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SEARS CROSSTOWN
ADAPTIVE REUSE
Client: Crosstown Arts
Services: Architecture, Planning (physical
planning, strategic planning, scenario planning)
Cost: Currently estimated at approximately
$180 M
Size: 1.5 M+ sq ft
Completion: Multiple Phases with possible
completions as early as 2015
Location: Memphis, Tennessee
Sears Crosstown is a mixed-use regenerative project in Memphis Tennessee
encompassing over 1.5 million sq ft of building(s), on more than 16 acres of N
land; and involving the collaborative partnership of groups ranging from major
healthcare providers, to education institutions, and non-profit arts organizations.
Community gardens, recreation and performance facilities, commercial office,
retail, and a diverse mix of residential tenancies make up the primary uses.
Envisioned as a ‘vertical urban village’ – organized around the concept of
‘urban magnets’ - the project extends out from the Art Deco shell of one of
Sears’ 10 national distribution centers (built across the US in the 1920s); and
represents a purposeful collective of mixed uses and partners working together
– integrating programs as diverse as cancer treatment, recreation facilities, 500seat performance theatre, gallery, a high school, teachers residency, office space,
residential, and hybrids of all types in between.
Guided by a regenerative design framework (created by the design team and
informed by the Petals of the Living Building Challenge) all proponents have
come together around a shared core vision of health, well-being and creative
exchange – imbuing the project with the potential to regenerate not just the
building and its immediate site, but the broader communities of the city of
Memphis.