Sterick Building Redevelopment

[JTM1]

On 8/12/2023 at 8:09 PM, Tony Randolph said:

I am pretty sure the underground parking ramp was on the north side of the building.  

The alley that runs between the Sterick and VMC was the drive thru  for the bank correct? There's an underground entrance at Hotel Indigo in that alley. 

[MDC26]

I saw on Facebook that the exterior of The Sterick has been relit. Nothing fancy, but showing there’s life. 

[Memphisborn]

9 hours ago, MDC26 said:

I saw on Facebook that the exterior of The Sterick has been relit. Nothing fancy, but showing there’s life. 

Yes it was lit up for 901 day. I’m excited to see what happens @ that historic building 

[VSRJ]

13 hours ago, Memphisborn said:

Yes it was lit up for 901 day. I’m excited to see what happens @ that historic building 

It looks great - hopefully a sign of things to come:

 

[Memphisborn]

16 hours ago, VSRJ said:

It looks great - hopefully a sign of things to come:

 

Nice pic 

[VSRJ]

Update on the project: https://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/news/2023/09/20/developer-gives-update-sterick-building-downtown.html

No bombshells — developer is planning a (best case) completion date of late 2026/early 2027.

[Memphisborn]

9 hours ago, VSRJ said:

Update on the project: https://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/news/2023/09/20/developer-gives-update-sterick-building-downtown.html

No bombshells — developer is planning a (best case) completion date of late 2026/early 2027.

I read that they were still looking @ the possibility of a Hotel. That was encouraging a mix use Hotel/ apts/ retail/ dining would be awesome!!

[Tony Randolph]

I hope Stewart Hicks and his property firm start a YouTube channel ASAP documenting the rehab of the Sterick.

[Memphisborn]

On 9/24/2023 at 10:02 PM, Tony Randolph said:

I hope Stewart Hicks and his property firm start a YouTube channel ASAP documenting the rehab of the Sterick.

That would be super cool I’m hoping they decide on a luxury brand hotel. With 400-500 rooms. 

[Tony Randolph]

I admittedly know next to nothing about the hotel business.  But the Hotel Indigo is next door to the Sterick, and I would recommend that the Sterick principals' study how that property has performed over the past few years, plus the other hotels in downtown Memphis.  I have a suspicion that most hotel dwellers in downtown Memphis are tourists, since the real business district in Memphis is on Poplar between east Memphis and Germantown.  If we could get a better handle on the crime problem in Memphis, which is one of the worst in the nation, I believe Memphis could become another Atlanta, and it hurts me to say this, another Nashville.    This is just my opinion, but I would like to see residences, medical and other professional offices (not everyone can work from home), a high quality grocery store and a bank or two.

[TheKernel91]

16 hours ago, Tony Randolph said:

I admittedly know next to nothing about the hotel business.  But the Hotel Indigo is next door to the Sterick, and I would recommend that the Sterick principals' study how that property has performed over the past few years, plus the other hotels in downtown Memphis.  I have a suspicion that most hotel dwellers in downtown Memphis are tourists, since the real business district in Memphis is on Poplar between east Memphis and Germantown.  If we could get a better handle on the crime problem in Memphis, which is one of the worst in the nation, I believe Memphis could become another Atlanta, and it hurts me to say this, another Nashville.    This is just my opinion, but I would like to see residences, medical and other professional offices (not everyone can work from home), a high quality grocery store and a bank or two.

Handling crime is one thing, and healing the perception of real danger is another. From what it seems, Memphis reputation has been damaged some because of the push of people wanting to let the world know how our crime here is going. Almost making it apart of Memphis identity.

It's a must that we get a rebrand along side of lowering crime. Forbid if someone who dont know nothing  about Memphis, only knows about its crime.

Edited September 29, 2023 by TheKernel91

[MDC26]

If the Sterick was all hotel, I wonder how many rooms it would be.  There was a recent article saying the lack of large full service hotels in downtown is holding the downtown/convention center back.  That's why the Loew's and Grand Hyatt plans that fell through were such a big loss.  The previous owners of 100 N Main had plans for it to be just a hotel w/ retail on ground floor.  It had 400-500 rooms.  I wish the new owners would do that, as 100 N Main is fairly close to the convention center.  Any office or residential they were planning could be built in the vacant parking lot next to it.  Honestly, I would like to see 100 N Main hotel, new residential at the vacant lot, and office at a renovated Jefferson Plaza, all with ground floor retail.  Sterick would be good with residential and ground floor retail too.  

