DOWNTOWN PARKING A BREEZE AT PEABODY PLACE ENTERTAINMENT AND RETAIL CENTER

MEMPHIS, Tenn., Friday, June 15, 2001 – Coming downtown to play at Peabody Place Entertainment and Retail Center (PPERC) this summer, visitors will find ample parking at three dedicated garages connected by pedestrian walkways to the Mid-South’s newest destination for fun.

Entering the heart of downtown Memphis along Union Avenue, South Second or Third Streets, visitors to the Center will find easy parking with direct access to the Peabody Place Garage at 250 Peabody Place; the Blues Garage, next to the Hampton Inn and Suites, at 149 Peabody Place; or the Tower Garage just south of Main Street at 110 Peabody Place.

These three garages afford Center visitors convenient access via above-the-street pedestrian walkways or "skybridges" providing added safety with total protection from the weather. Making parking downtown easy, Belz Enterprises, the developers of Peabody Place, have implemented a customer-friendly discount plan which also makes parking downtown more affordable.

The Center's largest tenant, Muvico's Peabody Place 22 Theaters located on the second and third levels, takes patrons to new heights in movie entertainment. Muvico offers the largest screen in the Mid-South – 60 feet tall and 80 feet wide – specially designed-for-comfort seating in all 22 theaters and delicious snacks ranging from popcorn shrimp and quesadillas to traditional popcorn and soda.

Topping it off, seeing a movie earns visitors 2 hours of free parking!

In addition, customers who spend at least $5 in any Peabody Place business can park for up to three hours for just $1! This includes the Entertainment and Retail Center, as well as a historic block of Main Street. Visitors must have their parking ticket validated at a Peabody Place shop or restaurant before presenting it to the garage attendant prior to departure.

Peabody Place employees will be wearing buttons and distributing flyers, and signs posted throughout the garages will remind visitors to "bring your parking ticket with you" for validation.

"With more than 2,800 spaces in three garages and our new covered, connected walkways combined with our customer discounts, we’ve taken the pain and the price out of parking downtown," said Andrew J. Groveman, senior vice president Belz Enterprises, developers of Peabody Place. "We want the Peabody Place Entertainment and Retail Center to be a totally fun and enjoyable experience."

The Peabody Place Entertainment and Retail Center is part of the Belz Enterprises Peabody Place development. When completed, the entire Peabody Place development will contain approximately two million square feet of space, which includes 762 hotel rooms, 201 apartments, 565,000 square feet of office space, 420,000 square feet of retail space, and 3,600 parking spaces. The development is the largest mixed-use urban development currently under way in the United States.

Headquartered in Memphis, Tenn., Belz Enterprises is a leading innovator in real estate development with interests throughout the South and across the U.S. Belz develops, owns and manages over 25 million square feet of industrial/warehouse/distribution centers, shopping centers, office buildings, mixed-use centers and corporate campuses. The company also owns a group of premier hotels including the Peabody Hotels in Memphis, Orlando and Little Rock.

Here's the quick and easy way to "come downtown and play." Take the Union Avenue (west), Riverside Drive or Third Street (U.S. Hwy. 61) north exit off the Interstate to downtown Memphis and the Mississippi River.

For direct parking garage access once you're downtown, remember that traffic on Union Avenue moves both east and west, but Second Street and Third Street are "one-way" in opposite directions. Around the Peabody Place Entertainment and Retail Center traffic on Second flows south and on Third moves north. The Main Street Trolley also runs within a block of PPERC.