South Monroe (SoMo) Walls Project

As we jump into February, a new month with new beginnings, we are continuing to push ahead and keep our project moving. We are getting more excited as we hit new milestones.

Shout out to Smart Bank, Conn Architects, Southern Standard Construction, David Melvin, Johnson & Milner and Tomahawk Engineering. Additionally, we are grateful for the community’s support and all the feedback they have put in to be a part of our project.

Keeping Our Promises

Last month, we announced our “Walls Art Collaborative”, an initiative to bring together as many artists as possible to spark creativity in the heart of the SoMo District. Our first collaboration is the Brand Logo Contest. Last Fall, in partnership with SBDC at FAMU, our project team worked with an amazing group of FAMU Graduate students to pin down the details of this initiative and craft a road map to implement it.

We are inviting local artists and creatives to help us find the right logo for SoMo Walls. Contest entails sending in draft logo designs to our project team, which will be shortlisted down to two options. We will post the shortlisted logos on all our digital platforms and ask the community to help us decide which one fits best. Winner will be awarded with a $3,000 contract.

We met with a group of the participating artists via zoom on February 1st to help them identify the vision for our brand, and answered questions. We are so excited to see what these talented individuals come up with, and cannot wait to share it with you. Submissions are due February 20th, 2022, by 5pm. So, there is still time to participate. Get in touch with us and we will send you all the information you need. 

We are committed to a transparent and honest execution for our 35% MWSBE inclusion goal. On February 2nd, our project team gave an update to the Tallahassee Leon County Office of Economic Vitality (OEV) MWSBE Citizen's Advisory Council (CAC). We were excited to announce that 48% of the contracts to-date were awarded to minority owned businesses. Although this percentage will fluctuate as we push through the bidding process, our construction team is proud to start off the process on the right foot. 

Leasing

Pre-Leasing is underway for our units! We are receiving inquiries each week from several local businesses that wish to bring their concepts to SoMo Walls. We are committed to our public input process and would like to involve the public as much as possible. Last month we introduced unit 1307 on our social media platforms, citing that we are looking to select a food & beverage concept for this unit that has a large outdoor patio. More than 25 neighbors and friends put in their recommendations. All great ideas!

Next month, we will start formalizing agreements for spaces. Stay tuned!
 

Shifting Gears

The construction fence is up! - and we are starting Demolition this week.

Next up: Site Construction bidding. Those who are specialized in concrete, earthwork, slap, etc. make sure to look into our bid packages. Our goal is to work with as many MWSBE’s as possible. However, bidding is open for every local business. Submit your trades and qualifications to estimating@southernstandard.cc. 

What's next? 

Revitalizing an industrial district with a half of a century-old infrastructure comes with challenges. Our project team is working closely with the City of Tallahassee and State of Florida agencies to tackle the issues and plan for the future of the SoMo district. For that reason, our permitting period ended up being slightly longer than usual. We are excited to start our site construction and jump right into the tenant selection process. Stay tuned for next month’s update