Tom Bailey

USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee

A prominent architecture firm plans to move to Midtown from Downtown intent on improving the appeal of its future headquarters building and improving the walkability of the street it lines.

Last week, archimania bought two vacant buildings connected by a canopy for more than $900,000 at 663 S. Cooper and 673 S. Cooper. Just south of Otherlands and next door to Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 663 S. Cooper housed the Sheet Metal Workers office and 673 S. Cooper was an insurance firm.

"When we started looking for property a few months ago we started talking about Midtown,'' said Todd Walker, co-principal of archimania with Barry Alan Yoakum. "We got really interested in Cooper and this district between Overton Square and Cooper-Young.

"As we looked at it more, we started getting interested not just in Cooper-Young and Overton Square but everything in between. Thinking about what great vitality it has and how much better it would be from an urban standpoint.''

In recent years, archimania has been among the design leaders in Memphis and across Tennessee, winning more than its share of awards competitions held by the American Institute of Architects.

Archimania employs 25 people at 356 S. Main, the 102-year-old headquarters building it leases. The firm has been Downtown 22 years.

Archimania had bought a vacant lot with plans for building its new office at the southwest corner of St. Main and Carolina, but eventually dropped those plans in favor of going elsewhere.

Sam Goff, president of the nonprofit Midtown Memphis Development Corporation, was pleased by what he was told of archimania's plans for a Midtown headquarters.

"Anyone coming in that wants to engage the neighborhoods and offer more critical mass to the changes that are occurring in Midtown, I'm all for personally,'' Goff said.

"... Archimania is known for being a very progressive, visionary architectural firm,'' he said. "I have long admired their work. So I have high hopes and high expectations for what they are going to do there.''

Yoakum said that the energy along Cooper is "the exciting thing. And we'd like to be a part of that, too, now at this point in our careers.''

The firm plans to renovate the larger, 7,438-square-foot Sheet Metal Workers building for its headquarters, and renovate the 3,548-square-foot building next door to lease out as an office, restaurant or store. Both one-story buildings are 60 years old.

Walker and Yoakum like that the two buildings stand close to the Cooper sidewalk; there's no parking in front. But the architects plan to create more openings and windows on the front wall to forge a stronger connection between the staff inside and the people passing on the sidewalk.

They also plan to remove the asphalt between the two buildings to create a courtyard.

They aspire to renovate the structures to be certified for LEED (Leadership In Energy and Environmental Design), as a "Well Building'' (features that affect the health of occupants), and as a structure that consumes less power than it generates. "We know of no other building in the state of Tennessee that has all those certifications,'' Walker said.

In addition, the architects want to facilitate grassroots planning among property owners and residents to enhance the walkability of the entire 1.7-mile stretch of Cooper between Overton Park on the north and Southern on the south. "Not just an idea of a developer coming in and doing something that might be profitable, but what does the community want?'' Walker said.

"I'd love to see the sidewalks and landscaping improve between Overton Square and Overton Park, for example,'' he said.

Cooper has "a lot of retail and a lot of restaurants, but there could be much more,'' he said. "At the same time there are not many offices like ours.''

The redevelopment hinges on a property tax break archimania will seek to make the project financially feasible, the principals said. They will apply for an incentive that totals about $220,000 spread over multiple years.

"It is absolutely critical to the development that we receive these incentives,'' Yoakum said.