USA: Tennessee Brewery project moves forward even if neighbors oppose citing their concerns about the excessive height of the 14-story condominium

A proposed $48 million Tennessee Brewery development won approval for height and frontage zoning exemptions at Land Use Control Board meeting on October 12, Memphis Business Journal posted October 12.

Developers Guy Rizzo and Gordon Follmer plan to build a 14-story condominium connected to the west portion of the one-acre Tennessee Brewery property, removing part of the 116-year-old building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Brewery proposal includes a mixed-use retail component and a four- or five-story parking garage in addition to 140 residential units, which will be priced from $225,000 to $1 million.

Brenda Solomito, land planner for the project, spoke on behalf of the Detroit-based developers. Solomito said they are purchasing the Brewery property and the adjacent lot to the north for $1.6 million.

Neighbors opposed to the project spoke October 12, citing their concerns about the excessive height of the 154-foot tower detailed in current plans. William Evans spoke out against the project, which is across Tennessee Street from his residence.

"Many people who live along Tennessee Street have made an investment in their single family dwellings that's on the same scale of magnitude at seven figures as what they (the developers) are going to pay for this property," Evans said. "If our community is not going to step up to protect the few buildings we have on the registry and the few neighborhoods we have with character in this city, then what are we going to take a stand on?"

June West, executive director of Memphis Heritage, spoke out against the proposal and was shocked that the Land Use Control Board approved the zoning exemptions without discussion.

"The board did not discuss any of the concerns of the neighborhood," West said after the meeting. "This project will probably result in the Tennessee Brewery being taken off the National Registry of Historic Places, and I question the developers' claims that they will be saving 76 percent of the existing building."

Developers are standing by the scale of the project, which they say is the only economically feasible way to develop on the site.

Solomito said October that the cost of preserving and renovating 76 percent of the Brewery is unknown.

In the South Main Historic District, Central Station is eight stories and The Lofts, adjacent to the Brewery, is six stories.

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