A selection committee has chosen 10 ideas – ranging from a hotel to a public school – to be “finalists” after receiving more than 40 proposals to repurpose Overton Park’s Rust Hall and the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art building.

The 10 applicants will be invited to give a much more detailed response to the City of Memphis’ request for proposals.

Rust Hall will be vacated next summer after the Memphis College of Art, which is closing, holds its final graduation in May 2020.

The Memphis Brooks Museum of Art building is scheduled to be vacated in 2024 when the museum moves into a new building now being designed for Front and Union Downtown.

The city, with the help of Philadelphia-based planning consultant U3 Advisors – created a public-input and selection process branded as Create Your Space.

The city owns the Brooks building and the ground beneath Rust Hall, and will take ownership of Rust Hall once the college closes.

Three of the 10 finalists have long been public about their ideas. The two of those three that want Rust Hall are:

• Arrow at Overton (Arrow Creative, Memphis): “One-roof creative district arts incubator with community and entrepreneur educational programming, studio spaces and equipment.” Arrow, led by Abby Phillips and Dorothy Collier, has proposed a $12 million renovation of Rust Hall.
• Metal Museum (Memphis): “Expansion of the Metal Museum which now operates on the river bluff south of Downtown.” The Metal Museum has proposed a $21 million renovation of Rust Hall.

Another applicant making the list of finalists has been publicly promoting his idea for the Brooks Museum: Flow Museum of Art (Jay Etkin, Memphis). It would be a "cultural arts campus supporting musical and theatrical events, filmmaking, dance, decorative arts and diverse emerging artists.” The space would be “focused on tribal and visionary art from the African Diaspora and Latino world.”

 Three other finalist ideas that focus on Rust Hall only are:

• CO.LLAB (S&R Holdings, Philadelphia): “Multi-use community hub centered on professional development and cross-cultural connection. Entrepreneurship incubator.”
• Overton Arts Hotel (The RWS Company LLC, Memphis): "Destination hotel and contemporary arts center.”
• Re-imagining Rust Hall (Scout LTD, Philadelphia): “Creative workspace for a diversity of businesses, artists, creatives and entrepreneurs within Memphis.”

Two other finalists which focused only on the Brooks Museum are:

• Public High School for the Arts (Hattiloo Theatre, Shelby County Schools, Memphis): “Public high school dedicated to and focused on the arts.”
• The Rotunda (Haizlip Studio, Memphis): “Community gathering place, events and conference center.”

And two applicants making the finalist list could be housed in Rust Hall or the Brooks Museum building. They are:

• Overton Park Visitor’s Center (Overton Park Conservancy, Memphis): Multi-use space housing conservancy offices, “visitor center, indoor rentable event space, restrooms, café, small shop.” The conservancy cannot fill an entire building, but seeks to partner with another user to use part of one facility.
• Repurposing Rust Hall & The Brooks Building (Athena Global Advisors): “Learning animation studio focused on augmented reality and mixed-reality environment … training and certificate programs, satellite campus for digital animation companies.”

The 60-year-old, four-story Rust Hall offers 74,678 square feet, but comes with at least $3.5 million in deferred maintenance. The building is now a mix of studios, classrooms, gallery space, an auditorium and offices.

The three-story Brooks Museum building encompasses 86,090 square feet. The facility includes the original building erected 103 years ago as well as three expansions.

Finalists have been given a timeline showing that the request-for-proposals documents would be prepared this summer, issued in September and due in November.

The timeline shows the next users for Rust Hall and the Brooks building will be chosen by early 2020.

Mayor Jim Strickland will make the decision, then present his choices to the City Council for final approval.