Shelby County officials would like to see the former Commercial Appeal building become the new home for a plethora of civic services.

But that would depend on several factors including if the site is still available.

On Monday, a group of Shelby County officials met at the 495 Union Ave. site before departing to Nashville to tour the Davidson County Residential Drug Court and Davidson County Behavioral Care Center.

Shelby County Commissioner Erika Sugarmon confirmed the county is looking at the 6.48-acre property as a potential home for a multitude of programs similar to the Davidson County facilities, which include a mental health court and TBI crime lab satellite office, along with offices for state probation officers, attorney generals, public defenders and several rehabilitation programs.

"We've toured it and understand it's under contract, but they divided it in half," Sugarmon said. "But having said that, just never know. But it gives us some ideas. It's cheaper to fix something up as opposed to build from the ground up. However, we do have a Plan B and Plan C, but this is an ideal location for what we envision."

Monday was an exploratory trip, and Shelby County officials are still unsure if they have appropriate funding to replicate such a shared-use facility in Memphis. Additionally, The Commercial Appeal building is already under contract.

Colliers is handling the site's sale and representatives could not be immediately reached for comment Monday.

In September 2022, a subdivision permit was filed with the Memphis and Shelby County Division of Planning and Development that would split the property. The division would split the former five-story office building into one section and the property's warehouse facility into another.

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The office building lot would be a 2.95-acre lot with 128,773 square feet available. The warehouse lot would be 4.12 acres and have 179,612 square feet of usable space, according to the subdivision permit.

Colliers currently has the site listed separately. The office building portion is listed for $4.9 million and the warehouse section is listed for $3.5 million.

Connecticut-based Twenty Lake Holdings Inc., bought the 6.48-acre property in 2018 along with the adjacent parking lot, located at 597 Beale St., for a total of $3.9 million. The properties are a combined 11.9 acres, according to the Shelby County Register of Deeds.

The Commercial Appeal operated out the 495 Union Ave. property beginning in 1932. A production plant was built on site in the 1970s and the office building was renovated in 1977. The Commercial Appeal relocated out of its Union Avenue offices in 2019 and is now located at 120 S. Front St. in the Peabody Place office building.

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In 2020, the property was retrofitted for potential use as a temporary overflow hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Brooke Muckerman covers Shelby County Government for The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached at brooke.muckerman@commercialappeal.com and followed on X @BrookeMuckerman.

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: Shelby County eyes former Commercial Appeal building. Here's why.