Haslam: help to come for St. Jude
State awaits plans of $1B project
Gov. Bill Haslam said Tennessee stands ready to help on Memphis’ next big Downtown project — the proposed $1 billion St. Jude campus expansion into the Pinch District.
Has lam confirmed Wednesday state money eventually will be allocated for part of the project after St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital executives later this year submit expansion plans.
Haslam’ s proposed $ 3 4. 8 bi l lion state budget, released to the legis- lature Feb. 2, made no mention of the proposed project in the Pinch, a rundown area whose revitalization could mesh with a new pair of major tourism initiatives nearby.
While the 5,000- employee cancer research hospital stands as one of the country’ s best-financed nonprofits — its ALSAC fund-raising arm brought in $1 billion last year — Haslam was asked during the summer to assist on parts of the St. Jude expansion t hat have never been publicly defined.
Meeting with The Commercial Appeal editorial board on Wednes- day, Has lam described infrastructure improvements on the old streets of the Pinch as a likely use of state money.
Has lam said money for t he Pin ch development could be made available in the customary budget amendments that will take place later this year before the state’s final budget document is approved.
St. Jude executives are working out expansion plans and have not submitted a proposal to state government officials that details how Tennessee might participate. On Oct .1, ALSAC Chief Executive Officer Richard Shadyac said plans likely
would be disclosed by June 30.
“They’re still working on the plan” at ALSAC, St. Jude spokesman Barry Whyte said Wednesday.
The research hospital, founded in the city in 1962, has nearly filled its campus near Downtown with buildings.
St. Jude began to buy nearby property to handle future growth. It has emerged as the largest property owner in the Pinch, an area of parking lots, vacant 19th-century buildings and a handful of businesses on Downtown’s north end.
St . Jude’s ex pa nsion , coming on the heels of a $1 billion expansion earlier in the decade, is regarded as one of the two most significant developments in Downtown since the $250 million FedEx-Forum was opened in 2004.
The other is Bass Pro Shops at The Pyramid, a $105 million sporting goods department store and tourism attraction. It drew 2 million visitors last year after opening in April.
Haslam stopped short of committing state money for infrastructure improvements across the entire central business district.
Developers including Carlisle Corp. executive Chance Carlisle contend the cost of replacing old and in some cases neglected utilities inhibit Downtown redevelopment.
Tennessee’s Fast Track incentives for a specific projector company can be based on capital spending and employment increases as well as infrastructure work, Haslam said.