Bureaucratic snafus, a lack of city funds and the transformation of The Pyramid into a Bass Pro Shops store led the city to lose a $316,680 federal grant for a riverfront bike and pedestrian system.

2. Multiple Reasons Forced Trail to Lose Funding - Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Bureaucratic snafus, a lack of city funds and the transformation of The Pyramid into a Bass Pro Shops store led the city to lose a $316,680 federal grant for a riverfront bike and pedestrian system.

3. City Council Again Tackles Budget, Tax Rate - Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Some Memphis City Council members say they are prepared for a long day Tuesday, June 18, at City Hall as they continue down the arduous path to a tax rate and budget for the coming fiscal year.

“Let’s just be ready to spend the night,” said council member Harold Collins last week. He commented as council-mediated discussions between the administration of Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr. and municipal union leaders on possible cuts in employee benefits got nowhere quickly and ended after less than an hour.

4. City Budget Reset Stalls for Council - Monday, June 03, 2013

Memphis City Council members looking for a five-year budget plan of some kind last week were told by city Chief Financial Officer Robert Lipscomb that most of the ideas hadn’t been properly vetted yet.

5. Wharton Pitches Options But No Recommendations On Budget Reset - Friday, May 31, 2013

Memphis City Council members were looking Thursday, May 30, for a new budget plan to get City Hall on new financial footing after a state comptroller’s office report critical of city financial practices.

6. Civic Leader Says City Has ‘Right Stuff’ - Monday, May 13, 2013

A little less than two years ago, Dr. Robert Ross was up for a standard performance review from the board of the foundation he leads.

7. Aerotropolis Pitch to Council Receives Mixed Reaction - Thursday, March 21, 2013

After years of very general talk about the aerotropolis concept, Memphis City Council members are ready for leaders of the effort to bring it in for a landing in specific terms that work with plans in smaller areas of the district around Memphis International Airport.

8. Crosstown Project Has $15 Million City "Ask" - Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Leaders of the Crosstown Development Project are asking the city of Memphis for $15 million toward a $175 million project.

Memphis City Council members got a look Tuesday, March 19, at the “ask” as well as the finances and goals of the project centered on the old 1.5 million square foot Sears Crosstown building.

9. Pilot Program Helps Seniors Maintain Independence - Wednesday, March 06, 2013

The MetLife Foundation and Partners for Livable Communities recently selected the Plough Foundation and Memphis to participate in the City Leaders Institute on Aging in Place, a national pilot project striving to help people aged 65 years and older to live independently in their homes.

10. Tax Zone Would Benefit Fairgrounds - Thursday, February 21, 2013

The Tourism Development Zone that Memphis officials will seek in Nashville over the next three months would generate tax revenue from Cooper-Young, the Midtown Union Avenue corridor and Overton Square for the redevelopment of the Mid-South Fairgrounds.

11. City Council Approves Fairgrounds TDZ Request - Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Memphis City Council members approved Tuesday, Feb. 19, plans for a tourism development zone to capture sales tax revenue in a large area for a renovation of the Fairgrounds property at first.

The boundaries of the zone go to the state for approval and city Community and Housing Development division director Robert Lipscomb said such a proposal could be at the state building commission in Nashville in April.

12. Reardon Cautions Downtowners About Heritage Trail - Thursday, February 14, 2013

The University of Memphis professor spearheading the opposition of demolishing the city’s last remaining public housing project in the Vance Avenue neighborhood says that while the Heritage Trail Community Redevelopment Plan appears to be on “indefinite hold,” it is not dead, and Downtowners should beware.

13. Complex Agenda - Friday, January 04, 2013

In the first year of his first full four-year term of office as Memphis mayor, A C Wharton Jr. put his political weight behind shifting priorities at City Hall.

In that year, he attempted to broaden the police department’s anti-crime strategy beyond the Blue CRUSH brand of hot spot crime crackdowns. He moved further in his long-held quest to redefine violence – particularly gun violence – as a public health issue. And Wharton continued to meld private funding with an advancing of public funding from different pockets to move capital construction projects inside and outside of the Downtown core area in a stubborn post-recession environment.

14. Heritage Trail Complexity a Concern - Wednesday, December 26, 2012

As 2012 comes to an end, the most ambitious plan from City Hall for the revitalization of an inner-city area in 15 years of such projects has hit a critical stage.

The idea of a tax increment financing zone for a large swath of the area south of FedExForum as well as the Downtown area itself into South Memphis is being examined closely by Shelby County Commissioners before they commit county property tax revenues with the “Heritage Trail” zone.

15. Council to Review $12 Million Stadium ADA Plan - Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Memphis City Council members get their first look Tuesday, Dec. 18, at the plan to pay for improvements at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium to settle the city’s negotiations with the U.S. Justice Department over making the stadium comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

16. Agency to Weigh Plan for Heritage Trails in Early 2013 - Friday, December 07, 2012

The group that will determine whether there is a tax increment financing zone for the city’s Heritage Trails redevelopment plan should begin considering the specifics of the development plan itself starting in mid-January.

