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Large-scale $162 million Union Depot project underway in this local suburb By Stephen MacLeod – Reporter, Memphis Business Journal Apr 15, 2024 Updated Apr 15, 2024 4:09pm CDT

Union Depot, the large-scale mixed-use development in Bartlett, is now underway. The long-planned $162 million project is being built by Blue Sky Communities, which is led by developer Keith Grant of Grant & Co. Union Depot was designed by Shapiro & Co. Architects PC. The development is set to bring 70 townhomes, 337 apartments, and 85,000 square feet of commercial space to a 74-acre property right off of U.S. Highway 70, at the site of the former Tennessee Baptist Children’s Home. Ground was broken in January, and Union Depot is now entering the vertical construction phases. The developers look to have the project come online in spring 2025. Barry Maynard and Frank Dyer III with Gill Properties are handling the commercial sales and leasing for Union Depot. “It's something Bartlett hasn’t seen in a long time,” Shapiro & Co. president and CEO Brad Shapiro told MBJ. “They haven't seen the scale of this, the mixed-use area with a whole, traditional neighborhood. It's a really nice blend of single-family homes, mixed-use buildings, some loft apartments, and commercial areas.” Shapiro said that the project came together with much more support than large mixed-use projects normally do in suburbs nationally. “It's something that was really favorably received by the mayor and the aldermen of Bartlett because they also recognize that this is something new and upscale, that the citizens would really appreciate and want [it],” Shapiro said. “In a lot of cases, developers face an uphill battle in cities with governments not being very development-friendly. Here, they were very favorable to this because they saw the design integrity and what the developers wanted to bring to the table.” Union Depot brings a different look to Bartlett, with Shapiro noting that the project leans more toward urban design styles, including its color, than what suburbs typically see. Renderings, provided by Shapiro, show greens, blues, and reds mixing with the grays, whites, and browns of many traditionally styled buildings. The project also had a unique design-related challenge: Shapiro & Co. was in the process of construction on its new headquarters in the Edge District. Shapiro said that the company had to work in a temporary office located under what is now their operational headquarters at 435 Madison Ave. Shapiro said that coordination with Union Depot's contractor, Grant & Co., keeping a focus on work and collaboration, and remembering that less challenging days were ahead kept the team locked in. “We'd be sitting there and little bits and pieces of concrete would come down on our desktops,” Shapiro said. “We're like, ‘What's going on here?’ It was challenging for sure. It was one of those things where we really had an eye on the prize at the end of the day, and the prize was this beautiful [headquarters] office space.”

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