Airport Releases New Strategic Overview

The Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority released a new Strategic Overview for the next five years, which serves as a comprehensive plan to implement improvements in all airport operations.

The Strategic Overview, which was last updated in 2015, is broken down into nine categories: physical/terminal, environment, properties/cargo, airfield, communications and reputation, air service, business model/finance, human capital management, and general aviation – each with its own one-, three- and five-year goals.

Highlights include the implementation of multi-user flight information displays with flight tracking, replacement of the passenger terminal apron around the B Concourse, creation of an interactive flight guide, and the approval of MEM’s Part 150 Noise Study.

“While not all-inclusive, this Strategic Overview identifies broad goals spanning the major areas of our extensive and far-reaching business,” Scott A. Brockman, MSCAA president and CEO, said. “As a ‘living’ document, the plan is regularly reviewed and updated as necessary to recognize tactical achievements, new opportunities, challenges and goals.”

The airport also included a list of more substantial, long-term goals like obtaining more non-stop West Coast destinations by the end of 2018, building a database of corporate travelers to facilitate a better understanding of travel needs of frequent flyers, and the construction of two concrete de-icing pads on the south end of the airfield to reduce air traffic delays in winter weather.

The guide also released more details and dates on the concourse modernization plan, which includes relocating airlines to either Concourses A or C while construction takes place on Concourse B.

The Strategic Overview can be found at http://www.flymemphis.com/strategic-overview online.

– Patrick Lantrip

Dunavant Award Recipients To Speak at Symposium

The two recipients of this year’s Bobby Dunavant Public Servant Awards will speak April 18 at the Christian Brothers University-Dunavant Public Service Symposium at the CBU Montesi Executive Center.

Collierville Mayor Stan Joyner and Keenon McCloy, director of the Memphis Public Libraries system, are the recipients of the awards given annually by the Rotary Club of Memphis East and the family of the late Probate Court Clerk, Bobby Dunavant, to one local elected official and one local non-elected public official.

They will speak at the event, which runs from 9:30 a.m. to 10:45 a.m., the same day they will be honored with the Dunavant Awards at an 11:30 a.m. awards luncheon at the Hilton Memphis hotel.

U.S. Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee will be the keynote speaker at the awards luncheon.

– Bill Dries

Plans for Beale Street Boutique Hotel Emerge

A new boutique-style hotel may be coming to Beale Street in the near future.

Amit Patel and Kamlesh Patel with KNM Development want to turn three vacant parcels of land between Fourth Street and Danny Thomas Boulevard into a Vib by Best Western, according to a special permit application recently filed with the Shelby County Land Use Control Board.

Located at 404 Beale St., the six-story, 101-room hotel would also have an adjacent five-level, 103-space parking garage that fronts Gayoso Avenue.

Best Western launched the Vib “urban boutique” hotel concept in October 2014 and has locations in Chicago, Miami, New York, Little Rock and Seoul, South Korea, according to its website.

Amit Patel originally purchased the property in 2014 and is the owner of several other Downtown locations, including the historic Demron Building, which he purchased in January 2016. In that sale, the 100,000-square-foot building went for $1.5 million and the adjacent parking lot for $310,000, according to the warranty deed.

Chris Garland with Garland Company Real Estate represented Amit Patel and told The Daily News at that time the building would be turned into a hotel after a “complete gut.”

Patel also owns property under the KNM name at 315 S. Front St. and 285 Gayoso Ave.

Efforts to reach the applicants were not returned by press time.

– Patrick Lantrip

Oden to Rehab Building Downtown for New HQ

Plans to breathe new life into a vacant 77-year-old warehouse two blocks from the FedExForum have been submitted by Oden & Associates Inc., a locally owned marketing firm looking to relocate its headquarters.

William F. Carkeet and Bret A. Terwilleger, the co-owners of Oden, are seeking an eight-year PILOT (payment-in-lieu-of-taxes) with the Center City Revenue Finance Corp. to help offset costs associated with reactivating the blighted property.

Located at 158 Vance Ave., the historic Capital Pictures building will be preserved and adapted as an office for the 30-plus-employee marketing communications firm. According to application, the redevelopment will activate a 50,000-square-foot site at a prominent intersection on the border of the South Main Historic Arts District and South City neighborhood.

Since the site is comprised of two adjacent parcels, the adjoining warehouse at Vance Avenue and B.B. King Boulevard will be adapted into an employee parking garage with 32 parking spaces.

There will be 17,250 leasable square feet of space in the main one-story building. A front-facing loading dock will be remade into a landscaped courtyard facing Vance.

The total development cost of the project is roughly $3.1 million, according to the application.

This particular project was especially attractive to CCRFC officials because of its location within the emerging South City neighborhood, which has been a priority of the Downtown Memphis Commission and its affiliate boards.

“Putting this vacant historic building back into productive use will be a noticeable improvement to a property located only two blocks south of FedExForum,” the DMC staff report read, in part. “Additionally, the building is prominently seen from B.B. King Boulevard, a major gateway into Downtown from the south. Second, the project is situated between the South Main and South City neighborhoods. Adding new businesses, employees and points of interest in this section of Downtown will benefit both neighborhoods and further strengthen the growing momentum of South City as commercial activity and investment begins to move east.”

Additionally, Carkeet and Terwilleger have been tentatively approved for a $2.9 million loan from First Tennessee Bank to purchase and renovate property, pending the results of the CCRFC’s decision.

The applicants claim that, even assuming modest construction costs and operating expenses and a reasonably high rent, development is not financially justifiable without a PILOT.

First Tennessee Bank vice president Zac Herring said in a letter to the CCRFC that based on the pro forma, the project would not work without the PILOT and approval for the loan is contingent on approval of the PILOT.

Currently located at 119 S. Main St., Oden & Associates is a business-to-business marketing firm founded by Dale Oden more than 40 years ago that has been headquartered Downtown for the last 20. When Oden retired in 1996, Carkeet and Terwilleger took over as CEO and COO, respectively – positions they still hold today.

– Patrick Lantrip

Huey’s Cordova Launches Tuesday Tunes on the Terrace

Huey’s Cordova is preparing to celebrate its first live music series on its large, updated patio.

The restaurant will present “Tuesday Tunes on the Terrace” every Tuesday from 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The series begins April 18, and Huey’s will host happy hour specials in addition to live music on the patio. Admission is free.

The first two shows will include Gerry Finney on April 18 and Carson & Brewer on April 25.

Huey’s Cordova updated its patio in 2015 with 50-inch TVs, extra tables and an open lounge area for extra space.

– Andy Meek