17. Opponents of School Closings Raise Concerns - Wednesday, November 28, 2012

The first of three of the most politically challenging decisions the countywide school board has to make about the consolidation of public schools probably won’t happen this week.

Instead of taking a first preliminary vote Thursday, Nov. 29, to close 21 schools by the August merger date, Memphis City Schools superintendent Kriner Cash is asking the board to start a set of “impact studies” and schedule public hearings for closing five elementary schools.

18. Reardon Speaks Out Against City’s Approach to Housing - Tuesday, November 27, 2012

The University of Memphis professor leading the resistance to a still-forming plan to demolish the city’s last large public housing project says the city’s approach to transforming public housing since the late 1990s hasn’t worked.

19. Soul Map - Monday, October 22, 2012

The Soulsville arrows beneath the Bellevue Boulevard railroad overpasses near Walker Avenue point north and south. It is the first indication that you are in an area where several possibilities can coexist.

20. LeMoyne-Owen Announces 'Unprecedented' Gift - Friday, October 19, 2012

Officials of LeMoyne-Owen College will announce Friday, Oct. 18, a new gift to the city’s only historically black college from a revocable trust fund of a 1940 alumni of the school.

Wylodine Taylor Patton of San Francisco established the trust fund in 2001 and granted LeMoyne-Owen College 75 percent of her estate. She died in 2009 and the college received a $500,000 gift from the trust. Since then the estate has sold several properties Patton owned in the San Francisco area.

21. Vance Plan Could Move to Land Use Control Board - Thursday, October 18, 2012

Memphis City Council members recommended Tuesday, Oct. 16, sending a plan to the Land Use Control Board that calls for the revitalization of the Vance Avenue area and leaves the Foote Homes public housing development intact.

22. Foreclosures Continue Rise in Third Quarter - Thursday, October 18, 2012

At a public gathering at Calvary Episcopal Church last week, the city’s Housing and Community Development director Robert Lipscomb lamented the pervasiveness of poverty in Memphis.

23. Council Approves Non Discrimination Ordinance, Adds Resolution - Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Memphis City Council members approved on third and final reading an ordinance Tuesday, Oct. 16, that forbids the city from discriminating in hiring, firing or promotion based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

24. City Council to Vote on Discrimination Ordinance - Tuesday, October 16, 2012

With a legal opinion from City Attorney Herman Morris in hand, Memphis City Council members on Tuesday, Oct. 16, again take up an ordinance that would ban the city from discriminating in hiring and promotions based on sexual orientation.

25. Council to Vote on Cleaborn Homes - Tuesday, October 02, 2012

With a vote Tuesday, Oct. 2, the Memphis City Council will change the name of the old Cleaborn Homes public housing development to Cleaborn Pointe at Heritage Landing and the name of the larger south Downtown-into-South Memphis Triangle Noir plan to Heritage Trails.

26. Difference of Opinion - Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr.’s administration and a group of neighborhood leaders in the Vance Avenue area agree on highlighting the significant history of the area south of FedExForum.

Some kind of trail linking up more than a dozen sights is a feature both groups are planning for the area.

27. Vance Collaborative to Unveil Plan - Thursday, September 13, 2012

When the Vance Avenue Collaborative unveils its five-year, six-project plan Thursday, Sept. 13, for revitalizing the area south of FedExForum there will be some differences from what Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr.’s administration has been thinking.

28. Funding Approved for Felon Program - Thursday, September 06, 2012

Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr.’s administration is retooling the city’s “Second Chance” program for felons just released from prison to become a joint city-county program with funding from the state.

29. Council Could Dissolve Coliseum Board - Monday, September 03, 2012

Memphis City Council members take another step Tuesday, Sept. 4, toward an emerging new push for redevelopment of the Mid-South Fairgrounds by Mayor A C Wharton Jr.’s administration.

The council meets at 3:30 p.m. at City Hall, 125 N. Main St.

30. Nonprofit Center Could be New South Memphis Gateway - Thursday, August 30, 2012

The giant milk bottle will outlive the old dairy plant it stands atop in South Memphis. For more than 80 years, the giant milk bottle adorning a now old and crumbling dairy building on Bellevue Boulevard at Walker Avenue has been an icon.

31. Venson Center Work Kicks Off Heritage Trail - Tuesday, August 28, 2012

The ambitious $1 billion, 10-year redevelopment project called Triangle Noir during former Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton’s administration is now called Heritage Trail.

And the first move beyond the demolition of the Cleaborn Homes public housing development is the exterior renovation of the R.Q. Venson Center high rise at Beale Street and Danny Thomas Boulevard.

32. City Leaders Look to New Governing Plan - Tuesday, August 21, 2012

When 10 of the 13 Memphis City Council members get together around a table it is usually in their committee room on the fifth floor of City Hall for their regular meetings.

But last week they gathered in Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr.’s seventh-floor conference room at his request.

