Plans for fast-food eatery ‘in limbo’

Deal would put restaurant across from Overton Park

A deal that would place a fast-food restaurant across from Overton Park, at the southeast corner of East Parkway and Summer, is at least in limbo and may have fallen through, according to some of the parties involved.

“I’ve canceled my contract,” said Larry Mayall, one owner of two abutting pieces of property needed by a hamburger chain.

The negotiations are now “in limbo,” said Lee Mcwaters of Mcwaters & Associates, the broker representing the owner of the other, corner lot, where a gas station once stood.

“They had a snag with some of their due diligence,” Mcwaters said of the chain, which he identified only as a national restaurant franchise. “They haven’t pulled out yet. ... I think we need another month or so.”

But Mayall, who is also principal with First National Realty, said he has pulled out of the restaurant negotiations because other prospective buyers are interested in his vacant apartments. He owns the long-vacant Overton Manor Apartments, at 528 E. Parkway North.

The restaurant would have needed that half-acre plus the cleared, corner lot , four-tenths of an acre.

Meanwhile, Mayall said he has been receiving calls from others interested in buying and rehabbing his 16-unit apartment building.

The location has the “hottest potential’’ considering its proximity to Overton Park, Rhodes College, the Fairgrounds and the zoo, and the number of cars that pass by, Mayall said.

The apartment building may look in poor condition, but stripped to its studs, it’s “as solid as the rock of Gibraltar,” he said.

“I think it’s kind of the ugly stepsister right now on that block. But given its proximity and the amount of real estate that surrounds it , I just think it’s a sleeper.’’

About a decade ago, neighborhood associations and other organizations successfully opposed a proposal to put a Walgreens on the same corner. They fought commercialization on the historic parkway system and demolition of the then- occupied apartments, built in the 1920s.

The property is zoned for residential use.

— Tom Bailey Jr.: (901) 529-2388