$115 million permit pulled for Crosstown development

Contractor Grinder Taber & Grinder Inc. has pulled permits totaling $115.3 million to begin on the massive Crosstown development project. The 1.5-million-square-foot former Sears distribution center will become a multi-use, multi-organizational home to many area non-profits. Looney Ricks Kiss is the architect on the project.
 
The plan gained momentum when key players for what will eventually be a $180 million project at North Watkins Street and Cleveland Avenue began signing on as tenants in 2012. They include such community stalwarts as the Church Health Center, ALSAC, Rhodes College, Gestalt Community Schools, Memphis Teacher Residency, Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. The site will also include residential units and some retail.
 
The building was built in 1927 as a distribution center for Sears and was vacated in 1993. Crosstown LLC purchased the property in 2007 and the hope, beyond the reuse of the building and its 18 acres, is for a revitalization of the neighborhood as well. A MEMFix event put on by the Mayor's Innovation Delivery Team in 2012 activated several blocks and spurred interest in the available spaces and ease of access from nearby North Parkway. Already businesses such as Amurica Photography Studio, the Hi-Tone Café, Co-Motion, Crosstown Arts and Cleveland Street Flea Market are up and running and, by all appearances, thriving. The filling of the old Sears building, with work to be completed in 2016, should only add to the influx of traffic and business in the area.