The Commercial Appeal by Ellen Chamberlain

April 22, 2025

An Oregon-based drive-thru coffee chain is looking to make its mark in the local market with its first Shelby County location expected to open sometime this summer.  A 1,027-square-foot Dutch Bros Coffee Shop is under construction at 1181 West Poplar Avenue within Collierville’s notable Schilling Farms mixed-use development area.  The drive-thru coffee shop, which is being built just to the west of Truist Bank, will share a driveway through the bank parking lot.

Cole Beeson is the regional operator for the Dutch Bros Coffee in Collierville. Beeson, whose family will be moving from Oregon to Tennessee, has worked for the company for the past seven years.  Beeson has been part of Dutch Bros Coffee’s travel staff, which opens up new locations in different states.  He said Collierville is part of the company’s growth plan.  The company currently has 1,000 locations across 18 states, including 28 locations in Tennessee.

“The company in general, we’re expanding a lot and we’re opening a lot of locations,” Beeson said. “We really strive to open up in any area that we can strive in.  When we were looking at the Greater Memphis area, it kind of felt natural that Collierville is the place where we can first open up, make some amazing drinks and build some big smiles.”

Alissan Speidel, an external communications representative for Dutch Bros Coffee, said the company currently didn’t have any information to share regarding opening other locations in the Memphis area.  The Dutch Bros Coffee in Collierville will include two drive-through lanes that can be accessed by Poplar Avenue and Schilling Boulevard East.  It will also include a walk-up window for customers, but no indoor seating.

While Beeson didn’t provide a specific hiring count for the Dutch Bros Coffee in Collierville, he said a typical location usually has 30 to 50 employees.  As for the menu, Beeson said Dutch Bros Coffee, which was established in 1992, specializes in making a variety of drinks, including coffee, smoothies, teas, lemonade and energy drinks such as its exclusive Dutch Bros Rebel energy drink.

Dutch Bros Coffee is also known for making strong contributions to the communities it services.  According to its website, each year Dutch Bros Coffee dedicates a day in May called “Drink One for Dane” to raise funds for the Muscular Dystrophy Association to end Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) in honor of co-founder Dane Boersma following his diagnosis and fight with ALS.  Boersma passed away in 2009.

“The thing we feel will separate us from other competitors is that we have a huge variety of different drinks that are all hand crafted by our “broistas,” which is our spin on baristas.  They are completely customizable meaning we have a huge menu, including both caffeinated and non-caffeinated beverages,” Beeson said.  “But the other thing that really separates us is the culture of our company.  We are super big on our relationships and putting back in the community, whether doing local giveback days at each of our locations in hopes to serve our community in whatever capacity we can.  It’s kind of our blueprint for helping the community.”

 

 

 

The Commercial Appeal by Corey Davis

April 7, 2025

More new housing is being planned for a major mixed-use development in Collierville.  A preliminary site plan for 246 multi-family residential units at the Water Tower District at Schilling Farms were approved by a 4-1 vote by the Collierville Planning Commission on Thursday.  Charles Green cast the dissenting vote, while Alderman John Stamps, who serves as the Collierville Board of Mayor and Aldermen liaison on the planning commission, recused himself.  The units will be on 13.13 acres as part of Phase 2 of the Water Tower District at Schilling Farms, which is located on the west side of Schilling Boulevard West and south of Poplar Avenue.

What will be included in phase 2 of the Water Tower District at Schilling Farms?

The 246 apartment units will consist of 132 one-bedroom units, 58 two-bedroom units and 56 three-bedroom units.  Amenities will include a clubhouse, mail room, storage room and bike storage.  In addition, the phase will also include a dog park located at the southwest corner of the lot, a community pool and two lawn areas.  There is not any proposed retail space in Phase 2 unlike Phase 1 of the Water Tower District, according to staff reports.   Additionally, there are 508 parking spaces proposed throughout the development, including surface parking, street parking, detached/attached garages, Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant spaces and electric vehicle parking spaces.

What’s next for Phase 2 of the Water District at Schilling Farms?

Plans for Phase 2 of the Water Tower District at Schilling Farms will go in front of the Design Review Commission on April 10 and then be on the Collierville Board of Aldermen agenda on April 28.

How many residential units will Water Tower District include?

Phases 1 and 2 at the Water Tower District will include a combined 505 residential units.  Phase 1 of the Water Tower District was approved in 2021 by the Collierville Board of Aldermen and is under construction. The first phase consists of 259 residential units and 2,193 square feet of retail space on 14.83 acres.  The two phases will bring the total multifamily units within the Schilling Farms Planned Development to 1,685 units, which is 40 units below the maximum allowable of 1,725 units, according to staff reports.  The Schilling Farms Planned Development was approved by the Collierville Board of Mayor and Aldermen in 1991 with amendments in 1995, 1997, and 2009.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Boyle Investment Company has announced the promotion of Marina Murphy to the newly created role of director of Marketing for statewide business. The former marketing director for the firm’s Nashville office, Murphy brings 10 years of business and marketing experience to the position.

“Marketing Boyle across the entire state is a huge opportunity,” said Jeff Haynes, one of Boyle Nashville’s founding partners. “Marina understands our business so deeply. As we strive to plan and build mixed-use communities, placemaking, programming, and marketing will be integral to differentiating our developments. Marina’s marketing acumen and creativity provide a unique edge, and we are confident that her leadership will create more effective and impactful marketing efforts for Boyle Investment Company.”

