Tag: Downtown

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News The Fly-By

Condomidtownium

When Midtowner Brittany Redmond moved out of Woodmont Towers on North Parkway last April, she had a good reason: The high-rise apartment building was being converted to condominiums.

Although the building’s management was still honoring tenants’ leases, the renovations were disruptive.

“At first, it was just pressure washing the building,” the college student says. “Then it became invasive. They were working on the balconies. They used jackhammers to rip up the tile floor in the apartment above us.”

But Redmond never imagined that, when she signed a new year-long lease for a Midtown apartment on Belvedere, she’d be moving again within the month — for the very same reason.

“I was there a week and [one of my neighbors] told me that these buildings are being bought and may be converted to condos. I thought, You’ve got to be kidding me. I haven’t even unpacked my boxes yet,” she says.

Although a staple of the current downtown real estate market, luxury condominiums are gaining a foothold within Midtown, too. Across the country, condo communities are popular with both young professionals and empty-nesters. And even in an area of town known for its unassuming craftsman bungalows and lack of amenities such as extra closets and bathrooms, developers see opportunity.

Woodmont Towers became the Glenmary at Evergreen in May. The brand-new Pie Factory condos opened in Cooper-Young in June. Park Terrace, a ’60s-era high-rise apartment building across from Overton Park, was recently renovated, and its 35 condos will be on the auction block Saturday, August 18th. Belvedere’s Ashley Manor is in the process of a condo-conversion. And work just started on two other condo properties near McLean and Peabody.

Dick Willingham is one of the developers behind the Park Terrace project.

“What we have found over the years is that people want to move in-town,” Willingham says. “They’re tired of the commute. They’re tired of coming in from way out of downtown. They want to be in more urban areas.”

Willingham and his partner Randy Sprouse were actively looking for conversion opportunities. The out-of-town developers both have family in the area.

“This property came to our attention. It had all the ingredients of success,” Willingham says.

The $2.6 million renovation included stainless-steel appliances, a new roof, and retooled kitchens. The choice that has made them stand out the most, however, is that the building’s 35 condos will be offered by auction, something Willingham says is becoming more popular. Part of the proceeds will be donated to the Children’s Museum of Memphis.

“Years ago, people thought auctions were all distress situations. The world is becoming more familiar with the auction process. There’s no question the Internet has opened people’s eyes,” Willingham says. “Having an auction is a very efficient way of determining what the true market value is.”

Other condo properties are still being sold the traditional way.

At the new Glenmary at Evergreen, 190 apartments were converted to 150 condominiums with new cabinetry, granite countertops, gas ranges, and other amenities. Some of the apartments were combined to create large two-bedroom, two-bath units. Prints from the Jack Robinson Gallery on Huling — including Lauren Bacall at a birthday party and a 17-year-old Donald Sutherland — dot the interior.

“We have great traffic through here,” says Tommy Prest, a member of the Glenmary sales team. “We have a lot of graduates of Rhodes who are starting jobs. We get a lot of Midtowners who have raised their kids and want to be able to lock the door and leave whenever they want.”

Prest says the building isn’t competing with the booming downtown condo market.

“We’re a convenient location to downtown and East Memphis. We’re five minutes from St. Jude and five minutes from Sam Cooper.”

Kendall Haney, president of the realty firm selling condos at the Pie Factory, agrees.

“I think it’s more affordable than downtown, and a great alternative to downtown,” he says. “It’s really a different market. … [Buyers] still get what they want. They’re still in a neighborhood that offers restaurants within walking distance. The infrastructure is all there. And if they work downtown, it’s still convenient.”

The condos might also sustain aging neighborhoods by pumping them with new investment.

“I think it encourages other people in the neighborhood to improve their property, as well,” says Haney. “It gives everybody hope that the neighborhood is going in the right direction and that people are putting money into it.”

Park Terrace’s Willingham agrees: “Whenever a developer comes into the area, blighted or not, it creates energy for the rest of the community to clean up.”

But if Midtown is going condo, 21-year-old Brittany Redmond wants to stay out of the way.

“I knew it was happening downtown …,” she says. “I just hope it doesn’t happen again.”

Categories
Living Spaces Real Estate

The Forest

CREDIT: Map Courtesy Center City Commission

If it’s a cliché, you know it’s gotta be true: Sometimes you can’t see the forest for the trees.