33. Council Mulls Funds for Fairgrounds - Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Memphis City Council members take a step closer to redevelopment of the Mid-South Fairgrounds Tuesday, Aug. 21, with $1.7 million in sales tax revenue generated in the Tourism Development Zone that includes The Pyramid.

34. New Ideas for Fairgrounds Emerge As Bass Pro Project Moves Ahead - Tuesday, June 26, 2012

A C Wharton Jr. noted last week that as Shelby County mayor he signed the paperwork selling Shelby County government’s partial ownership interest in The Pyramid to the city of Memphis. And as Memphis mayor, he signed the paperwork making the city’s exclusive ownership of The Pyramid official.

35. Mall Makeover - Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Over the years, it has become harder and harder to tell that Whitehaven has two shopping malls.

Southbrook Mall was built across East Shelby Drive from Southland Mall, the city’s first shopping mall, which preceded Southbrook by five years.

36. Worldly View - Monday, March 12, 2012

Ron Paul would feel right at home in the Economic Club of Memphis audience next week.

Duke University professor Bruce Caldwell will speak to the club Thursday, March 15, to make a presentation titled “Some (mostly) Austrian insights for these trying times.” That’s Austrian, as in the Austrian school of economic thought represented by a particular brand of deficit hawkishness, bailout-ballyhooing and bristling against big government that Paul the perennial Republican presidential candidate loudly champions.

37. Events - Monday, February 27, 2012

The Tennessee Beta Unit of Parliamentarians will meet Monday, Feb. 27, at 5:45 p.m. at the Poplar-White Station Branch Library, 5094 Poplar Ave. Those interested in expanding their knowledge of parliamentary law and Robert’s Rules of Order are welcome to attend.

38. Uplifting Project - Monday, February 13, 2012

One-fourth of The Pyramid’s deconstruction is complete, and the project to transform the arena into a Bass Pro Shops superstore by August 2013 is even slightly ahead of schedule.

The city in October filed a $2.5 million building permit to begin new construction work on The Pyramid. By mid-November, the first phase – the demolition – was kicked off by general contractor Montgomery Martin Contractors LLC.

39. MED Fdtn. Names Brandenburg Director of Development - Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Joe Brandenburg has joined The MED Foundation as director of development.

Hometown: Connersville, Ind.

Education: B.A., mass communications, Western Kentucky University; master’s in public administration, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

40. SRVS Nominees Receive Disability Awards - Thursday, November 03, 2011

SRVS personnel received Community Recognition awards at the Arc Mid-South’s 16th Annual Arc Gala.

Beverly Shaw, SRVS’ community living director, received the Professional Achievement Award.

41. Fate of Ramesses Statue Still Hangs in Balance - Thursday, October 06, 2011

The fate of the Ramesses statue outside The Pyramid was delayed for another two weeks at City Hall as a Memphis City Council member again derailed the effort to move the monolith to the University of Memphis campus.

42. CCRFC Approves Bonds for Pyramid, Convention Ctr. - Wednesday, August 24, 2011

The Center City Revenue Finance Corp. has approved the bond financing that should make it possible to begin construction Oct. 1 on the adaptive reuse of The Pyramid.

43. County Commission Approves City Convention Center Buyout - Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Shelby County Commissioners have approved selling county government’s share of the Memphis Cook Convention Center to the city of Memphis for $75 million.

The commission vote Monday, Aug. 22, came after city Housing and Community Development director Robert Lipscomb fielded a lot of questions from several commissioners about the Bass Pro Shops renovation of The Pyramid.

44. Commission Considers Convention Center Buyout - Monday, August 22, 2011

It was May 2009 when the Shelby County Commission sold the county’s share of The Pyramid to the city of Memphis.

At the time, A C Wharton Jr. was Shelby County mayor and Robert Lipscomb was city director of Housing and Community Development. And with commission approval Monday, Aug. 22, of a similar buyout of the county’s interest in the Memphis Cook Convention Center, Wharton will sign the contract as the city of Memphis mayor.

45. County Commission Reviews City Buyout of Convention Center - Thursday, August 18, 2011

Shelby County Commissioners reviewed Wednesday, Aug. 17, the city of Memphis’ plan to buy out the county’s share of the Memphis Cook Convention Center for $75 million.

The 6-1 vote in committee is a recommendation of the resolution that goes to the full commission Monday, Aug. 22, for a vote.

46. Council Approves Expansion of Pyramid Project - Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Memphis City Council members approved a bond resolution that expands the scope of The Pyramid renovation by Bass Pro Shops.

The project now includes a $75 million city buyout of the county’s interest in the Memphis Cook Convention Center, $5 million more for what had been a $10 million city purchase of the Lone Star concrete facility near The Pyramid and a $25 million seismic retrofit of The Pyramid and the land bordering the Wolf River Harbor.

47. Council Gets Details Of Pyramid Construction - Tuesday, August 16, 2011

When Memphis City Council members hear Tuesday, Aug. 16, that the Bass Pro Shops conversion of The Pyramid is again ready to move, they also will be asked to approve a pair of resolutions to finance a city buyout of county government’s interest in the Memphis Cook Convention Center as well as the development of the nearby Pinch District.