Murphy played a pivotal role in rebranding Boyle and launching its statewide marketing efforts. She had led marketing for Boyle’s Nashville office since joining the company in 2019. Her leadership has helped the Boyle brand flourish, emphasizing the company’s mission as a community builder. The marketing team has grown to four people under her guidance. In this new role, she will now also oversee marketing for Boyle’s Memphis location and build on a comprehensive, statewide marketing strategy for the company as a whole.

An established developer providing premier locations and innovative design, Boyle is known in Nashville for its dynamic mixed-use developments, including Capitol View, CityPark, McEwen Northside, Meridian Cool Springs and Berry Farms. The firm also has significant developments in and around Memphis, where it first began operations in 1933. With extensive experience in all facets of real estate from development to property management, to site selection and sales and leasing, Boyle Investment Company creates well-planned community-oriented environments.

For more information about Boyle Investment Company, visit boyle.com.

This article originally ran in FranklinIs.

Collierville Magazine

By Catherine Eakin & David Tankersly

Family is the name of the game for three local developers and real estate professionals:  Allen Green of John Green Realtors, Karen and Reggie Garner, Jr. of Magnolia Homes, and Gary Thompson of Boyle Investment Company.  They all work for companies that see employees and clients as part of their extended family, and they understand that families are the fabric of strong communities. It’s what Collierville is all about.  From a best-in-class school system, notable public safety services, and a deep well of amenities like parks, a modern hospital, plentiful restaurants and shopping, families have always been an inherent part of the Collierville story.

On the commercial side of development, the increased mixed-use construction in the Schilling Farms area is both impressive and encouraging.  For an expert perspective on this development, look no further than Gary Thompson of Boyle Investment Company.  After obtaining his degree in landscape architecture and a brief period of consulting roles, Thompson started full-time with Boyle in 1995.  It’s been a successful relationship ever since.

Boyle is proud of the reputation they’ve built as one of the premier commercial and residential development firms in the area.  They consistently look to construct long-lasting buildings for their clients and in the process establish sound business relationships.  Their motto, “Building Communities Since 1933” is fitting.

Thompson embraces the idea of building communities.  He and Boyle have been involved in the development of Schilling Farms since the early 1990s.  Thompson adds, “It was a period that saw Collierville become one of the fastest-growing communities in Tennessee.  The steady growth of the area has been great for Boyle and the diverse group of companies that are now located at Schilling Farms.  Mueller Industries has found a home there, as has IMC Logistics, who moved their world headquarters there in 2022.  SOB (South of Beale Restaurant), Rotolos, and Crumbl Cookies are all part of their new development at Poplar and Schilling Farms.  Boyle continues to pursue new home, dining and shopping sites within Schilling Farms.

“Mixed-use developments permit us to do some really cool stuff that is supported by this walkable community,” Thompson says.  “you can pick up your kid from daycare and run them across the street to the orthodontist, then return them to daycare or take them home.  It’s sort of a one-stop shop.  It functions really, really well.” It’s an ideal layout for families, having most amenities located within a quick drive or comfortable walk, and it’s a concept that will find an expanded use in Collierville.

Memphis Business Journal, October 4-10, 2024

Every year, MBJ honors the top female leaders in the Memphis area with Super Women in Business, presented by Independent Bank.  This marks the 13th Super Women in Business.  And it is indisputably one of the top events MBJ produces, year in and year out.  Ask anyone who has ever attended.  It cannot be missed.  Each year has its own flavor, driven by the personalities of the individual women being honored.  But over time, one also sees the universality of what makes each of them so successful and worthy of being honored:  their intellect, vision, resolve, bravery, creativity, empathy, passion, compassion, energy, and persistence — and, no less, a je ne sais quoi that beguiles attempts to delimit who they are.  And you can see for yourself all the ways those in the 2024 class of Super Women in Business break past convention in the following section.

Kathy Pampuro, Executive Vice President, Boyle Investment Company

Job role/responsibilities:  My primary role is leasing agent:  showing Boyle-owned properties office vacancies to prospective tenants and working with existing tenants on lease renewals.  There’s an array of tasks that go into securing a new tenant and a lease renewal, including working with our in-house space planning team to prepare plans for our prospect’s/tenant’s specific office space needs, working with our space planning team to competitively bid the leasehold improvement work to general contractors, underwriting the analytics of the transaction for proposal and lease preparation, negotiating the lease, and working with our property management team for tenant move in.

Superpowers that would best equip someone entering your profession:  The ability to make tenant reps show up on time for their scheduled appointments or at a minimum only 15 minutes late for a scheduled appointment.

Biggest mentor:  Mark Halperin, COO/EVP who has been with Boyle for more than 50 years.  Mark can sometimes come across like a lion, but he’s a real teddy bear.  He is so knowledgeable, practical in his thinking, honest, fair, objective and humble.  He always has his employees’ backs and gives us all the opportunity to excel in whatever it is that we want to do.

 

 

The Daily Memphian

By Jane Roberts

 

Across the city, rent is either nearly flat or dropping as much as 10% as occupancy rates, close to 100% in early 2022, now hover around 92%.

There are bubbles of exception everywhere, but in Midtown, Collierville and Downtown, new apartment complexes are adding competition.

In Downtown, the 210-unit The Oliver will open in September. The building is well into the leasing phase now.

In some cases, occupancies in the core of the Downtown district are as low as 85%, although those tend to be on Main Street and not at South Junction, for instance, which Henry Turley Co. developed, starting in 2014. It now has a pandemic-level occupancy of 97%.

But in July, a one-bedroom at 628 Stratton Circle, off Florida Street, rented for $1,390. In August, a new tenant got it for more than 10% less.