Downtown Memphis is a place with a lot of trees: concrete and glass ones. With all the developments — residential and commercial — that have gone up over the last few years, and with the ones scheduled to go up in the next couple, it’s easy to forget how far the city has come and to lose track of what’s where.

Andy Kitzinger, vice president of planning and development for the Center City Commission, says, “Downtown Memphis is a model for residential growth in downtowns throughout the country. It’s been recognized by the Urban Land Institute as one of the top 10 downtown turnarounds.”

One of the most important characteristics of the downtown upswing has been the variety of successful developments. Mixed-use planning has helped downtown become a top tourist destination as well as a viable place to work, to live, to dine, and to find quality entertainment.

Residential development similarly offers a lot of variety. “Our strategic plan is focusing on diversity,” Kitzinger says. “We’re targeting housing types for all ages and income levels.”

To the right is a downtown development map created by the Center City Commission, which reflects more than $3 billion in development projects recently completed, planned, or underway.

It’s a forest out there. ■ — GA

LivingSpaces@memphisflyer.com

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We Recommend We Recommend

Get a Clue

CREDIT: Adam Gryko | dreamstime.com

The King’s Quest, produced by Ravenchase Adventures in Nashville, is an over-the-top scavenger hunt that will have participants combing downtown Memphis on Saturday looking for treasure.

Usually 50 to 70 people come to the event, according to Ravenchase artistic director Joshua Wolak. “They encounter weird tests and have to solve riddles. There’s some mystery involved, too.”

Participants will follow a “magical-looking” treasure map with poetic hints. Additionally, several actors — playing villains, spies, or even street musicians — will pass along information before contestants reach their final destination.

Despite the realistic feel of the hunt, Wolak says, “It’s not about competing; it’s about having fun. It’s a great excuse to run around for a weekend, and you get to meet new people. You can compete against your family, or you can work together to solve the clues.”

The starting location for the King’s Quest will be revealed in the first clue, so pre-registration is required at www.ravenchase.com. Contestants should find the treasure within two-and-a-half hours.

But this “treasure” — though perfect to mark an enjoyable afternoon — might not satisfy Captain Jack Sparrow. As Wolak explains with a laugh, “The prizes are usually very large tacky objects spray-painted gold.”

The King’s Quest, downtown memphis, Saturday, June 16th, 1 p.m. $20 per person, free for children 8 and younger. www.ravenchase.com.

Categories
Living Spaces Real Estate

Tree House

There’s no denying the sights of natural beauty downtown living has to offer, namely the Mississippi River. But everybody knows Midtown is the greenest spot in the city. Overton Park is the main leafy feature, but Midtown is bustling with trees from one end to the other. And now, with Glenmary at Evergreen, a newly renovated condo building on North Parkway and Evergreen, Memphians are getting their best look yet at that feature.

“There’s no view like it in Midtown,” says Martin Group Realty principal and broker Terry Saunders. “It’s the green carpet of Midtown.” She’s referring to the panoply caught from atop the Glenmary: trees to the horizon in all directions — with the downtown skyline jutting above it in the distance.

Glenmary at Evergreen used to be Woodmont Towers, built in the 1960s by Avron Fogelman. The M Collective, the redevelopment team for the Glenmary, has drastically overhauled the Woodmont. There’s new HVAC throughout the building, all the finishes are new, along with new lighting and hardware, smooth ceilings, new kitchens, entryway and interior doors, landscaping, and a spiffy, fresh building exterior. Interior design was done by Amy Carkuff.

The quality of the work can be seen as soon as you walk in the doors. “The lobby is contemporary, hip, funky,” Saunders says. The feeling extends into the lounge, with its billiards table, comfortable seating, flat-screen TV, and Internet café. The overall effect is boosted considerably by the photographs placed throughout the lobby, the lounge, and on each floor at elevator landings. “It’s a real tribute to Jack Robinson,” Saunders says. The photos, from Memphis’ Jack Robinson Gallery of Photography, are of fashion, celebrity, and music subjects. The lobby is graced by the elegance of Robinson’s photos of the Dior Salon and the palace of Versailles’ Hall of Mirrors, taken in 1959.

