By Tom Bailey, Special to the Daily Memphian
Plans for a new, 5-story building in the heart of the South Main District were made public Wednesday, March 31, by the Design Review Board.
Developer Tom Intrator of New York submitted plans to fill a vacant lot at 386 S. Main with a building that will house ground-floor commercial space and 30 apartments on the upper four floors.
Six lofted apartments with taller windows will be on the second floor, and floors 3-5 will have eight units each.
The five-story building will fill a vacant lot at 386 S. Main. (Courtesy PKM Architects)
PKM Architects is designing the project.
“While numerous buildings on South Main have been brought back to life through renovation and adaptive reuse, infilling vacant lots along the street with new buildings has been unheard of until now,” the Design Review Board staff reported to the board.
“The proposed building at 386 S. Main will set a strong precedent for filling the gaps in South Main’s urban fabric,” the report states.
Intrator also owns the building next door, at 390 S. Main.
Projects in the neighborhood “should help to provide a pedestrian-friendly environment and contribute to the neighborhood’s sense of identity,” the report states. “The proposed building does exactly that, by continuing the neighborhood’s historic pattern of ground-floor retail addressing the street and providing an incremental increase in residential density that will contribute to the vitality of the neighborhood.”
The staff acknowledged the proposed 5-story building is taller than its immediate neighbors to the south and north.
Tom Intrator stakes claim as Downtown change agent
But the report adds, “…It is well within the neighborhood’s historic range of building heights, which includes the five-story 477 S. Main, as well as the much taller Central Station.”
Pinch District tower developers meet council skepticism
The Design Review Board will consider the application at 4 p.m. April 28.