Tag: Archimania

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Brooks Museum of Art Unveils Design for New Location

Night view, west elevation, Memphis Brooks Museum of Art (© Herzog & de Meuron)

In major news for the city’s cultural future, the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art unveiled Friday morning the official plans for its new home on the bluffs of the Mississippi River. The design for the new location was created by international firm Herzog & de Meuron, working in collaboration with local firm archimania. The museum is scheduled to open Downtown in 2026; until then, it will continue operations in its Overton Park structure, where it first opened 110 years prior, in 1916.

The Downtown location promises expanded gallery space (allowing more of the permanent collection to be on view at once), a variety of spaces for community and educational events, and several outdoor spaces open to the public at no charge.

In a release, the Brooks identified the move Downtown as part of a broader revitalization of Memphis’ riverfront.

The base of the new structure is to be “forged out of the river bluff,” and will include parking and support for the museum itself. All the galleries will be accessible within a single floor of the museum, allowing for natural flow. The museum will circle a central outdoor courtyard, and will also include a rooftop pavilion, café, museum store, a 175-seat box theater, and more.

In terms of the art the museum will contain, the Brooks has noted that it intends to “dissolve the usual dividing lines between eras and mediums,” weaving together art from a diversity of geographical areas and increasing visibility of African-American art in particular, of which it is in the process of acquiring new pieces (by Sanford Biggers, Rick Lowe and Vanessa German, among others).

Courtyard, facing east toward the theater | Memphis Brooks Museum of Art (© Herzog & de Meuron)

Jim Strickland, mayor of Memphis, commented, “The new Brooks will become an essential civic space for the people of Memphis and visitors to our city. Our city has long been known for its rich culture and history; soon we will be able to better share the visual art of our region and the stories embedded in Memphis’ art collection at the Brooks.”

Carl Person, president of the museum’s board of directors, said, “The Brooks asked the architectural team for an inspiring work of architecture that would welcome the local community, the surrounding tri-state region of West Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi, and, indeed, the entire world. We got that, and more.”

Groundbreaking will begin in 2023. The museum has reported that of the $150 million needed for the project, more than $90 million has been raised to date.

Front Street, entry court, facing west | Memphis Brooks Museum of Art (© Herzog & de Meuron)
Categories
We Saw You

New Building Coming to South Main

A new building is slated to be built on this vacant lot on South Main.

You know that empty lot next to Earnestine & Hazel’s on South Main?

Well, it’s not going to be empty for long. Phil Woodard and Paul Tashie are going to put a building on it.

They’ve been buying property on South Main for some time. “We started at 502 South Main and bought it from Shep Wilbun, back 22 years ago,” says Woodard, a developer with Woodard Properties.  “That was our first building together.”

They then bought the double building at 523/525 South Main. “We renovated them over the years and had several tenants in there.”

The empty lot came with 523/525 South Main, which has housed several businesses, most recently Paper & Clay and Primas Bakery + Boutique.

“It’s the last available lot on either side of the block,” says Tashie, a developer as well as owner of Ciao Bella Italian Grill. 

“When Harley-Davidson moved out of the 525 South Main building, I put a sign in the window,” Woodard says. “And I had four or five people want to rent that spot here during COVID. Here we are locked down and I had all these people that wanted it. I said, ‘If there’s a demand, we need to build.’”

The lot, which is about 25 feet wide and about 100 feet long, encompasses about 2,600 square feet, Woodard says.

He told Tashie, “We might as well build something with that lot.”

The building is being designed by archimania. “It’s going to be all modern. All glass front. I had one neighbor that wasn’t crazy about it, but I told them, ‘This is what I do and it’s going to be nice.’”

The design was approved by the Memphis Landmarks Commission. “They just approved it saying, ‘That’s what ought to go there.’ It’s an historic area. You cannot match the other buildings. It still has the lines as the other buildings. Same height — 18 feet tall. Just a one-story building. We could have built two or three, but one’s enough.”

