$16M renovation stands out on generational scale
By Greg Akers – Memphis Business Journal
April 3, 2025
Best Renovation — Medium
Winner: Orange Mound Library and Genealogy Center
Address: 843 Dallas St. (Memphis)
Estimated cost: $16.7 million
Owners/developers: City of Memphis Division of Housing & Community Development and Memphis Public Libraries
Architect: Self + Tucker Architects
Landscape architect: JPA Inc.
Engineers: MEP/FP: Innovative Engineering Services LLC; civil: JPA Inc.; structural: Chad Stewart & Associates Inc.
General contractor: Grinder, Taber & Grinder Inc.
Subcontractors: Allworld Project Management; American Disabilities Consultants; Perkins-Everitt Lighting & Controls; Sanders-2000 Inc.; Tioga Environmental Consultants
Interior designer: Self + Tucker Architects
The $16.7 million revitalization of the Historic Melrose School is the stunning result of decades of community advocacy, governmental support, and historic preservation. The project was led by the City of Memphis Division of Housing & Community Development and Memphis Public Libraries, with design by Self + Tucker Architects and built by Grinder, Taber & Grinder. The beloved building that stood blighted for more than 40 years is now a catalyst for further investment and a vibrant hub for the Orange Mound community. It is the neighborhood’s first public library and its first genealogy center.
Category finalists
The Apartments at Peabody Place
Address: 125 Gayoso Ave. (Memphis)
Estimated cost: $17.2 million
Owner/developer: Belz Enterprisesadaptive reuse of two historic buildings
Architect: 4FDesign
Engineers: Chad Stewart & Associates Inc.; DePouw Engineering LLC
General contractor: Montgomery Martin Contractors
Interior designer: 4FDesign
The Apartments at Peabody Place featured the adaptive reuse of two historic buildings: Haverty’s Furniture Co. and Goldsmith’s department store. Later, they were renovated into offices, the Center for Southern Folklore, and other retail uses. This new iteration preserves the historical attributes of the buildings, retains the ground-floor retail, and adds 120 apartment units. The ongoing success of the Gayoso House apartments led Belz Enterprises to explore the feasibility of converting office space to residential. The project features apartments with exquisite moldings, stained glass, soaring ceilings, bay windows, original 1904 tile, and more.
Memphis Merit Academy
Address: 4075 American Way (Memphis)
Estimated cost: $8.9 million
Owner/developer: Memphis Merit Academy
Architect: archimania
Engineers: MEP/FP: HNA Engineering PLLC; structural/EOR: Fowler Engineering LLC; structural/storm shelter peer review: Chad Stewart & Associates Inc.
General contractor: Grinder, Taber & Grinder Inc.
Interior designer: archimania
Memphis Merit Academy, a public charter school in a historically underserved area of the city, transformed a blighted grocery store in an abandoned shopping center to better meet the diverse needs of students, families, and the community. It includes a new playground conceived as a courtyard carved out of the center and a more flexible and enriching environment, elevating the educational experience for each child. This project hopes to be a catalyst for revitalization by creating a hub for education and community resiliency.
Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare Garden Pavilion
Address: 1265 Union Ave. (Memphis)
Estimated cost:$3.7 million
Owner/developer: Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare
Architect: archimania
Landscape architect: Olin Studio
Engineers: MEP/FP: Innovative Engineering Services LLC; structural: Fowler Engineering LLC
General contractor: Flintco LLC
Subcontractors: Clear Advantage Lighting; IMPEC; Iron & Design LLC; Quality Iron & Steel LLC; SM Alamo System LLC
The Garden Pavilion is a reinvention of Methodist University Hospital’s abandoned 1970s concrete cooling tower into a place for respite and gathering. Flexible indoor and outdoor spaces offer a peaceful and open experience for staff, caregivers, and ambulatory patients year-round. What was once an aging, obsolete building is now a national model of sustainability and innovative reuse, reinventing its massive, embodied carbon footprint into a new urban garden.
MOGA Memphis
Address: 6745 Wolf River Blvd. (Memphis)
Estimated cost: $5 million
Owner/developer: Memphis Obstetrics & Gynecological Association PC (MOGA)
Architect: UrbanArch Associates PC
Landscape architect: GreenPro Landscapes LLC
Engineers: Structural: Chad Stewart & Associates Inc.; MEP: HNA Engineering PLLC; civil: The Bray Firm
General contractor: Walker General Contractors
Subcontractors: Clear Advantage Lighting
Interior designer: Melinda Morrow Ltd.
In converting the former Opera Memphis, MOGA has turned a center for the art of music into a space for the art of healing. The $5 million project was designed by UrbanArch Associates, and construction led by Walker General Contractors. By exchanging the practice of music with the practice of medicine, MOGA Memphis has reimagined the former music hall with multiple clinical areas contextually situated within the Wolf River Medical District while preserving the original project’s unique form and structural framework.