MEMPHIS | Development News

[arkitekte]

Originally Posted by Wayward Memphian

This is basically across the street from the Germantown Performing Arts Center and a block north of Saddle Creek on Germantown. I don't know how much closer to Germantown's core one can get.

I know that. I guess that would classify this as infill to sprawl. Is there actually a need for 500 condo units and a Hampton Inn in Germantown?

[MEMFLY]

Trolley fires report says MATA lax on safety, staff training
http://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/n...ety-staff.html

An independent report released today on the cause of two Downtown Memphis trolley fires earlier this year has uncovered evidence of several safety lapses by the Memphis Area Transit Authority.
The American Public Transportation Association, in its report released Friday, said MATA isn't following its own safety guidelines, that its maintenance and operations staff aren't adequately trained and that repairs aren't being documented – all of which factored into the cause of the fires on the Madison Avenue line.
The primary causes of the fires were a failure in the motor control circuit, a fault in the propulsion system and a defective line breaker, according to the report. Other possible contributing factors were that the trolleys weren't in compliance with APTA standards and that trolleys were modified without meeting MATA's safety standards.
Other factors include a lack of enforcement implementation of safety standards; inadequate standard operating and maintenance procedures; failures of staff to follow safety guidelines; lack of training; "many lapses" in safety committee meetings and processes; and trolley operators not acting quickly to lower the trolleys' overhead pole from the line's wire, the report said. MATA is also eight years behind in compliance with mandated, annual, in-field, emergency exercise requirements.

[arkitekte]

^That's absolutely pathetic.

[James Owen]

Originally Posted by arkitekte

I know that. I guess that would classify this as infill to sprawl. Is there actually a need for 500 condo units and a Hampton Inn in Germantown?

Developers are taking a gamble in Germantown, in part because of its new independent school system (one of six newly established ones in Shelby County) as well as an anticipated influx of new families moving in to take advantage of those schools.

[Trevor Birchett]

Note: All Pyramid-related discussion can now be done in the new "Pyramid Renovation" thread in General Development (here).

[SterickFan]

Meanwhile, Desoto Co MS just killing it in economic development with the announcement of 900 jobs at the new Williams Sonoma distribution center, less than a week after Roxul announces a manufacturing plant in Byhalia bringing in 165 jobs. That is huge for a community the size of the Memphis metro. Desoto gains are Shelby's tax base loss but certainly good for the metro in the employment area. I expect the boom in Desoto to continue to increase as I-269 is finished next year. This being the outer loop around the metro area.

[arkitekte]

Originally Posted by James Owen

Developers are taking a gamble in Germantown, in part because of its new independent school system (one of six newly established ones in Shelby County) as well as an anticipated influx of new families moving in to take advantage of those schools.

That's true. Anyone have any info on Germantown's current condo/apartment occupancy numbers? I'd just assumed that the majority of the individuals who would be utilizing the new schools were either already in those districts or were families who would be looking toward single family living situations. There's also the new office park out there to take into consideration as well.

Originally Posted by SterickFan

Meanwhile, Desoto Co MS just killing it in economic development with the announcement of 900 jobs at the new Williams Sonoma distribution center, less than a week after Roxul announces a manufacturing plant in Byhalia bringing in 165 jobs. That is huge for a community the size of the Memphis metro. Desoto gains are Shelby's tax base loss but certainly good for the metro in the employment area. I expect the boom in Desoto to continue to increase as I-269 is finished next year. This being the outer loop around the metro area.

Well said. A portion of that money will eventually make it back to Memphis proper through commercial/leisure sales as some of those new jobs will be held by Memphians. As far as I-269 I'm fully anticipating logistics related businesses to pop up all along that route.

[kingchef]

wharton took a bit of a verbal beating and was pretty much classified as a very weak mayor, which is apparently going over poorly w/ blacks in general. the program was pretty insightful. there was quite a discussion on who thenext memphis mayor would take the office. i think it is pretty reasonable to say that he has been credited w/ getting very little completed.

human resources needs to be reworked, new and specific job descriptions instituted, and begin getting rid of the dead driftwood and duplication of services, instead of paying two or three to do the job of one, and most of the time that job isn't done corrected. they certainly don't need to keep pilfering and and raping the tax coffers. it is ridiculous when you have no way to judge the accountability of the work for 7 or 8 years, ie. the trolley.

[Wayward Memphian]

Originally Posted by kingchef

wharton took a bit of a verbal beating and was pretty much classified as a very weak mayor, which is apparently going over poorly w/ blacks in general. the program was pretty insightful. there was quite a discussion on who thenext memphis mayor would take the office. i think it is pretty reasonable to say that he has been credited w/ getting very little completed.

human resources needs to be reworked, new and specific job descriptions instituted, and begin getting rid of the dead driftwood and duplication of services, instead of paying two or three to do the job of one, and most of the time that job isn't done corrected. they certainly don't need to keep pilfering and and raping the tax coffers. it is ridiculous when you have no way to judge the accountability of the work for 7 or 8 years, ie. the trolley.

Considering it will likely be someone black and a democrat, as an outsider looking back in time, I wish Harold Ford Jr. would have stayed put. Of course, he could be horrible as well.