But, he says, “I stay below the windows on the second floor of Earnestine & Hazel’s so they can keep the light in there.”

The building should be ready “before Thanksgiving.” Woodard adds, “I don’t know who’s going to rent it. A few people have called, but I don’t know.”

About 22 years ago, Woodard bought his first building on South Main.  “Most buildings were boarded up. My first building was 508 South Main. We had tours through that thing. Well, everybody vacated right after Dr. Martin Luther King was shot. For that many years it laid vacant. When I bought 508, there was a tree growing out of the basement.”

He bought the building for he and his wife, Terry, to use as “an apartment for Downtown,” Woodard says. “We enjoyed going Downtown to the Orpheum and the ‘great nightlife’ of maybe the Peabody and a couple of restaurants. We couldn’t find [an apartment], so we built our own.”

Their old building now houses Diddy TV. “We enjoyed it. Had a big time. We had a house out East. We lived Downtown during the week and went home on the weekend.”

He began to buy more South Main property because he liked it so much. “That’s when Paul and I bought 502. He owns 506 by himself.”

Woodard then built an ultra-modern home on the river, but he and his wife eventually moved back to the South Main area. He built the house at Nettleton and Wagner. He recently sold the last of 30 townhouses he built next to their house on Front Street and Butler. “Archimania did the design. Single family homes. You have so many apartments.”

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Bain BBQ — a Texas-Style Barbecue Food Truck — To Hit Midtown in March

Bryant Bain in his Bain BBQ food truck



Get ready for the Bain BBQ food truck to roll into Midtown in early March.

And think “Texas.”

“I’m from Texas, so it will be Texas craft barbecue,” says owner Bryant Bain. “But it does have a little Memphis influence.”

Bain, 30, who is from Louise, Texas, described the difference between the two ’cues. “Compared to Memphis barbecue, which is your dry-rub pork-centric, Texas barbecue, especially mine, is beef-based. So, the brisket is king when it comes to my barbecue.”

He also will sell Memphis-type barbecue, including ribs and pulled pork. “But I’ll focus more on beef and sausage and beef ribs.”

Bain BBQ beef ribs

Bain began barbecuing when he was 12 years old. “I competition barbecued with my family. We had a giant rig and we’d go around Texas competing. I fell in love with it. I just love the smell of smoke and the patience it takes: 14, 16 hours to bring this tough cut of meat that, used to be, nobody wanted and turn it into something delectable.”

He seasons his brisket like he would a steak with just salt, pepper, and garlic. “My briskets are USDA prime. I don’t do anything lower than that. 

“My real secret, I guess, is my cooker. I have a pure wood-burning cooker. I don’t know anybody else in Memphis who does pure wood. I know a lot of people who use charcoal and wood, but mine is pure wood-burning. I throw logs on a fire and that’s it.”

That’s why his method of cooking is known as “craft barbecuing,” Bain says. “It’s going back to the original barbecue days when people would literally have a fire and slow-roast a piece of meat.”

Bain uses an “offset stick burner” to cook the meat. “There are two chambers. A big chamber — that’s your main chamber where you put your meat. And off to the side of it is a smaller chamber. That’s where the fire burns. On the opposite side is the chimney stack. It creates a draft and it pulls the heat and smoke across the meat.”

He uses “pure oak” to cook the meat. “I like the flavor best. Every type of wood gives you a different flavor. And, usually, you’ll cook with whatever is regionally available. Back in Texas, I cooked with post oak. Here, red and white oak. Some use hickory, some fruit woods like cherry, peach.”

Bain, who moved to Memphis six years ago, says, “It’s the best decision I ever made because I met my wife here. Heather Waldecker. She will be helping in the truck and her sister in law, who is going to move here this weekend, will be doing all the side dishes and desserts for me. Hannah Waldecker.”

