Bham24yrold
February 26th, 2007, 01:51 AM
THE MODEL: Memphis revived its city center. Can it happen here?
Sunday, February 25, 2007
ROY L. WILLIAMS and VICTORIA L. COMAN
News staff writers
The tentative deal with a Memphis developer to build an entertainment district near the BJCC puts Birmingham on a growing list of cities turning to nightlife as a means of reviving downtowns and drawing new visitors.
By creating an eclectic mix of businesses - pairing famous nightspots such as B.B. King Blues Club and the Hard Rock Cafe with shopping and places that bring local character and color - downtowns across the country are seeing new life. Such districts are in cities large and small, from Jackson, Miss., and Rockford, Ill., to Nashville, Baltimore, Houston and Louisville.
Bill Murray of Trussville-based Integral Hospitality, which is renovating the Tutwiler Hotel, said the decision by the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex board to proceed with an entertainment district is "a watershed moment for Birmingham."
"Coupled with the BJCC expansion, this could be the key to revive downtown," said Murray, who also chairs the Birmingham Convention & Visitors Bureau.
The firm the BJCC board chose to develop its entertainment area, tentatively called District at the BJCC, has a long history of building and running such venues. Performa Entertainment Group - which says it will build Birmingham's district with $55 million in private financing and no government incentives - was founded in 1982 to manage the historic but struggling Beale Street in downtown Memphis.
Although Beale Street already was a long-established black business district, the city of Memphis began buying properties there in the 1970s in an effort to lead a revitalization. The city brought in Performa to take over management, and the entertainment group opened the first Beale Street club in 1983, bringing new businesses one by one into renovated storefronts.
"It didn't happen overnight by any means," said Janet Pfaff, senior vice president of operations for the Center City Commission, a public-private partnership among the city of Memphis, Shelby County and private businesses. "It took a good 10 years for Beale Street to start turning the corner. It took a while to kind of catch on, in terms of people patronizing it."
Memphis, like Birmingham, struggled with issues such as its violent civil rights history.
"We had both white abandonment of downtown and the stigma of the ... assassination" of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Pfaff said. King was gunned down at the Lorraine Motel, now a civil rights museum just blocks from Beale Street.
Today, it's a different story. Beale Street is packed with people. It draws more than 4 million visitors a year, now surpassing the longtime king of Memphis tourism, the Elvis Presley mansion Graceland.
Beale Street now is home of popular nightspots such as B.B. King Blues Club, Hard Rock Cafe, Pat O'Brien's and Coyote Ugly. It also includes an open-air theater in W.C. Handy Park, named for the blues great, that can accommodate 3,000 people.
Since it launched Beale Street, Performa also is developing other entertainment districts, including Farish Street in Jackson, Miss., The Foundry in Trenton, N.J., and Rappahannock Ridge in Fredricksburg, Va. It is among a handful of companies nationwide known for such projects.
New life in Louisville:
In the late 1990s, Louisville found itself in a predicament similar to Birmingham's today - plans under way to expand its convention center in the middle of a downtown teeming with life during the day but moribund after dark.
In Louisville's case, the city wanted to take a failing 1980s downtown mall, the Louisville Galleria, and turn it into a destination. That city hired The Cordish Co., which had developed the Power Plant district in Baltimore and Bayou Place in Houston. Cordish and the city pumped $72 million in public and private money into converting the old mall into a bar- and shop-filled attraction.
Fourth Street Live!, adjacent to the Kentucky International Convention Center, opened in 2004, and nothing has been the same downtown since, said Chris Poynter, a spokesman for Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson.
"The public was very skeptical, saying `Oh, this is a white elephant.' But it turned out to be the complete opposite," Poynter said. Like Beale Street, Fourth Street Live! drew about 4 million visitors last year to its tenants, ranging from franchises like Hard Rock to home-grown destinations such as the Maker's Mark Bourbon House and Lounge.
Not only did the venue provide nightlife for convention-goers, Poynter said, it also drew locals who had long ago deserted downtown Louisville for the suburbs. There are now 2,000 residences downtown, he said, and about 2,000more in development.
