The historic Arcade Building in Downtown Memphis will be renovated and its Arcade Restaurant expanded in early 2019.

Renovations of a previously vacant commercial bay will give the restaurant new bathrooms, a lounge area with a liquor bar, a separate coffee bar and about 50 additional seats. The project expands the restaurant's second room, leaving its front room unchanged. 

The new Wiseacre brewery planned for Downtown cleared a hurdle with the approval of a 15-year payment-in-lieu-of-taxes incentive Tuesday morning.

The PILOT will save Wiseacre about 75 percent of its property tax obligation each year the incentive is in place. 

Brett Roler, vice president of planning and development for the Downtown Memphis Commission, said the project will be a boon for the neighborhood. At the corner of B.B. King Boulevard and Vance Street, the brewery and taproom is expected to serve as a connection point between the South Main and South City developments.

"We know that local breweries and taprooms can really be catalytic for emerging neighborhoods and help attract people and investment into neighborhoods," Roler said before the Center City Revenue Finance Corp. unanimously approved the PILOT.

About one block east of where the massive Union Row development ends near Union Avenue and Danny Thomas Boulevard, a separate public-private development could pick up, now that two grants worth $700,000 were approved Wednesday.

The development, named The Ravine, is a $5.7 million mixed-use urban park.

Its westernmost point begins near the corner of Madison Avenue and South Lauderdale Street. It would stretch diagonally past High Cotton Brewing Company, include an overpass over Monroe Avenue and continue for one more block to Union Avenue.

Since the announcement of the proposed $950 million Union Row development, there has been much discussion about what this project means to Memphis and Shelby County. There is no question that an investment of this scale within our urban core signifies momentum. The concept is visionary. The investment is unprecedented. And the access it provides to the neighboring communities is game-changing.

Together with developers, elected officials, and city and county leaders, the Downtown Memphis Commission is building a Memphis that is investible — a Memphis that has momentum and a Downtown for everyone.