The Guardian of Memphis
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Posts posted by The Guardian of Memphis
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2 hours ago, Memphisborn said:
Let’s Get BRT going first. However I do agree with an extension of Trolley line it’s needed in that corridor and beyond. Kamala Harris Vp states that memphis definitely needs infrastructure federal money let’s see if they can obtain those funds and leverage them to not only pave roads but also extend light rail service. We need our next mayor to be serious about developing and connecting our infrastructure from downtown/ Midtown to Airport and all the way ( commuter rail) to blue oval city
It wouldn’t hurt to have this trolley extension. It cost 14mil per mile, so how far is it? I agree with your BRT/light rail comment. I’d also like to have the second street extension though. Been on the wish list since the 60s.
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1 hour ago, TheKernel91 said:
At this point while he wait his for the $5 Million.... let the Clipper hotel come back to life. From my understanding, the possibility of One Beale emergence what pivoted the plans stop.
I wonder if he’s waiting on the new mayor to see what he can get out of him/her. It just doesn’t make sense to take this prime piece of real estate that his father had a big vision for and turn it into a lot. Can’t help to think how much he would’ve needed for the original design and height. Why would he be petty about 5m when we need hotels? The Beale landing is expanding, there will be more visitors coming to Memphis. Maybe he’s waiting on the economy to get better. Nevertheless, no matter how long the wait for this or the clipper, we’ll just have to wait. We need hotel rooms for the convention center too.
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On 2/8/2023 at 5:58 PM, JTM1 said:
Fred Smith has always wanted to own his own NFL team and I know for certain that he has shown interest in the Commanders.
The USFL, last season, presented a fairly good product and it has the potential to be a premier league that is played in the Spring. Smith is getting involved because first, he loves football, and he plans to awaken a sleeping football culture in Memphis that will rival any other large city.
Having said that, I do believe he is going to make a bid for the Commanders.
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.
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17 hours ago, James Owen said:
There's definitely gonna have to be some road re-alignment & re-configuration done by the city and the state in order to accommodate the continued growth of St. Jude's campus - along with the planned redevelopment of the Pinch District. I think ultimately there will be a need to replace the current half-cloverleaf interchange over I-40 at Danny Thomas with something like a diverging diamond among other improvements.
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.
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19 minutes ago, VSRJ said:
It will be interesting to see what this looks like density-wise. I'm a little concerned by the inclusion of a (likely suburban-esque) Whataburger and townhomes...
EP3's plans for mixed-use development on Union include Whataburger, hotel, townhomes
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.).
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Might as well go to the Pier while we’re at it.
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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.
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3 hours ago, smeagolsfree said:
Those were the Feb. Numbers that I saw and by county. Oops...just looked feb 2022.
December Unemployment Down in Nearly All Tennessee Counties (tn.gov)
Wow. I scored one over the mighty Smeagol! Mark this day down in history. LOL.
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22 hours ago, MLBrumby said:
Maybe the Pyramid won't look so alone from certain vantage points after these towers go up. Plus, more buildings in the Pinch are planned.
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.
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On 2/2/2023 at 10:56 AM, MDC26 said:
How long ago was this rehabbing of the Dermon Building? Wonder why it closed down since then.
2018 per the Daily Memphian.
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22 hours ago, smeagolsfree said:
I think that we should support our friends over on the Memphis board as much as possible. Sometimes when folks keep telling you your depressed or bad you have no other choice to believe it. With the tragedy that happed in Memphis This past week or so, that may be a start of a turn around. At some point a place has to hit rock bottom. to start coming back. I think the downtown has started turning around somewhat from the looks of what I am seeing on the board.
Cities like Detroit have a much harder road to go as they lost so much population, and many blocks of the city were torn down. The bones in Memphis are still in place. Systemic problems can be solved with hard work, but if you have the loss of infrastructure and decades of job loss that is another thing entirely. Shelby County unemployment rate is currently at 5.1% which is about the third highest in the state which is not good compared to the overall 3.2% of the state. There needs to be more of a push for jobs in Memphis and Shelby by TDEC.