“For us, our goal is to make sure we do everything we can to bring more people Downtown,” said Alex Turley, CEO. “To continue to promote Downtown, to live, work, play, stay — everything. That’s our goal as a company.”

Benjamin Orgel is more direct. His company, Tower Ventures, redeveloped the massive Tennessee Brewery and, this summer, began leasing the 292-unit Harbor Side, opening in December, part of the 65-acre Snuff District on Downtown’s north side.

“Obviously, we have a lot of units Downtown, and we can’t always be at the top of the market,” Orgel said. “The stock market doesn’t set a new record every day.

“Are we at our all-time high of rents and occupancy today? No.”

But, as a company, Tower has outperformed both its seven- and two-year projections on rents in the Snuff District, the mixed-use development it started in 2016, he said.

“Do I wish our occupancy was at 100% today? I do,” Orgel said. “But you can’t be at the top every day and every year.”

The Memphis metro area is set to complete 1,267 rental units in 2024, a record year for apartment construction across the country, according to RentCafe blog’s Apartment Construction Report, released Aug. 29. In the next five years, it projects 5,161 new units will be delivered here, 21% fewer than the 6,552 that opened from 2019-2023.

Higher borrowing costs are taking a toll, prompting developers to adjust their strategy, which means they may focus on lower-risk projects or shift to markets with strong demand and job growth, said Doug Ressler, senior analyst at Yardi Matrix.

“In places like Texas, for instance, the demand for apartments remains robust due to factors like corporate migration and high home prices,” he said.

Rent is pure economics, but it’s personal

The rental market has always reflected a mix of economic factors, including interest rates, high enough now at 6.55% to keep many people from buying a home. For younger renters, many of whom are paying college loans, buying a house means having enough extra for a down payment.

“Those are hard things to crack when you don’t have a lot of income, and you’re just getting on your feet wet out of college,” said Les Binkley, vice president at Boyle Investment Co.

But the market is also awash in new social patterns, including empty-nesters and people, young and older, renting by choice because they don’t want their nest eggs tied up in housing.

“Not everybody wants to have a quarter-acre lot and do the lawn and have a house and do the upkeep,” Binkley said. “There’s a certain aspect of apartment living that has become a luxury because you can avoid all that.”

Beginning in 2020, rents rose 3% to 5% a year for people in a current lease. But for those who were looking for new places, sometimes in the same complex, prices on similarly sized units often were $300 or $400 more expensive, a direct result of the demand the pandemic created.

“COVID actually ended up being a boost for both the apartment industry and the for-sale housing industry because people basically weren’t moving,” said Mark Fogelman, president of Fogelman, a multi-family real estate company with properties in 13 states.

“In the last 12 months, we’ve definitely seen a drop off in occupancies, down approximately 2%. And rental pricing is anywhere from flat to down 5%, based upon location,” he said.

Fogelman manages 23 properties, close to 5,000 units across nearly every market in Shelby County. Rents now range from $700 for a studio to more than $4,000 for a high-end, three-bedroom unit.

“But, we can’t really say we suddenly have a surplus because occupancy rates are still quite high,” Fogelman said.

The market, he said, is finding its balance after the pandemic. Tennessee, a red state, had a measurable uptick in the number of people migrating from states with more restrictive COVID policies.

“We operate apartments throughout the Sun Belt, which really is everything from the Carolinas all the way around to Texas,” Fogelman said. “We saw double the typical number of out-of-state transfers.”

And, based on what Fogelman sees in the company’s turnover rate, many of those new residents stayed.

“I’d say, 55% to 60% of our tenants are renewing today, and it was probably in the low 50s up until a couple of years ago,” he said.

Rents did increase, and substantially, from the start of the pandemic, for people who did not have leases.

It happened for a variety of reasons, including that some local landlords sold their properties to national companies when the COVID rent moratorium forbade them from evicting tenants who didn’t pay.

That restriction lasted a year.

“Those companies came in and applied their national rates here,” said Mary Hamlett, vice president of family programs at MIFA. “Whether Memphis can perform at that level or not, that is their model.”

A WalletHub study released in July ranked Memphis dead last for best cities to rent on a list of 182 cities. The largest reason was cost, said Cassandra Happe, a consumer finance expert on its staff.

“Memphis ranked 168th for affordability,” she said. “That’s in the bottom 25% of the nation.”

WalletHub uses fair-market rent rates to measure affordability, the same rates housing assistance programs use to determine standard payments.

HUD sets the fair market rate on properties that are 10% below the median rate and reflect stays of more than two years, as a way of showing what the conditions are in any market at one time.

From 2022 to 2024, fair-market rent in Memphis for a two-bedroom, plus utilities, rose more than 19% a year, according to WalletHub’s analysis. Nationally, the annual average increase was 12.33%.

“Pre-COVID, we saw rental rates for two-bedroom apartments go from $950 to $1,300 and above for modest to nice rentals,” Hamlett said.

That, she points out, is nearly a 37% increase. The same rates for one bedroom increased by nearly 45%.

“People’s incomes didn’t go up like that,” she said.

“Job layoffs and workplace closings are a big part of it,” Hamlett said. “The other part is the price of everything is increasing all at once, but especially rent.

“We used to have almost no applicants from the suburbs, and now Cordova, Arlington and Millington are taking up a big slice of people getting assistance,” she said.

“So, it’s hitting that lower middle and the working upper.”