Side dishes will be potato salad and a “combo vinegar/mayo-based” coleslaw, which, Bain says, “won’t be super vinegary. More of a mayo base, but not really thick.”

He also will serve a smoked macaroni and cheese. And “Texas pinto beans. “They’re not like the sweet barbecue beans you get here. They’re kind of like chili beans.”

Desserts will include caramel banana pudding and “a couple of different miniature pies. We’re going to be rotating. Chocolate pecan pie, Tennessee chess pie, and key lime pie are the three that are for sure.”

Bain loves Memphis. “I’ve never seen a community take such pride in itself than I have in Memphis: 901 Day. ‘Grit Grind.’ ‘It’s a Memphis Thing.’”

Bain, who lives in Midtown, says, “I love the charm of Midtown. I love all the good bars here and all the good restaurants in Midtown. I love all parts of Memphis, really, but Midtown is probably my favorite.”

This will be his first food truck experience, says Bain, who works remotely as an IT manager for a Minneapolis company. He asked some friends who were moderators of the Memphis Sandwich Clique Facebook group if he could sell some of his barbecue plates. “Kind of get an idea if people like my style of barbecue. And it was a raging success.”

Bain, who built his food truck, says, “It looks very vintage. Kind of ’50s vintage Americana.”

The outside of the trailer is built with “all sheet metal roofing, that kind of wavy metal. So, it looks like an old Airstream. This is actually a trailer I pull around with my truck.”

Bryant Bain and his Bain BBQ food truck

Bain doesn’t plan on stopping with his food truck; his future plans include opening a food truck park in Midtown. “We’re still in the very early talks.”

He’s already talked with Archimania architect firm about designing it. “It will be a food truck park/beer garden. People can get food from their favorite food truck, grab a beer, and just hang out.”

Bain will have his food truck permanently set up at the park. “The way I do my cooking, it’s hard to move my trailer around because I have to have the fire going 24/7.”

Bain BBQ brisket

Bryant Bain

Categories
News News Blog

Tax Breaks Could Bring Apartments, Offices to Cooper-Young

CREDIT: Center City Finance Revenue Corp.

Center City Finance Revenue Corp.

The 25-unit apartment building proposed to be built close to the corner of Cooper and Walker.

Two projects before Downtown officials next week could bring more people to live and work in Cooper-Young.

Apartment building

A developer wants an 11-year tax break worth $542,352 to build a $3.2 million, 25-unit apartment building on a vacant lot in Cooper-Young.

Focal Point Investments has asked the Center City Finance Development Corp. (a board of the Downtown Memphis Commission) to grant the payment-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOT) deal during its next meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 10.

The building would stand on the lot between the former Galloway United Methodist Church and the parking lot behind the Young Avenue Deli.

Here’s how the applicant describes the project:

“The building will feature 25 studio apartments, each with 550 square feet of space.

The portion of the building facing Cooper will feature nine apartments on three floors, while the remaining 16 apartments will occupy four floors behind the Cooper-facing portion.

The three ground-floor apartments facing Cooper will be configured as flexible spaces that can be used for retail, office, or live-work space.

Each unit will feature modern open floor plans and most of the units will have 10-foot loft ceilings. The site plan includes 19 parking spaces on the south and west sides of the property, as well as four exterior bike racks.”

The CCRFC staff likes the project. For one thing, the site is now generating annual city and county property taxes of $2,345. With the PILOT in place, the site’s owners would make annual payments (instead of regular taxes) of $18,780, a “701 percent increase.”

The staff report says the project would advance the DMC’s strategic goals in fighting blight, accelerating real estate development, and spurring economic development. The CCRFC, once only concerned with Downtown projects, recently adjusted its PILOT program to include Midtown projects with residential components.

New offices for archimania
Google Maps

The proposed site of new offices for archimania.

A local real estate company wants an 11-year payment-in-lieu-of-taxes deal worth $307,745 to renovate two buildings on Cooper in a $2.8 million project.

