Nineteenth Century Club on Union puts its landmark Memphis home up for sale

June 30th, 2011 | by Velma Orr |

The Nineteenth Century Club is asking for $1.5 million for its historic building at 1433 Union Avenue.

A century-old Union Avenue landmark is on the market because its nonprofit owner, the Nineteenth Century Club, can’t afford court-ordered repairs.

The club, a women’s philanthropic organization dating to 1890, is asking $1.5 million and hoping to attract a buyer with deep enough pockets to save the 1909 mansion from the wrecking ball.

Based on themercial corridor’s recent history, the prognosis may not be good. The street is littered with vacancies in retail and office properties, and Crye-Leike recently announced it was leaving more office space vacant later this month.

Economics in recent years have favored demolition of landmarks to make way for fast food and other chains that generate enough cash to pay Union Avenue rents.

The Nineteenth Century Club, which bought the mansion in 1925, has been fighting the past 11 years to hang on despite mounting pressure from Environmental Court to make exterior repairs, estimated two years ago at $1.5 million to $2 million.

The court cut off the club’s main source of revenue by limiting its occupancy to club members, precluding rentals for events such as weddings and parties.

“We’re actually being forced to sell it because we have no recourse,” said club president Lynn Heathcott. “The house is structurally sound. It’s historically significant. It’s an important building. We feel very strongly we shouldn’t be in the situation we’re in, but there’s nothing we can do.”

“We have choices of how to market this,” Heathcott added. “We don’t want it marketed as a property that could be torn down. We’re asking that it be marketed as a beautiful historic home that could be restored.”

However, the club stopped short of restricting the sale to a buyer who will save the building, leaving the distinct possibility that an acre of prime real estate will be worth more with the mansion gone.

Heathcott said the club signed a contract with Nathan Simkin and his Simkinmercial Realty a couple months ago, and a sign went up this week.

The Beaux Arts style structure features red brick, limestone trim and two-story columns on the front portico. The lot runs along Watkins from Union to Eastmoreland.

Simkin said, “Our first choice is for the property to remain whole. I think the club members would prefer that.”

He said the asking price is based on an independent appraisal.

Shelby County Tax Assessor records affirm the value is in the land. The assessor’s $664,800 appraisal includes $38,400 for the nearly 16,000-square-foot building.

Heathcott said the organization received overtures from prospective owners who basically wanted to be given the building free.

“People may think our ultimate goal is restoring the building,” said Heathcott, but it’s not. “Our ultimate goal is growing the organization. So, we’re not going to give the building away because it would tie our hands.”

“We had hoped to work out a sale without going public, but it didn’t work,” she said.

Club officials have consulted the private, nonprofit historic preservation group Memphis Heritage Inc. over the years with questions ranging from how to fund repairs to dealing with Environmental Court.

Memphis Heritage executive director June West said,

“We would love to help them in any way we can,” West said. “It’s the oldest women’s service club in the South. It saddens me, but we’re not the type of agency nor do we have the wherewithal to go and buy properties and save them.”

“It’s a landmark in Memphis. If you say, ‘It’s across the street from the Nineteenth Century Club,’ people know where you’re talking about,” West added.

Selling such a landmark requires flexibility on price to make it possible for a buyer to save the structure, West suggested.

“I think in today’s market in general, not just on Union, someoneing forth and buying the house to restore it, it is going to be rare. I don’t want it to be that way, but it is.”

As to the street’s overall health, West believes it can remain viable to the extent that the City Council enforces the Midtown zoning overlay and steers clear of passing special exceptions on a case-by-case basis. The Midtown Overlay District is a set of zoning rules encouraging pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly neighborhoods and use of better construction materials.

“The Midtown overlay could be the salvation of Union Avenue. That’s what we’ve got to bank on,” West said.

For sale

What: The Nineteenth Century Club building

Where: 1433 Union Ave.

Asking price: $1.5 million

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