And for the first six months of this year, for the first time anyone at MIFA can remember, the agency began receiving more requests for rental assistance than it did for utilities. When the fiscal year ended June 30, rent requests had eclipsed utility requests, 9,810 to 6,750.

She can think of 12 local landlords who sold to national firms like DIWY homes and Progressive Rentals.

“We used to be able to rehouse people with a lower amount than what the fair market rate allowed us to do because we had rental rates that were low,” Hamlett said. “Now, we’re more on par with national averages.”

Rents in Memphis are still “much, much lower” than Nashville, Atlanta and Charlotte on an absolute basis and per-foot basis, said Jimmy Ringel, a partner in Makowsky, Ringel Greenberg Multi-family and Commercial Real Estate.

Wouldn’t happen without incentives

In the City of Memphis, which has the highest tax rate of any city in the state, not one of the apartment complexes that has sprung up in the last three decades would have happened without tax incentives, he said.

In 2016, the Center City Revenue Finance Corp., an arm of the Downtown Memphis Commission, modified its PILOT policy to include smaller projects outside the Central Business Improvement District.

“The policy change made smaller projects eligible for CCRFC PILOTs, and was helpful for Midtown, providing support for projects that would not have happened otherwise,” said Brett Roler, chief operating officer at the DMC.

It paved the way for The Citizen, Orleans Station, the Lofts @ Overton and the other multi-family projects that sprung up between Downtown and the Parkways.

“The point we made to the administration, eight to nine to 10 years ago was, the same situation applied to Midtown that applied to Downtown,” Ringel said.

“You couldn’t afford to build anything Midtown either. And the point we made to the city was that while Downtown needed to be vibrant, and we understood that, you want an economically thriving Midtown area too.”

At Orleans Station, built to provide student housing for University of Tennessee students, rents for one- and two-bedroom units are $1,250 and $1,875. The Citizen ranges from $1,475-$2,260.

Paying for peace, privacy

Sumi Montgomery has a master’s degree, a job she loves and a frightening rental history. Three times in one weekend, an intruder got into the duplex she was renting off Union Avenue and Hollywood Street, the first time breaking in and stealing her spare key.

He then came back, letting himself in until management changed the lock.

It took her three months to find safer housing she could afford. And in her case, the word afford may be relative.

Montgomery pays more than 52% of her income to live at The Arbors Harbor Town — a 30-plus-year-old property tucked in on the island’s south side. Her one-bedroom is $1,357 a month, plus about $100 in utilities.

At 31, she had to have a family friend co-sign her 15-month lease because The Arbors — like nearly every modern apartment complex in the city — requires tenants’ income be at least three times the cost of rent.

For Montgomery, the cost of paying half her salary for housing is the price of feeling safe and not having to have a roommate.

For spending money, she hustles a side gig, taking care of pets.

“I want to stay here as long as I can,” she said. “But, I was just talking to another pet sitter who has been at The Arbors for two years. She is getting ready to move because they keep upping the price.”

It took her three months to find safer housing she could afford. And in her case, the word afford may be relative.

Montgomery pays more than 52% of her income to live at The Arbors Harbor Town — a 30-plus-year-old property tucked in on the island’s south side. Her one-bedroom is $1,357 a month, plus about $100 in utilities.

At 31, she had to have a family friend co-sign her 15-month lease because The Arbors — like nearly every modern apartment complex in the city — requires tenants’ income be at least three times the cost of rent.

For Montgomery, the cost of paying half her salary for housing is the price of feeling safe and not having to have a roommate.

For spending money, she hustles a side gig, taking care of pets.

“I want to stay here as long as I can,” she said. “But, I was just talking to another pet sitter who has been at The Arbors for two years. She is getting ready to move because they keep upping the price.”

When Velma Zahirovic-Herbert, the Martha and Robert Fogelman Chair in Sustainable Real Estate at the University of Memphis, moved to Memphis in 2021, there was little residential property for sale.

She and her husband decided to temporarily rent a condo.

They’ve upgraded several times and now rarely think about buying a home.

“We quite enjoy being the renters,” she said.

“Home prices have been going up ever since we came to Memphis, and the interest rates were high. … To be honest, after selling our home where we lived before, we thought it was just fine to keep those dollars available for other investments, rather than turn them into housing.”

That means for the first time in 30 years, everyone in her family is renting, including her children in San Francisco.

“I’m not surprised this is a trend,” she said. “I think it’s provided my husband and me a lifestyle flexibility we did not think would be achievable if we were homeowners. The development is amenity-rich. We don’t have to worry about gym access, pool access, trash, valet or anything else. It’s 24-hour concierge service. It’s really what we call easy living.”

Singles now prefer to live alone

Families still want two- and three-bedroom units, and there are plenty of them available, Binkley said, but at the Water Tower District in Collierville, Boyle is building an array of one-bedroom-plus floor plans — with a den or half bath or a space to work from home — to cater to surging market of renters who want to live alone.

“People who are single are less likely now to roommate up with others,” Binkley said.

On the younger end, they’re often recent college graduates used to living in the amenity-rich complexes on campus.

“They have already been conditioned to want resort-style amenities and programming and the type of products they leased in college,” Binkley said.

“The whole arms race has changed,” he said with a chuckle. “Their parents were paying for it in college, but there are a lot of parents still supporting their children when they get out into the workforce. That’s not uncommon.”

But there also are people whose incomes dropped in the pandemic or due to unforeseen life changes. That has forced them to live with family or in rental housing later in life.

Kevin Davidson was coaching at Bartlett High after the pandemic. He now drives routes for Pepsi and, for four years, has had a year-to-year lease on North Parkway near St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. He currently pays $900 to live alone, $200 more than he was paying to live with a roommate in the South Main District several years ago.

