Beale property contract interest strong

13 proposals received for cityowned entertainment district

Beale Street officials are seeing strong interest in a property management contract for the city-owned entertainment district as a June 24 deadline looms for proposals.

A consultant said the Beale Street Tourism Development Authority has received 13 inquiries about the contract, not counting four firms that responded to a previous request for proposals.

It’s unclear how much of that interest will translate into actual proposals, consultant Jeff Sanford said Thursday. He and authority lawyer Casey Shannon will collect the proposals at Downtown Memphis Commission offices after the deadline.

The authority did an initial search for a management firm last year but said none of the proposals were exactly what Beale Street overseers were looking for.

Sanford said a wider net has been cast this time around. He credited authority board member Nathaniel Jones with suggesting advertising for proposals through the Texas-based International Association of Venue Managers.

The Downtown Memphis Commission has been interim manager of Beale Street since the end of 2013, when developer John Elkington’s Performa Entertainment Real Estate, under terms of a bankruptcy settlement, ended a 32-year run as manager.

The city of Memphis owns the district between Second and Fourth streets and leases property to bars and restaurants. It’s one of Tennessee’s bigger tourist attractions, drawing an estimated 5 million visitors a year.

Sanford said he wasn’t sure how many of the 13 firms would make proposals or whether the four previous contenders would resubmit.

Businessman Kelvin Willis, part of 21 Beale Street Inc., said his group plans to submit another proposal.

The 21 Beale group, a partnership of businesses with real estate and nightclub experience in Memphis and Chicago, submitted last fall. Also submitting proposals last fall were international real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle, Memphis-based fair and event promoter Mark Lovell’s ML Professional Properties, and Memphis commercial property managers Capital Realty Services LLC.

Sanford said he expects the management committee to make a recommendation to the board by late July or early August.