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While it's obvious Nashville is outpacing all of its neighboring cities, it was exciting to see the announcement of Union Row. With other projects already in the pipeline, it seems Downtown Memphis is finally starting to take off.

$250 million? A single office tower of those sizes would often be in that range.

The reported cost for a tower can be a huge range, depending whether they include:
--Land
--Design costs
--Construction costs for the building
--Design for the tenant improvements
--Construction costs for the tenant improvements
--Finance costs (like your $300,000 house is actually $450,000 in payments)
--Other

I report costs to the media for my company's projects (different area). The definition is whatever the various clients (developers etc.) prefer.

The city that is inextricably linked to sprawl on CD has more than a few interesting urban developments in the works.

"The Central Park," six high-rise towers and more than 2 million square feet of development on the 15-acre lot that borders Steele Indian School Park in uptown Phoenix. Pivotal Group's project will include just shy of $1 billion in development when completed. Ranging from 165 feet to 355 feet tall, will house the following:

https://kjzz.org/content/1043476/gam...an-school-park

Central Station Project in downtown Phoenix with 3 towers up to 300' totaling 1.1 million square feet at $231 million.

https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news...oenix-11272517

Yeah, Memphis has been a sleeper city for development. This Union Row development is HUGE. Being built on mostly abandoned properties or vacant lots/under-utilized properties.

Also, a lot of projects are just now starting to see approvals and getting "shovels in the ground." One Beale recently started construction finally, The Clipper office tower/hotel was announced, FedEx Networks is moving downtown, AutoZone is expanding downtown, ServiceMaster opened its new HQ downtown last year, and a new Loews conference center hotel is proposed. Also, the Pinch district just north of downtown is being re-developed.

If Memphis could land a big HQ relocation or two, it could easily boom. Housing costs are super inexpensive, the city has incredible culture, music legacy, and solid, pretty dense downtown urban bones.

As long as crime is managed, and communities become more involved and part of the redevelopment, Memphis will start to see its status rise and it will be a game changer.

$250 million for maybe one or two of those towers lol. I guarantee that whole project is a minimum a $1-2 billion dollars

I think Water Street Tampa, while it will by no means making Tampa one of the most exciting Downtowns in the US, will definitely be a game changer in terms of how the city and especially the Downtown area are perceived.

https://waterstreettampa.com/

It's being designed by famed urban planner Jeff Speck, author of the highly influential urban planning book "Walkable City".

When all is said and done, the project will add 9 million square feet of new commercial, residential, entertainment, etc. spaces.

There will be the first new downtown office towers for the city in around 25 years, a JW Marriott and Edition, the first 5 star hotel in the city, plus 3,500 rental/sale residences which will double the amount of housing present in Downtown.

1 Million Square feet of retail/cultural space at street level, and 13 acres of parks, Neighborhood-Wide WiFi, it has environmental focused principles and as a result is the first neighborhood in the world to earn the WELL community standard designation.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/brendar.../#3260d0a331b9

https://waterstreettampa.com/lifestyle


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbBzjEa477A

^^^ May God bless them, because last time I was in Tampa's downtown it was probably the least exciting downtown that I've ever been to in the US of a city/metro 2+ million.

You are probably right. That $250 million figure must've been a mistake in the article. LOL...that amount wouldn't build an entire project these days.

I agree--Tampa's downtown when I visited (in 2015) was pretty quiet and uneventful--not very exciting. Hopefully this development will change that.

The issue with Tampa is that the metro has three large cities/urban centers all within very close proximity to each other, with St-Pete having a larger, more active downtown than the principle city (Tampa.) Even with this large project, I still think it will remain a somewhat sleepy, boring place. Unless somehow they can convince everyone to suddenly skip out on Clearwater and St-Pete (not happening.)

What they REALLY need to do to revamp downtown, is connect it to Ybor City (i.e., clean up that area between Downtown and Ybor and turn it into a walkable destination.) Until then... Water St./Channelside will bring in SOME life, but outside of during events at Amalie Arena, I predict it will continue to be dead.