Apartments planned for vacant land on Sam Cooper facing Overton Park
The firm that bought Tennessee’s vacant eight acres facing Overton Park at Sam Cooper Boulevard wants to build apartments on the prominent site.
Makowsky Ringel Greenberg, a real estate development firm, has sent notices to neighbors stating it proposes to build multifamily structures on the property, one of the most highly visible pieces of vacant land in Memphis’ core.
The buildings would rise on both the north and south side of Sam Cooper Boulevard, which T’s into East Parkway at Overton Park.
The gateway is a historic junction along a major commuter route between Midtown, Downtown and East Memphis. Traffic counts total about 28,000 vehicles daily.
Sam Cooper Boulevard, originally intended to be Interstate 40, ends at Overton Park because of a landmark Supreme Court ruling that blocked the State of Tennessee from cutting the interstate through the park.
But by the time the court ruled in 1971, the state had already demolished houses on both sides of Overton Park to make room for I-40. The state did not auction the vacant land until late 2015, when Makowsky Ringel Greenberg bought it for $360,000.
Makowsky Ringel Greenberg has not yet finalized any concepts for the development, principal Gary Makowsky told The Commercial Appeal by email Wednesday evening.
The firm plans to hold two neighborhood meetings to discuss the “potential development,” he said.
“At our meeting next week, we will be discussing general concepts and distribute a survey to neighbors to gather their input to help shape the project,” Makowsky said.
A website is being developed to offer access to the survey and additional information to those who cannot attend the meeting.
“The second meeting will present what the development will look like based on comments we hear from Lea’s Wood and the other stakeholders in the area,” he said.
The firm will host a neighborhood meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Caritas Village, 2509 Harvard, “to present the project and gather neighborhood feedback,” states the notice mailed a few days ago.
The letter did not say how many units or buildings are being proposed.
The application for the planned development would go before the Land Use Control Board and a public hearing on May 11, according to the notice.
The project apparently does not include retail or other uses. In addition to mulitfamily residences, the development includes a leasing office, fitness center and common facilities for residents, the notice states.
After winning the state auction for
the land in late 2015, Makowsky said the firm did not know what it would build. But he added, “I think we want to do it right. We want to meet with the neighborhood and all the stakeholders in the area... We’re going to do our homework.”
The firm’s representatives did meet a month or so ago with Nancy Jane Baker, manager of the Landmarks Commission. That body must approve the exterior look of the buildings because they will be in a historic district.
Baker expressed concern that the plan she saw involved four-story buildings, out of character with the two-story apartments and buildings along East Parkway. “The height of the buildings and the number of units they have grouped together are not really consistent with what you see when you drive by the apartments on Poplar or East Parkway,” Baker said.
The renderings showed “nice” buildings but “the sameness to it doesn’t reflect the variety of the neighborhood,” she said.
Neighbors in the Lea’s Woods historic neighborhood are already expressing concern. “We want the architecture and the roof lines to match what is left from the ravage of the I-40 interstate trying to come through,” said Rose Doherty, who lives near the vacant land. “My house is one story; next to me is two stories.”
Doherty said her preference is to see the vacant property “restored to what it was before: Single-family homes.”
Makowsky Ringel Greenbert is best known for its multifamily developments, both apartments and condos. Among its projects are the 250-unit The Signature at Schilling Farms in Collierville and The Laurels condominiums at Central and Highland.
The former state land is not all adjoining. The parcels encompass 1.6 acres at the northeast corner of Sam Cooper Boulevard and East Parkway, 4.75 acres at that southeast corner, 1.3 acres at the southeast corner of Sam Cooper Boulevard and Hollywood Street, and just over a half-acre at that northeast corner.
Makowsky Ringel Greenberg also purchased a block of Madison Avenue frontage — 1.48 acres — but has not announced redevelopment plans there.