Jefferson @ Main

Some thoughts about the new Courtyard Marriott going up at the corner of Jefferson and Main

• This is what the hotel will look like.
  
  
  I think it will give great visual presence to a long empty corner.
  


• That neighborhood's after hours density is about to skyrocket. You will also have the developing Court Square Center project and the Renaissance Apartments on 2 of the other 3 corners. That's in addition to the nearby
  
  Exchange Building,
  Madison Hotel,
  Goodwyn Institute,
  Porter Building,
  Claridge House,
  Springhill Suites,
  Sleep Inn,
  Comfort Inn,
  Marriott Residence Inn,
  67 Madison,
  Shrine Building
  University of Memphis Law School
  
  providing after hour residents, tourists and students, all within a 2 minute walk of each other.
  
  
  This could be the greatest density in the city.
  
  It's an opportunity to resurrect the center of Main Street, around Court Square, with street-level opportunities that can create an active, healthy, even transforming street life in an area affected by a disproportionate number of homeless and/or panhandlers.
  
  I think to restore a healthy, safe citizen mix, the Center City Commission must explicitly architect an active Main Street life. It can't expect that it will happen as a matter of course. It should encourage businesses -- bar, bistros, coffee houses, etc -- to open and to focus on the street with placement, use and hours. For instance, with the Courtyard visualization, the Jefferson side doesn't appear to have any entrances or exits, but the Main side does have umbrellas which hints at a commercial presence. But will it be a dull smoking plaza rather than street-level business that attracts nearby residents and tourists?
  
  Pretty blank walls, deprecated smoking plazas, and business-hour sandwich shops haven't, and won't, create an active street life. They are a real waste of this unprecedented density.


• Could the Center City Commission convince the 2 grocers at the northeast corner of Jefferson and Main to upgrade their wares and make the combination (and perhaps a 3rd in the empty corner) the promised downtown grocery store rather than a suburbish, pedestrian-unfriendly, downtown-fringe supermarket?


• While the block is finally looking urban again, Memphis has had to sustain a massive grayfield at this site for nearly a quarter of a century. It's taken that long for the Main, Jefferson, Front, Court block to return to an near urban form.
  
  Speculative demolition does not magically regenerate the urban landscape -- it leeches value from it.
  

Beautiful Court Square

Memphis should be proud of the beauty that is Court Square.











But as Jane Jacobs observed, the beauty and amenities of a park aren't enough if the adjoining neighborhood lacks use and time diversity. More on that later.