One Beale

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One Beale is a proposed high rise hotel, condominium and office building in Memphis, Tennessee.^[1] It is expected that construction will begin in late 2007 and end in 2010.^[2]

1 Original Proposal
2 Second Proposal
3 Opposition
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Original Proposal

A rendering of the original proposal.

In December 2005, Gene Carlisle proposed a building at Beale Street and Riverside Drive in Downtown Memphis. The first phase of One Beale was a $150 million dollar, 27 story condominium and hotel standing at 313 feet tall.^[3] The tower was to feature 168 hotel rooms and 159 condos. The tower also featured 75,000 sqaure feet of class A office space.^[4] The architectual firm working on this project was Hnedak Bobo Group, Inc.

[edit] Second Proposal

A rendering of the second proposal.

In August 2006, Gene Carlise revised his proposal to include two towers. ^[5] The Northern tower is to be a 30 stories tall and 435 feet making it the tallest building in Memphis over 100 North Main which is 430 feet tall. The southern tower is to be 27 stories tall. Together the proposal is for approximately 250 hotel rooms, 150 condos, 70,000 sqaure feet of Class A office space, and 70,000 sqaure feet of retail, commercial and meeting space.^[6]

The actual official height of the northern tower has been a source of some debate, some stories and articles place the northern tower at 468 feet instead of 435 feet.^[7] There has been no official word from Gene Carlise or the developers confirming the official height of the northern tower.

[edit] Opposition

The most recent rendering showing the structure during night time.

Within days of the second proposal in August 2006, nearby residents of the Waterford Plaza spoke against the project. Lauren Peek, property manager for Waterford Plaza and Pat Tigrett stated the new proposal would block their view of the Mississippi River, increase traffic in the area, and decrease available parking.^[8] ^[7] The Memphis Land Use Control Board put the proposal on hold for 30 days as a result.^[9]

On September 15, 2006 Land Use Control Board of Memphis unanimously approved the proposal for the tower thus ending the hold.^[8] The proposal must still be approved by the Memphis City council, Lauren Peek stated she would oppose the proposal when it faced the city council.

Gene Carlise responded to the opposition, "At the end of the day we're confident we'll be a great neighbor and we'll raise the property values in their part of the world. Of course, you can't please everybody and we've tried very hard to do that. We're very sensitive to this neighborhood. We've been there for a long time, almost 30 years."^[8]

On October 18, 2006 the building was unanimously approved by the Memphis City Council. The Carlise Group and the Waterford Plaza association proposed multiple compromises to resolve the aforementioned opposition.^[10]