Carlisle Corporation's new South Main Street office overlooks the Mississippi River, but for the company's chief executive Chance Carlisle, the real view is of dry land.

On Front Street near the intersection of Dr. M L King Jr. Avenue is the William C. Ellis & Sons machine shop. Plywood covers a gaping hole in a garage door entrance and many of the windows are broken, but the white concrete building still stands with an air of historic elegance. When the sun hits the building just right, its windows seem to glow.

Heavy-duty construction equipment has already started excavating the land surrounding it, preparing the site for the long-anticipated One Beale project.

When complete, One Beale will include high-end apartments, a full-service Hyatt hotel, an office tower and space for a restaurant, retail and events stretching 5.5 acres from Beale Street to Pontotoc Avenue and along Front Street and west to the river.

After more than a decade of setbacks and plan revisions, building is finally expected to begin this summer. For Carlisle, this project represents a future for Downtown Memphis that he, along with his father before him, thinks will be prosperous — and pricey.

While it's too soon to know how much specific units in the building will cost to rent, Carlisle said he excepts to charge as much as $2.25 per square foot — about $2,250 per month for a 1,000-square-foot apartment — aiming to be among the most expensive rentals in Downtown Memphis.

"I think we have what will likely be the best multi-family building for the next 20 years," Carlisle said, adding that with river views, quartz counters, an on-site restaurant, a roof-top infinity pool and balconies for residents, One Beale wants to bring a new kind of luxury offering.

And he thinks that's just the beginning for Downtown.

"What's magical about One Beale is that it will be the first," he said. "But I truly believe that there will be 20 other One Beales."

'The most important site in Memphis'

While the Ellis building was only purchased and added to the project in 2017, the earliest iteration of One Beale dates back to before Carlisle was born, he learned recently.

When moving from the company's old office on Wagner Place that was since demolished to make way of One Beale, Carlisle found old renderings dating back to the 1970s where his father, Gene Carlisle, was already drawing out plans for what could go in that spot.

Gene Carlisle died in 2015 without getting the chance to develop the site.

His initial idea was a single 1 million-square-foot tower — nearly the size of Crosstown Concourse — meant to alter the Memphis skyline, but that never left planning stages.

"He always imagined buildings that were grander than our economy could support," said longtime real estate developer Henry Turley, who helped pioneer residential building Downtown.

Just before the economy collapsed in 2008, plans for twin high rise buildings — one hotel and one with condominiums — worth more than $165 million came close.

"In 2008, we had sold over $100 million of residential real estate," Carlisle said. "We were probably less than four weeks away from closing our financing and Lehman (Brothers) collapsed."

Another project dead.

Despite the setbacks, Gene Carlisle knew how important that land was and never gave up on the vision for what development there could mean for Downtown.

"He just always believed at his core... that buildings helped define cities and culture and you can look at architecture and you could know something about a people who had been there," Carlisle said of his father. "He always believed that, in a certain extent, that Memphis had sort of turned its back on Downtown and the river."

Turley said he once tried to buy the One Beale site from Gene Carlisle years ago, but Carlisle would never sell what Turley thought of as "the most important site in Memphis" at the intersection of two icons — Beale Street and the Mississippi River.

"When you look over a long period of time, Memphis won't be remembered for what it built at Poplar and Perkins," Turley said. "It will be remembered, evaluated and tested by what it built at the river and Beale."

In with the new — and old

When Chance Carlisle bought the Ellis building, he had no intention of saving it. He wanted it simply for the land beneath it that would nearly double One Beale's footprint, give him a space to build a parking garage and make the project financially feasible.

"When we were able to acquire the Ellis, my first gut was 'knock it all down, way more valuable,'" Carlisle said. The company had just converted the historic Chisca building into rental apartments. He was done saving old buildings and was ready for new construction.

He got as far as selling off equipment used by William C. Ellis & Sons Ironworks, which occupied the Ellis building for more than a century, clearing out decades of relics and even filing a demolition permit with the county before June West of Memphis Heritage was able to convince him to keep the building and use part of it as an event venue.

"It was one of the few cases where a building was slated for demolition but he changed his mind," West said. "The reuse and repurpose of the Ellis building is going to be one of the highlights of my career."

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'Downtown is going to look significantly different'

While many developers will say they are building to attract millennial renters craving walkable Downtown communities and Carlisle would surely welcome them as well, he said the audience for his rentals is likely a bit older, making six-figures and responsible for creating jobs that will give younger millennials the career opportunities they need to stay in Memphis long term.

"When you really get into the demographics you ask: Where do all these people live and are they happy?" Carlisle said. "And the answer is no, and you know why? Because they don't have access to the river. We've got Tom Lee Park that's barren. We don't have a connection between South Main and the core."

Carlisle said his research proved that Memphis' wealthy Downtown population had as much spending power as other major cities in Tennessee but limited access to high-end housing on the riverfront could force many to move east and into the suburbs, taking their businesses — and employees and jobs — with them.

"And this is at the $100,000 household income level and up," Carlisle said. "I've see this movie. There's no way we can lose this population again."

Carlisle said that's why he is pouring so much money into amenities like floor-to-ceiling windows and large walk-in closets inside the apartments of the seven-story building rather than trying to change the skyline like his father.

"My hope is that after One Beale we will have proven and moved the market so much that over time the next skyscraper's possible," he said. "We're not there yet today, but when we do get there, Downtown is going to look significantly different.

"Not because we have a massive tower that's blocking the river view for everyone behind it on the river but because everyone that's on the fourth or fifth row can now see over us to the river."

Desiree Stennett is a growth and development reporter at the Commercial Appeal. She can be reached at desiree.stennett@commercialappeal.com, 901-529-2738 or on Twitter: @desi_stennett.

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