“I’m 35,” he said, while waiting for a pickup food order at Huey’s in Midtown. “I don’t feel like I should have to have a roommate.”

He expects living closer to his job in Collierville would cost $500-$600 more a month, which would mean finding a better-paying job and starting over in some ways.

“I’m probably going to move somewhere else. My lease is up in December,” he said. “I plan to start looking in September.”

Real estate development company continues to invest in Davidson, Williamson counties after 90 years in business

 

Boyle Investment Company celebrated 90 years of real estate development in 2023. Though the company is based in Memphis, its Nashville office has been open since 2001 and has grown from two employees to 34.

The company operates about 3.2 million square feet of commercial space and has investments in around 1,500 multifamily units in the Nashville market. It’s known for local developments like Capitol View Nashville, CityPark Brentwood, Meridian Cool Springs, Berry Farms and McEwen Northside in Franklin.

Post sister publication The News spoke with Jeff Haynes, managing partner of Boyle’s Nashville office, about the growth of the company in Nashville as it looks back on its 90 years of history.

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Tell me about some of the history of the projects that you have done and the growth you’ve experienced as Middle Tennessee has grown.

I think it’s important to start with honoring the three brothers Bayard Boyle, Snowden Boyle and Charles Boyle who had the vision and foresight to start the company in 1933 coming out of the depression. It’s very rare in the real estate industry for companies to survive 90 years. I think one of our most respected competitors would be H.G. Hill here locally who have been around for 125 years. But most real estate companies are very young and very new. To survive 90 years requires financial stability, requires a commitment to working with each of your employees, requires adaptability and creativity to develop projects that are in tune with what the market wants each and every day. We’ve tried to do that here through being an expert in mixed-use development. We started mixed-use in 2006 at Meridian in Cool Springs. We now have five dominant mixed-use projects … where we integrate apartments, hotels, office and retail into the development blender to try to spit out a walkable, pedestrian-friendly, urban-designed mixed-use project.

What’s on the horizon for Boyle as you look at that continued growth in Middle Tennessee

We are contrarians. Even though the economy is a little bit dicey right now and interest rates have risen, we started our newest office building at McEwen Northside, which is going to be a 300,000-square-foot office building on top of retail. Even though it’s an interesting time to start a building, we believe in that project. It’s been very successful. …We’re constantly looking for opportunities. We’re working on some potential developments in Davidson County. We’re very interested in Sumner County. We’re actually looking at another residential development in Williamson County as well. So while the market is correcting itself, we’re out looking at opportunities to try to take advantage of what we consider to be an interesting time in our business.

I think Nashville today is vastly different. We have much more competition coming from all parts of the globe because Nashville is an attractive place in which to do business because of the economic and population growth. It’s a much more competitive landscape. So we’ve got to constantly look at trends. Nashville tends not to be a leader in architecture and development. We spend a lot of time looking at projects in Austin, Dallas, Washington, D.C., and Chicago — traveling to touch and feel and walk other mixed-use projects. That’s how we came up with the jewel box idea at McEwen. We saw some jewel boxes in a project in D.C. and came back and said, “Let’s try it.”

It’s important that we try to differentiate ourselves in our projects for the people who live there, who work there, who visit the retailers there. We’re trying to create a sense of community in each of our projects. That’s really important to us to develop the fabric of that community. Berry Farms has a unique, rural sense of community. McEwen Northside is much more urban in its design, and then Meridian is sort of a blend of the two. With a project like Capitol View where we partnered with the Metro Parks Department and built Frankie Pierce Park in a public private partnership to create a wonderful two-and-a-half acre, urban park. So, you’ll see lots of green space in our projects, lots of walkability. We’re not trying to put bricks and mortar on every square inch of the land. We’re trying to develop that unique sense of community.

What does it take to get that kind of public-private partnership done?

Being naive, being patient, willing to roll up your sleeves and work with all departments at a municipality. Probably four years of banging my head against the wall with CSX railroad, who proved to be my nemesis, but we were fortunate enough to get that done. A fantastic part that truly changed the nature of Capitol View and helped us start to add art in all of our projects — we’ve got lots of murals and we now call it Mural Park — with CSX’s blessing we’ve added murals to the railroad tunnels there. You’ll now see mural art at Northside McEwen. So, we’ve started working with very creative muralists around the city to create art in all of our projects and not just allow blank walls for people to look at.

Do you also try to stick to using local groups for construction?

We do. That’s important to us from architects to engineers, to landscape architects, to lawyers, to contractors, we want to try to use local partners. I think the other thing that’s unique about Boyle over 90 years is our commitment to support the nonprofit industry. We have an internal program called Boyle Cares where our team members are encouraged to volunteer their time and to help raise money, and so each project partners with nonprofits. McEwen Northside and Meridian partners with the Boys and Girls Club of Williamson County and New Hope Academy. We’re constantly having events for those nonprofits at our projects, so that’s a really important differentiation of how we like to do business.

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Press

Nashville Post

The Daily Memphian

By Sophia Surrett

Five years after receiving a tax increment financing incentive, the project to upgrade the Poplar Avenue corridor is being launched.

The first phase of the project is a facelift along Ridgeway Road and Shady Grove Road between Park Place Centre and Briarcrest.

The project is being directed by the not-for-profit Poplar Corridor Business District Association of Owners using tax increment financing the group was awarded in 2018 from the Economic Development Growth Engine for Memphis & Shelby County.