The Glenmary is a condo with benefits. “It’s an unbelievable array of amenities,” Saunders says. Like: the Sky Deck roof garden, on the southwest corner of the building’s rooftop, where you can take all that green in. (“It’s Midtown’s first roof garden,” Saunders says.) Like: a pool area with a Jacuzzi, a cabana with a bar, a fire pit, and lounge furniture. Like: a fitness center and additional storage for residents on the basement floor. Like: Each floor has two laundries with two sets of washer/dryers in each. Like: Nine-foot ceilings on all floors except the ground floor, which has 10-foot ceilings. Like: The Glenmary is pet-friendly and has covered and uncovered parking (covered is yours for a one-time, up-front fee). And: Every unit has a balcony, Troy Glasgow

full-sized, stainless-steel appliances, oversized (by Midtown standards, especially) walk-in closets, granite countertops in kitchens and bathrooms, floor-to-ceiling windows, and a choice of stained concrete or bamboo floors.

The homeowner-association dues include basic cable and Internet connections in every unit, insurance for common areas, and maintenance of the building and grounds. There’s also wireless Internet available in the common areas.

Green spaces are accessible on the Glenmary’s grounds and immediate proximity. There’s a doggy park, a treed grassy area, and a limited-access gate from the property to the adjoining V&E (Vollintine and Evergreen) Greenline walking trail.

The Glenmary is 11 floors high and has 169 units. Units run from $82,000 for a studio condo to $204,000 for a top-floor, 1,322-square-foot, three-bedroom, two-bath condo. There is also a penthouse on the 11th floor (it originally was the space Fogelman made for his mother to live in) that runs for $324,000 and has three bedrooms and two baths over 2,278 square feet. Other units on the top floor can also be made penthouses on demand.

Though the Glenmary is abuzz with subcontractors and workers putting more elbow grease into the building, models are complete, and the development is open for business. All common areas will be complete by later this summer, and units are available for move-in 45 days from closing. Martin Group Realty is handling all sales.

For more information, call Martin Group Realty at 881-6052. ■

Categories
Living Spaces Real Estate

New Neighbor

CREDIT: Renderings courtesy of Grant and Company

Harbor Town, established in 1989 — making it the granddaddy of the downtown residential revival — is getting a new neighbor. Toward the south end of Mud Island, near the Auction Street Bridge, RiverTown is going up. Occupancy is set for November.

Keith Grant, who, along with his brother David, is a principal for RiverTown, says the downtown development was a change of pace for the homebuilding team.

“In the past, we’ve done predominantly single-family housing,” Grant says. “We feel like some of the projects downtown are too contemporary or they don’t have a view of the Mississippi River. By building [RiverTown] and not retrofitting a building, we feel that we can offer something for Memphians to purchase that they can enjoy.”

Grant is president of the Memphis Area Homebuilders Association (see his monthly Living Spaces column on page 4), the third generation of Grants to be so appointed (after his father, Richard, and his grandfather, Carl).

When the finishing touches are put on it, RiverTown will be composed of 200 units in 23 buildings. Prices will range from the mid-$200,000s to the upper-$600,000s, with sizes going from 1,300 to 3,200 square feet. Some units are two or three stories high. The 3,200-square-footers will have a large patio overlooking the river and a recreation room on the upper floor.

Renderings courtesy of Grant and Company

The Signature. RiverTown on the Island offers six different building styles/floor plans.

“The best part about RiverTown are the views,” Grant says. “Every unit has a view of the river or looks back at the skyline. In some cases, they have a view of both. Every unit also has a balcony. We oversized the balconies because we knew people would be spending time on them.” Each unit comes with a garage as well.

Grant feels like he’s well suited, through his homebuilding experience, to know what people are looking for in the real estate market.

“Even though they want something that’s a little contemporary for downtown, the bottom line is that Memphians are still traditional,” Grant says.

“The styling at RiverTown is more contemporary on the outside. Yet, it has a resort appearance because the overhangs on the buildings are similar to what you might see in Florida. We aren’t just putting siding all over it. We’re putting brick, because people down here are accustomed to it.”

Grant assures that RiverTown will fit in nicely with the neighborhood.

“They’ve got a lot of good things going in Harbor Town,” he says. “It’s a nice community with a resort feel to it. That’s kind of what we incorporated into ours. We wanted to be an extension of what’s in Harbor Town now.”

RiverTown isn’t all that different from other projects Grant has been involved with, he says.

“The nice thing is that RiverTown is all on one site. [It’s] not spread out, which makes it a lot easier to supervise. It’s still wood frame. We still use a lot of the same contractors that we use on our single-family houses. So we feel we have a lot to offer coming from the single-family market.”

