Last year was a banner year for adaptive reuse projects in Midtown and Downtown.

Developers announced plans for the Sears Crosstown building, Overton Square, Hotel Chisca, James Lee House and old United Warehouse in the South Main Historic Arts District. Construction began on The Pyramid, turning it into a 220,000-square-foot mega-Bass Pro Shop Outdoor World, and Memphis in May moved into its new headquarters at 56 S. Front St., a 14,600-square-foot building that’s on the National Register of Historic Places.

2. Battling Blight - Monday, January 07, 2013

The kickoff date to the Downtown Memphis Commission’s anti-blight initiative on April 1, 2011, is embedded in president Paul Morris’ memory.

3. City, D.A. File More Suits, Legal Action to Fight Blight - Friday, February 10, 2012

Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr.’s administration is keeping the gloves off in the city’s fight against blight.

On Wednesday, Feb. 8, the mayor and Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich jointly announced the filing of 86 lawsuits and 11 nuisance petitions against the owners of blighted property.

4. Bill Would Alter Foreclosure Notices - Tuesday, May 03, 2011

The judiciary committees in the House and Senate of the Tennessee General Assembly are scheduled to vote on companion bills Tuesday that would give homeowners less advance warning before their homes are foreclosed.

5. Tenn. Bill Would Reduce Foreclosure Notices - Monday, May 02, 2011

The judiciary committees in the House and Senate of the Tennessee General Assembly are scheduled to vote on companion bills Tuesday that would give homeowners less advance warning before their homes are foreclosed.

6. ‘Hundreds More’ Blight Suits on the Way - Thursday, December 23, 2010

A few hundred lawsuits targeting the owners of run-down properties are likely to be filed by the city of Memphis not long after 2011 rolls around, according to one estimate of the city’s timetable.

7. Shadows of Doubt - Monday, November 29, 2010

As the housing market continues to improve, a significant backlog of foreclosed and distressed properties that have not been put on the market could bring the recovery to a screeching halt.

Many lenders across the nation – mostly banks – are struggling to keep up with the overwhelming number of borrowers who have stopped making their mortgage payments. And with the fledgling recovery in housing still weak, banks, institutional investors and even some homeowners who want to sell their homes are waiting until the market shows marked improvement.

8. Opening Move - Tuesday, November 02, 2010

The owners of 138 run-down properties sued by the city on the recommendation of code enforcement officials will soon be due in court for a series of hearings that start later this month.

The targets of those lawsuits own everything from a collection of townhouses east of Memphis International Airport to Southern Funeral Home at 440 Vance Ave. The trait they share is the public nuisance the city believes they present.

9. Wharton Files Blight Suits - Wednesday, October 27, 2010

For months, Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr. has been standing outside old homes and warning owners of the vacant decaying properties that the city is coming with attorneys and legal papers.

On Tuesday he launched the first wave of lawsuits under the state’s Neighborhood Preservation Act.

10. Wharton to File Neighborhood Preservation Act Lawsuits - Monday, October 25, 2010

Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr. will mark his first year in office by filing 135 lawsuits Tuesday against owners of blighted and neglected properties under the Neighborhood Preservation Act.

Wharton will file the lawsuits in Shelby County Environmental Court as the “first wave” of what he has said will be a two-year effort to target property owners who don’t keep houses and other structures up to the standards of the local construction code.

11. Wharton to File Neighborhood Preservation Act Lawsuits - Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr. will mark his first year in office by filing 135 lawsuits Tuesday against owners of blighted and neglected properties under the Neighborhood Preservation Act.

Wharton will file the lawsuits in Shelby County Environmental Court as the “first wave” of what he has said will be a two-year effort to target property owners who don’t keep houses and other structures up to the standards of the local construction code.

12. Alabama Avenue Could Become Residential Corridor - Thursday, October 14, 2010

For years, the stretch of Alabama Avenue between Danny Thomas Boulevard and Poplar Avenue has been both a traffic shortcut and a hotspot for illegal drug sales and violent crime.

For the last year, there has been some very different activity.

13. Memphis Heritage Lawyers Research 1912 Church Deed - Monday, September 27, 2010

Attorneys representing Memphis Heritage believe they have found wording in a 1912 deed for Union Avenue Methodist Church that might preserve the church.

The site of the church was approved by the Memphis City Council last month for development as a new CVS pharmacy, one of several the national chain is building across the city at key intersections.

14. Memphis Heritage Cites 1912 Church Lease In CVS Dispute - Friday, September 24, 2010

Attorneys representing Memphis Heritage believe they have found wording in a 1912 deed for Union Avenue Methodist Church that might preserve the church.

The site of the church was approved by the Memphis City Council last month for development as a new CVS pharmacy, one of several the national chain is building across the city at key intersections.

15. Baltimore’s Wells Fargo Suit Could Affect Memphis - Thursday, September 23, 2010

Lawyers for the city of Baltimore are preparing to reload in their two-year court fight against Wells Fargo over its lending practices in the city.

Baltimore is planning to file a new complaint against the lender after a federal judge last week dismissed the city’s second amended complaint. The city was given until Oct. 22 to try again in its effort to prove Wells broadly discriminated against black borrowers in its mortgage lending.

16. Attorney Takes On Urban Blight - Thursday, July 01, 2010

Down a side road in the Medical Center neighborhood, past tire piles, trash-strewn lots and a makeshift sign announcing a church “coming soon to save souls,” there’s an empty, slightly overgrown field.

17. Wells Fargo Case Illuminates Brewer’s Passion for Public Interest - Thursday, June 24, 2010

Attorneys often hope for the one big case that sets their practices in motion, but for Webb Brewer the big one has refined the mission of a long, distinguished career.

