The city may have a new, permanent manager of the Beale Street Entertainment District by late summer as the board overseeing the street issued its formal request for proposals Friday morning.
Beale Street has been managed by the Downtown Memphis Commission since January 2014, at the request of then-Mayor A C Wharton.
After that, the Memphis City Council established the the Beale Street Tourism Development Authority (BSTDA), which was tasked to find a permanent manager for the district. That group includes leaders in business and government and has been meeting for months to hammer out, among other things, the request that went out Friday.
Proposals are due back to the board by June 24. Review of the proposals will be completed in about 60 days after the deadline, according to the request.
The BTSDA said they hope to get proposals from commercial real estate property management firms or partnerships that have entertainment district management experience of experience in “managing mixed-use commercial properties the size of, or larger than, the Beale Street Historic District.”
The winning proposal will provide a “clean, safe” and “enjoyable visitors experience,” employ all necessary staff, give an annual work plan and financials to the board, supervise security, waste removal, insurance, parking lots, pest control, maintain all of Beale Street’s historic buildings, and more.
But also, the new Beale manager will have to exhibit “unquestioned commitment to diversity if all aspects of the district’s operations” and be “sensitive to the history of Beale Street and its uniqueness as an entertainment district.”
The request says the 34 businesses operating in the 31 city-owned businesses on Beale Street gross about $30 million-$40 million a year. In 2015, those business paid rent to the city totaling just north of $1.5 million and maintenance fees of about $560,000.
Total gross income to the city was a little more than $2 million and total expenses for operations were about $1.7 million. Profits to the city were $391,821 in 2015.
