probably both from Beale St Music Festival and BBQ fest. I doubt there was much (if any) intentional damage, but when that many people/that much equipment is being fit into a more confined space with increased infrastructure, there will be damage. Most of it is probably trampled plants/grass, rutting up of the ground from trailers and stages.

They had it, and had plans for it, but then a drop in attendance, and money - they nixed the plans.

There was a new sign in the parking lot. According to Google maps it wasn’t there 7 months ago, but the one on the building was.

Drove by today and saw an “Available” sign on this property today. Guess this project fell through. The main areas of construction going on downtown are: St Jude Domino’s Village, Orleans Station, and Mobility Center nearing completion. Home2Suites & the Oliver at 7 Vance rolling along, and Conwood at Snuff District, the Brooks Museum, and the new St Jude towers gearing up.

The original city compact designated the riverfront as a "public promenade." I don't think a full promenade along the riverfront was ever built. Seven years after the original compact, Overton filed legal paperwork to go into detail regarding this. “In relation to the piece of ground laid off and called the ‘Promenade,’ said proprietors say that it was their original intention, is now, and forever will be, that the same should be public ground for such use only as the word imports, to which heretofore, by their acts, for that purpose, it was conceived all was relinquished for themselves, their heirs, etc., and it is hereby expressly declared, in conformity with such intention, that we, for ourselves, heirs and assigns, forever relinquish all claims to the same piece of ground called the ‘Promenade,’ for the purpose above mentioned.” This was the legal basis going forward. It has basically be interpreted that it shall only be used for public purposes. The original city limits ended at Union, so this was as far South as the "public promenade" went, and not sure where the Northern boundary was. The general interpretation has been that the areas can only be used for public use, and not sold to a private owner. Since then, it has been used for parks (4th Bluff/River Garden), parking garages, fire station, post office, library, city dump, custom house, Law School, Tennessee Welcome Center, Convention Center, parking lots, road/interstate ramps. An exception was made to sell a portion on the northern end to the US Navy for a naval yard. They in turn sold it to someone else, and then the Pyramid got built there. I don't know if the Lonestar Concrete plant was originally part of the Naval yard too, but the city has reacquired that property. Now that the fire station/parking lot has been torn down, I don't think someone can sue and keep the city from building something there, there's too much of a precedent of structures being built, but the city will not be able to sell any of the properties. I would like to see something that could connect the Bluff Walk from the other side of Union to behind the Library, though. https://www.memphisdailynews.com/news/2018/mar/3/heir-on-the-side-of-caution/

It's all farmland around it. Stanton is 4 miles away and I'm sure it will blow up in the next 5 years. There will probably be some development around the I-40 exits closest to Blue Oval also.

Looking at their Facebook page, makes me think they'd prefer the museum not be built at all, but at the least are hoping to settle for some kind of connection. They posted this: Friends for Our Riverfront Don't let anyone tell you it's too late. There's a long-standing easement that protects our right to "promenade" along the Riverbluff. We're in talks with the City and headed for formal mediation mid-July to make sure Brooks Museum doesn’t block the route.

They have broken ground, have over $100 million on hand. How is it stalled? Yes, someone is trying to stop them, but I haven’t seen anything about any success in slowing them down.

Canada based Magna International is set to build two facilities at Blue Oval City supplier park. One will be an 800k sqft facility to produce battery enclosures and frames that will employ 750. The other is a 140k facility to produce seats that will employ 300. https://dailymemphian.com/section/business/article/37407/magna-international-blueoval-city-supplier-facilities

I wouldn't called this stalled. As of January, they had over $135 million of the needed $180 million to construct it. I would call this a temporary delay. I don't expect any legal issues to prevent the Brooks from building here. Likely there will be a compromise by means of a change in the design.

