Redevelopment of Overton Square

HYPERLOCAL NEWS HUB BY THE UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS DEPARTMENT OF JOURNALISM

Is it Smart to be Square?

Overton Square in midtown Memphis has been nearly vacant for a decade. Loeb Properties, with the help, of the City of Memphis, has a redevelopment vision discussed in their second open meeting. (Full photo gallery at the end of the story)

By Ashli Blow/MicroMemphis Reporter

October 12, 2011

Would a theatre arts district totaling $31.1 million dollars be beneficial to the Memphis community?

Loeb Properties and Memphis City Council members say 'Yes!'

Robert Loeb began last night's presentation on the Overton Square Rebirth and his company's vision of the redevelopment.

"We see ourselves as a satellite of Overton Park and as a significant part in the improvement in midtown, "he said.

"We have some attractive buildings that need some TLC and some tenants to occupy them."

Community members were presented with a theatre arts district, minus the big magnet was included in the original proposal - a grocery store. Loeb said midtown activist were not pleased by those plans. In addition, a new Kroger on Union created a shift for the redevelopment on the square.

He discussed his company's thoughts of using the location for new suburban-style housing, but it did not seem to match the area.

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Multimedia

The Numbers for the redevelopment.

Check out the PowerPoint!
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Related

Read more about Hattiloo's Theatre move to the square. "What makes theatre, theatre...more theatre," said Robert Loeb. Read more here!

What's changed from Loeb's 2010 announcement? "We are doing our best with reshaping the area, one of our goals is to enhance the pedestrian experience, ”said Frank
Ricks...Read our coverage from the first public meeting.

While working with The City of Memphis, it was decided that a theatre arts district with a city-owned parking garage, that doubled as a water retention structure, would be the best fit.

Loeb Properties and the city are programming this project through collaboration and connectivity with the community, meaning citizens input is crucial.

In addition, developers are working with The Heart of the Arts project,a program that promoties creativity to inspire community.

"The programming we bring to the square is what is bringing people back," Loeb said.

"We're real estate people, we see stuff and fix it up and finance it and lease it and manage it but we're a little lacking on the creativity side. So our thought it is to collaborate and connect with existing cultural aspects in midtown."

Founder of Playhouse on the Square, Jackie Nichols, is also a supporter of the Overton Square redevelopment as he says most people get dinner before or after a performance.

"We are, as a theatre, an economic engine that drives the restaurant community. They don't have to market, they just have to get our patrons into their doors," he said.

Ekudayo Bandle, founder of Hattiloo Theatre, believes Overton Square would be a great place for an additional theatre. Also, he believes it would further that dream of improved racial integration in Memphis.

"We just daydreamed about this parking garage that the city is going to build across the street and all of these African Americans and white citizens are all coming out of this parking garage together. Mingling and going to Playhouse and going to Circuit and going to Hattiloo, and I was like, Man, that's like Utopia. That is really the society that we want to see," he said.

Loeb encouraged the audience to see a performance at Hatiloo to see if it would fit into the community.

"Integrating through the arts, seems like the right thing to do," he said.

Frank Ricks, founding principal of Looney Rick's Kiss Architecture, presented current photographs of Overton Square and the future view of Cooper and Madison. This included plans to create a strong street vibe by making it more pedestrian friendly.

"This is the spot and the more we looked at it from an urban design standpoint it really sort of a crossroad of that place we think of as midtown. Not to slight anything else, we have Cooper-Young that makes a great anchor and the fairgrounds and what that will become; but when you start thinking of where's the center of it, you see that it's (Overton Square) a place in our hearts that people would respond to," he said.

Memphis Planning and Development veteran, Mary Baker, said the plans for the Overton Square development conform to the current placement of the buildings and they will use that as a template for redesigning.

During the Q&A after the presentation, Robert Loeb reiterated the project's partnership with Memphis Area Transit Authority to create a new loop connecting areas such as Overton Park and Cooper-Young with easy transportation. The plan was put together by Nichols for MATA to have a 30-minute route bridging together Memphis communities.

Loeb Properties expects businesses to be open to the public in January 2013, if everything goes according to plan.

"We saw it at Tiger Lane, and that the city can move fast, and so far with this (project) the city has been very responsive," Loeb said.