Brewer of Brewer and Barlow PLC is taking on one of the goliaths of the banking industry, Wells Fargo, with allegations of predatory lending practices aimed at African-Americans in Memphis and Shelby County.

18. Tennessee Earns ‘F’ on Consumer Protections Scorecard - Thursday, May 20, 2010

A nonprofit consumer law agency gives Tennessee poor marks for laws governing interest charges on certain loan products.

In its just-released Small Dollar Loan Products Scorecard, the National Consumer Law Center gives Tennessee a grade of “F” for the consumer protections it offers debtors who take out any of four loan products.

19. UofM-Area Residents Work to Salvage 38111 - Wednesday, February 17, 2010

For Tk Buchanan, community development specialist for the University of Memphis Center for Community Building and Neighborhood Action (CBANA), the 587 foreclosures last year in the 38111 ZIP code are more than a statistic.

20. Adversarial - Monday, February 08, 2010

Both sides in the federal lawsuit Memphis and Shelby County have filed against Wells Fargo are beginning to strap on their armor.

The San Francisco-based financial services giant – one of the largest U.S. banks by assets – has hired Memphis attorney Jef Feibelman of Burch, Porter & Johnson PLLC.

21. Attorneys Unite Against Social Ills - Wednesday, January 06, 2010

Two Memphis lawyers who have claimed the scalps of predatory lenders and slipshod property owners are combining their efforts in a new law practice.

Begun by Memphis Area Legal Services director of advocacy Webb Brewer and private attorney Steve Barlow, Brewer & Barlow PLC is built around the partners’ mutual interest in what they call “social justice” legal issues. The new practice will focus on everything from the rights of tenants to untangling borrowers from the trap of predatory lending.

22. Barlow Leaves UNDC To Build Law Practice - Thursday, September 03, 2009

Memphis attorney Steve Barlow has left his full-time position as executive director of the neighborhood group that promotes revitalization around the University of Memphis.

23. Lawsuit Filed to Clean Up Medical District Property - Thursday, August 13, 2009

A state public nuisance law is being used to force the owners of a dilapidated, two-story apartment complex at 267 Ayers St. in the Medical Center District to clean it up.

24. Legislature Works to Bolster Anti-Blight Law - Wednesday, April 01, 2009

Two Memphis-area lawmakers are proposing amendments to Tennessee’s Neighborhood Preservation Act, which allows homeowners to sue owners of nearby rental properties that fall into disrepair and cause home values to decline.

25. U of M Area Zoning Plan to be Presented Next Week - Friday, February 06, 2009

Supporters of an effort to remake the area around the University of Memphis into a more attractive, pedestrian-friendly neighborhood will take their vision before a local planning body next week.

U of M stakeholders have come up with a new multipronged zoning plan that will be presented to the Memphis-Shelby County Land Use Control Board at the group’s Feb. 12 meeting.

26. Eastview Blight Lawsuit Could Be Settled - Thursday, July 24, 2008

A relatively obscure Tennessee state statute is being used to put some legal muscle behind an effort to reverse one Memphis neighborhood’s decline.

Settlement discussions are under way in a Shelby County Chancery Court lawsuit filed by a property owner in April who lives near the blighted Eastview neighborhood. Jan Rowe, a homeowner who lives a few streets over from Eastview Drive, filed the suit to argue that the neighborhood’s public scars – which include blighted homes and duplexes, trash-strewn lots and unkempt properties owned by out-of-town investors – are creating negative ripple effects in her own neighborhood.

27. Eastview Neighbor Tries to Sue Blight Away - Wednesday, April 30, 2008

The Memphis neighborhood known as Eastview gives the appearance of lacking many things. Some of those things include lawnmowers, fix-it men and the occasional visit of a code enforcement officer.

Most of the homes in Eastview, which sits directly north of East High School and an upscale shopping center, are more than 60 years old. Trash is scattered here and there in the street and in many of the yards. Some of the yards are overgrown. Cars are parked in a few of them. One of the area's vacant houses is so dilapidated it looks like it's recently been used as a giant punching bag.

28. Two Developments Take Center Stage in Highland-Area Renewal - Thursday, December 20, 2007

Some very significant construction is taking place along the Highland Street corridor near the University of Memphis, a sight that is to many area residents the beginning of a drastic transformation for the neighborhood.

29. New UNDC Director Aims High for University Neighborhood - Monday, September 17, 2007

The University of Memphis area revitalization effort took a big step forward last month with the addition of its first full-time staff member.

Attorney Steve Barlow was named executive director of the University Neighborhood Development Corp. (UNDC) in August. He said he has big plans for the young organization and the neighborhood.

30. Baptist Names Baker Nursing Research Coordinator - Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Nursing professor Diana Baker has been named Baptist Memorial Health Care Corp.'s new coordinator for nursing research. Baker is the first person to hold the position. She has been in nursing for more than 40 years and most recently served on the faculty of the Baptist College of Health Sciences.

31. Archived Article: Seedco (lead) - Wednesday, May 02, 2001
By: JENNIFER MURLEY Community developers get seed money By JENNIFER MURLEY The Daily News Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton announced Tuesday the creation of a $1.1 million affordable housing fund resulting from a collaboration between the public and pr...

32. Archived Article: Lucb (lead) - Thursday, March 08, 2001
The burgeoning Lemoyne Gardens district dominates Thursdays Land Use Control Board Meeting with application requests pending LUCB projects highlight LeMoyne-Owen area By JENNIFER MURLEY The Daily News The burgeoning LeMoyne Gardens district is takin...