Apartments with a crust of retail proposed next to Gus’s chicken
Traffic moves along Front Street near City Hall in 2019. A developer has proposed a $30 million project at Front and Vance. (Daily Memphian file)
A Downtown developer seeks a zoning variance for a $30 million project that would put 165 new apartments and 10,000 square feet of ground-floor retail in both historic and new buildings, all within the aroma zone of Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken restaurant.
Representatives for Tom Intrator’s 18 Main LLC will go before the Board of Adjustment at 2 p.m., Aug. 26, seeking permission to exceed the residential density limits placed on new construction in the South Main Historic District.
Intrator, the same developer who plans a $1.1 billion redevelopment of the Pinch District, plans to renovate the 120-year-old brick warehouse at 324 S. Front. The plan includes ground-up construction at 316 S. Front of six stories of apartments on a vacant, adjacent parcel.
The mixed-use development would blend the renovated, 120-year-old warehouse at Front and Vance with new, taller construction. (Credit: PKM Architects)
The new building will wrap around a parking structure of about 100 spaces.
The three-story, 21,078-square-foot historic building anchors the northeast corner of Front and Vance.
The location is within one of the city’s “it” areas. Not only is the popular Gus’s restaurant next door, but Old Dominick Distillery is across Front Street. So is the new One Beale mixed-use development that is under construction. And just a block west toward the river, the historic Nylon Net building is to be adapted for 210 apartment units.
A rendering shows what the development will look like from S. Front. (Credit: PMK Architects)
The old warehouse at Front and Vance is vacant and the adjacent parcel is undeveloped.
In November, the Center City Revenue Finance Corp. approved the same project for up to 15 years of property tax reductions, called a payment in lieu of taxes (PILOTs).
PKM Architects is designing the project.
The plan is to convert the old warehouse into 12 apartments on the second and third floors, and renovate the ground floor for 4,412 square feet of commercial space, according to Downtown Memphis Commission documents.
The new construction will house the rest of the apartments and 5,600 square feet of retail space. The ground-floor retail will screen from view the parking structure.
Topics
Center City Revenue Finance Corp. South Main gus's world famous fried chicken apartment developmentTom Bailey
Tom Bailey retired in January as a business reporter at The Daily Memphian, and after 40 years in journalism. A Tupelo, Mississippi, native, he graduated from Mississippi State University. He has lived in Midtown for 36 years.
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