“You can feel the momentum in Memphis,” mayor Jim Strickland said during his opening remarks at the groundbreaking of Arrive Hotel’s newest location.

Strickland was one of several high-profile development figures on hand for the Friday, July 20 event, including Greater Memphis Chamber president and CEO Phil Trenary and Downtown Memphis Commission president Jennifer Oswalt.

Developer Chris Pardo is planning a 62-room Arrive Hotel at the former Memphis College of Art graduate school on 477 S. Main St.

Pardo said he anticipates demolition to begin next week with and construction to wrap up roughly eight to ten months later.

Two onsite restaurants that will be operated by Arrive, Longshot and MemMex, are also scheduled to open when the hotel does sometime around May or June of 2019.

Last month, contractors Montgomery Martin filed a $7.1 million building permit application for the South Main location. Pardo, Arrive’s co-founder and lead developer, was listed as the project’s architect.

In February 2017, the Center City Revenue Finance Corp. awarded the boutique hotel a 15-year payment-in-lieu-of-taxes incentive and approved Pardo’s request for a change of ownership in April 2018.

Watch the full-length video of the groundbreaking here: https://bit.ly/2JFLsAp