The wise saying about tackling a big, daunting task: “When eating an elephant, take one bite at a time.”

But what if you want to place an elephant-sized, mixed-use development in the middle of an old neighborhood made charming by its granular collection of small stores and houses?

Same principle: Break it up into smaller bites.

And that is the approach for the proposed Central Yards, a $60 million development of 348 apartments, 53,000 square feet of retail/flex space, and 615 spaces in structured parking.

The father/son development team of Frank and Clayton Kemker plan to build Central Yards on 5.5 acres inside the north edge of Cooper-Young. The neighborhood dates to the 1890s, was built out 90 years ago, endured urban flight in the 1960s, and enjoyed a revival starting in the 1980s.

“Rather than putting really large, superscale buildings down, we broke the buildings up,” architect Michael Winter said Saturday, Nov. 21.

The principal with Fleming Architects helped host an outdoor community meeting — all attendees were asked to wear a mask — to present the plan for Central Yards and answer residents’ questions.

The event precedes the Land Use Control Board’s review of the development at 9:30 a.m., Dec. 10.

Central Yards: 6-, 7-story buildings planned

About 30 residents attended in the vacant lot between Haizlip Studios and Albert Cook Plumbing Co. Renderings and site plans were mounted on the back of one of the plumbing company’s long sheds, which would be demolished for the new development.

Fleming Architects’ design “put in small buildings that kind of fit in with the scale,” Winter said.

The development will wrap around a couple of two-story, century-old buildings at the southwest corner of Central Avenue and Cooper Street.

Instead of a few large buildings, the plan includes seven buildings spread along Central, Cooper and York Avenue.

Central Yards: 6-, 7-story buildings planned

While some of the buildings are six- or seven-stories, the heights are graduated: The closer to the street or existing, shorter buildings, the shorter the new buildings appear to be.

Farther back, the buildings grow taller in a stairstep way. A pedestrian on the sidewalk would not be able to tell the full height, Winter said.

“So the intent really was to fit in and grow into what’s existing,” Winter said. “The more out of sight, the taller it gets.”

At the outdoor meeting, the residents stood near where a north-south private drive will cut through Central Yards between Central and York.

The new drive helps create a downtown-like street grid within the development.

“The developer is really interested in all these corner moments. You’ve got all the activity going on, people going up and down the streets. This is something you’d see Downtown, in terms of walkability.”

Michael Winter
Fleming Architects

“We’re trying to introduce a little bit more activity to those storefronts within the internal development,” Winter said. “The developer is really interested in all these corner moments. You’ve got all the activity going on, people going up and down the streets. This is something you’d see Downtown, in terms of walkability.”

The parking garages comprising a total of 615 spaces will include extra spots for the public. The developers envision the spaces used by people not only patronizing Central Yards businesses, but entertainment and shops nearby.

The parking structures as well as the new private drive are intended to draw people into Central Yards “and make it more of a walkable community,” Winter said.

“It has the appropriate urban streetscape, like you would see with street trees and parallel parking and patio space for potential retail and restaurant tenants,” he said.

“The idea is: If you got people coming to Railgarten or Memphis Made (Brewery), you could park in a garage and walk through the development, through the plaza (planned at Cooper and York) and get across,” Winter said.

The development’s sidewalks will be deep enough for outdoor dining and other activities, he said.

Central Yards will follow the place-making rules of the Midtown Overlay, Winter said, including having the ground-floor spaces be 14 feet tall and having ample ground-floor transparency with lots of storefront glass.

Like the size of Central Yards, the primary façade materials are planned to fit in with Cooper-Young, Winter said.

Masonry will be a prime material. But the back facades will include some fiber-cement board, metal panels and synthetic stucco. “But the real, major intent is to use masonry and large windows,” he said.

Albert Cook Plumbing Co. can remain operating at the site until April. But soon after — assuming the project acquires all approvals required — construction would start in a robust way, Winter indicated.

As of now, the plan is to build all of Central Yards at the same time instead of phasing it in.

Of the 348 apartment units, 44% will be one-bedroom apartments, 36% will be studio units, 18% will be two-bedroom, and 2% will be three-bedroom units.