Architectural firms that were thrown into a deep, dark hole following the Great Recession are finally starting to see light again.

The only worry is that the light at the end of the tunnel is another recession-driven train, threatening to again pummel the architectural community.

2. City Council Mulls Ending Auto Inspections - Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Memphis City Council member Lee Harris will propose Tuesday, May 21, exempting Memphis auto owners for two years from required auto emissions inspections.

3. Baseball Championship Returns to Memphis - Monday, July 09, 2012

The fifth annual National Youth Baseball Championship returns to Gameday’s First Tennessee Fields in Memphis Aug. 23 to 27.

Now known as the HotelPlanner.com National Youth Baseball Championship, the tournament brings together 12 of the nation’s top 12-and-under teams representing eight youth sports organizations to determine the “Best of the Best.” New Era will continue their involvement as presenting sponsor.

4. Architecture Inc. Finds Formula for Success - Monday, July 02, 2012

Having a staff of just six employees hasn’t affected the ability of Architecture Inc., 88 Union Ave., to maintain a diverse catalogue and high volume of projects, many of them high profile.

5. Marty Regan Blends Civic, Community Duties - Thursday, December 15, 2011

When Marty Regan looks out from his penthouse view at One Commerce Square, he sees an array of public and private partnerships that wouldn’t have been possible without real estate attorneys.

6. Architecture Inc.’s Schuermann Receives Chairman Appointment - Wednesday, September 14, 2011

David M. Schuermann, AIA, NCARB, principal at Architecture Inc., has been named chairman of the Tennessee Board of Architectural and Engineering Examiners.

7. Wolf River Blvd. Land Sells in Lieu of Foreclosure - Tuesday, February 08, 2011

Two parcels on Wolf River Boulevard
Sale Amount: $1.7 million

Sale Date: Dec. 28, 2010
Buyer: SunTrust Bank
Seller: Wolfby GP

8. $3.6M Financing Filed for Legends Park Lots - Thursday, February 03, 2011

Legends Park East LP has financed four parcels through Enterprise Mortgage Investments Inc. for $3.6 million. The parcels are Lot 3 (Block I), Lot 5 (Block G), Lot 6 (Block E) and Lot 7 (Block C), all in phase one of Legends Park Planned Development.

9. Real Estate Recycling - Monday, November 08, 2010

If sustainability is defined as reuse of land and/or structures for new purposes, Hickory Hill may be the capital of the concept in Memphis.

Consider New Direction Christian Church, which found a home in a vacant big box store and now plans to transform a vacant and blighted apartment complex into a charter middle and high school with a performing arts center. The bulldozers began demolishing the Marina Cove apartments complex last month.

10. Developer Calls for More HOPE VI Projects - Monday, October 04, 2010

The developer of Legends Park that replaced the old Dixie Homes public housing project says Congress could put more Americans back to work with more funding for the federal program – HOPE VI – that made the new subdivision possible.

11. $5.3M Permit Application Filed for Soulsville Charter School - Tuesday, September 28, 2010

1115 College St.
Memphis, TN 38106
Permit Amount: $5.3 million

Project Cost: $5.3 million for phase one
Permit Date: Applied September 2010
Completion: July 2011
Owner: Soulsville Foundation
Tenant: Soulsville Charter School
Contractor: Looney Ricks Kiss
Architect: Flintco Inc.

12. Legends Park West LP Files $7.7M in Loans - Friday, September 24, 2010

Legends Park West LP, an entity affiliated with Legends Park West developer McCormack Baron Salazar, has filed two loans related to the property’s development on the former Dixie Homes housing project site. A $6.3 million construction loan was filed through U.S. Bank NA, while a $1.4 million delivery recourse loan was filed through Enterprise Mortgage Investments Inc.

13. Architectural Stories - Wednesday, September 08, 2010

The houses on this year’s Central Gardens Home and Garden Tour chronicle a century of architectural styling.

They begin with traditional designs that borrow from past times and end with a 1967 residence built for the modern age. The 34th annual tour, which features six homes, will be from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.

14. 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.

15. 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.

16. MBS Files $12.5M Permit For Legend Park West - Monday, June 28, 2010

McCormack Baron Salazar has filed a $12.5 million master permit with the city-county Office of Construction Code Enforcement for Legends Park West, part of the overall Legends Park development on the former Dixie Homes housing project site.

17. 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.

18. Crosstown Neighborhood in Dire Need of TLC - Tuesday, June 01, 2010

Longtime Memphians will remember when the area at Poplar Avenue and Cleveland Street was home to the Curb Market, an utterly unique collection of shops from delis to florists.

