Friday, February 19, 2010

Memphis Business Journal - by Michael Sheffield

Neighborhood groups like Memphis Heritage may have celebrated after Oklahoma-based developer Sooner Investment Co. abandoned its Overton Square redevelopment.

But this fact remains: what was once a vibrant destination in the 1970s is operating at a fraction of its capacity with old, unoccupied buildings. While the structures hold sentimental value to some Memphians, they don’t lend themselves to many modern uses.

Sooner’s plans for an upscale grocery store and other retail for the area was met with opposition, but lessons were learned from the situation, possibly leading to a more collaborative and less controversial outcome next time.

The city hasn’t had immediate interest from potential developers of Overton Square, says Mary Baker, deputy division director of the City of Memphis’ Department of Planning, but the next company that steps up won’t face the same issues Sooner did.

“We’re really looking to develop a consensus plan so we can get some predictability when someone tries to develop a particular use,” Baker says. “They’ll have a certainty about what they’ve bought and what they can and can’t do. That also gives neighborhoods some certainty that it won’t be completely changed overnight.”

The city wants to ensure a pedestrian-friendly area and preserve the buildings’ relationship to the street. A big-box retailer looking to convert the area to a parking lot won’t work, Baker says.

“We love the idea of mixed-use buildings if we can pull that off,” she says.

Local architects agree the way to move forward should be mixed-use, but they also say the neighborhood shouldn’t be spoiling for a fight at every developer who has an idea.

Lee Askew, whose father had a store in Overton Square, says there is a big difference between buildings that have some historical significance and buildings that people are just fond of.

“I call it historical and hysterical value,” says Askew, a principal with Askew Nixon Ferguson Architects, Inc. “Historical means it has architectural value or it was so exquisitely done it needs to still be around. Then there are a bunch of buildings that people have some sort of sentimental attachment to because they proposed there or bought a nice coat there.”

The Chick-fil-A development on Union, which left the original Cumberland Presbyterian Church facade in tact, worked because the developer had a sense of community that led to compromise. Most developers, Askew says, are “bottom-line guys” who want to make projects work financially.

“If you try to force something on them, they get disinterested really quickly and go somewhere else,” Askew says.

For Overton Square, some architects, contractors and engineers agree the buildings could be saved, but that realistically, they should probably be demolished.

Neighborhood activists have an emotional argument, but people who have worked on redevelopment projects take a more pragmatic approach. If it makes financial sense to save a building, then the building needs to be saved, says Chooch Pickard, principal of CM Design and executive director of the Memphis Regional Design Center.

“Unfortunately, we had a developer that doesn’t do that, so it doesn’t make sense to ask them to do that,” he says. However, Pickard draws a comparison between Overton Square and The Lowenstein Building (previously known as the Rhodes-Jennings Building), which was renovated into a 28-room apartment building in 2008. Redevelopment projects simply need to fit the character of the area, which in this case, is not the standard strip retail area.

“It has to fit Midtown,” he says. “People live in Midtown because it’s not Cordova, Collierville or Germantown, so you have to maintain that character.”

Baker says an area like Midtown has to have the feeling of comfort and welcome that most people associate with it. Something as simple as being able to see and be seen through the windows of a shop go a long way toward maintaining the character of the neighborhood.

Askew recalls that tenants like a hardware store, bakery and insurance agency called Overton Square home. He says there was no grand intention for the area other than it being the corner of a busy street in a neighborhood.

Pickard says other historical areas of the city, like South Main, are considered historic because of the design of the street and storefronts, as well as the pedestrian access. A major part of the uproar over Overton Square was the fact that the buildings were built with high quality in mind, something that is absent from a lot of architecture now.

“Developers tend to not spend money on quality buildings, so new construction tends to be cheap,” Pickard says. “Even if a building doesn’t have history, it still has the character and quality that isn’t there today.”

He says one of the major reasons Overton Square declined in the first place was the ownership lacked a local voice to promote the whole area. Any new construction and businesses that locate there have to make that a focus.

Moving forward, Overton Square needs calm, impartial discussion to make sure the final decision is acceptable and will work for the area, Askew says.

“What you don’t need are little old ladies with umbrellas that want to fight everything and developers who just don’t care. Somewhere in the middle is a happy medium,” Askew says. “If they had taken (Cumberland Presbyterian) down on Union, it wouldn’t have been a big loss because nobody wanted it anymore. It was nice Chick-fil-A saved a piece of it, but most developers don’t work like that. Most people would rather let the roof fall in than have someone develop it.”

Memphis Regional Design Center

Executive director: Chooch Pickard
Address: 114 N. Main St.
Phone: (901) 575-0565
Web site: www.mrdcinfo.org