High-rise condo: Goodwyn gets new life

Jane Aldinger

Adding to the ever-growing residential development in Downtown Memphis, Capital Development LLC partners Henry Grosvenor and J. Hollingsworth are redeveloping the former Goodwyn Institute building into condos and apartments.

But the $9 million redevelopment project will offer the market something it hasn't seen before, turning the 18-story building into a total of 26 upscale units, eight full-floor condos and 18 apartments.

The building, at 127 Madison, is about 65,000 square feet, and its floor sizes are small for a high-rise, measuring about 3,000 square feet per floor. The 3,000-square-foot condominiums will be located on the top eight floors, and floors 2-10 each will be split into two 1,300-square-foot apartments.
Grosvenor says they are still putting together cost estimates for the high-end condos, but he says the prices will reflect the project.

"They will be the nicest condominiums that have been built in Memphis," he says. "We're trying to bring the Park Avenue New York concept to Memphis."

Grosvenor and Hollingsworth have hired Bluff City Realty, a residential brokerage focused solely on Downtown, to market the condominiums. Amelia Carkuff Interiors will do the interior design work, and Barnett Naylor has been hired as the project's contractor.

The developers have been granted historic tax credits for the redevelopment, which dictate that they must rent the 18 apartment units for a minimum of five years. Grosvenor says after that five-year requirement, there's a good chance they will sell those units as condos also.

The units will have hardwood floors, granite-countered kitchens, vanities and ceramic tile in the bathrooms, and the condos will not have common areas since elevators will open into the homes of condo owners.

Many of Downtown's traditional apartment buildings have been converted into condominiums, including the Claridge House and the Shrine Building. Grosvenor doesn't predict an absorption problem because the project is only adding 18 units to the market.

"We really feel there's a market because we've lost all of the apartment buildings," he says. "There are really not any apartments for rent in the core of Downtown."

Ron Kastner, CB Richard Ellis Memphis vice president and Bluff City Realty investor, says Goodwyn is the kind of project Bluff City was founded for.

"It's an acid test for what we were thinking," he says. "This is where we have the expertise in this local market to have the specialty contacts to fill these buildings. That's what we saw coming, and that's why we started this."

Jennifer Murff, head of Bluff City, says the units should sell quickly because the building is providing something yet to come online Downtown with its upscale amenities and adjacent parking. Kastner says Goodwyn is the kind of project they like to see because it is one of the few true examples of core neighborhood development in a boutique style.

Grosvenor and Hollingsworth developed Number 10 Main, an upscale apartment building that will feature a lot of the same amenities as Goodwyn, only Goodwyn will be "taken up a notch," Grosvenor says. Goodwyn will feature a first-floor lounge area equipped with a catering kitchen, fireplace, bar and big screen television.

Goodwyn, like Number 10, will also have a roof-top deck with grills, patio furniture, planters and a Jacuzzi. Grosvenor says the rooftop has been the No. 1 feature in renting Number 10 units and they plan to continue that concept.

Hollingsworth has also founded a management company, Ambassador Management, that will handle Goodwyn and Number 10.

The Goodwyn redevelopment is ready to go -- the developers have their financing aligned and have 90% completed plans.

"We're on a very fast track at this point," Grosvenor says.

Demolition work on the adjacent Piccadilly building will begin next week, and interior demolition is currently under way. They expect demolition will be complete in three months, with a 10-12 month construction phase, hoping to lease units by spring 2006.

Partners Hollingsworth and Grosvenor, who have worked together on a number of multi-family projects in the community, purchased the building in 1999 as part of the parking garage development, but have waited to develop it because of cost issues.

"We've always wanted to do this building, but even three years ago, we couldn't get the prices or the rents," Grosvenor says. "With all that's happening in Downtown and especially what's happening in this neighborhood, it makes sense now. It works."

Goodwyn is located next door to other historic structures, the Piccadilly building and the Federal Bakery building. The Piccadilly building's facade is all that remains of the structure, and Grosvenor will be tearing that down and renovating the four-story Federal Bakery building as its own live/work condominium, with 700 square feet per floor.

The developers built the parking garage which backs up to 127 Madison, and with the space from the Piccadilly property, they will add a motorcourt and courtyard off of Madison, modeled after Peabody Place's Hampton Inn concept.

The only building entrance will be off the courtyard, and a private parking ramp will be built exclusively for Goodwyn occupants. There will also be an entrance to the building from the fourth floor of the parking garage.

Located at the corner of Madison and Second, Goodwyn was built in 1908 by Central Bank and Trust, the parent bank of First Tennessee, as a headquarters facility. Designed by Memphis architect George Mahan, it was the tallest building in the city until 1924 when the Lincoln-American tower was built.

Built in the Beaux Arts style, Central Bank built the tower with $240,000 in capital and $100,000 in surplus. Judith Johnson, former executive director of Memphis Heritage, currently does preservation consulting work in addition to her role as a real estate agent with Crye-Leike Midtown.

Grosvenor and Hollingsworth hired Johnson to help them research the property's history, and Johnson says she has enjoyed watching the continued revitalization of Downtown buildings.

"I just have found it very exciting to watch Downtown go from being mostly abandoned, deteriorating buildings and now they're really almost fixing up every building Downtown," she says.

Developments like Goodwyn are challenging projects because of historic sensitivity and Downtown congestion, and developers like Grosvenor and Hollingsworth are widely revered for their dedication to Downtown.

"You don't have to do this kind of stuff -- there's a lot easier ways to make a buck," Kastner says.

But Grosvenor insists nothing is more satisfying than walking into Number 10, where he lives, and remembering what it was before he and Hollingsworth transformed it.

"It doesn't even compare," he says.