Church buys building housing Wellford’s Antiques, Joe’s Fried Chicken

Tom Bailey
Daily Memphian

Third Church of Christ, Scientist, which recently sold its property at Central and Highland, has now bought 262 S. Highland. The building houses Wellford’s Antique Collection and Joes’ fried chicken restaurant.

Shelby County wants to build a fire station in unincorporated Cordova.

And plans for six new condos near FedExForum have doubled; the developer now wants to build a second row of six condos at Pontotoc and Turley.

Those are among 14 cases submitted to the Land Use Control Board, which will review them at its Jan. 14 meeting.

The Christian Science church in the University District recently sold its prime real estate at the Central/Highland corner to a developer. But it appears the church will move only a block north, to the northeast corner of Highland and Cowden.

Karen L. Wellford last week sold her 4,217-square-foot building to the church. She has until the end of March to find a new location for her antique shop, and her tenant in the back of the building, Joes’ restaurant, has until March 1 to move, Wellford said.

Joes’ co-owners Joe Spotts and Joseph Soliman had already been looking for places to expand when possibility of the building sale emerged, Spotts said. They are looking at two locations, may open at both, but likely not before they must vacate 262 S. Highland.

“So we’ll have a little vacation between turning the building over and opening our new location,” Spotts said.

Wherever Joes’ goes, a thrust of the business will continue to be the kind of take-out business that has occurred since COVID-19 hit, he said.

In the application to the planning board, the church seeks to tweak the existing planned development.

Church leaders have not decided whether to renovate the building to accommodate the church, or to replace it. The church was looking for an architect, but Grinder Taber Grinder will be the construction contractor, according to the letter of intent.

“The intent of the church is to be able to use the property for a sanctuary and reading room bookstore,” the letter states. The site’s zoning allows places of worship, but a church is not among the uses now permitted in the existing planned development.

In addition to adding “place of worship” to the permitted uses, the applicant seeks to reduce the minimum distance a building must be set back from the road from 30 feet to 15.

The building was built in 1925, according to the Shelby County Assessor’s website.

In another case, Shelby County government filed a request to subdivide property so it can build a fire station at 8485 Macon Road in Cordova.

That 4.4-acre site is south of the T-intersection with Dexter Lake Road.

The fire station will serve residents of unincorporated areas, the application states.

And a condo development on the east edge of Downtown could double in size, according to another application.

Nest Properties LLC had previously received approval to build a row of six, connected condos, called Pontotoc Townhomes, at the corner of Pontotoc and Turley. The site is about a block southeast of FedExForum.

Now the developer seeks approval to add another row of six condos, on just more than two-tenths of an acre, west of the ones originally approved.

Each unit would be 2,498 square feet and priced at about $400,000, the application states. S. Berry Jones Architects is designing the condos.