They were textbook small businesses in a time before the virtues of small business were given political lip service and small business was just as dangerous as it is now.

19. Fundraising Consultants Set Up Memphis Office - Thursday, May 13, 2010

The fundraising firm of Saad & Shaw has established an office in Memphis because of the city’s central location and vibrant nonprofit community.

The two principals of the firm, Melvin Shaw and Pearl Saad Shaw, are now based in Memphis. They will also keep an office in Oakland, Calif., where they started the business.

For Melvin Shaw, the move means he has come back home. He grew up in Dixie Homes, taught at E.A. Harrold Elementary School and owned a small business in the city before he began working for the United Negro College Fund followed by founding his own consulting firm.

His wife and business partner, Pearl Shaw, said the move will allow them to grow an already impressive list of clients.

The clients they have served include Kaiser Permanente Department of Research, the Coalition for a Safe Environment, the Women’s Funding Network, San Francisco Library Foundation, North Carolina A&T University and several other colleges.

“We’re not seeking to just serve Memphis,” said Pearl Shaw. “It’s a jumping-off spot. We can get anywhere in the Southeast. We can get up to New York. Memphis is just centrally located. We can be of service here and we can continue to grow.”

The couple is looking to expand their Memphis network beyond clients they have worked for in the Mid-South, including LeMoyne-Owen College and Lane College in Jackson, Tenn. They set up an office in the city about six weeks ago.

Melvin Shaw started his consulting firm in 1993, then merged it with one founded by Pearl Saad Shaw when the two became business and life partners. The couple met while working on a fundraising campaign.

During his time as vice president of marketing for the United Negro College Fund, he established the Lou Rawls Telethon.

“I came out of the private sector,” said Pearl Shaw. “I had worked for a biotechnology company. I had also worked for a software development company doing business development. From there, I transferred into the nonprofit sector. I worked with a major women’s college, Mills College.”

Although they have specialized in helping colleges raise money, about 30 percent of their firm’s business is with smaller, traditional nonprofit organizations. They also work with companies and corporations on cause marketing campaigns.

The Shaws have a national network of connections, but they said their clients should grow their own base of supporters.

“We don’t come with a rolodex,” Melvin Shaw said. “I know a lot of firms will say we know the Rockefellers, we know Bill Cosby, We know Oprah Winfrey, blah, blah, blah. No, we know nobody. But what we do is

provide you with the training and the development and the capacity so that on your own and with your own connections you can reach out to those people who can make a difference.”

The firm stresses fundamental goals to nonprofit agencies. The firm's website is www.saadandshaw.com and has a blog that offers free advice to the nonprofit community.

20. The Wharton Budget Plan - Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr. presented a $626 million operating budget proposal to the Memphis City Council Tuesday. But the council still has some decisions to make.

Wharton gave the council two choices for raising the additional $50 million the Memphis school system is due from the city in the fiscal year that begins July 1.

21. UPDATE: The Wharton Budget Plan - Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr. presented a $626 million operating budget proposal to the Memphis City Council Tuesday. But the council still has some decisions to make.

Wharton gave the council two choices for raising the additional $50 million the Memphis school system is due from the city in the fiscal year that begins July 1.

22. City Council to Take Final Panhandling Vote - Tuesday, April 13, 2010

The Memphis City Council returns to action after a three-week break with final votes due today on several longstanding agenda items, along with new panhandling and Downtown beer sales points.

The council session will begin at 3:30 p.m. today at City Hall, 125 N. Main St. An agenda is on Page 10.

23. Wharton: New City Office Will Be City Funded - Thursday, March 18, 2010

Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr. is defending his creation of a new Office of Talent and Human Capital. And in a Facebook statement Wednesday evening, Wharton also apologized for an apparent change of course in how the office would be funded.

24. UPDATE: Wharton Says New City Office To Be City Funded - Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr. is defending his creation of a new Office of Talent and Human Capital. And in a Facebook statement Wednesday evening, Wharton also apologized for an apparent change of course in how the office would be funded.

25. 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.”

26. 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.

27. 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.”

28. HUD Official Calls Memphis Public Housing Efforts ‘Extraordinary’ - Monday, August 10, 2009

Ronald Sims, deputy secretary of the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development, came to Memphis just days before Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton left office last month.

Among his hosts were two of the contenders in the coming special election, Shelby County Mayor A C Wharton Jr. and interim Memphis Mayor Myron Lowery, who still served as chairman of the City Council at the time.

