Architects Convert Church, Apartment Developers Eye New Project in Downtown
The Memphis apartment market has been doing quite well recently, coming off its fourth consecutive year of positive demand, with 1,690 apartments absorbed in 2013 as well as overall rent growth of 1.5 percent
By Eliza Theiss, Associate Editor
The Memphis apartment market has been doing quite well recently, coming off its fourth consecutive year of positive demand.
According to Hendricks-Berkadia, 1,690 apartments were absorbed in 2013 in the market, which experienced an overall rent growth of 1.5 percent. With rents expected to increase a further 1.8 percent, leasing activity outpacing deliveries, and over 10,000 new jobs to be created in 2014 in metro Memphis, more investors want a piece of the Bluff City’s apartment market.
Among them is Memphis-based architecture firm Archimania, which partnered with Memphis-based general contractors Patton & Taylor Enterprises to redevelop a Midtown church into a seven-unit apartment project. According to the Memphis Business Journal, Archimania will expand the 5,800-square-foot First Congregational Memphis church on South Watkins to 7,400 square feet. The $750,000 development will feature seven apartments ranging from 1,300 to 1,800 square feet and a design that will retain the pulpit and baptism area. The architecture firm purchased the property in 2006 with the intent of turning into a condo project, but the market crash postponed the redevelopment. Apartments will be marketed at young professionals and medical students attending the area’s universities.
According to the Memphis Business Journal, Patton & Taylor Enterprises is involved in another apartment project, this time in Downtown Memphis. The general contractor, along with Shapiro & Co. Architects Inc., has been reportedly contracted by an Elmington Capital Group affiliate to develop a 64-unit, two-building apartment project on Second Street vacant site, in the area known as South Forum or SoFo, just a few blocks’ distance from the $259 million FedExForum.
According to information obtained by the Memphis Business Journal, the project will comprise a four-story and a three-story building and feature 1,642 square feet of either retail or office space. Â Elmington Capital Group, Shapiro & Co. Architects and Patton & Taylor Enterprises are also working on the recently announced 172-unit Phase II of Crescent Bluff Apartments. Details about the projects here.
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