Work begins on Evolve Bank & Trust's new East Memphis HQ

By Stephen MacLeod – Reporter, Memphis Business Journal, Mar 29, 2022, 3:25pm EDT

Construction on Evolve Bank & Trust’s new East Memphis headquarters is getting underway, according to a filing with the Memphis and Shelby County Division of Planning and Development.

A commercial alteration permit shows that Evolve's new HQ will involve renovations to the entire third floor and part of the second floor of Triad Centre I at 6000 Poplar Ave. Evolve previously spoke to MBJ in November about its plans to lease 42,000 square feet there for its new headquarters.

Grinder, Taber & Grinder will be the project's general contractor and the work on the new space is estimated to cost $4.1 million, per the permit. Evolve previously told MBJ that LRK is serving as architect on the project.

LRK also designed AutoZone's Downtown headquarters, Orion Federal Credit Union's headquarters, and FedEx World Headquarters Building I.

Permit drawings from the filing show a largely open office on the second floor with two break areas, storage, and five offices.

The permit drawings for the third floor, which makes up a bulk of the total square footage, shows a somewhat mirrored approach on both sides — centered around an elevator lobby and boardroom.

Flanked by the boardrooms will be two executive offices. On the left adjacent to one executive area will be another office, a conference room, and a mailroom. On the right adjacent to the other executive office is a kitchen and media center.

At three corners of the third floor are “collaboration areas,” with a large break room taking up the final corner. The remainder of the floor plan is open office space, with rooms containing slightly over a dozen offices and storage spaces sprinkled throughout. The floor plan also calls for eight conference rooms on the third floor.

Evolve spoke to MBJ about the importance of building for what employees wanted.

“It's important for folks [to have] an environment that flows together and is not siloed,” Thomas Holmes, Evolve's chief marketing and communications officer said in November. “There's going to be very minimal walls. Most of the offices will be glass. A more open collaborative space is what the employees asked for.”