"We have people who haven't come downtown in years who are coming downtown," Poynter said. "It's because you have that synergy of all those businesses in one place. It has inspired other developments and other builders to now look at downtown as a place to build."
While an economic impact study is not yet finished, Poynter said, the city is already planning to expand the venue because it sees a surge in downtown vitality.
"We've seen more housing development ... from loft condos to apartments," he said. "And we've seen businesses ... locate near Fourth Street Live! to be near the energy."
Bigger than Beale Street?:
Performa CEO John Elkington thinks Birmingham's district could outdo Louisville's Fourth Street Live! and Memphis' Beale Street, perhaps attracting as many as 6 million visitors a year.
He said he reached that estimate by tallying the 2.5 million people who already attend events at the BJCC annually plus outside tourists and area residents who, Elkington says, will be attracted by the well-known restaurants and retailers Performa plans to court.
In addition, Performa plans to capitalize on the attention Birmingham has received as home of two "American Idol" winners and a runner-up, plus court participation from famous entertainers born in the metro area, said Cato Walker, a Performa executive who handles development of its districts outside Memphis.
Jefferson County Commission President Bettye Fine Collins is a believer. She already envisions the BJCC entertainment district being filled with shops and clubs celebrating Birmingham's musical history, coffee shops, a gospel music venue, restaurants featuring well-known local chefs, and nationally known eateries.
"I've seen what Beale Street has done for Memphis, so this is an exciting time for Birmingham," Collins said. "For Performa to want to do this and not demand anything in return except the right to develop the land is a win-win for us. Hotels are going to want to be a part of this."
Birmingham Mayor Bernard Kincaid said the entertainment district combined with BJCC expansion will make downtown a regional attraction. "This will enhance our city and be a major source of revenue and new jobs," he said.
Sheraton Birmingham's general manager, Mark Noyes, said the entertainment district and BJCC expansion would be a major boost in both its convention and leisure travel business.
"Birmingham is right on the cusp of a transformation that will set the stage for growth over the next 20 years," Noyes said. "This entertainment district will extend both pre- and post-convention stays and bring more tourism revenue into our city."
From the Birmingham News.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
ROY L. WILLIAMS and VICTORIA L. COMAN
News staff writers
The tentative deal with a Memphis developer to build an entertainment district near the BJCC puts Birmingham on a growing list of cities turning to nightlife as a means of reviving downtowns and drawing new visitors.
By creating an eclectic mix of businesses - pairing famous nightspots such as B.B. King Blues Club and the Hard Rock Cafe with shopping and places that bring local character and color - downtowns across the country are seeing new life. Such districts are in cities large and small, from Jackson, Miss., and Rockford, Ill., to Nashville, Baltimore, Houston and Louisville.
Bill Murray of Trussville-based Integral Hospitality, which is renovating the Tutwiler Hotel, said the decision by the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex board to proceed with an entertainment district is "a watershed moment for Birmingham."
"Coupled with the BJCC expansion, this could be the key to revive downtown," said Murray, who also chairs the Birmingham Convention & Visitors Bureau.
The firm the BJCC board chose to develop its entertainment area, tentatively called District at the BJCC, has a long history of building and running such venues. Performa Entertainment Group - which says it will build Birmingham's district with $55 million in private financing and no government incentives - was founded in 1982 to manage the historic but struggling Beale Street in downtown Memphis.
Although Beale Street already was a long-established black business district, the city of Memphis began buying properties there in the 1970s in an effort to lead a revitalization. The city brought in Performa to take over management, and the entertainment group opened the first Beale Street club in 1983, bringing new businesses one by one into renovated storefronts.
"It didn't happen overnight by any means," said Janet Pfaff, senior vice president of operations for the Center City Commission, a public-private partnership among the city of Memphis, Shelby County and private businesses. "It took a good 10 years for Beale Street to start turning the corner. It took a while to kind of catch on, in terms of people patronizing it."
Memphis, like Birmingham, struggled with issues such as its violent civil rights history.
"We had both white abandonment of downtown and the stigma of the ... assassination" of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Pfaff said. King was gunned down at the Lorraine Motel, now a civil rights museum just blocks from Beale Street.
