The Downtown Project (Part 1)

Welcome to The Downtown Project. This is a four-part series on the part of our city that makes Memphis Memphis.

We started this series with one simple question: How is Downtown doing? That question became important because perceptions of Downtown Memphis — and Downtowns everywhere, we discovered — were not exactly positive.

Narratives emerged: Covid drained the office workers from Downtown Memphis. The downstream effects of that hit restaurants, events, stores, and more. Another narrative held that violent crime had gotten so bad in Downtown Memphis that people refused to go there anymore.

The trouble with these narratives was that they were partly true. But these same narratives have been partly true in almost every Downtown in America, according to the Brookings Institution.

But crime continues to recede across Memphis and the country. And while Downtown office markets remain softer than pre-pandemic levels, they — and all the money they mean — are making a slow, slight, frustrating comeback.

Brookings suggests that the Downtowns we remember may never return. “There is no going back in time to 2019,” the think tank says in a report.

Instead, Brookings says Downtowns need to adapt. 

But how?

That’s what The Downtown Project will focus on. We’ll examine that question and the general health of four major areas of Downtown: office and residential; retail, restaurants, and parking; tourism and live entertainment; and a look into the Downtown Memphis Commission’s (DMC) three-year plan to drive Downtown’s next chapter. — Toby Sells

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Downtown Memphis is healthy, especially compared to its peers.That’s according to hard data and the views of those who live and work here. And that’s what this first part of our series is focused on: living and working Downtown.

Working there is second nature to many in the Memphis metro area. More than 74,000 jobs are sited Downtown, spread out over 32 corporate headquarters, 169 bars and restaurants, and myriad other small businesses that call Downtown home. Work sees the average population of Downtown swell to around 72,000 daily, according to the DMC.

When the workers leave, Downtown is home to more than 25,500 Memphians. They’re mostly 25 to 34 and mostly college graduates. The population is slightly more male (54 percent) and pretty ethnically diverse (60 percent): Black, Hispanic or Latino, Asian, and multiracial.

But Downtown matters to the hundreds of thousands who do not work, live, or even often play Downtown. Pioneers didn’t settle Midtown first, nor Collierville. Without that first flag planted on the bluff, who knows where Memphis would be? Or if it would be at all? Downtown is the brand in any city. It’s the place you tell people you’re from when you’re out of town and need a shortcut. Downtown is what, literally, puts urban places on a map.

Also, big stuff happens Downtown. Big decisions get made there for everyone. In Memphis, Downtown is the seat of city, county, state, and federal government. Ours is also the seat of the city’s globally defining historical moments — where rock-and-roll was born, where Martin Luther King Jr. was killed. Our Downtown holds our most visible built landmarks, like the Hernando de Soto Bridge, the Pyramid, and all the neon over Beale.

The health of Downtown matters to everyone, and on office and residential real estate — live and work — Memphis is fairly healthy.

Office

Downtown Memphis has 5.1 million square feet of office space. That’s about 89 football fields or 28 Walmart Supercenters.

About 16.6 percent of that space is vacant, according to the latest real estate report from Cushman & Wakefield. That’s about 15 football fields or five Walmarts.

This vacancy is spread over the dozens of various high-rise, mid-rise, and other buildings across Downtown, which is roughly 2.3 square miles. It totals more than 846,000 square feet.

Residential

If office space there sounds huge, consider that the DMC says more than 60 percent of properties Downtown are residential.

The DMC does not break this down into square footage. But it says our Downtown has more than 17,500 housing units. Of those, about 10,000 are apartments.

Of the total housing units, about 95 percent are occupied. Of all residential properties, the majority (62 percent) are owned by the people who live in them.

Comparison

Comparatively, these sectors fall in line with Memphis’ peers. Downtown Birmingham and Louisville are close comparisons. Not perfect, but close. They are mid-size Southern cities. Their Downtowns pack an economic punch for the entire region. They are also core to their cities’ civic identities.

In all three, Downtown is home to city halls and courtrooms, corporate headquarters and offices, homes, bars, restaurants, stores, hotels, green space, and major event venues. Specifically, each city’s Downtown is home to its major arena — FedExForum in Memphis, Legacy Arena at the BJCC in Birmingham, and the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville. Also, the Downtowns in each are nurtured by quasi-governmental nonprofits — the DMC, the Louisville Downtown Partnership, and Downtown BHM.