Filament LLC, a real estate company owned by two members of archimania, have asked the Center City Revenue Finance Corp. (CCRFC) for the tax break, noting the project would not be “economically viable” and could not attract financing without it.

The CCRFC is slated to vote on the tax break deal during its next meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 10.

The archimania architectural firm is now based in South Main but Filament partners Barry Yoakum and Todd Walker said the company would move to the updated space on Cooper once it was completed.

The other building on the site would be opened up to a “creditworthy office tenant.” The partners also want to build six rental apartments behind that building at 673 Cooper. They would range in size from 425 square feet to 590 square feet.
Center City Finance Corp.

Drawings show what the outside of proposed project on Cooper.

Construction on the project would start in late December, the applicant said, if the PILOT is approved. Construction would be completed by spring or summer of next year.

CCRFC staff said annual PILOT payments on the project ($31,486) would be 42 percent higher than the taxes the site is generating currently ($22,160).

Approving the project would strengthen the city’s urban core, the applicant said, and that “the time has come to develop an Innovation District.”

“Attracting the type and scale of mixed-use developments long absent from Midtown, this Innovation District strategy, generally, and our proposed development, specifically, will support the CCRFC’s goals by increasing the number of people living, working, and playing in the urban core, especially by increasing commercial property values throughout the urban core, further accelerating commercial and residential development,” reads the project’s application.

Categories
Theater Theater Feature

The Hattiloo Theatre plans expansion.

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

The Hattiloo Theatre has come great distance in only 10 years. Ekundayo Bandele’s black repertory theater launched in 2006 in a cramped but lovingly converted storefront on Marshall Avenue just north of Sun Studio. Eight years later, following an innovative capital campaign, Bandele moved his company into a new, custom-built playhouse on Overton Square. Now, only 18 months — and not quite two full performance seasons — after the big move, Bandele and his board of directors are preparing to undertake the Hattiloo’s first major expansion.

Longtime board member Cardell Orrin says the need to expand physical resources became apparent during a strategic planning effort. “We thought about our mission and the kind of staffing we’d need to meet these goals,” he says. “It became clear that we were bursting at the seams in terms of multiple plays on stage, multiple plays in rehearsal.”

$750,000 in funding is already in place, and plans have been developed to build a two-story, 3,200 square-foot Development Center just off the northwest corner of the existing theater building at 37 S. Cooper at Monroe. “We’re calling it the D.C.,” Bandele says. The list of benefactors for the expansion is only four names long: An anonymous Friend of the Hattiloo Theatre, the Assisi Foundation, Hyde Family Foundations, and the City of Memphis.

“Of course the first question we had to answer was why so quick?” Bandele says. “The new building generated a level of growth — or more accurately a pace of growth — that we weren’t prepared for. We’ve always done a lot, but we’ve done it with so little,” Bandele explains. “We had to make compromises.”

The Hattiloo has never been a playhouse only. It has doubled as a teaching space, cultural center, and hub for artists. It has hosted everything from book clubs to film festivals to conversations about social justice. Orrin describes the Hattiloo as “This dream of what Memphis could and should look like.”

Ambitious programming found the growing company with one play running on its mainstage, a second play in technical rehearsals in the adjoining black box theater, a youth program rehearsing in the lobby, and no space available for anything else. To accommodate all the activity, many rehearsals moved off site to Rhodes College or the Urban League on Union.

“The real problem with all these locations is that parents take their kids to a rehearsal at the Urban League one night, then to Rhodes the next night, then Hattiloo,” Bandele says. “There’s been no consistency. So whenever we were rehearsing or doing programs, it was a full-time job just figuring out where things are being placed. Now everything we do is going to be on the same campus.”