Today, it's a different story. Beale Street is packed with people. It draws more than 4 million visitors a year, now surpassing the longtime king of Memphis tourism, the Elvis Presley mansion Graceland.
Beale Street now is home of popular nightspots such as B.B. King Blues Club, Hard Rock Cafe, Pat O'Brien's and Coyote Ugly. It also includes an open-air theater in W.C. Handy Park, named for the blues great, that can accommodate 3,000 people.
Since it launched Beale Street, Performa also is developing other entertainment districts, including Farish Street in Jackson, Miss., The Foundry in Trenton, N.J., and Rappahannock Ridge in Fredricksburg, Va. It is among a handful of companies nationwide known for such projects.
New life in Louisville:
In the late 1990s, Louisville found itself in a predicament similar to Birmingham's today - plans under way to expand its convention center in the middle of a downtown teeming with life during the day but moribund after dark.
In Louisville's case, the city wanted to take a failing 1980s downtown mall, the Louisville Galleria, and turn it into a destination. That city hired The Cordish Co., which had developed the Power Plant district in Baltimore and Bayou Place in Houston. Cordish and the city pumped $72 million in public and private money into converting the old mall into a bar- and shop-filled attraction.
Fourth Street Live!, adjacent to the Kentucky International Convention Center, opened in 2004, and nothing has been the same downtown since, said Chris Poynter, a spokesman for Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson.
"The public was very skeptical, saying `Oh, this is a white elephant.' But it turned out to be the complete opposite," Poynter said. Like Beale Street, Fourth Street Live! drew about 4 million visitors last year to its tenants, ranging from franchises like Hard Rock to home-grown destinations such as the Maker's Mark Bourbon House and Lounge.
Not only did the venue provide nightlife for convention-goers, Poynter said, it also drew locals who had long ago deserted downtown Louisville for the suburbs. There are now 2,000 residences downtown, he said, and about 2,000more in development.
"We have people who haven't come downtown in years who are coming downtown," Poynter said. "It's because you have that synergy of all those businesses in one place. It has inspired other developments and other builders to now look at downtown as a place to build."
While an economic impact study is not yet finished, Poynter said, the city is already planning to expand the venue because it sees a surge in downtown vitality.
"We've seen more housing development ... from loft condos to apartments," he said. "And we've seen businesses ... locate near Fourth Street Live! to be near the energy."
Bigger than Beale Street?:
Performa CEO John Elkington thinks Birmingham's district could outdo Louisville's Fourth Street Live! and Memphis' Beale Street, perhaps attracting as many as 6 million visitors a year.
He said he reached that estimate by tallying the 2.5 million people who already attend events at the BJCC annually plus outside tourists and area residents who, Elkington says, will be attracted by the well-known restaurants and retailers Performa plans to court.
In addition, Performa plans to capitalize on the attention Birmingham has received as home of two "American Idol" winners and a runner-up, plus court participation from famous entertainers born in the metro area, said Cato Walker, a Performa executive who handles development of its districts outside Memphis.
Jefferson County Commission President Bettye Fine Collins is a believer. She already envisions the BJCC entertainment district being filled with shops and clubs celebrating Birmingham's musical history, coffee shops, a gospel music venue, restaurants featuring well-known local chefs, and nationally known eateries.
"I've seen what Beale Street has done for Memphis, so this is an exciting time for Birmingham," Collins said. "For Performa to want to do this and not demand anything in return except the right to develop the land is a win-win for us. Hotels are going to want to be a part of this."
Birmingham Mayor Bernard Kincaid said the entertainment district combined with BJCC expansion will make downtown a regional attraction. "This will enhance our city and be a major source of revenue and new jobs," he said.
Sheraton Birmingham's general manager, Mark Noyes, said the entertainment district and BJCC expansion would be a major boost in both its convention and leisure travel business.
"Birmingham is right on the cusp of a transformation that will set the stage for growth over the next 20 years," Noyes said. "This entertainment district will extend both pre- and post-convention stays and bring more tourism revenue into our city."
From the Birmingham News.