We’ll compare these three cities throughout this series. Again, we know it’s not perfect. But Birmingham and Louisville are closer in comparison for these measurements than, say, Little Rock, Nashville, or New Orleans, even though Memphis shares much with them all.

Q & A with Chandell Ryan, president and CEO of the DMC

Memphis Flyer: From where you sit, is Downtown Memphis healthy?

Chandell Ryan: Yes, absolutely. The current state of our economy has shifted some consumer behavior, and that has definitely impacted our businesses. It’s also impacted our access to capital for new construction and development. But with all of that, we still have a strong Downtown, and our future is bright. We are still seeing businesses choose to come Downtown. We are seeing investors choose to invest, and people just choosing Downtown Memphis in general.

Are there perceptions about how Downtown is doing, and are they correct?

There are some that don’t really match reality. What we’re doing to impact that is just creating experience. We want to attract new development. We want to elevate the experience. That’s what we’re doing with the public safety grant. We want to enhance how people move about our Downtown by connecting them with exciting things.

What about the health of the office market?

We’ve regained, in general, 87 percent of our pre-pandemic foot traffic Downtown. That tells me we are seeing more individuals return to office. That tells me we’re seeing more people wanting to come back Downtown and be a part of the ecosystem.

What about the idea that Downtowns across America need reinvention?

I agree with that. And that’s underway in Memphis. Like many cities, the pandemic accelerated shifts away from primarily office-driven Downtowns. The difference in Memphis is that we’ve entered a period where, with our growing residential base, it’s really helped to sustain and accelerate our recovery.

We want to reinvent our focus, diversify our experience. That means continuing to grow Downtown as a neighborhood, not just a workplace, while also investing in attractions and public spaces that draw both a residential population and visitors.

Q & A with Jerred Price, president of the Downtown Neighborhood Association (DNA)

Memphis Flyer: From a neighborhood perspective, is Downtown Memphis healthy?

Jerred Price: It is. Our perception of Downtown is something that needs help. The crazy thing is that Downtown has consistently been one of the safest ZIP codes in this city overall. I think the perception comes in because anytime there is an incident, it gets reported on the news because Downtown is our city center. It’s our core, it’s our heart.

Does anything feel different living Downtown now compared to a year or two ago?

I think it’s safer now than it was. Post-Covid, we saw across the nation people getting out, and we saw a spike in crime, drag racing, and all the things. One of the things we did pretty quickly, seeing that’s what was unfolding, we got with the Memphis Police Department, the sheriff’s office, we called in the state troopers, and sent letters saying, “Hey, we need reinforcements here to help take back our Downtown.”

What are you excited about right now?

The progress we’re making toward pushing to get our trolleys back online. That was another priority. We’ve got to get these trolleys back rolling on Main Street. Even the Madison line would be a great help to visitors and residents who would like to go to the grocery store or a restaurant.

The Memphis Area Transit Authority has been disappointing in its responses and urgency toward the trolleys. But we’ve been in great conversations with the Tennessee Department of Transportation, which is eventually going to be who gives the green light for the trolleys to return.

We’re also excited about all the new restaurants opening. We’re excited about the new renovation at the National Civil Rights Museum. The Orpheum is creating a new exterior campus refresh with stages, interactive monuments, and a screen to play movies. Lots of great things are happening in Downtown.

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Big Projects and Big Dreams

If Downtown is where big stuff happens, it’s also where developers dream big. The last decade has seen a list of “transformative” projects slated. Some have come and gone. Some shrank. Some were built and continue to build. 

One Beale. The Pinch. Union Row, which became The Walk on Union, which became The Walk. The Snuff District. Now the Neural Nexus project will supposedly blow them all out of the water. Its renderings promise shiny buildings, chic environs, and density on one specific, still-empty canvas of Downtown that has seen its share of big dreams. This high-tech promise comes with a reported $9 billion budget, which the Chamber says is the largest project ever envisioned for Downtown Memphis. 

One Beale

Drawings of a brand-new, gleaming glass tower overlooking Beale Street and the Mississippi River wowed Memphians in the early 2000s. And the name was cool, too: One Beale. Details emerged about the tower around 2005, and by 2006, it doubled into a two-tower concept by Carlisle Corp.