Like the Hattiloo, the D.C. is being designed by Barry Yoakum and the design team at Archimania. The new space will be divided equally into two 1,600 square-foot stories. There are 10 small office spaces, a modest conference/rehearsal room, and a smaller office/meeting room on the first floor. The second floor is dedicated primarily to the development center — a large open room with an adjoining lobby and green room. Although it is laid out like a third performance space, the D.C. won’t be used as a venue for additional programming. “I mean, where would we rehearse then?” Bandele asks. “We might do an occasional showcase there or something like that but nothing else. That would defeat the whole point.”

Bandele sees the new building as both a solution to his growth problems and as a chance to create more opportunities for theater education and community engagement. “We are definitely going to amp up our youth theater program,” he says. He anticipates growing a program for young adults with special needs.

Oluremi (Loo), Bandele’s youngest daughter, has cerebral palsy. “As soon as a young person with special needs graduates from high school, their entire social circle collapses,” he says. “Not only will this allow young adults with special needs to continue to have a social life, it helps in the same ways theater helps everybody. It helps with speech, with the expression of emotion, and with their bodies.”

There are plans to relaunch the Hattiloo Theater School for adults, which focuses on playwriting, directing, and acting.

Construction on the Hattiloo’s Development Center should begin before the end of the first quarter and be complete before the end of 2016.

Categories
Intermission Impossible Theater

The Hattiloo Theatre to Expand.

The Hattiloo Theatre has come great distance in only 10 years. Ekundayo Bandele’s black repertory theater launched in 2006 in a cramped but lovingly converted storefront on Marshall Avenue just north of Sun Studio. Eight years later, following an innovative capital campaign, Bandele moved his company into a new, custom-built playhouse on Overton Square. Now, only 18 months — and not quite two full performance seasons — after the big move, Bandele and his board of directors are preparing to undertake the Hattiloo’s first major expansion.

Longtime board member Cardell Orrin says the need to expand physical resources became apparent during a strategic planning effort. “We thought about our mission and the kind of staffing we’d need to meet these goals,” he says. “And it became clear that we were already bursting at the seams in terms of multiple plays on stage, multiple plays in rehearsal, and everything else.”

$750,000 in funding is already in place, and plans have been developed to build a two-story, 3,200 square-foot Development Center just off the northwest corner of the existing theater building at 37 S. Cooper at Monroe. “We’re calling it the D.C.,” Bandele says. The list of contributing benefactors for the expansion is only four names long: An anonymous Friend of the Hattiloo Theatre, The Assisi Foundation, The Hyde Family Foundation, and The City of Memphis.

“Of course the first question we had to answer was why so quick?” Bandele says. “That answer was simple. The new building generated a level of growth — or more accurately a pace of growth — that we weren’t prepared for. “We’ve always done a lot, but we’ve done it with so little,” Bandele explains. “We had to make compromises.”

The Hattiloo has never been a playhouse only. It has doubled as a teaching space, cultural center, and hub for artists. Since its move to Midtown, the theater has hosted everything from book clubs to film festivals to conversations about social justice. Orrin describes the Hattiloo as “This dream of what Memphis could and should look like.”

Ambitious programming found the rapidly growing company with one play open and running on its main stage, a second play in technical rehearsals in the adjoining black box theater, a youth program rehearsing in the lobby, and no space available for anything else. To accommodate all the activity many rehearsals moved off site to Rhodes College or the Urban League on Union Avenue. “The real problem with all these locations is that a parent takes their kids to a rehearsal at the Urban League one night, then to Rhodes the next night, then Hattiloo,” Bandele says. “There’s been no consistency. So whenever we were rehearsing or doing programs, it was a full-time job just figuring out where things are being placed. Now everything we do is going to be on the same campus.”

Like the Hattiloo, the D.C. is being designed by Barry Yoakum and the design team at Archimania. The new space will be divided equally into two 1,600 square-foot stories. There are 10 small office spaces, a modest conference/rehearsal room, and a smaller office/meeting room on the first floor. The second floor is dedicated primarily to the development center — a large open room with an adjoining lobby and green room. Although it is laid out like a third performance space the D.C. won’t be used as a venue for additional programming. “I mean, where would we rehearse then?” Bandele asks. “We might do an occasional showcase there or something like that but nothing else. That would defeat the whole point.”

