Most Memphians over a certain age still call it the Sears building. In September we flew a drone inside the atrium at Crosstown Concourse, from the floor up past the balconies to the skylight, and the old warehouse looks nothing like a warehouse anymore.
Built in about 180 days
Sears, Roebuck and Co. opened the building on Aug. 27, 1927, as a retail store and catalog center for the Mid-South. It went up in about 180 days and was the largest building in Memphis at the time. At its busiest, up to 45,000 catalog orders a day went out of here.
The store closed in 1983 and the distribution center in 1993. Then the building sat empty for 24 years.
The rebuild
The comeback took from 2015 to 2017 and nearly $200 million from more than 30 sources. The building reopened on Aug. 19, 2017.
The big move was cutting three atria down through the old warehouse floors, so daylight from a skylight about 10 stories up reaches the middle of the building. The original concrete frame stayed. It was built to carry 250 to 300 pounds per square foot of freight, which is why the columns are so thick.
What to look for
- The red spiral staircase near Crosstown Arts. The building says it was inspired by the old chutes that carried Sears packages down to the loading docks.
- PARCELS, spelled out in white blocks in the West Atrium's concrete wall, a nod to the packages that once moved through the warehouse. It is also the name of the apartments on the top floors.
- Art on every floor, including the large murals along the balconies.
- The Cuban connection: during the renovation, crews found rows of green survival canisters in the basement, emergency rations stocked during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Today they are planters around the building.
A vertical village
Today the building holds apartments from the seventh floor up, a health center, a YMCA, a high school and a theater, plus shops and places to eat on the ground floor. Crosstown Arts runs galleries and programs inside.
Crosstown Concourse is at 1350 Concourse Ave. It turns 100 on Aug. 27, 2027. Hours for the shops and galleries vary, so check the building's own site before you go.
Where to go next
- The building: crosstownconcourse.com
- What's on in Memphis this week: the 901 Culture calendar
En español
Crosstown Concourse fue el almacén de catálogos de Sears, construido en 1927 en unos 180 días. Cerró en 1993, estuvo vacío 24 años y reabrió en 2017 como un pueblo vertical con viviendas, una escuela, una clínica, un YMCA y un teatro. Un dato cubano: durante la renovación aparecieron en el sótano latas verdes de raciones de emergencia de 1962, de la Crisis de los Misiles en Cuba, y hoy sirven de macetas. Cumple 100 años el 27 de agosto de 2027.
Sources
- Wikipedia, "Crosstown Concourse" (1927 opening, closing dates, the 2015 to 2017 rebuild, the Aug. 19, 2017 reopening)
- Memphis Magazine, Ask Vance, "Flashback: Sears Crosstown" (45,000 orders a day, the 2027 centennial)
- Architect magazine, May 2019 (three atria, the vertical village, the skylight)
- Architectural Record (the concrete frame and its load rating, apartments from the seventh floor, funding from more than 30 sources)
- Crosstown Concourse, "Hidden in Plain Sight" (the red staircase, PARCELS, the 1962 ration canisters found in the basement)
- WebUrbanist, "Deco Rated" (built in about 180 days, the largest building in Memphis at the time)
- Footage: BabaluShow, DJI Mavic 4 indoor flight and drone 360 photos, Sept. 18, 2026