Big dreams move slow. One Beale went quiet for a time. But the concept and momentum reemerged in 2015 when the DMC approved a tax break deal for the hotel portion. By 2018, One Beale had doubled its footprint, now sprawling about five acres from Beale to Pontotoc. Ground was broken on One Beale in 2019, and construction began on the 227-room Hyatt Centric. In 2020, One Beale was replanned in four phases. One of them saw the office component replaced by a Grand Hyatt hotel concept, due largely to the pandemic. By 2023, the Grand Hyatt portion was paused. The Hyatt Centric and Caption hotels were open, but the mega-project’s gleaming tower on the river was never delivered. 

The Pinch

How does a loudly announced $1.1 billion project go quiet and then go away, largely unnoticed? That’s really what happened with another mega-project that sought to completely reimagine and rebuild the Pinch District.

In 2019, developer Tom Intrator unveiled his plan for the Pinch. It grabbed headlines with its price tag and its 900 apartments, two hotels, office space, retail, and towers up to 17 or 18 stories. The first phase alone was reported at roughly $544 million. By 2022, Intrator announced he had secured the funding for Phase I — housing, hotels, retail, and commercial space. An application for tax breaks was filed.

However, in 2024, The Daily Memphian reported that Intrator put his Pinch properties up for sale “after five years of nothing,” the paper’s headline reads. Instead of a public announcement, the news came from a commercial real estate listing. 

By August of that year, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital announced it had purchased Intrator’s land and more in the Pinch for its own long-term expansion. All of this, though, came well after the 2016 announcement by state and local leaders to invest $37 million around the St. Jude campus.

The Walk on Union

Headlines hit hard in 2019 announcing Union Row, a $1 billion development project for that pesky, weed-choked stretch of Downtown on Union near Beale Street and FedExForum.

This massive development on roughly 29 acres would stretch from Danny Thomas Boulevard to Ida B. Wells Street. It was expected to have 1,105 apartment units, 550 hotel rooms, 364,500 square feet of office space, 2,664 parking spaces, and 88,106 square feet of retail space, including grocery.

It was also supposed to be completed this year. Dirt work never started.

The project was rebranded as The Walk on Union in 2020, a time when news reports had the project back on track. Even as Covid continued, the company filed paperwork for Phase I of the project, a seven-story mixed-use building for a hotel, apartments, retail, and green space.

By 2024, news surfaced that The Walk project missed a financing deadline and was changing owners, but still plowed ahead. Nothing else was really made public until the Greater Memphis Chamber announced the Neural Nexus project would be built on the same site as The Walk in December 2025. 

Snuff District

The $250 million Snuff District project stands out among some other “transformative” projects in that it actually did transform a part of Downtown.

Plans for the Historic Snuff District go back to 2016. The full plan was unveiled by a team led by Billy Orgel in 2020.

The district centers on a nine-building historic industrial complex near Front Street, tied to the former American Snuff Co. manufacturing operation north of Downtown’s core. The idea — as many big ideas for Downtown are — was to transform the abandoned site into an attractive destination for living, working, playing, and staying.

The first phase of the project earned tax breaks from the DMC in 2020. By 2021, the plans for the second phase were already turning up in public records.

By 2022, that second phase got an extension for its PILOT deal from the DMC, proof of forward progress. By February 2023, the first phase was largely done and open. That included the first phase of Conwood Flats and the Varsity Spirit renovation.

Phase two, including the Harborside at Conwood Flats apartments, opened in 2025.

Neural Nexus

Last year ended with a blockbuster announcement of not just another Downtown mega-project, but one “poised to be the largest in Downtown Memphis history, reshaping the city’s core with modern infrastructure.”

A Houston company said it would take that pesky, weed-choked stretch of Union between Danny Thomas and Ida B. Wells and transform it into a live/work/play/stay tech hub it deemed as the “Neural Nexus innovation district.” This plan is from Legacy Power Capital. That’s the name given in a December release about the project from the Greater Memphis Chamber. However, the website and socials for the company were down when we looked. Its plans for Memphis, though, show on a site for a company called Bormacc Group, apparently a rebrand of Legacy Power Capital.

The Commercial Appeal set the price tag for this massive project at $9.4 billion, a figure that could not be corroborated with information from the company. For context, The Walk, which was planned at the same site, was priced at $1.1 billion.

The multibillion-dollar campus would spread across two city blocks. It is slated for an estimated 800-room hotel, 700 residential units, 200,000 square feet of retail space, and a 125,000-square-foot “innovation center.” A buildout could take around 30 months, the company said in December.

No new information has emerged about this project since the news release went public in December. However, the Memphis campus is one of many planned for Florida, South Carolina, Texas, Denver, and the West Coast.