[The Guardian of Memphis]

45 minutes ago, TheKernel91 said:

Handling crime is one thing, and healing the perception of real danger is another. From what it seems, Memphis reputation has been damaged some because of the push of people wanting to let the world know how our crime here is going. Almost making it apart of Memphis identity.

It's a must that we get a rebrand along side of lowering crime. Forbid if someone who dont know nothing  about Memphis, only knows about its crime.

Agreed. A couple of mayoral candidates want to rebrand the city and its message, but my hope is that whoever is in office will bring about this change. I’m not going to trash our leadership, because that’s another thing the world negatively perceives of here. It’s ok to look at the glass half full sometimes. It look leadership to bring 100 N. Main back, plus Sterick. There are people that actually care about the city. Desmond Bane said he loves Memphis. Why can’t others?

Edited September 29, 2023 by The Guardian of Memphis

[MDC26]

36 minutes ago, The Guardian of Memphis said:

Agreed. A couple of mayoral candidates want to rebrand the city and its message, but my hope is that whoever is in office will bring about this change. I’m not going to trash our leadership, because that’s another thing the world negatively perceives of here. It’s ok to look at the glass half full sometimes. It look leadership to bring 100 N. Main back, plus Sterick. There are people that actually care about the city. Desmond Bane said he loves Memphis. Why can’t others?

So just put a gag order on local media about reporting crime?   

I don't disagree that the local media is more open about reporting all the crime as opposed to other cities, but the crime is happening.  The statistics of crime rates per capita are top 10 in the nation for larger cities.  

I'd rather take measures to reduce the crime rate and have safer downtown/tourism areas.  

[The Guardian of Memphis]

1 hour ago, MDC26 said:

So just put a gag order on local media about reporting crime?   

I don't disagree that the local media is more open about reporting all the crime as opposed to other cities, but the crime is happening.  The statistics of crime rates per capita are top 10 in the nation for larger cities.  

I'd rather take measures to reduce the crime rate and have safer downtown/tourism areas.  

Not at all. The media serves a function as to inform. I’m not against that. Per the video I posted from City Nerd, an urban planner, statistics usually don’t tell the full story. As in a previous post, sometimes the statistics are skewed. However, I strongly agree with you, something should be done about crime. It’s the #1 issue. Saw state troopers downtown last week. At least something is being done. More needs to happen though. Again, there should be a balance. There are good things happening as well as bad. This is true in every city (I don’t like to use that argument, LOL). I think the point is, that’s all people hear and see seemingly is the bad. It shouldn’t be that way. 

[The Guardian of Memphis]

3 hours ago, MDC26 said:

If the Sterick was all hotel, I wonder how many rooms it would be.  There was a recent article saying the lack of large full service hotels in downtown is holding the downtown/convention center back.  That's why the Loew's and Grand Hyatt plans that fell through were such a big loss.  The previous owners of 100 N Main had plans for it to be just a hotel w/ retail on ground floor.  It had 400-500 rooms.  I wish the new owners would do that, as 100 N Main is fairly close to the convention center.  Any office or residential they were planning could be built in the vacant parking lot next to it.  Honestly, I would like to see 100 N Main hotel, new residential at the vacant lot, and office at a renovated Jefferson Plaza, all with ground floor retail.  Sterick would be good with residential and ground floor retail too.  

All good points. Maybe this will be done in reverse, although we need the rooms now. By reverse, I mean that, we'll do the residential/hotel mix first (which is more profitable I think?) for these historic structures, then do the 400-500 room stuff later with a new build. Stuart Harris wants to encourage neighborhood-like development in this area, so hopefully there are plans for the parking lots in front of Sterick plus for 5 & 7 North Third. These need to be high rises, not 1-2 story stuff. Hopefully the market will bear that type of development in the future. Want to see the type of development that happened with the Carlisle hotels on Beale and Front to happen on Third/Madison/Court. I'd like to see a high rise built between Jefferson Plaza and 44 N. Second. My hope is that it'll be a little taller than the Commerce Sq. tower.

[Memphisborn]

On 9/29/2023 at 1:16 PM, MDC26 said:

If the Sterick was all hotel, I wonder how many rooms it would be.  There was a recent article saying the lack of large full service hotels in downtown is holding the downtown/convention center back.  That's why the Loew's and Grand Hyatt plans that fell through were such a big loss.  The previous owners of 100 N Main had plans for it to be just a hotel w/ retail on ground floor.  It had 400-500 rooms.  I wish the new owners would do that, as 100 N Main is fairly close to the convention center.  Any office or residential they were planning could be built in the vacant parking lot next to it.  Honestly, I would like to see 100 N Main hotel, new residential at the vacant lot, and office at a renovated Jefferson Plaza, all with ground floor retail.  Sterick would be good with residential and ground floor retail too.  