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!
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3 hours ago, MLBrumby said:Memphis has a really interesting history, but the leadership of the past 50 years has been awful. Poor mayors, county officials, city council, congressional reps, and even their busines leaders don't show any interest in investing in the core. What does Memphis have... 4-5 F500 HQs, but how many are in the city? IP and Fedex are out in the burbs (I can understand Fedex as it's reliant on the airport) and the downtown is not really the metro's Central Business District as its so close to the river. However, I've seen some green shoots lately in residential investment downtown and midtown. St. Jude and UTMS are investing hundreds of millions of dollars. I've also read about a national river boat line that wants to invest in a new embarkation port. The Grizzlies have built a loyal regional following. So there's hope. If the city can get its crime under control, it will go a long way toward turning the city around.
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.
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6 hours ago, natethegreat said:Not a bash, but a harsh reality. Memphis has made the national news a few times this year, not for good reasons.
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.
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10 hours ago, natethegreat said:
Memphis makes these lists because it is depressed
LOL!!! Opinion. Not a fact, definitely not the truth.
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11 hours ago, MidTenn1 said:The census is an obsolete way of measuring the size of a city. It just counts the number of people who sleep in a house in the city and doesn't truly measure the daytime population. which may expand or shrink. It was a few years ago, but I was talking to a Jackson city official about some projects and he told me that Jackson is a regional city for most of West Tennessee as it attracts people coming to their jobs or shopping or even tourism. He told me that Jackson's true population during the day was 100,000 (compared to a little over 60,000 actual census measurement at the time). He said on weekends the city's population was closer 150,000 and on the weekend before Christmas there might be 250,000 shoppers and restaurant visitors. Even though they returned to their homes around western Tennesse at night, during the day they required all the services provided to the citizens. They required police, fire, EMT protection and traffic control, water and sewer, and power, same as the counted citizens. Jackson is a big city and is growing as a regional city. However, Jackson's gain is likely Brownsville's or Milan's and other town's loss.
I can't begin to imagine what Nashville 'real' population would be. And surprisingly, a Planner friend of mine recently told me Dickson was becoming a regional city for the area west of Nashville.
A lot of cities have a far bigger population than what the census says.
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.
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On 1/20/2023 at 2:18 PM, smeagolsfree said:West TN is in bad shape as far as population decline goes. I think the growth population trend for West Tn will move further east towards Jackson and continue to decline in NW TN. I also see Clayborn Cambell and Hancock dropping more as well. I will probably add Grainger, Union, & Morgan into that mix as well.
Carter lost a little and Cocke lost more than a little, I think. I don't remember what Johnson was, but it had to be flat. There is nothing there but trees, Mountain City, and the prison. If anything, they may be able to capitalize on some retirement population. It is 30 miles from everything.
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".
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6 hours ago, Tony Randolph said:
I have been away for a couple of weeks so I will be adding my questionable opinions to a few of the topics that have been mentioned:
# A trolley line across the lagoon would be very expensive. A highly expensive to build and maintain drawbridge would be required. A trolley line from the northern end of Mud Island that runs the length of the peninsula might be feasible.
#VMC needs to be left alone. I am impressed how an empty building was restored, and then had dorms added to the north of the property. Basically, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
#We already have a rail line running from Memphis to Blue Oval. I have heard others opine that high-speed rail is an expensive fantasy, but double and triple tracking our existing mainline rail plant would make passenger rail much more feasible and freight rail much more efficient. This is a topic that could be several doctoral dissertations, but basically double and triple tracking rail opens up tax expenses for the RR companies. Most of us agree that rail must play a bigger role in our transportation infrastructure for obvious reasons.
#Please, no soccer stadium, I was born in Memphis in 1960, and I have yet to see soccer become a long-term success. I am not saying to give up on soccer, but we have the Liberty Bowl and Redbirds stadium that are both underutilized and would serve as good enough soccer fields.
