Living Near Crosstown Concourse in Midtown Memphis

Some landmarks you visit once. Others end up shaping your week. Crosstown Concourse, at North Watkins Street and North Parkway in Midtown Memphis, is the second kind. It is a place where people grab coffee, see a doctor, catch a film and walk home. If you are curious about the blocks around it in the 38104 and 38107 zip codes, here is a plain look at what is there.

A quick history of the building

The Concourse began as a Sears, Roebuck store and catalog distribution center that opened in 1927. For decades it shipped catalog orders across the region. Sears closed the distribution center in 1993, and the enormous building then sat empty for years.

After a major renovation, it reopened in August 2017 as Crosstown Concourse, a mixed-use building of about one million square feet. It earned LEED Platinum certification the same year. The project is often called a vertical urban village because so many different uses share one address at 495 North Watkins.

What is inside Crosstown Concourse

The mix is what makes it useful to people who live nearby. The building's long-time anchors include Church Health, a YMCA, Crosstown Arts with its galleries and performance spaces, the Crosstown Theater, and Crosstown High School. There are restaurants, coffee, small shops and offices on the lower floors, and apartments on the upper floors.

Restaurant and retail tenants come and go, as they do anywhere, so the building's own directory is the best place to see who is open right now. What stays consistent is that the central atrium works like a covered public square. You will see people working on laptops, meeting friends and waiting for a show to start.

The V&E Greenline starts next door

One of the nicest features of this part of Midtown Memphis is easy to miss from a car. The V&E Greenline is a trail of roughly two miles that runs through the Vollintine-Evergreen neighborhood. Its western end is beside Crosstown Concourse and its eastern end is near the Rhodes College campus.

The trail follows a former railroad corridor that once served the Sears building. Neighbors organized to buy the land in the 1990s, and it is still owned by a nonprofit community corporation and looked after largely by volunteers. Along the way you will pass gardens, a replica of a 1920s station house, a couple of bridges and a thick tree canopy toward the eastern end. An annual V&E Artwalk has traditionally been held in the spring.

Homes around Crosstown and Evergreen

The residential streets near the Concourse were laid out in the early twentieth century. In the Crosstown neighborhood itself, bungalows and Craftsman-style cottages from around the 1920s are the most common sight, many with deep front porches.

Just to the east is the Evergreen Historic District, roughly bounded by North Parkway, Cleveland Street, East Parkway and Poplar Avenue. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985 and is known for Bungalow, Craftsman and revival-style homes. Evergreen also has a number of newer houses mixed in, built on lots that were cleared decades ago for a planned route of Interstate 40. That route was stopped after a case that went to the U.S. Supreme Court, and the neighborhood was later rebuilt. Overton Park and the Memphis Zoo are a short distance away.

What to know before buying an older home here

Homes of this age have real character, and they also deserve a careful look. A few points to keep in mind:

Inspections matter. Ask your inspector to pay close attention to the foundation, roof, wiring, plumbing and sewer line. A sewer scope is a small added cost that can save a large surprise.

Historic rules can apply. Some Midtown neighborhoods are local historic districts where exterior changes go through a review process with the Memphis Landmarks Commission. Confirm whether a specific address is covered before planning exterior work.

Utilities and taxes. Homes here are inside the City of Memphis, so owners pay both city and county property taxes, and Memphis Light, Gas and Water provides utilities.

Parking and alleys. Some lots have rear alley access or a shared driveway. Walk the whole lot and check how parking actually works.

Public schools. Memphis-Shelby County Schools serves the area, and zoning is by address. Verify the assigned schools directly with the district.

If the blocks around Crosstown Concourse have caught your eye, the best first step is simple: park, walk the Greenline, and wander a few streets. If questions come up along the way about a particular house or how this pocket of Midtown Memphis compares with others, feel free to get in touch whenever it is helpful. Happy to share what I know.

Kelly Day, SRES, SRS, AHWD, PSA, RENE
Multi Million Dollar Club
Broker Lic # 365811
simpliHOM
901-289-9227
855-856-9466
[email protected]
https://memphishouselistings.com