From vacancy to vertical village and beyond with Todd Richardson

In 2017, a long-vacant Sears distribution center on Cleveland Street in Memphis was reborn as Crosstown Concourse—a “vertical urban village.” The 1.5 million square foot behemoth is now home to healthcare, a high school, art galleries, a YMCA, restaurants, and 265 apartments. 

For decades after Sears shuttered in 1993, the Crosstown corridor slipped off the city’s mental map—boarded storefronts, empty sidewalks, and years of disinvestment. Today, the investments and energy imbued at Crosstown Concourse has become a catalyst for neighborhood revival, from a partnership with Live Nation to build a new music venue to more than 30 acres of mixed use redevelopment. 

In this episode, host Kate Gasparro talks with Todd Richardson about how arts and patient capital sparked Crosstown’s rebirth, and how that momentum is fueling the next wave of investment.

Resources:

Satellite Music Hall breaks ground at Crosstown (Choose901)

Community Leadership Drives the Transformation of an Abandoned Sears Warehouse (MetropolisMag)

Crosstown Concourse Case Study (Bruner Foundation)

Crosstown Concourse Documentary (Crosstown Concourse)

Toronto's Distillery District (Distillery District)

MASS MoCA's History (MASS MoCA)

Ponce City Market History (Ponce City Market)

Midtown Global Market History (Midtown Global Market)

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