Australia-based developer builds Downtown portfolio
7 Vance is latest Drapac purchase
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An out-of-town investment and development firm this year has purchased three old Downtown buildings in Memphis, including the vacant Nylon Net Building that takes up a block along the Riverfront Loop trolley line at 7 Vance.
Drapac Group is headquartered in Atlanta, but has roots in Australia where it was founded 28 years ago. Drapac owns 60 to 70 properties.
The company paid $575,000 last month for 7 Vance, built in 1907 as a warehouse. It fronts the trolley line, Vance, Wagner and Talbot. The building’s north half features arched windows and has parts as tall as five floors. The south half is a more modern, featureless addition.
Also in September, Drapac purchased for $715,000 the 105-year-old Walgreens building at 2 N. Main, at Madison. That building has a basement, ground floor leased by Walgreens and vacant second floor, all totaling 32,788 square feet, according to
the Shelby County Assessor’s Office.
In March, Drapac made its first Memphis investment, purchasing 324 S. Front and the vacant lot between it and Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken restaurant. The three-story brick building, at the corner of Vance, was built in 1900 and is already being marketed through CBRE/Memphis for tenants: retail on the ground floor and office on the top floors.
As he does most days, Downtown resident Jay Sieleman on Monday afternoon walked by the large empty building at 7 Vance.
From what he sees every day on the street, the justretired president and CEO of the Blues Foundation is not surprised an out-oftown firm is investing in Downtown.
“I don’t envision ever moving because it’s like living in a resort,” said Sieleman, who has a condo on the bluff. “You’ve got the view of the Mississippi and all the barges going by. And you walk out the other door and you’ve got this great playground within walking distance: the Blues Hall of Fame, the FedExForum, Orpheum theater, AutoZone Park... And there’s so many restaurants down here. It’s a fun, easy place to live.’’
Every time developers renovate a warehouse for residences or build a new apartment building, it seems tenants “move in before they are even done,’’ Sieleman said.