Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Overton Square Public Meeting Jan. 16th
Posted by Mary Cashiola on Wed, Jan 6, 2010 at 1:39 PM
I've just gotten word that a meeting between concerned citizens and the developers of Overton Square has been scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 16th, at 10 a.m. at the Memphis College of Art's Callicott Auditorium.
They should be presenting the proposed site design with both the building elevations and the construction materials. There will also be a walking tour of the site Sunday, Jan. 17th, between 2 - 3 p.m. and a follow-up meeting for citizen comment Saturday, Jan. 23rd, at 10 a.m., also at MCA.
Last month, the owner of the site postponed a request before the City Council to demolish buildings on the south side Madison at Cooper. I wrote a blog post about that here, as well as a longer In the Bluff column here about what the controversy is about. I also mentioned it in this Anderton's blog post.
On another note, I can't go to the first meeting, so if anybody wants to play roving reporter and do a guest blog for In the Bluff, please feel free to volunteer. Only stipulations are, I probably can't pay you and you have to use tons of dashes when you write it up. (Yes, that's what those weird A things are some of you always see when reading this blog — dashes in disguise!)
Comments (4)
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I think they need to tear down Overton Square, but only after making the developers to agree to certain conditions (quality materials, sustainable design, etc.) Developers will get away with as much as you let them, so communities have to force their hand. That's why Southaven has a crappy Wal-Mart and Hernando has a smaller brick one with much better landscaping.
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Mary, I would love to gather and write the information on the January 16th meeting. Though my opinion is pretty much in line with Memphis Heritage (and many other midtown residents) I assure you that you will receive unbiased, fact- based information. Journalism classes at the U of M and NC State University, though several years ago, taught me how to manage such a task. I can possibly find a use for my real estate and architecture knowledge that does not involve boring my friends.
TD: wow, a brick Wal-Mart! Now, there's a VAST improvement.
See, that's the problem here. Many of us are concerned that's precisely what the developer is planning to do with OS, and we don't want a Wal Mart (either literal or figurative) there, no matter what it's made of.
AE: It was an example, I'm not advocating a Wal-Mart for Overton Square. I was just saying that Southaven opened their legs for Wal-Mart and was rewarded with a standard, crappy box, while Hernando made it tougher and got a nice-looking brick exterior, historic looking lights which matched their street lights and extensive landscaping.
That said, I think Memphis should put pressure on the developers to put up the nicest development possible, NOT a Wal-Mart, but something built with some quality.
I also think the current buildings have outlived their usefulness and aren't really that historic or architectually significant. Use them as leverage to get what you want, then tear those buildings down and let's put a new grocery store in the area with some modern retail spaces, nice looking ones with good materials and extensive landscaping.
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