48. Events - Friday, June 24, 2011

The Small Business Chamber Breakfast Club will meet Friday, June 24, from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. at Office Suites Plus, 6000 Poplar Ave., suite 250. Cost is free to members and first-time guests and $10 for returning guests. For more information, call Melody Douglas at 261-5400.

49. Events - Thursday, June 23, 2011

Methodist North Hospital will host a free seminar on congestive heart failure Thursday, June 23, from 11 a.m. to1 p.m. at the hospital, 3950 Covington Pike, suite 250. Dr. Claro Diaz, cardiologist with Sutherland Cardiology Clinic, will speak. The event is free and open to the public. To register, call 888-777-5959.

50. McKinley Park Opening to be Held Saturday - Wednesday, June 22, 2011

A grand opening of the McKinley Park subdivision and the homeownership phase of the 30-home Hope VI development will be held Saturday, June 25, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Downtown subdivision, 679 E. Georgia Ave.

51. $800K Grant to Help Public Housing Residents - Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Nearly $800,000 in federal funding is on its way to the city of Memphis to prepare public housing residents for life outside the vanishing developments.

And Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr. hinted this week that much more in U.S. Housing and Urban Development funding is on the way shortly for other parts of the ongoing move in the city away from public housing.

52. Steamboats To Call Miss. River Home Once Again - Thursday, May 19, 2011

The overnight riverboat cruise business has certainly had its share of false starts in recent years. The trouble began in 2001, six years after The Delta Queen Steamboat Co. had the largest steamboat in the world built. The company went bankrupt and The American Queen went out of service.

53. ‘Melrose Place’ Apartments Moving in to Orange Mound - Thursday, April 28, 2011

What to call a refurbished apartment complex in Orange Mound near Melrose High School that aims to draw college students as tenants. Melrose Place, of course.

The 80-unit Melrose Place will replace what is now the vacant 164-unit Barronbrook Apartments at 3000 Barron Ave. at Semmes Street. City leaders including Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr. marked the opening of the project Tuesday at the Orange Mound Community Center.

54. Cohen to Address the State of Housing Monday - Friday, April 22, 2011

The Memphis Chapter of National Association of Real Estate Brokers will present a panel discussion on the “State of Housing” Monday.

U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, will kick off the discussion, followed by an panel covering an array of subjects from legislative acts to mortgages to state-funded programs that stop foreclosure proceedings.

55. Cleaborn Homes Demolition Begins - Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Cleaborn Homes, a defining part of the inner city landscape south of Downtown Memphis for decades, began to fall Tuesday morning.

Demolition of the public housing development and others began as a goal of the Herenton administration and continues with the Wharton administration.

56. Cleaborn Homes Demolition Begins - Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Cleaborn Homes, a defining part of the inner city landscape south of Downtown Memphis for decades, began to fall Tuesday morning.

Demolition of the public housing development and others began as a goal of the Herenton administration and continues with the Wharton administration.

57. Events - Wednesday, March 23, 2011

The Alliance for Nonprofit Excellence will hold a workshop Wednesday from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at its office, 5100 Poplar Ave., Suite 502. Participants will learn about the fundamentals of nonprofit communications. Cost is $99 for members, $150 for nonmembers and $89 for those in the Program for Nonprofit Excellence. For more information, call 684-6605 or visit www.npexcellence.org.

58. Pyramid Seismic Issues Could Get Two-Part Study - Thursday, March 17, 2011

Finding out whether a seismic retrofit of The Pyramid is worth the money to the city will cost the city at least $5.2 million.

That’s what city Housing and Community Development Director Robert Lipscomb told Memphis City Council members this week. Lipscomb proposed a $5.2 million “below ground” study of The Pyramid after a consulting company is hired through a request for proposal process.

59. City Seeks Fast Fairgrounds Development - Thursday, March 17, 2011

The $15 million creation of Tiger Lane last year at the Mid-South Fairgrounds happened within budget and so quickly that Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr.’s administration would like to use the method to venture into the more complex parts of the renovation of the city-owned property.

60. Council Considers Fairgrounds Bridge Loan - Partial Pyramid Seismic Study - Wednesday, March 16, 2011

A plan to finance $25 million in Fairgrounds improvements with a bridge loan from the city’s Capital Improvement Projects got a frosty reception Tuesday from Memphis City Council members.

City Housing and Community Development Director Robert Lipscomb floated the idea as he updated the council on the plans for Fairgrounds renovation as well as the latest on the city’s quest to renovate The Pyramid for a Bass Pro Shops store and other attractions.

61. NHOM Brings Housing Opportunities to Working Poor - Friday, February 25, 2011

For more than two decades, Neighborhood Housing Opportunities Management Executive Director Howard Eddings and his team have worked to rebuild Memphis neighborhoods most plagued by urban decay, whose broken windows and overgrown lots have become familiar eyesores in the wake of the Great Recession.

