The following is an excerpt from our January issue:

By: Michael Roy Hollihan

One Beale Street is already the most daring skyscraper to ever grace the Memphis skyline, and it has not yet been built. The hotel, condominium, and commercial center, which should be completed in 2010, is primed to become Memphis’ new exclamation mark along the Mississippi – our point of emphasis –a strong statement of a faith in the future of commerce and growth in Memphis.

One Beale, which was introduced to the public last August, is bold and post-modern in style. Gone are the traditional angles found in most downtown buildings. Instead, there are sharp cuts along the main glassy tower. The focal point is not the peak, but rather the middle, where the angles come to a point. The effect is much like a flash of light emanating from the center of the building. Like the daring designs behind the new Opera Memphis and the downtown Cannon Center, the concept behind One Beale pushes downtown architecture into the new twenty-first century.

Chance Carlisle, Director of Special Projects for the Carlisle Corporation, developers of the One Beale, calls the sky-scraper sky-altering – a building of stature that sings. “It is a prominent piece of land,” Carlisle says of the site. “The ground itself has history. It deserves something of stature.”

To achieve this stature, the Carlisle Corporation is hoping to make One Beale the tallest building on the Memphis skyline, barely edging out 100 North Main Street. The final design will boast of two towers, one reaching twenty-seven stories, the other a neck-wrenching thirty stories. The wow-factor, both in design in reach, is exactly what Carlisle is banking on to lure tenants and investors.

In 1980, Gene Carlisle, Founder and Owner of the Carlisle Corporation, took on development of the One Beale site, home to the Beale Street Landing. During the eighties and the early nineties, downtown was stuck in a period of neglect and decay. During that time, Carlisle explored a number of options to develop the land, but nothing would come to fruition.

Then in 2003, Hurricane Elvis swept through Memphis, carving a path of destruction throughout downtown. It also created the perfect opening for Carlisle. The Beale Street Landing was damaged beyond repair. It would have to be torn down and built back up. Carlisle saw this as his opportunity to take the Beale Street site and develop it into something worthwhile.

As the Carlisle Corporation began to move forward with plans for the One Beale, they immediately discovered that the landing was actually owned by the West Tennessee Historical Society. This meant that Carlisle did not have autonomy over the development of the land. Rather, it brought on eighteen months of negotiations and public hearings to make sure the property was developed in proper fashion.

By August 2006, the Carlisle group was finally able to unveil their plans, releasing their designs for the One Beale Street Building.

The designs were impressive, not like anything seen before along the Memphis skyline. However, not everyone was impressed. Neighboring developments like the Waterford Plaza and the Candy Factory Condominiums immediately voiced their concerns. They were not happy with the tall, new, muscular building that would appear along their side. Representatives showed up at the following Land Use Zoning meeting and forced a thirty-day freeze on the One Beale approval.

The Carlisle group was stunned. They had spent twenty-five years working to develop this land. Chance Carlisle himself had been immersed in every step of One Beale for nearly two years. He had just assumed that everyone was as familiar with the project as he was.

The thirty-day freeze in essence put the Carlisle