Hnedak Bobo Group Inc.
The proposed towers of the One Beale project.
Construction of the skyline-changing, $225-million One Beale project is set to begin early next year and could be complete by late 2020.
One Beale is now planned as a multi-story hotel, a separate, multi-story, residential building with retail and restaurant space and another separate office building spread over 5.5 acres situated, basically, close to the corner of Beale and Riverside. The project was originally envisioned by Gene Carlisle, a prominent Memphis developer, in 2004 and has gone through many design and scope changes since then.
Carlisle LLC, the project’s developer, announced Tuesday morning that it has selected its partners and will break ground on One Beale later this year. The news is a signal that the project’s planning is more solid than it has ever been and that the developers are ready to bring it to fruition.
Developers said the “One Beale will serve as a gateway to the sports and entertainment district of Beale Street, connecting Memphis’ world-class but underdeveloped riverfront to one of America’s most iconic streets.”
“My dad had a saying that ‘people and cities define themselves by their buildings,’ and as a native Memphian, I could not be prouder of what One Beale says about our city’s culturally rich past and our promising future,” said Chance Carlisle, CEO of Carlisle, LLC.
News also emerged Tuesday that Hyatt Hotels Corp. was chosen to develop a Hyatt Centric hotel on the site. Calling Hyatt Centric a “boutique hotel brand,” Hyatt said such hotels are now built in ”Tokyo, Miami, San Francisco, and New Orleans — and now, Memphis.”
“The full-service, four-star Hyatt Centric hotel will host 227 rooms, along with 15,000 square feet of conference and meeting space on famed Beale Street, and will include the renovation of historic Ellis Machine Shop as part of its conference center,” reads a news release. “The hotel will feature a new riverfront restaurant, outdoor pool plaza, and rooftop lounge with amazing views of Downtown and the Mississippi River.
The restaurant, which Carlisle calls “the Downtown core’s first riverfront restaurant,” will be opened by ”Memphis culinary trendsetters Andy Ticer and Michael Hudman,” owners of Catherine and Mary’s at The Chisca, Hog & Hominy, and more.
“These two James-Beard-nominated chefs have crafted immensely popular restaurant experiences at their other eateries, such as the Gray Canary and Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen,” reads the news release.
Carlisle will develop the separate, mixed-use residential apartment building on the site with 227 ”high-end living spaces.” Construction on this building will begin at the same time as the Hyatt Centric and will offer up to 15,000 square feet of office space as well as approximately 10,000 square feet of riverfront restaurant space.
Hnedak Bobo Group
”This Downtown destination fulfills multiple purposes as a space to live, work and eat,” reads the statement.
After these two pieces of the project are complete, Highwoods Properties will build a Class A office development on the site covering somewhere between 200,000 and 400,000 square feet. The group will work with the Greater Memphis Chamber to find an anchor tenant and the project won’t get built without one, the statement says.
One Beale will also have a seven-story parking garage with 475 parking space. It will be open to the public and funded by the Downtown Parking Authority, a board of the Downtown Memphis Commission.
As for jobs and economic impact, the developers say Phase-1 construction of One Beale will create 1,484 jobs over two years, bring $294 million in impact to the economy, and yield $1.8 million in city/county taxes.
Once opened and regularly occupied, One Beale will create 423 jobs producing $11.3 million in local wages, and yielding $2.25 million in local taxes.
Carlisle released this video Tuesday to go along with its announcement:
One Beale Could Be Complete by 2020