62. Bass Pro’s Pyramid Plans Shaken by Seismic Concerns - Thursday, February 03, 2011

It’s always been about the chance of an earthquake.

The biggest hurdle three Memphis mayoral administrations in five years have had to clear was a seismic retrofitting of The Pyramid for its redevelopment by Bass Pro Shops.

63. Pyramid Problems Could Move Bass Pro Shops Project - Wednesday, February 02, 2011

Bass Pro Shops is still committed to a super store and other attractions Downtown, Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr. told the Memphis City Council Tuesday. But that doesn’t necessarily mean the outdoors retailer is still committed to a conversion of The Pyramid.

64. Wharton Administration Rolls Out New Fairgrounds Plan - Thursday, January 20, 2011

Four months after Tiger Lane made its debut, the Wharton administration has rolled out a much more expensive and complex proposal for the continued remaking of the Mid-South Fairgrounds.

All of the tentative pieces of the fairgrounds renovation would cost $185 million to develop. The plan is to finance all or some of them using sales tax revenue returned to the city for the financing of the project through use of a tourism development zone.

65. New Fairgrounds Plan Would Demolish Coliseum, Build Stores - Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr. has outlined a $185 million plan for redevelopment of the Mid-South Fairgrounds.

Wharton and city Housing and Community Development Director Robert Lipscomb outlined the plan Tuesday afternoon at the Memphis City Council’s executive session.

66. Plan to Reduce Homelessness Takes Shape - Thursday, January 13, 2011

An ambitious action plan to end homelessness in the long term and make significant cuts in the numbers of homeless in Memphis and Shelby County in the next five to 10 years goes to a vote this week.

67. Council Approves $3M in Triangle Noir Funding - Thursday, January 06, 2011

Memphis City Council members have appropriated $3 million in federal funding to begin demolition of the Cleaborn Homes public housing development.

The demolition work, slated to begin in February, is part of a more ambitious 10-year $1 billion development plan called Triangle Noir. While the council approved the funding, some council members said they want to see a new name for the plan, which would take in the area south of FedExForum and move into South Memphis.

68. Rotary Seeks Nominations for Dunavant Award - Monday, November 29, 2010

The Rotary Club of Memphis East is seeking nominees for its 8th annual Bobby Dunavant Public Service Award, an event that honors distinguished work by public officials.

69. Center City OKs Pyramid Financing - Wednesday, November 10, 2010

At the city of Memphis’ request, the Center City Revenue Finance Corp. Tuesday morning decided to issue up to $125 million in bonds to redevelop The Pyramid arena and surrounding Pinch District.

70. Center City Board Approves Pyramid Financing - Tuesday, November 09, 2010

At the city of Memphis’ request, the Center City Revenue Finance Corp. Tuesday morning decided to issue up to $125 million in bonds to redevelop The Pyramid arena and surrounding Pinch District.

71. Events - Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC will hold a Breakfast Briefing titled “Employee Privacy Claims” Wednesday from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. at its downtown office, 165 Madison Ave. The event is free but seating is limited. To register, contact Nicolette Thomas at 577-2328 or nthomas@donelson.com.

72. Events - Monday, September 13, 2010

The Greater Memphis Paralegal Alliance, Inc. will hold a monthly continuing legal education meeting Wednesday from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at The University Club of Memphis, 1346 Central Ave. Linda Nettles Harris, assistant United States attorney, will speak on the topic “Employment Discrimination.” Cost is $18 for members and $25 for nonmembers. Reservations are due Monday at noon. For reservations, call Michelle King at 419-3870 or Clara Murray at 378-7077.

73. Vacant Midtown Garage, Motel Could Get New Life - Thursday, August 26, 2010

Most who drive by the vacant parking garage at Madison Avenue and Pauline Street aren’t even aware there are motel rooms atop the garage.

74. Bass Pro Pyramid Creates Downtown ‘Gateway’ - Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr. has referred to The Pyramid plans as “The Gateway,” the new city name for a project that ties together other recent residential and commercial breakthroughs that stretch from the riverfront to the medical center.

75. Downtown's Mega Deal - Wednesday, July 14, 2010

The lease was signed at City Hall two weeks ago but the negotiations are not done between the city of Memphis and Bass Pro Shops.

The lease deal sets up a series of other more specific agreements still to be worked out that will determine what the inside and outside of The Pyramid look like.

76. Bredesen Takes Look Back at Tenn. Political Career - Friday, July 02, 2010

NASHVILLE (AP) – Term-limited Gov. Phil Bredesen says he once dreamed of serving in the U.S. Senate. No longer.

In a wide-ranging discussion about his political experiences with participants in a Girls State program at Lipscomb University, Bredesen said he's come "180 degrees" from his early Senate ambitions.

77. Bass Pro Inks Deal to Lease Pyramid - Thursday, July 01, 2010

A lease agreement is in place to reopen The Pyramid as a Bass Pro Shops superstore with other attractions in the structure and around it.

Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr. and Bass Pro Shops CEO and President Jim Hagale signed the 20-year lease with seven renewal options of five years each Wednesday at the end of a City Hall press conference to announce the deal five years in the making.

78. Wharton Hagale Sign Bass Pro Shops Lease For Pyramid - Wednesday, June 30, 2010

There is a lease agreement to reopen The Pyramid as a Bass Pro Shops superstore with other attractions in the structure and around it.

Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr. and Bass Pro Shops CEO and President Jim Hagale signed the 20 year lease with seven renewal options of five years each Wednesday at the end of a City Hall press conference to announce the deal five years in the making.

79. Ground Broken on Green Tiger Lane - Wednesday, June 16, 2010

With green rakes and hard hats, city leaders broke ground Wednesday for the $15 million Tiger Lane project at the Mid-South Fairgrounds.

As a group of 22 elected officials, planners and representatives of the tenants of Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium did the honors in a pile of dirt, bulldozers continued to level the site that will be the seven-acre strip of grass.

80. FedExForum Area Closer to Transformation - Wednesday, June 09, 2010

As he confirmed last week the city of Memphis was getting $22 million from the Obama administration in HOPE VI money to demolish the Cleaborn Homes public housing development, Robert Lipscomb already had his sights on the housing project on the other side of Lauderdale Avenue.

81. Wharton Confident Pyramid Lease Close - Monday, May 17, 2010

The city of Memphis and Bass Pro Shops have agreed to continue working toward a lease agreement for The Pyramid for another month.

Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr. told The Daily News the signed extension agreement is the latest development in talks he had hoped would be over by the end of April.

82. Proposed ‘Tiger Lane’ Features Surprises - Thursday, May 13, 2010

Architects and planners laying out a seven-acre green space at the Mid-South Fairgrounds again went beyond what they initially planned.

But this week, they gave Memphis City Council members plenty of notice of the new ideas. ”This essentially fixes the site in its entirety,” architect Tom Marshall told the council as he reviewed plans that included more than the “Tiger Lane” green space running from East Parkway to the west side of Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium.

83. UPDATE: Bass Pro Talks Go To Blackout - Friday, April 30, 2010

Talks continue on a lease to bring Bass Pro Shops to The Pyramid.

Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr. told reporters late Friday morning the talks have reached a sensitive stage.

His comments came the day after a city team traveled to Bass Pro Shops corporate headquarters in Springfield, Mo., for talks that lasted most of the day.

84. Fairgrounds Jump Start on Council's Agenda - Tuesday, March 09, 2010
 

Memphis City Council members will be called on today to jump start the stalled renovation of The Fairgrounds.

The push by the Liberty Bowl's three tenants is to get an immediate council vote on a plan to create a great lawn at the Fairgrounds and demolish seven buildings including the Pipkin Building.

An ad hoc committee including council members and representatives of the three tenants met Monday evening to talk about current demolition underway at the Fairgrounds.

The demolition of the old Libertyland amusement park caused some concern when it went into a parking area outside the park.

Southern Heritage Classic founder Fred Jones immediately began expressing concerns that the new activity as well as the digging of a temporary siltation pond would cut the number of parking spaces available for his annual Jackson State-Tennessee State football matchup.

The work was stopped several weeks ago as the council tried to sort out where the demolition ended and the creation of a “great lawn” during the brief tenure of Mayor Pro Tempore Myron Lowery began.

“There’s a whole lot of work still being done,” Jones told the committee Monday evening of what he had seen earlier that day.

City Housing and Community Development director Robert Lipscomb said it was only a “clean up” of the area.

At Monday’s meeting, the three tenants of the football stadium said they back going ahead with the great lawn project as long as the lawn, in some form, and a plan to demolish the seven buildings, most of which are livestock barns, can all be done by the time football resumes at the Liberty Bowl with the Sept. 11 Southern Heritage Classic.

Some of the demolition contracts run out next week.

Jones said he supports the concept of a great lawn from East Parkway to the stadium. But he questioned whether the plans would increase the number of parking spaces from the current 5,372 within the Fairgrounds property to 7,568.

“We need to know exactly what we have. I don’t mean conceptually,” Jones said. “You’re not creating new spaces.”

Architect Tom Marshall, the city’s consultant on the project, insisted new and more parking will be created with the demolition of the buildings and Libertyland.

Marshall offered to come up with a detailed map showing individual parking spaces for today’s council discussion expected to begin during executive session at 1pm.

“I’ll even put in big cars,” he told Jones at one point.

Jones was the only no vote in the seven member committee vote to ask the city council for immediate approval of the project.

“I’m not really satisfied with what I’ve seen,” he said after he and others said the work by some divisions of the city including the Park Services division didn’t mesh with what other parts of city government were saying. “It’s just too convenient that the park services people weren’t here. Every time we say there is additional parking, I have not seen it.”

Council member Reid Hedgepeth moderated the session, trying to keep all of those involved from discussing past mis-steps.