“The association is really excited about kicking off the first project and the TIF and the impact it is going to have on the neighborhood,” said Les Binkley, president of the association and a senior vice president at Boyle Investment Co.

The TIF, which takes future property taxes to finance and build infrastructure, will finance the project to enhance and continue to develop the Poplar Corridor Business District.

The five-year gap between the TIF’s approval and the project’s start was due to the association wanting the TIF to accrue money before starting construction.

“We are doing more of a pay-as-you-go model instead of an upfront financing event that then uses all the future TIF revenues,” Binkley said. “Waiting a period allowed us to see what was actually being produced so we could better plan.”

The TIF district encompasses the Poplar corridor from I-240 to Kirby Parkway. The association has several projects they want to see developed in the area over the course of the TIF:

• A mixed-use development consisting of office, retail and hotel on Briarcrest Avenue;
• An office development on International Place;
• An office development at 860 Ridge Lake Blvd;
• A senior living apartment development at 6300 Briarcrest Ave.;
• And a mixed-use development consisting of office, retail and hotel space at 5900 Poplar Ave.

EDGE vice president of operations Joann Massey said the TIF is one example of how EDGE supports “a solutions-oriented strategy” for economic development.

“EDGE’s use of this type of financing tool not only will result in infrastructure improvements within the 400-parcel TIF area but an increase in tax revenue that will ultimately flow back into our community’s general fund to help create a stronger Memphis,” Massey said.

Binkley said the association decided to do a streetscape for the first project because “the Shady Grove enhancement was an impetus for creating the whole TIF.”

“We had some concreted over medians, so we’re tearing those up and adding landscaping and aeration and doing some pedestrian crosswalks to really enhance that corridor around a lot of nice office buildings in our district,” Binkley said.

Once the streetscape enhancement project is completed in about 10 months, Binkley said the second phase will begin, depending on the cash available, interest rates and the city and county’s reappraisal of properties.

The association was formed in 2018 as an association of property owners of about 400 parcels in the Poplar Corridor Business District.

Project Architect TMPartners Also Moving Headquarters to Class A Offices in Mixed-Use District

Growth continues at McEwen Northside as nationally recognized architects TMPartners and popular upscale clothier Oak Hall announce plans to join the 45-acre mixed-use district in Cool Springs. The businesses will call Block E—the $125 million, 300,000-square-foot addition currently under construction—home.

TMPartners, PLLC (TMP), the architect behind Block E, will move its headquarters and team of approximately 60 staff to the expansion’s nine-story building, which includes eight floors of Class A office space. Oak Hall will be the first retail concept to join the building’s growing tenant list on the ground level.

“We’ve designed Block E to be a cutting-edge, yet timeless addition,” said JP Cowan, a Principal at TMP. “As our company grows, we began looking for office space that provides our team with next-level amenities alongside residential options because we believe that strengthens company culture and aids in retention and recruitment. McEwen Northside was the perfect fit to help us meet that vision while also providing us unprecedented room to grow in Williamson County.”

TMP is a valued design partner on McEwen Northside as they previously served as the architect of the district’s Block A, a 160,000-square-foot addition completed in 2023. Boyle Investment Company, Northwood Investors, and Northwood Ravin, partners on the entire McEwen Northside development commit to deliver the next phase of the project with first class execution and have assembled one of the most experienced teams to realize the project’s vision. TMP is the architect, Hoar Construction is the general contractor, and Kimley-Horn is the civil engineer.

Northwestern Mutual has been a valued finance partner for McEwen Northside from the beginning and continued its commitment to the project by providing financing for the 300,000 square-foot mixed-use building.

TMP joins Designed Conveyor Systems (DCS) in Block E’s Class A office space. The supply chain company, specializing in designing and building material handling solutions for warehouse operations, will lease 46,000 square feet of office space for its corporate headquarters.

“Community, culture and convenience are at the heart of everything we do at McEwen Northside,” said Mark Traylor, director of Retail Leasing at Boyle Investment Company. “As the project continues to grow, we are proud to provide visitors with more diverse offerings – from exciting restaurants and retailers to state-of-the-art office and living space – all within walking distance of each other.”

Founded in Memphis in 1859, Oak Hall’s Franklin location will be its second in the Nashville area after opening a Green Hills storefront in 2016. This location continues a longstanding 27-year partnership between Oak Hall and Boyle Investment Company. The retailer offers an extensive, yet carefully curated, shopping experience for both men and women with designers including Zegna, Canali, Peter Millar, Faherty, Barbour, Billy Reid, Vince, Lafayette 148, Brochu Walker and many more.

“As we began exploring ways to thoughtfully expand our family-owned business to the Franklin market, McEwen Northside presented us with an opportunity to provide our world-class style offerings and extraordinary service at a uniquely urban shopping destination—with stores and restaurants that are sure to keep both our existing clients and new visitors coming back again and again,” said Oak Hall President Will Levy.

Oak Hall will join other new and popular retailers at McEwen Northside like Rumble Boxing, Finks Jewelers, Warby Parker, Jondie, and others. Pre-leasing has also begun for McEwen Northside Apartments Phase II. This exciting new apartment phase will add 428 more homes to the community, and hard hat tours have started for February 2024 deliveries.

Block E, the district’s tallest building to date, is expected to be complete by Spring 2025.

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Directions

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About The Development

McEwen Northside

McEwen Northside is an inviting urban experience in the vibrant Cool Springs area of Franklin, Tennessee. The unique 45-acre mixed-use environment will include approximately 750,000 square feet of Class A office space, 113,000 square feet of restaurants and specialty retail, a 150-room business-class hotel, 770 luxury apartments, and upwards of 10 acres of beautifully designed green spaces to seamlessly connect the community.