I posted about this too in the downtown thread (forgot there was this one specifically for the Brooks). According to the Facebook page for Friends of our Riverfront, they don't want the Brooks built there at all, and instead want a promenade similar to Fourth Bluff Park. I'm still ok with the Brooks being built at that site, but like you, aren't crazy about the current design. At Ashburn-Coppock Park, the "Walk" splits into two with the River walk on the West Side of Riverside Dr, and is continuous, and connects to Mud Island's Green Belt Park. The Bluff Walk, on the East Side of Riverside Dr is not continuous at all. It goes into the South Bluffs neighborhood (presumably on a regular sidewalk), then travels along the Bluff, and ends at Union at Street level. It starts back up behind the law school, with street connection - just some stairs to a regular sidewalk behind the Cossitt Library, and connects to Fourth Bluff via Bridge, and ends there. I would propose The Brooks have a connection at street level of Union, that ramps up to an elevated walkway on the backside of the Brooks, and has a Bridge Across Monroe to connect behind the Cossitt Libary, and improve that sidewalk.

https://dailymemphian.com/subscriber/section/arts-culture/article/37351/memphis-brooks-museum-of-art-challenged Friends of our River Front have taken legal action against the Brooks Museum to keep them from building on the bluff. They claim that the city nor Brooks own the land and that the founder's compact designates the land for a public promenade. Currently, the bluff Riverwalk has one end that starts in Martyr's Park, travels North along the River Front, and when it reaches Ashburn-Coppock Park, it splits. One section stays along the River through Tom Lee Park/Beale Street Landing, then runs along Cobblestone Landing, Then through Mississippi River Park/Tennessee Welcome Center, then Along the Wolf River Harbor by the empty area where Lone Star concrete was, beside the Bass Pro, and then circles to go over AW Willis Bridge to Green Belt Park where it will connect to the Wolf River Trail. The other split takes a bridge that crosses over Riverside Dr and enters the South Bluffs neighborhood and emerges from the neighborhood, and runs along the bluff until Union Ave, where it ends at street level. Then there's a portion of the Bluff walk that runs behind the Memphis Law school building, has a bridge that connects it to Fourth Bluff Park, where it ends. I think an adequate compromise would be to have an elevated walkway/path on the backside of the Brooks that has access from where the walk ends at Union, and then have a bridge across Monroe that connects to the back of the Cossitt Library, which will connect to the Walk behind the Law School.

There actually used to be a Dick's on Beale St. It was where the police station is now. I don't think it was there very long. I never went. I think it was early 2000's.

Yes, the sooner the better, but if the Sterick & 100 N Main are both fully open before 2030, it’s a win.

Yeah the article said pieces were chipping off, and they were worried the whole thing would break off and fall. If they did re-do them, I'd figure it would be some other martial other than concrete.

I hadn’t either. It also looks like there’s an additional trim at the top of the roof. I think the spires and roof trim make it look even better, and hope the are both reinstalled.

If your investor's financing is from BTC and he just tells you he got in early on it, and has a bunch, then I don't know what else you could have done. No way to find out that he stole it from Silk Road. Credit score and banking records won't do you any good.

Couple articles from Memphis Magazine about the Sterick & redevelopment. https://memphismagazine.com/features/longform/long-live-“the-queen-of-memphis”/ https://memphismagazine.com/features/longform/the-story-of-the-sterick-building/ https://memphismagazine.com/features/longform/so-what’s-it-like-inside-the-sterick-building-today/ Interesting notes: - The original color of the building was natural stone color, then it was painted white in 1957, then yellow in 1979. Was discussed going back to the original natural stone color. - In 1945, after the building was sold for the 2nd time, it was streamlined and the 9 foot gothic spires were removed at the top of the building for safety reasons (can be seen in pic below, and I hope they bring these back) - Had two underground levels with parking for 50 cars. (I never knew this and wonder where the entrance was.) - The elevators moved at 900ft per minute and were the fastest in the country - Tough to keep up, but looks like there's been around 13 different owners of the building. Equitable Life kept trying to get rid of it, but the Sterick kept falling back into their laps

Here’s more on the crime: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/us-attorney-announces-historic-336-billion-cryptocurrency-seizure-and-conviction#:~:text=U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said,an over %243.3 billion mystery. https://decrypt.co/125081/us-government-dumps-seized-silk-road-bitcoin?amp=1 Too bad they didn’t get construction going sooner and get the project built before the feds caught up with Zhong. It’s not like all the recovered bitcoin is going to pay someone back. Silk Road got shut down and it’s owner is serving life in jail.

Just curious, what IS on your 2023 Bingo card?

I think there are plenty that don’t have a casino. The new one in NYC does not have a casino. I believe the one that was being built in NOLA & collapsed did not have a casino. Isaac Tigrett, founder of both Hard Rock Cafe & House of Blues was born & raised in Jackson, TN. I believe Hard Rock Hotel and Hard Rock Hotels & Casinos are separate entities.