August 04, 2015

Memphis Students’ Artwork Graces Renovated Office

Memphis Students’ Artwork Graces Renovated Offices
By:  Thomas Bailey, Jr.
Commercial Appeal
 
 
A Boyle Investment Co. executive wasn’t just playing on Memphis International’s moving sidewalk when, at the end, he crossed the corridor and circled back around.
           
"I was so impressed by the artwork on the wall I looped back around and I went and looked," recalled Mark Halperin, vice president and chief operating officer of the real estate development and management firm. "I was just so pleased to learn this was artwork from a contest that Memphis City Schools kids had participated in. I thought, golly, this is unbelievable."
           
The artworks’ themes related to Memphis, especially Memphis music. Halperin immediately hoped there was a chance the art could become part of the major renovation of a Boyle office building, 850 Ridge Lake Boulevard.
           
So soon afterward, Boyle contacted the school district’s art department and eventually arranged to buy eight pieces, with the money going to the students.
           
The paintings were hung in the building this week. Boyle Investment has nearly completed a $200,000 renovation of the 122,000-square-foot building in Boyle’s 204-acre Ridgeway Center northwest of Poplar and I-240.
           
Boyle and partner Northwestern Mutual Insurance Co., renovated the building’s entrance, lobby and common areas.
           
The student artists and their high schools are: Olivia Campbell, Overton; JaSean Owens, Trezevant; Courtney Krueger, Cordova; Leo Cormier, Kingsbury; Branisha Appleberry, Raleigh Egypt; Leang Loav, Wooddale; Tiera Pryor, Kingsbury; and Daniel Taylor, Fairley.
           
Tenants in the renovated building include ServiceMaster Co., McVean Trading Co., Physicians Postgraduate Press and SunTrust Capital Markets.
           
The improvements include treating the two-storied mirrored walls in the lobby with a patterned film and repainting walls. Elevator doors and frames were given a bronze film finish to complement the color of hardware in the doors.
           
The building is 26 years old "and yet you would never know it because this office building has been well maintained and now newly renovated," Halperin said.
           
By Friday, several tenants had responded positively to the paintings.
           
"They’re so excited about it," he said. "We’ll identify the kids by name with discreet plaques.”