See for yourself by logging onto RiverTownOnTheIsland.com. In addition to floor plans and renderings of what’s in store for Mud Island, you can go on a virtual tour of what a furnished unit will likely look like. ■ — GA

LivingSpaces@memphisflyer.com

Categories
Living Spaces Real Estate

In Focus

What does it mean to be “new and improved”?

It’s a question that’s been on my mind a lot lately in regard to the publication you hold in your hands right now, the Memphis Flyer‘s Living Spaces. You may notice a few things different about this issue, including new features and sections, making this issue a veritable “new and improved” version of Living Spaces.

But if that phrase isn’t a lie, it’s also only a half-truth. Because, with Living Spaces, we’ve tried to be “new and improved” with every issue. Memphis’ real estate market and skyline is ever-changing. The furnishings, décor, and decorator businesses in town are continually tapping into or leading the way on new trends and new ways to express old ideas. Technology improvements are altering the way we construct, improve, and find happiness in our homes. Memphis is in a constant state of aspiring to be “new and improved,” and if we didn’t reflect that in Living Spaces, we’d get left behind soon enough.

With Living Spaces, we strive to be at the leading edge of “new and improved” every month, bringing you not just the latest in real estate market news and ways to make the most of your condo or home lifestyle, as we always have done, but also to report on innovations, new products, and new strategies used by local businesses and our neighbors to help make Memphis “new and improved.”

That’s reflected in new features such as Neighborhood Network (p. 4), where the focus will be on community and neighborhood news and how individuals, private groups, and public administrations are doing their part to make the Mid-South a better place.

It’s reflected in User Friendly, where a product is rigorously tested to see if it’s everything it claims to be and to report on any problems we experience with it. This month is the Dyson DC14 vacuum cleaner. Does it make your floors and furniture look new and improved? Check out page 6 for the answer.

It’s also reflected in Fine Print, a review of books pertaining to home and garden — real estate, home improvement, decoration, or related fields. There are a lot of books out there claiming to have all the secrets. We’ll try to pull the weeds out and find the good ones.

Our goal is to help you make the most of your own living space, to make it each day a new and improved version of the day before. We’d love your help, of course: If you’ve got any tips, news or events, suggestions, or comments, please let us know at LivingSpaces@memphisflyer.com.

Greg Akers

greg@memphisflyer.com

Categories
Opinion

Corrections, Amplifications

Who knows more about mistakes than newspapers? We try to keep them out of our stories, but they get in anyway. So we swallow our pride and acknowledge them openly or in the dark and dusty corners of our journalistic closets.

Downtown Memphis would be improved by a similar policy, starting with the Main Street Mall, which should bring back cars to share the street with pedestrians and trolleys. Developer Henry Turley, smitten with one of his frequent brainstorms, wants to do this on the blocks between Union and Gayoso, and he’s right.

The big hole in the ground between Main Street and Peabody Place was supposed to be a parking garage, but the developer (not Turley) backed out. Who needs a parking garage if it’s hard to drive to? There has been an unwritten change in policy on the mall anyway. At least 20 cars and trucks are usually parked on the so-called Demonstration Project blocks south of Union. Not all of them, it is safe to suggest, belong to workmen. The cops look the other way and often drive along the mall themselves.

It was probably a mistake to take cars off what was then called the Mid-America Mall in the 1970s, but, like so many other downtown projects that didn’t pan out, it seemed like a good idea at the time. For a lot of reasons, including the car ban, retailers ranging from small businesses to Goldsmith’s department store suffered. The trolley, even after the disruption of construction ended, couldn’t bring them back. It’s fine for tourists with time on their hands but impractical for anyone else.

Today, downtown is a different animal, more of a residential neighborhood and entertainment district than a business center. Tinkering with traffic worked when Madison and Monroe were transformed from one-way streets into two-ways. Not all of Main Street could accommodate cars, but part of it could. The fact is that Americans buy expensive cars, are willing to pay $3 a gallon to put gas in them, and like to drive them as close to their destination as possible.

A lot of downtown’s other shortcomings can be fixed. The trolley schedule could be adjusted to coexist with cars if MATA’s board would simply spend a few days and nights riding the cars when they are empty or crowded, depending on the season and schedule of events. It was not a mistake to put in a trolley system, because it allowed Memphis to rebuild the mall and spruce up downtown with federal money. But it is hardheaded to stick to an obsolete vision and schedule.

