The open courtyard inside Northside High School looks like a potential backdrop for HBO’s “The Last of Us” series. Weeds sprout up through the cracks in the open-air quadrangle with dust and debris decorating the foliage.

The high school has been vacant since 2016 and the barren corridors offer little — besides opportunity.

“It’s exciting to see this type of investment poured into the city core,” The Works Inc. program director Quincy Jones said. “It is the first investment of this size in this neighborhood.”

A $78 million investment to be exact. The Works Inc., a nonprofit community development organization, is aiming to rebuild the former Northside High School, located at 1212 Vollintine Ave., into a mixed-use community resource hub in the center of one of the city’s most disenfranchised neighborhoods. A significant project and scope less than a mile and a half from Crosstown Concourse. That proximity is just as noteworthy.

Roshun Austin, The Works Inc. president and CEO, expressed how impactful two such projects that close together can be for Memphis. Northside High’s redevelopment is catalytic for Memphis, she said, but being so close to Crosstown Concourse (Crosstown has received national acclaim for adaptive reuse) puts Memphis on a national level. No other metro has something like that just a mile apart, she said.

For The Works Inc., Northside High represents an opportunity for reinvestment in a community that has suffered from disinvestment for decades, Austin said.

“The community deserves reinvestment,” she said.

In February 2022, the Economic Development Growth Engine for Memphis and Shelby County (EDGE) awarded a 15-year payment-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOT) to The Works Inc. for the Northside High School redevelopment. In August 2023, the EDGE board approved an amendment to the PILOT modifying the term from 15 to 20 years.

The change also eliminated $24,937,172 worth of capital investment from the PILOT agreement as the incentive changed from a new market tax credit to a community builder PILOT. The residential component of development is ineligible for new market tax credits. The Works Inc. purchased the 10.76-acre site in May 2021 for $400,000, according to the Shelby County Register of Deeds.

On Nov. 14, The Works Inc. closed on the PILOT. A ceremonial groundbreaking is planned for Dec. 8., Austin said construction will take 20 months from then. Approximately, $1 million has already been spent on interior demo and asbestos abatement.

The project was rebranded as Northside Square in July 2022. Memphis-based LRK is the design team for the project. Grinder Taber Grinder is the general contractor, and The Works Inc. is partnering with ComCap Partners as the developer. More than 40% of the contractors and businesses in Northside Square are minority-owned.

Northside Square is expected to open in 2025.

What's planned for Northside Square?

Once completed, the site will be a mixed-use complex. The first floor will be home to a Northside Hall of Fame. The outdoor courtyard will also be restored. Jones said when they first toured the building relics of the Northside Cougars were scattered throughout the property.

Understanding the importance of the site and what Northside High meant to the community, the decision to include a Hall of Fame was always a key portion of the project, he said. Some of the Cougars memorabilia including the championship team accolades inside the gymnasium and the “Lady Cougars” painting in the former women’s locker room area, will remain intact.

“We wanted to keep something coherent with the past,” Jones said.

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The developers helped partner with an alumni group of about 15 individuals who are helping curate items for the Hall of Fame, he said.

The gym will be converted into two courts and accessible for community and public use. Memphis-based DreamSports will operate the gym area and coordinate AAU competitions for youth, Jones said. Austin said the nearby Perea Elementary School, located at 1250 Vollintine Ave., will also utilize the gym area and have extended learning in classroom spaces.

The first floor, between the gym and courtyard area, will be outfitted with kiosks, Austin said. The kiosks will be similar to airport stalls and used for small businesses. She said programs for entrepreneurial training will be accessible on-site, however, she expects the kiosks to be used by business owners who require smaller retail space and do not necessarily require, or are looking for, a larger brick-and-mortar location.

Confirmed tenants at Northside Square

Also, on the first floor will be a medical clinic run by Lifedoc Health, Austin said. The Memphis-based health service will provide preventative care and access. The Works will continue, in partnership, to provide access to healthy lifestyle education with the clinic including healthy cooking, well-being practices, food budget classes and grocery bill assistance. It’s a needed resource for Klondike and the nearby communities, she said.

Muggin Coffeehouse will also open its third location on the first floor of Northside Square. The Whitehaven-based coffee shop opened its second location at nearby Malone Park Commons in September.

"We are excited to be a part of this project in such a historic building and being embraced by the Klondike community," Muggin co-owner Mary Olds said via email.

The second floor will be offices. Confirmed tenants include Memphis Symphony and Literacy Mid-South. The second floor will also provide adult education services that work in harmony with the community resources available at Northside Square. The education component is vital, Austin said, and reflects the Klondike initiative The Works Inc. has.

The developer has purchased about 400 parcels within the Klondike neighborhood. About 150 of them were via land bank purchases, meaning the properties were no longer creating property tax revenue, Austin said. The goal, however, is to invest not disinvest and ensure that there is zero displacement for residents.

“We want uses reflecting the neighborhood,” she said.

That focus is a partnership between The Works Inc. and Klondike Smokey City Community Development Corporation in part through the Moving Klondike Forward initiative.

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On the third floor, 42 affordable housing units will be designed. A portion will overlook the former library space on the southern half of the building. All the units will have skylights, Austin said.

The basement, which was previously a car garage and vocational area for the high school, will be occupied by Moore Tech, Jones said. The college will use the site as a fourth location and for expanding programing.

A community-forward campus

When Northside High opened in 1966 (the first graduating class was in 1968) it was the largest school building owned by the Memphis and Shelby County School District, Jones said. By 2016, when it closed, the school had fewer than 200 students.

Northside Square aims to provide a community-forward campus and rebirth the site as the monolith it once was. During the height of its operation, Jones said, residents came here to get work done on their automobiles. They visited the beauty salon on the second floor and were patrons at the student-run cafeteria.

If the Works Inc. is planning on reviving Klondike, Northside Square is the core of that plan. It’s the tree in the heart of the neighborhood and the project’s design provides branches throughout the community, and the hope is, for residents to grab hold of those branches and plant their own seeds.

“In order for Memphis to be a stronger city, all neighborhoods need to be stronger,” Austin said.

Neil Strebig is a journalist with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at neil.strebig@commercialappeal.com, 901-426-0679 or via X/Twitter,@neilStrebig

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Northside Square in Memphis: What's next for project in former school?