“Archimania has done a fantastic job of building a lot into a small space,” says Orrin. “They figured out how to grow it from one to two stories and put in an elevator.”

Bandele sees the new building as both a solution to his growth problems and as a chance to create more opportunities for theater education and community engagement. “We are definitely going to amp up our youth theater program,” he says. He also anticipates growing a program the Hattilooo started for young adults with special needs.

Oluremi (Loo), Bandele’s youngest daughter, has cerebral palsy. “I noticed that, as soon as a young person with special needs graduates from high school, their entire social circle just collapses,” he says. “So not only will this allow young adults with special needs to continue to have a social life, it helps in the same ways theater helps everybody. It’s going to help with speech, with the expression of emotion, and with their bodies.”

There are also plans to relaunch the Hattiloo Theater School for adults, which focuses on playwriting, directing, and acting.

If all goes according to plan, construction on the Hattiloo’s Development Center should begin before the end of the first quarter and be complete before the end of 2016.

Categories
News News Blog

Ballet Memphis Overton Square Design Plans Revealed

CREDIT: Archimania

From the street, Overton Square patrons and passers-by will be able to watch Ballet Memphis dancers and students practice in their planned new building at the old French Quarter Hotel site.

Plans for the new studio space, which is being designed by Archimania, were unveiled in a meeting on Thursday night at Memphis Heritage’s Howard Hall. The new studio that would replace the long-abandoned and blighted hotel will feature large windows on all the studios and public courtyard spaces between each studio. 

Archimania

Proposed Ballet Memphis Overton Square facility daytime view

The current hotel building would be demolished, and a new two-story, 27,000-square-foot studio space would be constructed in its place. In keeping with the Midtown Overlay standards, the new building would be closer to the corner of Cooper and Madison, and the parking lot would be moved to the back, blocking the lot from view and creating a pedestrian-friendly area in front of the building. The parking lot would be blocked off from the alley that runs behind the building by a masonry wall. There will entrances to the parking lot on both Cooper and Madison.

The new space will serve as practice space for Ballet Memphis’ professional company, and it will also serve as classroom space for the ballet’s younger students. Ballet Memphis intends on keeping its current facility on Trinity Road to serve students who live in the suburban areas. Most of the ballet’s professional company shows are held at the Orpheum or Playhouse on the Square, so the new Overton Square space won’t host many performances.

But at Thursday’s meeting, Ballet Memphis Director Dorothy Gunther Pugh indicated that they may host some smaller events and performances there for donors. She said she may also rent the space out to other nonprofits for events.

Archimania

Proposed Ballet Memphis Overton Square facility nightime view

Several Overton Square neighbors in attendance raised concerns about the sudden change in plans from a new boutique hotel, which was announced for the site a few months ago, to the Ballet Memphis facility. Some expressed disappointment that the 1.73-acre site was no longer going to be a hotel since Midtown is lacking in hotels.

Brenda Solomito, the land planner on the project, said the hotel deal just didn’t work out but didn’t really elaborate. The property owners purchased the hotel land in 2013, and she said they were toying with different versions of a hotel for the site and had even gained some of the necessary approvals to go forward. 

“Everything [with the Ballet Memphis deal] has happened in the last three weeks. It’s been a very compact process,” Solomito said.

Gunther Pugh couldn’t give an official timeline for the project, but she said she’d love for construction to break ground in the spring and be in the building by the summer of 2017.

“No one needs to worry that this isn’t going to happen. We’re not going to do that to Midtowners,” Gunther Pugh said.

The project goes to the Shelby County Land Use Control Board on July 9th at 10 a.m. If there’s no opposition, it should get approval on the consent agenda. But the final site plan will also have to be approved.

Archimania

Proposed Ballet Memphis Overton Square floor plan