The Pyramid was a good idea when it was envisioned in 1987, less so when it was finished in 1990, and a white elephant once FedExForum opened in 2004. The city and county have no choice but to admit their mistakes and cut whatever deal they can with Bass Pro or someone else. FedExForum was a good idea, but the price of everything — from Bryant “Big Country” Reeves to nosebleed seats to bottled water — was a mistake. To their credit, the Grizzlies didn’t waste time trying to fix it. Building a garage wasn’t a mistake, but lying about its purpose was, and covering it up will be a bigger one.

Mud Island River Park was a good idea 30 years ago but stumbled shortly after it opened in 1981. Letting Sidney Shlenker tear down the playground was a mistake, but not rebuilding it after so many years is another one. Expanding Tom Lee Park along Riverside Drive without putting in more trees and facilities for everyday activities was a mistake, but blowing $27 million on Beale Street Landing with a parking garage, steamboat landing, and concrete islands probably won’t fix it. Just look at Mud Island.

Letting the U.S. Post Office hold on to that handsome old customs building and courthouse on Front Street long after it had outlived its original purpose was a mistake. Booting the P.O. and peddling the property to the University of Memphis Law School was better late than never.

Make no misteak, Memphis isn’t Iraq or New Orleans. Downtown can be fixed.

Categories
News The Fly-By

Building an Icon?

CREDIT: Riverfront Development Corporation

I’ve been thinking a lot about icons lately. Fans of Memphis’ most recognizable face just celebrated — if that’s the right word — his 29th “Death Week.” A developer was recently quoted in The Commercial Appeal saying that the Number One Beale venture — a $175 million project with luxury residential, commercial, and hotel space — “would become an iconic building” for the city.

And last week, during a lecture presented by the Riverfront Development Corporation (RDC) and the Leadership Academy, speaker Alex Garvin showed a number of iconic images of waterfronts from Paris to Malibu to San Antonio.

Each place is completely different and instantly recognizable. But places and things that are instantly recognizable are not always workable. The last time Memphis tried to build something truly iconic, we got The Pyramid. And now it sits dark, waiting for Bass Pro to gut and filet, er, renovate it.

And with plans for the riverfront and Beale Street Landing moving forward, we’d be wise to think carefully about what we want from the river.

“Waterfronts are unique opportunities,” said Garvin. “It can become a transformative element [for a city].”

Garvin, an urban planner and Yale adjunct professor, outlined six criteria for success at the latest installment of the RDC’s “Leadership of Place Making” series, a number of discussions about how cities across the country are reconnecting to their waterfronts. These criteria are location, accessibility, design, financing, entrepreneurship, and time.

Sounds simple, right?

“People want to be able to enjoy the waterfront, but people have to be able to get there,” he said about accessibility. “You need to always be thinking about who’s coming and how to accommodate them when they get there.”

Garvin talked about waterfronts that were financially self-sustaining — helpful in any fiscal climate, not just the current one — such as Chelsea Piers in New York. Not only does the 30-acre complex house the soundstage for TV’s Law & Order, but more than 8,000 people go there each day to use the golf facilities, the ice-skating rink, and the Olympic-sized swimming pool.

But a few things Garvin said seemed particularly salient for Memphis’ waterfront. Most people understand that a successful project takes time, but he said planners should also be thinking about different uses during the day.

In one example he cited, “people are using the riverfront park all day and into the evening. You can’t just have a park that is used at 5 p.m. or after work.”

And I’m not sure it can happen with the way the riverfront has been designed. Think about Tom Lee Park. Visiting it in the middle of a summer day is like taking a trip through Death Valley. It needs trees or some sort of shade.

But because of the variety of Memphis In May activities — specifically music fest and the barbecue-cooking contest — there’s no place to put them.

Garvin also talked about the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis, which includes the Gateway Arch and the Museum of Westward Expansion. Over three million people visit the Arch every year, but the area does not connect well with the city. To get there, visitors have to use four sidewalks — each about half a mile long.

“Here’s a great location,” said Garvin, “but people come, they park their cars, they walk to the [Arch]. Then they go back to their cars and go somewhere else. Downtown doesn’t get any benefit from that.”

