Downtown Memphis is going through a renaissance, and Allworld Project Management has made it very clear it wants to be front and center for it.
The Design Review Board has approved Allworld Project Management’s plan to renovate the vacant building at 60 N. B.B. King Blvd. and relocate its headquarters there.
(Design Review Board)
The locally owned firm’s plans to restore the previously vacant-two story building near the corner of Jefferson Avenue and B.B. King Boulevard earned approval from the Downtown Commission’s Design Review Board Wednesday, April 5.
“We definitely are committed to the renaissance of Downtown,” said Allworld chief administrative officer Brent Hooks. “That’s why we wanted to keep the essence of the Downtown Memphis character of this building, so we’re not going too far out of range with our construction efforts, but we do want have some modern influence.”
Located at 60 N. B.B. King Blvd., the company’s new headquarters will take up roughly 8,000 of the 12,000 available square feet, and the rest will be available for rent. The building also will house a training facility on the second floor that will serve as a co-work facility and six to eight office rental units.
Allworld primarily assists architects and engineers on civil and environmental construction projects. The company has a partnership with Microsoft and ESRI, and will use the training facility to teach people how to use its partners’ products.
Hooks said the upstairs office would be available to rent individually or as a package.
Plans for the building include enlarging the existing windows; repairing the sidewalk; and adding new windows and doors as well as new signage, a canopy, wrought-iron fencing and exterior lighting. The new signage will spell out Allworld Project Management, with an internally illuminated globe serving as the “O” in Allworld.
“From an editorial standpoint, you all need to be commended for, A, putting the building back in use, and B, doing it in a way that is consistent with sustaining Downtown’s future, rather than Downtown’s past,” said Design Review Board chairman Ray Brown.
The Center City Development Corp. awarded Allworld an $80,000 Exterior Improvement Grant in March to help offset the costs of renovating the building.
During the CCDC meeting, representatives of the rapidly expanding project management firm said it has outgrown its current headquarters at 415 S. Front St. in the South Main Historic Arts District.
Construction is expected to begin at the end of April. Once complete, Allworld will more than triple its space.
“A lot of us are Memphians who work at Allworld,” said Mallory Bailey, the firm’s engineering coordinator. “So for us to see this project come through, to see what we really believe Memphis should grow into and what Memphis is already growing into, it’s just a great feeling that others appreciate and agree with where we’re headed.”