“From now on people are going to know what’s happening,” he said. “If we’re going to do it, let’s do it. If not … let’s send them home,” he said referring to demolition crews.

Liberty Bowl executive director Steve Ehrhart said pre bowl game events should have some kind of building on the grounds to host them. Lipscomb said a tent will serve the purpose even though Ehrhart would prefer one of the surviving Fairgrounds buildings.

“A tent would be better than those buildings,” Lipscomb said.

Marshall estimated what is known as phase one of The Fairgrounds overhaul could cost $6-million to $9-million. There are no plans for a second phase or anything else beyond the great lawn and the building demolition.

The phase one cost could vary depending on bids and design work still to be done. Construction would start in June. But the council could vote on a specific design in April or May.

“We’re supportive of it,” University of Memphis athletic director R.C. Johnson said near the end of the two hour session. “I’m more and more concerned about the land. But we want to move on it.”

The construction of the Salvation Army Kroc Center on a Fairgrounds lot along East Parkway next to Fairview Junior High School is independent of the city’s on again-off again plans for the rest of the Fairgrounds property including phase one.

85. UPDATE: Council To Be Asked To Jump Start Fairgrounds Project - Monday, March 08, 2010

Memphis City Council members will be on the deciding end Tuesday of a push to get an immediate council vote on a plan to create a great lawn at the Fairgrounds and demolish seven buildings including the Pipkin Building.

86. Wharton Ditches Three Division Directors, Retains Others - Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr. firmed up most of his division directors Tuesday.

He moved to reappoint seven division directors and notified three others they will not be reappointed in a possible realignment of their divisions.

87. Latest Public Housing Options Unveiled at Levi Road - Friday, December 11, 2009

Batsell Booker remembered the excitement he felt in 1972 when his family moved to public housing on Horn Lake Road in Southwest Memphis.

“They were the best thing I had ever seen. … You wouldn’t think that today,” he said. “But we had some great times.”

88. City’s Revitalization Plans Proceed - Friday, November 13, 2009

The city of Memphis has signed a $1.1 million capital improvement agreement with the Memphis Housing Authority for the demolition and cleanup of property at Firestone Avenue and Morehead Street.

The agreement is part of an effort to revitalize what once was a hub of the now-forlorn New Chicago neighborhood around the site of the old Firestone tire and rubber manufacturing plant. With a combination of government-funded investment and private sector involvement, the rough outlines of that plan are taking shape and foreshadow what the community could one day look like.

89. City, Bioworks Receive $30 Million In Tax Credits - Wednesday, November 11, 2009

The Memphis Bioworks Foundation and the city of Memphis have new incentives to lure private investment to struggling areas with a $30 million allocation of New Markets Tax Credits.

The allocation is the largest ever received through this program by a Tennessee-based institution. The program is administered by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund.

90. Beyond Halloween - Monday, October 26, 2009

The signs are already up in some stores around the city – especially those open 24 hours a day. They remind Halloween minded patrons not to wear any kind of masks or face coverings into the stores or risk being mistaken for robbers. What we fear is the basis for Halloween as we know it. What we believe others fear is part of the evolving tradition. Combine the two and you are past Halloween and into a civic discussion that has a season of its own.

91. Fairgrounds Redevelopment Slow but Happening - Thursday, October 08, 2009

Workers began dismantling the Grand Carousel this week at what used to be Libertyland.

Most of the rest of the circa 1976 theme park with the notable exception of the Zippin Pippin roller coaster has been removed or is visibly deteriorating. The carousel is being packed for storage until a future use is found for it.

92. City Pushes For East Parkway Facelift For Fairgrounds - Tuesday, October 06, 2009

The city has no new developer for a proposed overhaul of The Fairgrounds. But it will continue with the demolition of what used to be Libertyland theme park.

City Housing and Community Development Director Robert Lipscomb told City Council members he also wants to improve other frontage along East Parkway, south of Central.

93. Bass Pro Shows Signs of Continuing Interest in Pyramid - Wednesday, October 07, 2009

John Morris, the founder of Springfield, Mo.-based retailer Bass Pro Shops, has traveled to Memphis three times in the past 90 days.

94. Council to Address Piece Of Triangle Noir Effort - Tuesday, October 06, 2009

It’s the real estate equivalent of alchemy: a 10-year, $1 billion plan to transform 20 blocks of Downtown blight.

Preparations are under way to finish the first phase of the Triangle Noir project. The plan calls for pumping federal taxpayer money into the area and replacing blight with new homes and commercial developments.

95. City Closer to Erasing Public Housing - Thursday, September 24, 2009
 

On paper they’re called mixed-finance properties. A smaller front in the city’s 10-year effort to change the face of public housing in Memphis, they are the sites of four smaller public housing projects in different parts of the city, ranging from 100 units to nearly 300.

This week, city leaders and others cut the ribbon on the new Austin Park Place development in Southeast Memphis. The development of 71 new rental homes including 68 duplex units is built on the site of the old Horn Lake Heights public housing development.