At the same time, the Gateway Arch is definitely an iconic symbol of St. Louis. And I wonder if that many people would visit it if it weren’t an icon. I mean, who wants to visit the Museum of Westward Expansion otherwise?

The RDC’s plan for Beale Street Landing includes five guitar-pick-shaped terraces, a floating dock, a parking garage, and a terminal building. I can’t say I’m totally sold, but I do think the riverfront needs … something.

If you look at the RDC’s list of the top 20 riverpark uses, most of them seem fairly active: jogging, dog walking, rollerblading, biking, yoga, frisbeeing, playing touch football. Others are more passive (kite flying, painting), but there doesn’t seem anything specific or special that brings citizens — or tourists — to the Mississippi River.

“Every city is different,” said Garvin. “I think what you do here has to be adjusted to Memphis and not copying someone else.”

Could the Memphis waterfront become an icon? Who knows? But depending on what is built, it could help — or hurt — the city’s image.

Categories
Opinion

The Ham-Sandwich Factor

You’re in the way.

Pat Kerr Tigrett, you’re in the way of a zoning change needed for Gene Carlisle’s $175 million Number One Beale. Gene Carlisle, your 30-story building is in the way of the view from Pat Kerr Tigrett’s Waterford Plaza penthouse.

Carlisle was visibly shaken last week after the Land Use Control Board decided to delay a final vote on his project for at least 30 days. “There’s nothing more I can do to change the design,” he said. “They want me to not build it.”

Tigrett, who spoke against the project, was her usual unflappable self, suggesting at the meeting and in a subsequent letter to The Commercial Appeal that a compromise could be reached on a “splendid project.”

Two Memphis downtowners who go back 40 years are at odds. Two tough negotiators. Something and somebody’s gotta give. It’s an interesting clash of personalities, but I suspect that most Memphians are not all that worried about One Beale or Court Square Center, another proposed downtown project that made headlines last week. They’d like to see something other than a vacant lot at Beale and Riverside Drive or an abandoned building next to Court Square, but when architectural renderings make the front page, it usually means there is not much going on.

I gave up trying to tout or shoot down downtown real estate deals several years ago after getting snookered for at least the tenth time by a developer with “vision,” a set of pretty pictures, and a lot of confusing double-talk about financing. Separating the real deals from the impostors was harder than picking stocks or the next Super Bowl winner — and a lot less interesting.

The notion that downtown is the common ground or gathering place of Memphis is a charming piece of propaganda tinged with nostalgia. Any number of locations, from Cooper-Young to Malco’s Paradiso to Wolfchase Galleria, could make a stronger claim. I have been walking and biking downtown from South Bluffs to Harbor Town five or six days a week for years, and, except for special events, the only place I regularly encounter pedestrians is on the sidewalk along the Greenbelt on Mud Island.

Jeff Sanford, the head of the Center City Commission, was quoted as saying that the incentives-laden financing package for Court Square Center was the most complicated he has ever seen. It will put tenants in the Lincoln American Tower and the Rhodes Jennings Building. If those names mean anything to you, chances are that you live or work downtown.

I have developed a much simpler real estate indicator called the ham-sandwich factor. If your project or mixed-use development or neo-traditional neighborhood or whatever you want to call it can’t support a place that sells a simple ham sandwich, then you probably have trouble.

The part of Peabody Place that faces Front Street is vacant and counts a grocery store and deli among its ex-tenants. Another grocery failed on the mall side of Peabody Place, as did the basement food court and, most recently, the Holiday Ham store that sold the best pimento cheese in town.

The intersection of Union Avenue and the Main Street mall features vacancies on all four corners now that the smoothie store has closed. The big hole in the ground next to Royal Discount Furniture on the mall looks like it will be there awhile, since a developer backed away from an apartment project. The two blocks of Front Street between Union and Madison, with an unobstructed view of the river, is mostly vacant.

Unlike the Front Street Deli, the Little Tea Shop, Miss Cordelia’s at Harbor Town, the Rendezvous, the late Jack’s grocery store next to Court Square, and Alice’s on South Front, the failures can’t pass the ham-sandwich test.

Number One Beale and Court Square Center are all about luxury. The developers of Court Square Center plan to put in a New York-style Italian grocery. Carlisle wants to blow away the competition with a four-star hotel and $2 million condos.

I wouldn’t bet a ham sandwich on either one of them.