29. 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.

30. Highland Hip - Monday, July 27, 2009

The Highland strip is growing a skyline. The Stratum on Highland Street, a five-story apartment complex, was the first new structure west of the University of Memphis to sprout last August on the storied commercial strip itself.

31. Stimulus Funds Allocated to Erase Neighborhood Blight - Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Bit by bit, it’s becoming clearer how millions of dollars in emergency federal money flowing to cities and agencies across the country will be used to repair Memphis neighborhoods ravaged by foreclosure and blight.

32. City to Seek Neighborhood Improvement Funding - Tuesday, July 07, 2009

The city of Memphis is planning to apply for $64 million from the federal government’s second round of Neighborhood Stabilization Program funding.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development got a little less than $2 billion of the so-called stimulus package Congress passed earlier this year to divvy up among states, local governments and nonprofit groups. Memphis city officials by July 17 will have applied for a chunk of that funding.

33. There Goes the Neighborhood: New hope emerges in one of Memphis’ roughest areas - Monday, July 06, 2009

Hope and despair have co-existed for a long time along the stretch of Poplar Avenue between Danny Thomas Boulevard and Decatur Street. And for the past two years, the area has seen more change than just about any other inner-city avenue in Memphis.

34. New Development Illustrates Shift In Public Housing Philosophy - Friday, December 12, 2008

The green grass that came with spring and summer is gone now that winter is about to arrive, but this change has nothing to do with the seasons.

The first homes are going up on the field at Poplar Avenue and Ayers Street. Other parts of the construction site have been built up or leveled to accommodate the foundations of other buildings.

35. Election Fever - Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Topped by the presidential race between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain, today’s ballot features a special City Council election as well as eight city of Memphis charter amendments and two Shelby County charter amendments.

36. City Celebrates Launch of Legends Park - Monday, October 27, 2008

Memphis continues to benefit from investments that are transforming the city’s public housing at a time when development capital is scarce.

The people behind Legends Park, the latest in a series of Hope VI neighborhoods, didn’t let a pelting rain last week stop them from recognizing this accomplishment as they celebrated the start of construction on the project.

37. Le Bonheur Expansion Project Proceeds in Earnest - Wednesday, October 15, 2008

No credit crunch or recession will keep Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare from leading the way toward a greener future, said David Rosenbaum, vice president of facility management.

The financing is as solid as the concrete for the new $327 million Le Bonheur Children’s Medical Center. It is designed to withstand a magnitude 7.0 earthquake and accommodate green technologies.

38. Mixed-Use Building Coming to Legends Park - Tuesday, October 14, 2008

McCormack Baron Salazar has filed a $4.7 million permit application with the city-county Department of Construction Code Enforcement to build a three-story, 45,000-square-foot mixed-used building at 198 N. Pauline St. in Legends Park. That’s the new public housing project on the old Dixie Homes site, across from Le Bonheur Children’s Medical Center off Poplar Avenue.

39. Playhouse on the Square To Build New Theater - Tuesday, August 19, 2008

60 S. Cooper St.
Memphis, TN 38104
Permit Cost: $8.3 million

Project Cost: $12 million
Project Date: Aug. 12, 2008
Completion: Fall 2009
Owner: Playhouse on the Square
Tenant: Playhouse on the Square
Architect: Morris Architects Planners Inc.
Contractor: Montgomery Martin Contractors LLC

40. McCormack Baron Salazar To Develop Housing Project - Monday, August 18, 2008

A $14.5 million permit application has been filed for property at 992 Delmar Ave. just west of Poplar Avenue and Interstate 240. McCormack Baron Salazar is owner of the property and is building a new public housing project at the site called Legends Park East.

41. Boshwit Bros. Sues CityOver Notice to Vacate - Monday, December 24, 2007
     The development of the city's latest mixed-income residential development built on the foundation of an old public housing project has hit a nerve with a nearby property owner.
     The nearl

42. Division Under Consideration Would Oversee Anti-Blight - Tuesday, December 04, 2007
     The Memphis City Council will take a final vote today on the creation of a new city Division of Community Enhancement to oversee Mayor Willie Herenton's anti-blight program.
     Also on the

43. Fifth Term Secured, Herenton Looks To Future Agenda - Monday, October 08, 2007

This is the first week of the rest of Willie Herenton's political life.

