The latest designs for the proposed Dream Hotel on Main Street emerged Wednesday, as did plans for a former Masonic lodge on South Main.
Plans for a Dream Hotel to be built at 122 Main, the site of the former Royal Furniture store, emerged in 2019. Developers projected the hotel be open in 2022. Plans changed and the developer sought new public incentives for the project.
The project adds a tower above the existing structure. The new, 10-story building will house seven floors of hotel rooms and three floors of luxury apartments.
“Dream Hotel is cultivating a Memphis-centric, mixed-use hotel development fulfilling local and international interests in adventurous dining and cultural experiences,” reads the application for the project. “The new hotel entrance on Gayoso Avenue draws upon the late art deco architecture style of the existing mid-century modern building and introduces a splash of color to a material palette derived from the building’s historic use – the 1947 Black and White Department Store.”
“Entrances to the signature brasserie restaurant and luxurious cocktail bar will be emphasized along Main Street’s pedestrian street by extending the existing vertical windows to the ground plane, where the building edge will be lined with outdoor restaurant seating covered by the existing marquee canopy.”
The details came in the company’s application to the Downtown Memphis Commission’s (DMC) Design Review Board. That board will review the building new look in a meeting next week.
Developers are also planning the DeSoto Lofts at 154 G.E. Patterson on South Main. The $4.6 million project will create 10 one-bedroom lofts in the old building.
It will also become the new headquarters for UrbanARCH, the architectural firm involved in the new Concourse B at Memphis International Airport, Hotel Napoleon, and Snowden Grove Amphitheater.
The firm has been located on South Main since 2002. Its leaders say they want to stay in the area “but with 12 full-time employees, they must relocate in order to have room for growth.”
The abandoned building there was once the site of the DeSoto Hotel, built in 1913, and hosted hotel guests for about 50 years.
“The structure once served underprivileged travelers and railroad personnel from the nearby Union and Central train stations,” reads the application from the company.
Since the early ’70s, the building has been known as the Prince Hall fellowship Mason’s Lodge, the company said.
UrbanARCH is seeking a 10-year payment-in-lieu-of-taxes deal from the DMC. The DMC staff supports the project as it preserves and reuses a historic building, strengthens the connection between South Main and South City, brings new residents to Downtown, and helps retain an established Downtown business.
The request will be reviewed by a DMC board next week.