Downtown leaders craft vision for building up intersection of live-work-play

A Downtown office campus remains an aspirational goal, despite recent success in luring office workers back to the Memphis core.

But Downtown leaders are doubling down on efforts to shore up that leg of the live-work-play equation.

Parks with playgrounds for small children? Apartments with rents geared toward entry-level professionals? Less panhandling, blight and graffiti? More retail stores, indoor and outdoor activity? A more diverse population?

Those were among the ideas emerging from a Downtown Memphis Commission retreat recently.

Volunteer members of the commission’s five boards gathered to brainstorm strategies for strengthening Downtown. They were joined by a panel of Downtown office tenants representing about 1,200 workers in banking and investment, advertising and public relations, engineering and project management.

“We want to focus on key points we can really move the needle on in the next 18 months,” commission president and chief executive Jennifer Oswalt said.

The session was held at One ServiceMaster Center’s Innovation Center, a few days after the first 200 of an eventual 1,200 workers moved into new digs in the former Peabody Place mall.

ServiceMaster’s headquarters, announced in June 2016, stands as the biggest win for the Downtown office market in recent years. Relocations by smaller companies including Wunderlich Securities and Southern Sun Asset Management have kept the momentum going, but there’s still plenty of room for growth.

Cushman & Wakefield/Commercial Advisors reported a 23 percent overall vacancy rate in Downtown’s office space in the October-December quarter of 2017.

Downtown has about 25,000 residents, 66,000 workers and $2.9 billion in the development pipeline, with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital’s more than $1 billion investment the largest single project.

Moreover, Oswalt noted, for the first time in many years, development is dispersed throughout the agency's jurisdiction, from Uptown and the Medical Center to the Edge district to the South City area.

Retreat participants discussed ways to move the needle in four areas: building Downtown, public spaces, diversity and inclusion and community engagement.

Diversity — of ages, races and incomes — was a recurring theme.

A significant increase was proposed for minority- and women-owned business participation in development projects receiving incentives such as grants, loans and tax abatement.

A group led by developer Terry Woodard and DMC staffer Jaske Goff suggested a longstanding 20 percent goal be increased to 32 percent. An increase would have to be approved by the agency's board.

Board members called for more marketing of incentive programs to minority and women-owned businesses and developers. Joann Massey, who leads the city’s minority business development office, suggested it would help Downtown if the agency connected with businesses in North Memphis and South Memphis.

Michael Hooks Jr., chief executive of Allworld Project Management, said Downtown rents are an obstacle for some younger professionals. "For these fellows and ladies who are coming out of school and starting at maybe $50,000, $60,000 a year, they still say $1,000 for a one-bedroom is high," Hooks said.

Another theme was reaching out to people who already have some degree of engagement with Downtown: the office workers who go back to the suburbs when the sun goes down, or the young people who leave Downtown when family life beckons.

“Millennials. They don’t want to leave Downtown, but they get married, they have kids, there's nowhere for them to go. How do we create that? How do we engage that community," said restaurateur Deni Reilly.

Also, “How do we get people to stay past five? How do I get you to walk across the street and have a cocktail? How do we keep people from just jumping in their cars and driving back out east?" Reilly asked.

Urban planner Ray Brown said it’s important to make the most of creating a new Downtown master plan and following it once it's done. The agency recently received statements of qualifications from firms interested in doing a new master plan.

The agency needs to continue to focus on reducing blight and backfilling vacant buildings, Brown said. The commission should look at how to adjust incentive programs to achieve the best mix of residential, office, retail, commercial and employment, Brown said.

Representatives of Downtown office employers First Tennessee Bank, Archer Malmo, Powers-Hill, Allworld and Southern Sun gave instant feedback.

Panhandling and going years without trolley service were negatives mentioned by Robert Hardwick, vice president corporate properties, First Tennessee/First Horizon. The trolley's scheduled to come back in April, he was told.

The bank recently completed a roughly $30 million renovation of its tower at 165 Madison and took in about 200 people from an operations center that was relocated from Court and Danny Thomas to the airport area, Hardwick said. About 900 people now work in the tower, including tenant Baker Donelson law firm.

Martha Hample, senior vice president and director of operations at Archer Malmo, said more dining options and indoor and outdoor activities would help convince employees to linger Downtown.

Archer Malmo has about 200 employees between offices in Memphis and Austin, Texas. Visitors from the Austin office are impressed by how cool Downtown Memphis, Hample said.

“Making sure the company culture inside the building is right is so important, even more important is the culture outside the building,” Hample added. “Otherwise we’re not going to get the kind of talent we need.”

Hooks said Beale Street could be more of an asset for Downtown, as opposed to being considered a place for tourists.

“When I’m traveling and I say ‘I’m from Memphis,’ I swear one of the first things people say is, ‘Oh yeah, Beale Street.’ They immediately refer Memphis to this iconic Beale Street. However, when we have friends come to town, is one of the first things we think (about) taking them to Beale Street? Probably not.”

“If we could change that paradigm, and focus on that, I think it would end up being a win win. Obviously it’s a part of our image, we need to take control of that,” Hooks said.

Oswalt said Beale Street overseers are working on attracting a better mix of tourists and locals.

Reach reporter Wayne Risher at (901) 529-2874 or wayne.risher@commercialappeal.com.