Crosstown Concourse is a
mixed use development
Mixed-use is a kind of urban development, urban design, urban planning and/or a zoning type that blends multiple uses, such as residential, commercial, cultural, institutional, or entertainment, into one space, where those functions are to some ...
in
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...
. It is located in the heart of the Crosstown neighborhood, so named for the intersecting trolley tracks at
Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
and Poplar that connected Memphis commuters to the neighborhood in 1927. Crosstown Concourse itself is located at the intersection of North Parkway and N. Watkins Street and is the western terminus of the V&E Greenline.
Crosstown Concourse stands 14 stories tall and includes 65,000 square feet of retail, 630,000 square feet of commercial office space, 265 apartments, and a high school. The property is also Platinum
LEED certified - the largest historical
adaptive reuse
Adaptive reuse refers to the process of reusing an existing building for a purpose other than which it was originally built or designed for. It is also known as recycling and conversion. Adaptive reuse is an effective strategy for optimizing the o ...
platinum LEED certified building in the world.
History
Crosstown Concourse was once a Sears, Roebuck & Co. distribution center and retail store, which opened on August 27th, 1927, welcoming nearly 30,000 visitors on its first day. The original 640,000 sf structure was built in only 180 days. By 1965, five separate additions had expanded the Sears Crosstown facility to a final size of 1,500,000 sf. In addition to the 150,000 sf retail store, the building was the distribution center for all orders in the Mid-South, including
Mississippi
Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...
,
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
,
Arkansas
Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...
, and
Alabama
(We dare defend our rights)
, anthem = "Alabama"
, image_map = Alabama in United States.svg
, seat = Montgomery
, LargestCity = Huntsville
, LargestCounty = Baldwin County
, LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham
, area_total_km2 = 135,765 ...
and handled 45,000 orders daily, selling everything from clothes and board games to go-carts and kit houses.
Revitalization
Forty years after opening its doors, Sears Crosstown had grown to 1.5 million square feet on 19 acres. Sears closed the Crosstown retail store in 1983.
The site remained a regional distribution center for Sears. But less than 30 years later, due to the decline in the company's mail-order business, Sears closed many of its warehouses across the country, including Crosstown. Sears closed the Crosstown retail store in 1983 due to bankruptcy.
The building was left vacant in 1993 and remained an iconic yet vandalized and empty tower for more than 20 years.
In 2010, Todd Richardson, art history professor at the
University of Memphis
}
The University of Memphis (UofM) is a public research university in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1912, the university has an enrollment of more than 22,000 students.
The university maintains the Herff College of Engineering, the Center for Ea ...
, and Christopher Miner, a video artist, forme
Crosstown Arts a nonprofit contemporary arts organization that would serve as the building's developer and is now also a building tenant.
Two years later, the two had commitments from eight local tenants willing to lease a total of 600,000 square feet, nearly half of the building. By the time Crosstown officials asked the Memphis City Council for $15 million (the project's final piece of funding) a year later, the building's tenants included Church Health, Methodist Healthcare, Gestalt Community Schools,
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, ALSAC, Memphis Teacher Residency,
Rhodes College
Rhodes College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Memphis, Tennessee. Historically affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA), it is a member of the Associated Colleges of the Sout ...
, and, of course, Crosstown Arts.
Today, Crosstown Concourse is a vertical urban village anchored in expanding culture, arts, education and healthcare. The building now includes Crosstown Arts
Crosstown High School Parcels apartments, a small hotel, numerous health-care agencies and nonprofits, 15 restaurants, retail, and more.
The revitalization of the building led to a foreseen improvement in the surrounding community.
See also
*
References
https://www.memphisflyer.com/memphis/crosstown-concourse-the-vertical-village-comes-to-life/Content?oid=7676149
External links
Crosstown ConcourseSears Crosstown Building on EmporisCrosstown Arts
{{National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places in Memphis, Tennessee
Sears Holdings buildings and structures
Skyscraper office buildings in Memphis, Tennessee
Residential skyscrapers in Memphis, Tennessee