Loeb plans 100-room hotel in Overton Square

Loeb Properties plans a 100-room, boutique hotel in Overton Square, facing Cooper between Bar Louie and Hattiloo Theatre.

The owner and re-developer of the entertainment district plans to partner with LRC2 Properties and MMI Hotel Group to build the $24.2 million hotel that will have a rooftop restaurant, structural parking and other amenities.

That 1.3-acre site is now used for surface parking.

Loeb is seeking a 15-year tax incentive from the Economic Development Growth Engine (EDGE) of Memphis & Shelby County. The application documents state that the tax break would total $6,151,389, and would generate a tax benefit to local governments of $5,407,329.

The EDGE board is to consider the application when it meets at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday at the University of Memphis - Holiday Inn.

The hotel will create 65 jobs that provide a base annual pay of $22,690 per position, the application states.

Loeb Properties purchased and revitalized the then-flagging entertainment district about five years ago. The City of Memphis helped by building a parking garage with floodwater retention basin underneath it.

"Since our company's involvement in the revitalization of Overton Square, we have heard repeatedly from the theater operators that if there were a hotel at Overton Square that they could develop a regional theater district that would attract visitors to the city from a 250-mile radius,'' Loeb Properties president Bob Loeb states in a letter to the EDGE board.

"Patrons would drive to Memphis, park their cars, and enjoy 2-3 nights of different plays every night. With the addition of Ballet Memphis, the case is even more compelling to develop this amenity. We have also heard from Rhodes College, (Christian Brothers University) and a number of other Midtown institutions that a hotel in Overton Square would be a welcome resource,'' Loeb states.

Loeb hired hotel consultant Pinkowski & Company in December to attract a hotel developer to the Square. The effort landed Luke Chamblee of LRC2 Properties and Micajah Sturdivant of MMI Hotel Group as partners in the new hotel.

LRC2 Properties developed The Graduate Hotel in Oxford. Loeb included a photo of that hotel in the application for a tax incentive.

Loeb agreed to contribute the land, some money and guarantee the development's debt, Loeb states. The tax incentive will help make the project financially feasible, he said.

The jobs will include 35 hotel positions, 25 food and beverage jobs and five management positions.

The boutique French Quarter Inn had operated in Overton Square but went out of business and remained vacant for years. Eventually, Ballet Memphis bought that property, demolished the old hotel and built its new headquarters at the northeast corner of Cooper and Madison.