|
Welcome back to Bluff City Biz, where every Monday we speak with someone in the know about our top stories from the previous week. Follow along for insight into key developments and analysis of all things Memphis business.
This week, we’re talking, again, about 100 N. Main, this time the City of Memphis’ commitment to occupying 60,000 square feet of the tower once it’s renovated. We’re joined by resident city government expert and reporter Bill Dries.
100 N. Main looms large in Downtown’s past and future
 The Downtown Memphis Commission’s staff made its final recommendation to its affiliate Downtown Mobility Authority Wednesday, Jan. 19, selecting 100 N. Main Development Partners. (Courtesy 100 North Main Development Partners)
The planned $267 million revitalization of 100 N. Main would include retail and restaurant space, a hotel, around 200 apartments and 60,000 square feet of office space for the City of Memphis.
As Bill Dries reported last week, city government has used the neighboring tower in the past when it needed the room, including periods in the 1980s when the Dick Hackett administration leased space in 100 N. Main for city functions.
 Much of City Hall’s ground floor remains behind chain link fences because of crumbling marble. (Bill Dries/Daily Memphian file)
“During Hackett’s administration, I don’t think it was in the form of a commitment like it is during the Strickland administration,” Dries said. “I think it was simply that the city needed the extra space, and it certainly sounds like the city still needs that space at 100 N. Main.”
City Hall sits just down the street from 100 N. Main at 125 N. Main, and it’s set to undergo construction to repair crumbling marble from the building’s facade.
Both buildings were built in the mid-1960s, and both buildings have had issues in recent years with crumbling facades.
While Mayor Jim Strickland told The Daily Memphian last week there are no plans to move City Hall, Dries believes the city could make use of its current building, as well as its commitment to occupying 60,000 square feet in 100 N. Main.
“I think they could (fill the space in 100 N. Main), and I think the reason they could is because city government is in a time period right now where they’re rethinking where things go,” he said.
 The existing tower at 100 N. Main will be renovated to include 180 to 210 apartments, a full-service hotel with around 200 rooms and 60,000 square feet of office space for the City of Memphis. (Courtesy 100 N. Main Development Partners)
Dries said one example is the recent decision by the City of Memphis to locate future city maintenance facilities and a new fueling center for city vehicles at the Coke bottling plant at the Fairgrounds.
“This in turn has allowed them to move the maintenance facility that is at Overton Park, which has been a longtime goal,” he said. “The map of where city services go has been reconfigured to a large basis by this current administration.”
A development team including Billy Orgel and Kevin Woods was chosen last month by the Downtown Memphis Commission out of 10 other groups vying to purchase and redevelop 100 N. Main.
While the 11 bids received by the DMC varied somewhat, some features were common throughout, including substantial office space for the City of Memphis.
“The test for local government is, are these services that need to be there,” Dries said. “Is there a legitimate need for this, in additional to incentivizing the project?”
More Bluff City Biz:
 The “Conwood II” building (left) would be newly constructed. The historic Snuff Factory Building (right) is being renovated. (Credit: Fleming Architects)
Located on the empty surface lot at 645 N. Front St., just south of the historic Snuff Factory building, the six-story Conwood II will include 294 housing units and 10,000 square feet of retail space.
MOGA offices in DeSoto County are moving to a new building for a larger, more efficient facility to better serve patients.
As Memphis explores severing its decades-long ties to the Tennessee Valley Authority, a business seemingly jointly owned by an MLGW board member and the wife of a TVA vice president is causing critics to cry foul.
Spillit’s next Slam will be an Industry Night, with free admission for restaurant workers.
 Sunrise Memphis will open its second location in May at the current Blue Plate Café on Poplar. (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian)
An established group of restaurateurs will take over the recently vacated Blue Plate Café location in East Memphis.
Turning employees into investors is a trend that could increase as companies struggle to attract and keep workers.
Saint Francis Hospital-Bartlett is ending its birth and delivery services at the suburban location, shifting those to a single location at St. Francis Hospital-Memphis on Park Avenue.
Mueller reported $956.4 million in fourth-quarter net sales and operating income of $172.1 million.
Mary Ellen Sumrall has been named system chief nursing executive for Baptist Memorial Health Care and chief nursing officer for Baptist Memorial Hospital-Memphis.
..... |