#Finally, getting back to my favorite topic on this page, someone high up in city government, must start pigeonholing both AXA and the Grosvenor family and getting direct answers about what will happen to the Sterick in 2025. Every one of us is a stakeholder in the Sterick.
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.
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On 1/26/2023 at 5:24 PM, Armacing said:
Here is an interesting ranking of cities (albeit one of questionable scientific rigor) that places Memphis at #14 dirtiest for living conditions and gives Murfreesboro the #1 worst spot for "dirty infrastructure" - whatever that means:
https://www.lawnstarter.com/blog/studies/dirtiest-cities-in-united-states/#rankings
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.
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On 1/25/2023 at 12:12 PM, MDC26 said:
It's exciting thinking about a restored Sterick building. Here's a before and after of another yellow painted building - The Toof Building, that was restored in 2015.
I wonder what the deal was with painting buildings yellow?
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.
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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.
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On 1/25/2023 at 7:50 AM, smeagolsfree said:
I was not sure where to put this so I figure it will get reads here.
Last night I was at a kickoff event for City Now Next formally Nashville Now Next the brainchild of one of our posters Robert Looper who moved to Nashville a few years back to work on the Nashville International Airport expansion. He has now started this project that is similar to Yimby or Curbed for Huntsville and Chatanooga and I do think Memphis will be on his radar soon. We spoke briefly and I think there is enough going on that there is room for growth. We had spoken in the early stages about cities to expand this too and he is right on track as far as where he has gone thus far as there is a lot going on in Chattanooga and Huntsville.
If you have not been to either one of those cities lately, you need to take a trip to see what is happening. Chattanooga has transformed the downtown into something amazing compared to what it was 30 years ago when I lived there. Huntsville is starting to become a hip city but there is still a lot of urban sprawl. Lots of high-tech jobs and young talent there.
So, with all of that being said I think he will be looking to Memphis soon as well as other untapped markets. If there are other smaller projects, please get them listed and I would encourage someone to put together a project list for the board. This would also include the surrounding area as well. I am currently doing one for Nashville. I would love to see one for Memphis too!
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.
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5 minutes ago, Memphisborn said:
Excellent idea! I would love to see rail extension into MI however cost and pushback from harbor town residents may make it prohibited
After I posted, cost came to mind too, so maybe not.
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18 hours ago, jjbradleyBrooklyn said:
The thing I don't get about that is that in the grand development scheme of things, big-picture-wise, $5 million is not a ton of money to halt a development project. Seems like there should be a resolution somewhere, but stubborness or a distruntled someone on either side is refusing to look for solutions.
That's why I *think* this will go forward with some other developer, or some other hotel property in the future there. The location is way too coveted and I'd think someone with deep pockets could buy this whole thing and finish it they way it should be.
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.
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On 1/18/2023 at 5:06 PM, MDC26 said:
And I totally get including Mud Island in the downtown demographics, as I would too. But, having lived on Mud Island for several years, I personally wouldn't consider it "Downtown Living." It was nice, and convenient, but I would call it "Really-close-to-Downtown Living." True downtown living, you can walk out your door and easily walk to multiple things. We went to TJ Mulligan's a bunch in the Pinch, but that would have been a 2 mile walk for me. Other downtown things were a lot further. Even Harbor Town was over a mile, which had some restaurants, but pretty much, a car was required to go anywhere other than Greenbelt Park. I think it would be cool if a pedestrian bridge (or two) was constructed over the Wolf River Lagoon that connected Mud Island to the Snuff District and would give people easy access to the two Breweries, and future restaurants that may open up there.
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.
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Midtown Memphis News & Developments (Cooper Young, Overton Sq., Orange Mound, Fairgrounds, Crosstown, Broad)
in Memphis
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True. Don’t want it to be a low end brand. Please explain the overlay guidelines for a layperson like me. LOL.
Per the MBJ, parking will be in the back of the property (which follows the 3.0 guidelines).