Herenton, who was re-elected as Memphis mayor for an unprecedented fifth term Thursday, won't take the oath of office until January. But he began signaling during the final days of the campaign that a fifth term would see a renewed emphasis on past goals he has not pursued with much vigor in recent years.

44. MHA Cranks Up Redevelopment Efforts Citywide - Tuesday, April 03, 2007

The Chicago neighborhood of Marty Boscaccy's youth was a vibrant place, where commercial and residential developments were interwoven.

"You'd go to a busy street and you'd have Rocky's drugstore on the corner, but there would be flats above it where people lived," he said. "They call that 'New Urbanism,' but it's actually the way cities all over the country were developed."

45. Ford Senior Villas Replaces Ford Road Housing Development - Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Construction loans for
Ford Senior Villas
Loan Amounts: $1.5 million; $4.5 million

Loan Date: March 15, 2007

46. In Pursuit of L.I.F.E. - Friday, October 27, 2006

Editor's Note: The following stories comprise the second part of a special series on the state of children in Memphis and Shelby County. To read yesterday's pieces, visit www.memphisdailynews.com.

47. Villas Development Expected to Inject Vitality Into South Memphis - Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Memphis' 6th District is undeniably Ford territory.

Along four-lane New Horn Lake Road between West Mitchell and Brooks roads, nearly every other house boasts a Harold Ford Jr. for U.S. Senate sign in the front yard, as cars with Ford stickers placed prominently on their rear windows zoom past.

48. Bioscience Sector Proliferates Subtly but Powerfully in Medical District - Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Elvis was a patient there, not to mention the vast number of babies who have been born in the hospitals of the Memphis Medical District.

But while several hospitals still operate in the Downtown district - including some that are undergoing major expansions and renovations, such as Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center - the face of the medical center is changing.

49. City Works to Keep Revitalization Focus - Monday, November 14, 2005

With the city's recent decision to place a moratorium on capital improvement projects in Memphis, it's possible that a number of affordable housing projects that have been started around the city could be placed temporarily on hold.

50. Dixie Homes Projectto Get $20 Million Grant - Friday, October 28, 2005
Memphis is slated to receive $20 million in HOPE VI funding to revitalize public housing in the Dixie Homes neighborhood, the offices of U.S. Sens. Bill Frist and Lamar Alexander announced. The funds will enable Memphis to replace Dixie Homes' curren

51. City Makes Push for New Affordable Housing - Friday, August 05, 2005

Steve Lockwood is helping residents of Frayser put a down payment on a very big dream: affordable home ownership.

As executive director of the Frayser Community Development Corp. - which was formed in 2000 to become a revitalization engine for the post-WWII suburb - Lockwood currently oversees several projects, such as the disbursement of federal grant money and the planning of new housing developments.

52. Archived Article: Gov - Friday, April 29, 2005
But theres another reason the area is serving as a kind of model for stakeholders in Memphiss Central Biomedical District: St

Stakeholders Focus on Medical Districts Image

ANDY MEEK

The Daily News

Visitors to St. Louis medical district a...

53. Archived Article: Lead - Wednesday, November 24, 2004
By Amy Oliver

Uptown Replaces Blight With Beauty

Newest project in area renaissance nears completion

AMY OLIVER

The Daily News

Development in a once-blighted community in Downtown Memphis is transforming the neighborhoods there into s...

54. Archived Article: Dixie Homes (lead) - Wednesday, October 31, 2001
Dixie Homes tapped for major facelift

MHA taps Dixie Homes for facelift

By MARY DANDO

The Daily News

One of the citys housing eyesores is about to get a facelift.

The Memphis Housing Authority is soliciting bids from qualified contrac...

55. Archived Article: Real Focus - Tuesday, September 07, 1999
By LAURIE JOHNSON Central Gardens Home Tour 99 This years tour features eclectic collection of architectural styles By LAURIE JOHNSON Take a peek into seven very different houses and some beautiful gardens on Sunday, Sept. 12, when the Central Garde...

56. Archived Article: Comm Focus - Friday, December 04, 1998
By STACEY PETSCHAUER   S.M.A.R.T. provides assistance and support programs for 6,000 Downtown youth, adults By STACEY PETSCHAUER The Daily News A dollar bill wont stretch very far these days, but for about 6,000 residents of a needy Memphis nei...

57. Archived Article: Mha Building Jts - Wednesday, April 10, 1996
4/10 jts MHA building MHA accepts proposals for renovations Agency plans overhaul of six developments By JAMES SNYDER The Daily News In the face of cuts in federal funding, the Memphis Housing Authority is accepting proposals to renovate six public ...