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Press

• Tennessean.com
• FranklinIs
• NASHtoday
• NASHtoday
• The News (Formerly Homepage)
• Williamson Herald
• Williamson Source

The Daily Memphian

By Rob Moore

In 1973, Mark Halperin was hired by Boyle Investment Co. right out of college.

During that decade, Halperin was part of the team that started Ridgeway Center, the 204-acre mixed-use development that today serves as East Memphis’ premier business park and is home to more than 150 companies.

In the 1980s, Halperin oversaw the development of the Shops of Humphreys Center on Wolf River Boulevard, and in the 1990s he turned his attention to the Schilling Farms Community in Collierville. In all, Halperin has played a large part in developing and leasing approximately 12 million square feet of commercial and office space.

“I don’t think our company would be as successful if we hadn’t had Mark with us over this long period of time,” said Henry Morgan, co-chair emeritus with Boyle. “I have been blessed to develop a close friendship with Mark over the years. He delivers consistently in his ability to do the right thing for programs in our company.”

Today, Halperin is Boyle’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, moving up the ranks over the years and all the while staying with Boyle.

In September, Halperin received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Memphis chapter of Lambda Alpha International, a professional organization consisting of people in the various disciplines related to the use and re-use of land. Previous winners of the group’s lifetime achievement award include Henry Turley, Mike Rose and Halperin’s colleague and friend Russell Bloodworth.

“I couldn’t believe I was on the same list of winners with names like Jack Belz,” Halperin said of the real estate developer credited with revitalizing Downtown. “Kemmons Wilson, Bayard Boyle Sr., those were just two other names on the list.”

Wilson and Boyle, the founders of Holiday Inn and Boyle Investment Company, respectively, are themselves juggernauts in Memphis business history, and Halperin was overwhelmed to find himself among their ranks.

“I was speechless,” he said, “and that doesn’t happen often.”

“In hindsight, it’s been wonderful,” Halperin said, “spending my career at Boyle. They want us to think like owners, and they empower us to make a lot of decisions on our own. I could have gone somewhere else at times, but I was always happy I stayed here, working on these relationships I’ve had since I first got started.”

In addition to his long-standing career with Boyle, Halperin has remained one of the longest-serving trustees for Memphis University School, the school he attended after moving to Memphis from Chicago.

Halperin is also the past president of the Memphis Jewish Home & Rehab as well as the past president of Temple Israel Memphis.

Currently, Halperin sits on the Economic Development Growth Engine (EDGE) for Memphis and Shelby County.

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Memphis Business Journal and Nashville Business Journal

By Stephen MacLeod

Memphis-based Boyle Investment Co. is the largest owner and operator of office space in the city as the company turns 90 years old.

The company has grown to be a large land and property holder in both Memphis and Nashville. Boyle is one of the largest developers in Nashville, with millions of square feet in office and retail.

The company isn’t done growing in either market, with plans underway for additional significant developments.

Memphis

The Boyles have been in Memphis since the start. John Overton, one of the founders of the city, is an ancestor.

The family has been developing property for decades, as well. In 1907, Edward Boyle would develop Belvedere Boulevard in what is now Midtown. His sons, Bayard Sr., Edward, and Snowden, would found Boyle Investment Co. in 1933.

“Bayard Sr. had a remarkable ability to project the paths of growth for the city of Memphis,” said Matt Hayden, CEO and president of Boyle. “With an eye for longevity, he acquired large parcels in key growth corridors that would not be developed for decades.”

Today in Memphis, Boyle holds millions of square feet of office space. The crown jewel is Ridgeway Center, which was building in 1973, one of the first office parks in the city.

Many of Boyle’s office holdings are in the East submarket. In addition to Ridgeway Center, the company owns Triad Center, International Place II, and Moriah Woods.

It also owns retail centers such as Williamsburg Village, Shops of Humphreys Center, and Gallina Centro. Most of those were constructed in the 1990s, although Williamsburg dates back to 1963.

It also holds significant residential properties that were built across several eras. Collierville’s Schilling Farms broke ground in 1996, Farmington in Germantown in 1970, and Spring Creek Ranch in 2007. Development at Spring Creek Ranch continues today, with construction on the final 56 gated lots underway.

Currently, Boyle is building the massive mixed-use development Water Tower District in Collierville, returning to Schilling Farms’ northwest corner.

The development features 45,000 square feet of retail and 125,000 square feet of office space. It is expected to feature a hotel and hundreds of new residences across townhouses, duplexes, triplexes, and multifamily.

Phase one of the residential district is under construction, with an expected delivery of the first building in 2024. The first phase consists of 226 flats and 32 townhomes.

The first phase of the retail component is also underway, with 20,000 square feet being built across two buildings. SOB is now open, and other tenants signed include Rotolo’s Craft & Crust and Crumbl Cookies.

The office phase sits directly next to IMC’s HQ that opened in late 2021. IMC purchased an adjacent piece of land to meet future expansion needs.

Developer Baywood Hotels is also planning a 68,00 square-foot, 108-room TownePlace Suites by Marriott.

The development sits near several job anchors as well, such as FedEx World Technology Center and HQs for Helena Agri-Enterprises, Mueller, and Orgill.

The Water Tower District was designed by LRK and is being built by Patton & Taylor Construction Co.

