5155 Citation Dr.

Memphis, TN 38118

Permit Amount: $10 million

Application Date: July 10 

Owner: Exeter Property Group

Tenant: Amazon

Contractor: Catamount Constructors Inc.

Details: With its 615,000-square-foot facility at 3282 E. Holmes Road under construction, e-commerce giant Amazon has filed a $10 million building permit application that lists “tenant improvement” for a new location at 5155 Citation Drive.

Exeter Property Group, doing business as Exeter 5155 Citation LLC, was listed as the property owner, while Catamount Constructors Inc. was listed as the contractor.

The roughly 400,000-square-foot facility was most recently used as distribution facility for AT&T before the company, doing business as New Cingular Wireless PCS, moved into a 430,130-square-foot facility in the DeSoto Trade Center’s Eastgate Building 3 in the first quarter of 2018.

In addition to the Holmes Road receive center, Amazon also operates a warehouse at 6005 Freeport Ave.

Exeter originally purchased the property in 2013 for $11.3 million.

2130 Exeter Rd.

Germantown, TN 38138

Application Date: July 12

Owner: Wicker Park Capital Management

Tenant: The Container Store

Details: The Container Store, a national retail brand that specializes in storage and organizational products, is planning a Germanton location near Trader Joe’s.

The Texas-based chain is seeking a sign variance from the Germantown Design Review Commission for a store that will be located at 2130 Exeter Rd. in the Germantown Collection Shopping Center.

The Container Store will join Trader Joe’s in the new-look Germantown shopping center that was in and out of the spotlight during an on-again-off redevelopment after longtime anchor tenant Kroger left the property.

However, the project appeared to stabilize after Savannah, Georgia-based Wicker Park Capital Management, doing business as 2130 Exeter Road Holdings, took over the project from previous developers Centennial American Properties in 2017.

In December 2017, Wicker Park purchased the parcel of land outright from previous owner Robert H. Schwab for $8.1 million.

The Germantown DRC will review The Container Store’s sign package request during its Thursday, July 12 meeting.

647 Madison Ave.

Memphis, TN 38103

Project Cost: $320,000

Application Date: July 18

Completion: Q1 2019

Owner: Karen Adams

Tenant: Karen Adams Design

Details: Local designer Karen Adams is requesting an exterior improvement grant up to $60,000 from the Center City Development Corp during its July 18 meeting to help facilitate her relocation to the Medical District. 

Adams is planning to move her administrative and production staff, design studio, printing, manufacturing and warehousing operations from its current location on Broad Avenue to a WWII-era former bakery at 647 Madison Ave.

The building found new life in 1964 as a food service and repair and storage space for Camp Electric Inc. before eventually falling into disrepair.

Adams is seeking the exterior improvement grant from the DMC for concrete repair and replacement, sidewalk and parking area improvements, steel gates, and exterior painting, stucco, electrical, masonry and signage.

The project carries a roughly $320,000 price tag. 

Adams founded her company, Karen Adams Design, in 2001 to design and manufacture wholesale stationary goods. 

“Karen Adams Designs is a woman-owned business enterprise employing exclusively women and minorities to hand craft personalized stationery and related trade goods thereby occupying a unique position in the stationery, lifestyle and wholesale trade industries,” Adams said in her letter of intent to the DMC. 

In 2010, Adams launched www.karenadamsdesigns.com, a wholly owned entity designed to capture substantial revenue growth through online retail customers. 

Currently, Adams designs and manufactures products for more than 1,400 U.S. and international retailers.

If approved, Adams would join a growing list of recent exterior improvement grants recipients in the Edge neighborhood that includes High Cotton Brewing Co., 672 Marshall, Arnold’s BBQ, and the Edge Motor Museum.  

0 Neshoba Rd.

Germantown, TN 38138

Application Date: July 10

Details: The Germantown Planning Commission has voted to rezone an area known as the Cordova Triangle back to its original residential designation.

The area, which fronts Cordova and Neshoba roads near The Great Hall & Conference Center and the Germantown Performing Arts Center, was rezoned as a Central Business District in 2007 as a part of the municipality’s Smart Growth Plan.

However, citing a lack of development over the past decade and continuing opposition from nearby residents, the GPC voted 5-3 Tuesday, July 10, to return the heavily wooded tract of land back to its original zoning designation.

“Experience over the last decade has shown that the application of the Smart Code over the Triangle was ill-advised,” Germantown Mayor Mike Palazzolo said in a letter to the planning commission. “Therefore, in the interest of public necessity, convenience, general welfare and good zoning practice, the city seeks to return the area to its original R - Residential zoning. In so doing, the property and the surrounding neighborhoods will be protected from any impacts that would be occasioned from high-density development of the Triangle.”

The zoning measure now moves the Board of Mayor and Aldermen for votes on three readings before it can go into effect.