[James Owen]

Originally Posted by kingchef

wharton took a bit of a verbal beating and was pretty much classified as a very weak mayor, which is apparently going over poorly w/ blacks in general. the program was pretty insightful. there was quite a discussion on who the next memphis mayor would take the office. i think it is pretty reasonable to say that he has been credited w/ getting very little completed.

human resources needs to be reworked, new and specific job descriptions instituted, and begin getting rid of the dead driftwood and duplication of services, instead of paying two or three to do the job of one, and most of the time that job isn't done corrected. they certainly don't need to keep pilfering and and raping the tax coffers. it is ridiculous when you have no way to judge the accountability of the work for 7 or 8 years, ie. the trolley.

Considering the fact that Wharton just turned 70 this year, and will be 71 when the next city elections take place, coupled with a lot of criticisms of city government and its leaders in general, some going as far back as the Herenton years, it's well past time for there to be new leadership at the top of city hall. Ideally, it should be someone who is young with fresh, new ideas to bring to the table as well as be a transformative visionary for the city of Memphis proper.

I also agree that city government operations should be simplified and made more efficient than they are now (i.e., reduce the number of deputy directors, combine departments, etc). It makes no sense that Memphis has not only the highest tax rate in the state of Tennessee, but in the entire region, yet many essential services have become either underfunded, understaffed or both, and it's reflected in the quality of such services being offered in the city.

[DoomJ]

I feeling lazy so I didn't bother hunting down the link but the Business Journal reported today that permits are about to be pulled for Highland Row, dirt will be moving soon. Also, it mentioned that the permits will be drawn successively, apartments first, then retail building, then the townhomes. It narrated it like all the permits were a sure thing- as in, they're not going to wait on the townhomes, they're going to build all parts one after the other from the end of 2014 to the beginning of 2015.

[Wayward Memphian]

Interesting drama out of Love Field in Dallas. A few days ago Delta got booted. United decided they wouldn't renew Delta's subleases on the two gates it has. United has a history of not using it's gates much at all. It announced that they would offer 11 flights daily to Houston from the gates as justification of booting Delta. Delta is having to cancel flights it had booked past the sublease end date. It did this supposedly on assurances from the city it would have gate access till at least till the of the year. Delta had wanted to really expand it's flights to.all hubs instead of just Atlanta. Back in 2009 Dallas had assured the FAA that Delta would have a continued presence with the end of the Wright Amendment, so the FAA based it's divestiture decisions from the AA merger partly on that Virgin America would increase competition by adding an additional airline. Well, nope, still the same number of airlines. The kicker, apparently Southwest just leased one of United's gates at Love.

Love is limited to 20 gates so expansion can't happen.

Anyways, that gives Southwest more capacity at DAL. Frontier seemed to jump at the chance to service Dallas from Memphis when Southwest didn't. Wonder if Southwest revisits the issue with the new gate?

Oh, multiple local pubs reported Delta adding a second nonstop to New York while suspending the Salt Lake route for a bit before supposedly resuming it.

[Wayward Memphian]

Read about some of Orgel's plans for the Tennessee Brewery. A mix of apts and possibly a microbrew. I was reading about the ole Pabst Brewhouse in Milwaukee reno into a hotel and microbrewery. Buildings appear similar in size. Here's a link plus do an image search. Nice

http://www.hospitalitydesign.com/pro...uit-4661.shtml

[arkitekte]

Originally Posted by DoomJ

I feeling lazy so I didn't bother hunting down the link but the Business Journal reported today that permits are about to be pulled for Highland Row, dirt will be moving soon. Also, it mentioned that the permits will be drawn successively, apartments first, then retail building, then the townhomes. It narrated it like all the permits were a sure thing- as in, they're not going to wait on the townhomes, they're going to build all parts one after the other from the end of 2014 to the beginning of 2015.

Excellent news! I wonder if they're still pursuing the idea of a bookstore there? In any case, any retail that's located there should be pretty successful. Pedestrian traffic in that area will be really nice and have an urban feel.

[James Owen]

Originally Posted by arkitekte

Excellent news! I wonder if they're still pursuing the idea of a bookstore there? In any case, any retail that's located there should be pretty successful. Pedestrian traffic in that area will be really nice and have an urban feel.

Probably not, considering that the retail portion was heavily scaled down by the new developers in favor of more residential units in that spot.

[arkitekte]

Originally Posted by James Owen

Probably not, considering that the retail portion was heavily scaled down by the new developers in favor of more residential units in that spot.

I gotcha.

Anyone heard rumblings of anything related to OneBeale? I know they said late summer, but that's come and gone and nothing.

[kingchef]

does the city have a mock of buildings and streets, one that shows where new construction, renovation, planned, etc. is located. i would think it would be in the department of building codes, but i have also heard that there are no constructs. however, the city development department has software that is able to draw various exteriors and interiors for current and future projects, which is a big help when scaling buildings, structures, and the likely outcome of the look of the project. i wish that we had more access to these.

[arkitekte]

Originally Posted by kingchef

does the city have a mock of buildings and streets, one that shows where new construction, renovation, planned, etc. is located. i would think it would be in the department of building codes, but i have also heard that there are no constructs. however, the city development department has software that is able to draw various exteriors and interiors for current and future projects, which is a big help when scaling buildings, structures, and the likely outcome of the look of the project. i wish that we had more access to these.

I'm sure Downtown's UDC and Master Plan are posted online.

[DoomJ]

Yet another South Main mixed-use project, this one at South Front and MLK (Linden). http://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/n...roject-in.html

[arkitekte]

Originally Posted by DoomJ

Yet another South Main mixed-use project, this one at South Front and MLK (Linden). http://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/n...roject-in.html

Those look pretty good. Hopefully more of these projects begin to happen around Downtown.