There’s a need for 400-500 room convention hotel. Maybe Sterick could fill that demand we need @ least 3 that size

[Tony Randolph]

It is a 3 to 5 block walk from the Sterick to the convention center.  This is a pretty dangerous walk at night in Memphis.  I am still hoping the building goes condo.

[James Owen]

On 10/1/2023 at 2:43 PM, Memphisborn said:

There’s a need for 400-500 room convention hotel. Maybe Sterick could fill that demand we need @ least 3 that size

Any new convention hotel would need to be in close proximity to the Renasant CC, which the Sterick is not (as @Tony Randolph pointed out).

I do remain hopeful something will materialize to fill that need, whether it be from Intrator (Pinch District redevelopment) or from Schulte (new hotel tower next to the Sheraton), but it'll take some time.

[The Guardian of Memphis]

5 hours ago, Tony Randolph said:

It is a 3 to 5 block walk from the Sterick to the convention center.  This is a pretty dangerous walk at night in Memphis.  I am still hoping the building goes condo.

I would hope they would have a shuttle to take them where they need to go.

[Tony Randolph]

Does anyone know if the Sheraton fills up during conventions?   Also, is there really a shortage of hotel rooms in downtown Memphis?  I spent several years working in downtown Memphis, and as I admitted earlier, do not know much about the hotel business in downtown Memphis.  One large office building that was converted to hotel rooms that I cannot think of its name is across the street from One Commerce Square, but I have rarely seen it fully occupied.  This hotel has the benefit of being a few feet from the trolley.

I hope I am not sounding like a broken record, but I think the Sterick investment would amortize more quickly with large condos, some of which could be multiple floors than renting out individual hotel rooms and then having to pay a franchise fee to a hotel corporation.    Also, maybe I am wrong, but my take on the Memphis employment market is there is a shortage of people with clean records willing to do low wage hotel work.  What I do know about the hotel industry is that it is hard to find a good night auditor.

[MDC26]

On 10/21/2023 at 9:40 PM, Tony Randolph said:

Does anyone know if the Sheraton fills up during conventions?   Also, is there really a shortage of hotel rooms in downtown Memphis?  I spent several years working in downtown Memphis, and as I admitted earlier, do not know much about the hotel business in downtown Memphis.  One large office building that was converted to hotel rooms that I cannot think of its name is across the street from One Commerce Square, but I have rarely seen it fully occupied.  This hotel has the benefit of being a few feet from the trolley.

I hope I am not sounding like a broken record, but I think the Sterick investment would amortize more quickly with large condos, some of which could be multiple floors than renting out individual hotel rooms and then having to pay a franchise fee to a hotel corporation.    Also, maybe I am wrong, but my take on the Memphis employment market is there is a shortage of people with clean records willing to do low wage hotel work.  What I do know about the hotel industry is that it is hard to find a good night auditor.

I think there's a shortage of large full-service hotels.  If a convention with 4,000 attendees wants to come, they might want room blocks for half of the attendees.  And they don't want it amongst 10 hotels, they want to have 2 or 3 hotels close by the convention center.  Memphis doesn't have that.  

[Memphisborn]

58 minutes ago, MDC26 said:

I think there's a shortage of large full-service hotels.  If a convention with 4,000 attendees wants to come, they might want room blocks for half of the attendees.  And they don't want it amongst 10 hotels, they want to have 2 or 3 hotels close by the convention center.  Memphis doesn't have that.  

That’s exactly right, these arguments that large hotels won’t work downtown is short sighted. They will be booked more often than some understand because u can host more large conventions if u have room occupancy available. Honestly the city has lost a lot of conventions due to lack of Available rooms. 

[Tony Randolph]

I can see how 100 N. Main could be converted to hotel rooms better than the Sterick, plus it is a stone throw away from the convention center and it directly on the trolley line.   I can see the point for a larger hotel presence in Memphis, but if I was the lead investor in an historic building, I would be interested in amortizing the investment was quickly as possible.   Stuart has pointed out the total investment is expected to be around $20,000,000.  It would probably take much longer for a ROI on a hotel rather than selling condos.  

[Nothingspectacular]

Memphis can’t seriously compete in attracting larger size conventions. The lack of large, high-quality hotels has been a big part of this problem for years.  Even with renovations, the Renasant convention center is still too small.  The city’s crime and negative publicity haven’t helped.  Kevin Kane has been in charge of the CVB far too long and has largely failed in every initiative to improve this situation.  Typical of how things stagnate in the Bluff City.