“The Water Tower district continues our pattern of developing high-end residential inside Schilling Farms while providing neighborhood services for our residents and office workers,” said Les Binkley, SVP at Boyle. “We are developing a unique mixed-use community with an emphasis on walkability. The new retail is within walking distance of the many offices at Schilling Farms and is a great new amenity.”

Nashville

Boyle’s Nashville roots aren’t nearly as historic as its Memphis ones. The company opened its office in the state capital in 2001 and has grown to employ 34 people. The heads of the Nashville division, Jeff Haynes and Phil Fawcett, have led the office for that entire run.

Despite being a newer venture, the company has grown to acquire, develop, and manage more than 3.2 million square feet of commercial space and about 1,500 multifamily units.

One project was Berry Farms in Franklin. Development started in 2005 and today features 3 million square feet of office, 1.8 million square feet of retail, and 3,001 residential units. It also broke ground on Capitol View in 2014 as part of a joint venture.

The company has had a spate of developments in the area in 2023. Now, it is working on modernizing East Park in Brentwood.

The three-building, 167,000-square-foot Class A office complex is expected to receive a hotel, retail, and restaurant uses in a multimillion-dollar revamp.

A freestanding, 6,000-square-foot building would be built to bring in restaurant and retail space. One of three buildings, developed in 1974, would be demolished to make way for the hotel.

The plan is for Chartwell Hospitality to build and manage a 120-key TownPlace Suites at East Park. It is projected to open in Q3 2024.

“We wanted to take this well-located and historically successful office project and modernize it to better serve the current and future business community, as well as the surrounding local residential community,” said Mark Traylor, director of retail properties at Boyle. “The addition of retail, restaurant, and hospitality to the project creates the next exciting mixed-use chapter in the life of East Park.”

Franklin’s Popular Mixed-Use District Prepares for Addition of High-Profile Tenants,

More Community Gathering Spaces and Heightened Customer Experiences

 

The highly anticipated expansion of McEwen Northside, a 45-acre mixed-use urban district within Cool Springs, is on the horizon as construction begins on the site known as “Block E.” With an anticipated completion date of Spring 2025, Block E will take the McEwen Northside district to approximately 80 percent completion.

The 300,000-square-foot, $125 million expansion includes a nine-story, mixed-use building where high-profile tenants will activate dynamic office spaces and specialty retail storefronts and destination eateries will occupy the ground level. A new multi-level parking garage – conveniently connected to the state-of-the-art building via a covered walkway – will provide more than 900 parking spaces for visitors and employees.

Complete with interactive streetscapes and vibrant public art, Block E will be adjacent to McEwen Northside’s iconic Central Park, a thriving community gathering place. The block’s highly walkable and conveniently connected design continues to offer visitors a unique urban experience.

“With each addition to McEwen Northside, our focus is on enhancing the district’s well-earned reputation as a place for friends, families, and co-workers to enjoy time together,” said Phil Fawcett, Managing Partner of Boyle Investment Company. “In the busy hub that is Cool Springs, McEwen Northside is proud to present our residents and neighbors with opportunities for both work and play, including a truly unique mix of shopping and eating experiences, and we believe Block E will only strengthen McEwen Northside’s offerings as a premiere destination district.”

As McEwen Northside continues to evolve, the popular mixed-use district welcomes Designed Conveyor Systems (DCS) as one of the anchor tenants of Block E. The supply chain company specializes in designing and building material handling solutions for warehouse operations.

DCS will lease 46,000 square feet for its corporate headquarters, which will include a state-of-the-art, technology-enabled showroom, completely encased in a glass exterior.

“DCS understands that providing outstanding customer experience is fundamental to its industry leadership. By moving to McEwen Northside, DCS will have an exceptional setting to showcase its solutions and expertise. The advanced facilities will serve as a dynamic space for product demonstrations, meetings, and knowledge exchange, ensuring that customers receive focused attention and an enriching experience when engaging with DCS,” said Matt Ferguson, President of Designed Conveyor Systems.

Moreover, DCS values its employees as the driving force behind its ongoing success. The new lease at McEwen Northside will offer an inviting workplace designed to promote creativity, collaboration, and employee well-being.

DCS is excited about the opportunities that the McEwen Northside development presents. The move exemplifies the company’s dedication to prioritizing the employee and customer experience, fostering collaboration, and cultivating an environment that stimulates success.

There has been continued expansion throughout the year at McEwen Northside. New addition Finks, a fourth-generation, family-operated fine jewelry store, opened its doors in October 2023. Warby Parker, a lifestyle brand that offers designer eyewear while being a socially conscious business, opened at the end of September 2023. Soon to join the district are the group fitness gym Rumble Boxing (Fall 2023) and Blue Sushi Sake Grill. Pre-leasing has also begun for McEwen Northside Apartments Phase II. This exciting new apartment phase will add 428 more homes to the community, and hard hat tours have started for February 2024 deliveries. The Phase II experience features even better units, soaring amenities, another resort style zero entry pool and exciting new services like concierge and barista.

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Directions

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About The Development

McEwen Northside

McEwen Northside is an inviting urban experience in the vibrant Cool Springs area of Franklin, Tennessee. The unique 45-acre mixed-use environment will include approximately 750,000 square feet of Class A office space, 113,000 square feet of restaurants and specialty retail, a 150-room business-class hotel, 770 luxury apartments, and upwards of 10 acres of beautifully designed green spaces to seamlessly connect the community.

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Press

• NashToday
• WilliamsonSource
• ConnectCRE
• BizJournals
• ThewNewsTN
• WilliamsonHerald
• TheTennessean