The Guardian of Memphis

I hope so. Had fun going to showboats games in the past. Hopefully this generation of Mid-Southerners will get behind them too. Just not a fan of minor leagues now. We’ve been through that enough. Looking for this to be a springboard for a second major league franchise in the future.

Speaking of Danny Thomas, the downtown master plan suggests that it should be an at grade road in the core so there can more connectivity to the Edge. I’d like to hear opinions on that as well. I’d welcome it, because the current setup isn’t that good. It acts like an interstate with all the signage and discourages walkability. The Walk’s plans called for a cap over DT at Madison. I’d rather have the at grade option instead.

I was thinking the same thing. Since we’re under the 3.0 guidelines I hope it won’t be suburban-esque. Hopefully it’ll be in the mold of the Citizen. I’m glad that the powers that be realize that Union can’t be the Union of old anymore. With the success of ATL’s Peachtree and Buckhead, hopefully we can take a bit from those while not compromising what makes Memphis unique. In order to have a healthy downtown, the connected communities must have success (eg midtown, medical district, etc.).

Might as well go to the Pier while we’re at it.

Why can't these developers have backup plans in case things don't work out? At least try to put a 1 or 2 story building in its place. Not a parking lot! Ugh. That's what was there before for years. It won't stay like that forever.

Wow. I scored one over the mighty Smeagol! Mark this day down in history. LOL.

Agreed. Maybe with St. Jude’s input/proximity Intrator’s plans will come to fruition. Meaning to say, there will be demand on needing his proposed towers simply because St. Jude employees can live in the Pinch, plus they’ll be able to walk to more amenities his plans will provide, not to mention the wonderful children and their families that are receiving treatment.

2018 per the Daily Memphian.

Thank you. Don’t like stats when it comes to cities but I’ll play along. Per the TN Dept. of Labor, Memphis was at 3.7, while Nashville was 2.3 in Dec. 2022. National avg is 3.5. So hey, we’re OK on one statistic!!! Party time!

Smh. It hasn’t been awful. Downtown has gotten better. FedEx has provided many opportunities to Memphians, especially my family. LOL. AutoZone, Kemmons Wilson, Hilton, Nike are in the city. There are investments in the core, especially Midtown. Downtown compared to Nashville, did not suffer the downturn in the 60s that we did. Geography does play a difference.

So what. I still choose to live here. When things happen in other cities it’s shocking the same reaction isn’t expressed. The good wil never catch attention. The owner of Alcenia’s, a downtown restaurant will be on a national morning talk show. The Memphis musical was on Broadway, but the only thing people can see is the worst. I’ve said nothing negative about Nashville and it’s residents. The city should be proud of all its developments. It should be celebrated.

LOL!!! Opinion. Not a fact, definitely not the truth.

Good for Jackson. Not pulling against them at all. They have a lot of amenities and I’m glad they’re on this side of the TN river. Not pulling against anyone to be honest. Mid Tenn has a lot of cities/towns to be proud of as well that have seen their fare share of investment. I don’t get caught up in stats and trends 100% of the time. It’s not the only way to gauge anything. Everything is subject to change.

We aren't in that bad of shape. I disagree with things moving towards Jackson. With I-269/385 (thanks TDOT) being in the Memphis area, there will be more growth around those areas. With Blue Oval city coming online, things are bound to improve. If there was a north/south interstate in west TN, things would be a whole lot better. The world hasn't ended yet, so things can turn around in the blink of an eye - you all know that story all too well in Nashville. My hope, faith and belief will always be for the better, even though there's a "decline".

There needs to be some sort of connection to Harbor Town/Mud Island transportation-wise other than the car, but if Harbor Town wants to remain its own entity then that's understandable. As long as there's some type of public transportation to and from the North end of Mud Island to the south. Maybe a ferry or taxi to go east and west within the Wolf River harbor. I used to go to Memphis Storm games (I'm dating myself, LOL) and enjoyed it. Maybe folks in my generation and the Millennials or Gen Z enjoy soccer/futbol now.

Memphis is #25, M-Boro is in the 100s per the link. Our sidewalks are not that great, that’s a pet peeve of mine. Don’t know what the point was of pointing out where Memphis is on the list. My neighborhood is fairly clean and I don’t live in the richest part of town either.

It was a 70s thing. Same goes for shag carpets, bellbottoms, big hair, disco music, etc. LOL. Don’t know when this went vacant though.

I think MARTA was funded by sales taxes, etc. But I don’t think people want the taxes raised on anything nowadays. According to one opinion, buses are a lot less costly than street cars or rapid transit.

I hope you’re right, given the current state of the city. I pray one day we’ll catch a break and see Memphis rise above all the negativity and with it a downtown that is a source of joy and pride. Plus develop a healthy competition and co-admiration with its sibling (Nashville). The only part of downtown that has seen extensive transformation would be South Main. What used to be rail yards mostly is now a dense residential area with South Bluffs and Tennessee Brewery. Totally transformed the area, but of course this wasn’t in the news or heralded because of the long winded strereotype Memphis seems to draw. If you haven’t been to the creme de Memph blog, I would encourage you to. It provides the history both visually and textually (Is that a word? LOL) of many different buildings, neighborhoods, streets, etc.

After I posted, cost came to mind too, so maybe not.

The Carlisles (who are developing this property) have been holding on to this from since the '70s if I'm not mistaken. It's their crown jewel at the moment. I hope they won't throw it away so easily.

Why not extend the trolley over the lagoon, then extend it to Mud Island? Then transform Mud Island into a place where there are restaurants and the like. That way, things are more connected. Need to move away from being car-centric, but don't know if the Harbor Townites would like this.

I think it’s safe to say that while it is unfortunate, at least there isn’t a fairly large amount of good sized buildings left. The count we’ve come up with here is 4, but we’ve come a long way. The area east of Sterick is almost like the final frontier for downtown at the moment. That push east will be more realized once the Walk gets off the ground. We had old school developers like Tony that jump started downtown’s renaissance. The Turleys (South Bluff, harbor town) and Belz were the powerhouses in their day.

I agree, it is too much info for him to dissect. New Orleans should be in a region all its own - distinct in culture (music, food, accent, etc.) from the rest of the South. To his credit though, he did say the regions could be configured in many different ways.

I drove past the site this past week, there were construction workers down there, and I think a backhoe too. Other than that, haven't heard anything.