Memphis's long-vacant Sterick Building anchors an ambitious district-wide revival—if the financing gap can close
Stuart Harris (Constellation Properties) and Mercedes Burch (Hi-Fi Memphis) are treating the 340,000-square-foot, 30-story Sterick Building not as a standalone real estate play but as the anchor of a broader neighborhood revitalization strategy. Their core premise: you cannot deliver a premium-rent historic tower into a deteriorated surrounding block. That insight drives a coordinated effort across roughly 10 parcels in the Hi-Fi district, including two buildings owned by Hi-Fi Memphis directly across BB King Boulevard from the Sterick.
The Sterick itself is envisioned as a vertical residence club—a hybrid of apartments, hotel rooms, and commercial space with shared amenities like valet, room service, and cleaning. A hotel flag is already secured (undisclosed). A critical parking problem—the building has no on-site parking—is being solved through an option agreement to reconnect via breezeway to a 365-space garage Edge purchased at Hotel Indigo. Ryan Civic Partners, which has deployed over $4 billion around Cincinnati's Findlay Market, has been brought in as a consulting partner, attacking the deal from three angles: income, costs, and subsidies.
Mercedes Burch's Hi-Fi Memphis nonprofit, incorporated last year with a community-representative board, owns the Memphis Public Market outright and is pursuing a roughly $30 million redevelopment of the two adjacent buildings. Her framing distinguishes public markets from the food halls that typically fail: a public market offers groceries, events, classes, and commercial kitchens—multiple reasons to visit, not just lunch—and is structured as a mission-driven nonprofit rather than a for-profit venture.
The financing gap is the central challenge. Tennessee has no state historic tax credit—something advocates have tried to pass three or four times—and that absence alone is estimated to cost projects like this more than $20 million in capital stack capacity. HUD financing tools misread the high per-unit restoration costs of historic buildings as luxury construction rather than preservation requirements. Institutional lenders are scrutinizing Memphis's population trends. A legislative workaround being explored is abating state sales tax on construction materials for major catalytic projects, which could save millions.
On the momentum side, a Juneteenth popup market drew ~700 attendees including the mayor, a Michelin-star chef held a sold-out dinner inside the Sterick for the first time in memory, and the team is exploring turning the restoration itself into a workforce development program modeled on European cathedral restoration. The team's stated goal: demolition and scaffolding started within 12 months.
Developer Stuart Harris and nonprofit leader Mercedes Burch are pursuing a simultaneous redevelopment of the landmark Sterick Building and surrounding Hi-Fi district parcels in downtown Memphis. The project has a hotel flag, a consulting partner from Cincinnati, and community activation underway—but Tennessee's lack of a state historic tax credit and skeptical institutional lenders remain serious obstacles. The team hopes to break ground within 12 months.
The Hi-Fi district strategy treats the Sterk building as the anchor of a broader neighborhood revitalization rather than a standalone real estate transaction, requiring simultaneous activation of surrounding parcels, alleys, and public amenities
The vision for the surface parking lot behind the Sterick building includes a mix of market-rate, workforce, and affordable housing rather than remaining asphalt.
The Sterk building was the original skyscraper in Memphis, described as 'the queen of Memphis, the queen of the south'
Stuart Harris and his team have been working on the Sterk redevelopment for three years
Cross Town's financing involved over 30 sources of financing
The Memphis Public Market is owned wholly by Hi-Fi Memphis
Hi-Fi Memphis owns two buildings directly across BB King from the Sterk building: a two-story on the corner and a five-story Leader Federal building
The two-story corner building was built in 1923, before the Sterk, and the five-story was built in 1961
Preliminary cost numbers for the Memphis Public Market redevelopment are around $30 million
The Sterk building is 340,000 square feet and 30 stories and has no on-site parking
The Sterk building's original parking garage was built by Kim Wilson and Herbert Humphrey in the 1960s and is now Hotel Indigo
Constellation Properties owns or controls approximately 10 parcels in the Hi-Fi district
The Sterk building's land and building had been owned by different parties, creating a stalemate for decades that prevented redevelopment
Christian Hunter, a Michelin star chef from Chicago, held a sold-out dinner in the Sterk building — the first time the building had been opened for such an event
Ryan Civic Partners has done a thousand projects or more and $4 billion worth of real estate in the neighborhood around Findlay Market in Cincinnati.
Over the Rhine in Cincinnati was in rough shape 25 years ago and 3CDC helped put together three catalytic investment funds in partnership with the state of Ohio.
The project already has a hotel flag secured but has not yet publicly announced which brand it is.
Tennessee does not have a state historic tax credit, unlike other states, which widens the financing gap for historic restoration projects.
Texas has no state income tax but does have a state historic tax credit.
A state historic tax credit contributed over $20 million to the capital stack for the Tower Life building redevelopment in San Antonio.
A Tennessee state historic tax credit has been attempted three or four times but has failed, with the fiscal note cited as the key obstacle.
Sales tax on construction materials amounts to millions of dollars on a project like the Sterick redevelopment.
Affordable housing needs to be in walkable areas to be genuinely affordable, particularly given Memphis's limited transit infrastructure.
Crosstown Concourse has a staggeringly high apartment tenant retention rate, with Eric Barnes himself having lived there for nine years.
Higher rent apartments cannot overlook extreme blight and empty parking lots
Food halls often fail because they are set up as a for-profit business and people only go there for one purpose
Institutional lenders are scrutinizing Memphis's investment climate—including population trends—making it harder to maximize borrowing capacity for the project.
HUD financing options penalize the Sterick project because the high per-unit restoration costs are misread as luxury construction rather than historic preservation requirements.
The Sterk building is envisioned as a vertical residence club combining apartments, hotel rooms, and commercial space with shared amenities like valet, room service, and cleaning
Public markets succeed over food halls because they offer multiple reasons to visit: groceries, events, classes, commercial kitchens — not just lunch
Hi-Fi district model is built around a human ecology framework with foundations described as the good, the true, the beautiful, the just, the sustainable, and the prosperous
Ryan Civic Partners is helping tackle the Sterick project from three angles: income, costs, and subsidies, bringing tools like new markets tax credits, historic tax credit deals, and LIHTC deals.
The team is exploring turning the Sterick restoration into a workforce development opportunity modeled on European cathedral restoration, creating artisan workshops focused on architectural restoration skills.
Hi-Fi Memphis incorporated last year as a nonprofit with a board representing the community to catalyze equitable impacts around the Sterk district
Edge purchased the Hotel Indigo garage with 365 parking spaces and Sterk has an option agreement to reconnect to it via a breezeway relocated from the fifth floor to the second floor
A popup market activation on Juneteenth last year drew about 700 people including the mayor and Senate staffers
The team has brought Ryan Civic Partners in as a consulting partner to help push the Sterick building project across the finish line.
The team's hope is to start demolition and scaffolding on the Sterick building within 12 months.
There is a legislative discussion about abating the state sales tax on construction materials for major catalytic projects, which would meaningfully reduce project costs.
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