Housing and Community Development director Robert Lipscomb called it “another step in our journey to get rid of public housing.”

“We’re almost there. We only have a few more sites to go before we can eliminate the words ‘public housing’ from our vocabulary,” he told a crowd of 50 people in a tent at the newly built intersection of Latrobe and Leclare drives. “Wouldn’t that be great?”

Eradication effort

Lipscomb recalled the old 80-unit townhouse project that was the site of a 1998 firebombing that killed three children and one adult in a townhouse packed with eleven people. Six others in the unit were injured.

“This place was firebombed. … I was in shock,” Lipscomb recalled. “We’ve gone from firebombing to rebuilding what we call public housing. It’s not public housing. It’s affordable housing.”

Construction on the $12 million project began in August 2008 after everything on the parcel of land on Horn Lake near Third Street was demolished.

The nonprofit Memphis Land Bank Inc. awarded the construction contract to City Housing LLC, a partnership between FaxonGillis Homes and Dean Tutor. The Memphis Housing Authority operates Memphis Land Bank.

Part of the development was financed with low income housing tax credits, which require the rentals to be limited to families with incomes 60 percent or less of the area’s median income. Median income in metro Memphis is $45,725, according to the most recent U.S. Census data.

The tax credit through the Tennessee Housing Development Authority (THDA) was what got SunTrust Community Capital interested, said Ellen Ward, assistant vice president at SunTrust Bank. The bank gets a tax credit against its Tennessee tax liability and the loan comes with a .5 percent interest rate.

“This is our first one. But we are entertaining taking out some permanent pieces on a few of the other properties around here. Hopefully we’ll do new ones if there is more to be done in the future,” Ward told The Daily News. “Naturally, anytime the real estate market goes down, you’ve got a little more risk on your hands. … Having the land bank and the housing authority behind it brings a lot of strength to the table.”

Journey continues

Memphis Land Bank has been one of the entities involved in the demolition of all but two of the city’s public housing projects, not counting four high-rises for senior citizens, begun during former Mayor Willie Herenton’s administration.

Cleaborn Homes and Foote Homes are the only two housing projects still standing and are part of the ambitious, 10-year, $1 billion proposal called Triangle Noir. It would demolish and replace both housing projects with mixed-use, mixed-income housing to help spark commercial and residential development in the broader south Downtown and South Memphis area.

The larger developments of 450 to 900 units were rebuilt with a mix of federal funds under the HOPE VI program administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and private financing, said Molly Beard, executive director of the Memphis Land Bank.

Earlier this week, the city received another $8 million in federal funding from HOPE VI for the next phase of Legends Park, the mixed-use, mixed-income development built on the site of the old Dixie Homes housing project near the Downtown Medical Center.

The smaller developments like Austin Park Place are financed with money from a different HUD program and private financing.

‘Not giving up’

The Austin financing was a mix of $6.2 million in HUD money with $5.9 million in private funds.

For all six smaller developments, including Austin, the city has $16.2 million in HUD or public money and $44.5 million in private financing.

Tonnie Carter, a working single mother of six who now lives in the University of Memphis area, was among those who waited in line to apply to live in the new development.

Her goal was “to be someplace where you can pull in your own drive in front of your own door.”

“Five o’clock in the morning I was here with my Barney blanket, my water bottle and my muffin,” Carter said. “I think what used to be public housing is for young girls who are trying to get on their feet. I’m 35 years old. I want to be there. I want to set examples for my children. I know it’s hard but I’m not giving up.”

96. SoFo Hotel a Major Piece of Redevelopment Effort - Wednesday, August 12, 2009

An 11-story hotel with a two-story attached parking garage is coming to the 150-acre part of Downtown south of FedExForum known as SoFo, potentially jump-starting a blighted area where development activity has stalled.

97. New Mayor Lowery Braces for First Council Battle - Tuesday, August 04, 2009

Memphis Mayor Pro Tempore Myron Lowery goes to the City Council today with a new nominee for city attorney, former U.S. Attorney Veronica Coleman Davis, and lots of questions from some of his former council colleagues about his dismissal Friday of the old city attorney.

98. HUD Official: Memphis Public Housing Reforms A National Model - Wednesday, July 29, 2009

In the last days of the Herenton administration, officials from the federal department of Housing and Urban Development have been using the city’s conversion of public housing projects to mixed-use communities as an example for the nation.

99. Police Push For Motel Demolition - Wednesday, July 15, 2009

The owner of a vacant airport area motel described as resembling war-torn Baghdad is due in Memphis Environmental Court this morning.

The Shelby Inn at 1970 East Shelby Drive and Interstate 55 was secured by authorities a week ago as a nuisance under state law.

100. Herenton-Lowery Transition Under Way in Choppy Waters - Monday, July 13, 2009

He is serving his fifth term in office, having come to political power in the historic 1991 city elections. He became a politician after a career in which he was already in the public eye. He is outspoken and intense and he is not Willie Herenton.