UNSEEMLY: The Brooks Road corridor is notorious for strip clubs and seedy hotels. Cleaning it up is just one mission for the Memphis Airport Area Development Corp., which recently filed its corporate charter and hired an executive director. -- Photo By Eric Smith

With its corporate charter on file and its executive director at the controls, the Memphis Airport Area Development Corp. is finally ready for takeoff.

On Thursday, after months of planning, native Memphian John Lawrence officially will take the reins of this newly chartered group, which is charged with reinvigorating the neighborhoods around Memphis International Airport.

"This area is truly the economic engine for the region," Lawrence said. "It's time people recognize that."

Unfortunately, it sometimes can be difficult for people to see past the blight in certain sectors around the airport, specifically the Brooks Road corridor.

Its seediness became such an eyesore for local businesses over the years that executives from airport-area businesses came together last summer to form this community development corporation in hopes of reducing the area's grit and replacing it with growth.

"When you arrive to the airport area, this needs to be an attractive and pleasant environment in which to do business," Lawrence said. "We've got some basic public safety issues to address, we've got some basic infrastructure issues to address.

"Beyond that, I think what we're going to be doing is trying to identify true business opportunities. Who in the area needs to expand, where do they need to expand, and how can we assist that?"

For the community, by the community

Lawrence, who is wrapping up his gig as president of Downtown Jackson (Miss.) Partners - a group similar to Memphis' Center City Commission - said he is thrilled to begin answering those questions and more once he settles into his new office, which will be housed at Medtronic Inc.

Executives from Medtronic and other businesses with operations in the area, such as FedEx Corp., Pinnacle Airlines and Smith & Nephew Inc., formed the nucleus of the board of directors for Airport Area Development Corp. (AADC).

Thirteen companies - large and small, longtime and new - became the group's founding members. Their membership dues formed the initial budget for the organization, which will seek to grow its membership by recruiting companies throughout the area.

"What's really wonderful about this organization is that it's being put together by true stakeholders in the neighborhood," Lawrence said. "We're very fortunate to have the strength and the confidence of the area's business community."

Lawrence said he and his board hope to expand the confidence of local businesses by establishing initiatives for them all - from reducing crime and cleaning up clutter to sparking new development and creating new investment in the area in hopes of fostering area-wide growth.

"All of the stakeholders in this area have projects on the drawing board," Lawrence said. "Medtronic is constantly expanding; Smith & Nephew is growing year after year after year; Elvis Presley Enterprises has wonderful expansion plans. Everybody else has something going on, too, so what we've got to try to do is figure out ways to manage growth in between these anchors."

Gateway

The AADC has not yet set geographic boundaries for its focus area, although anything near the airport could be under its purview.

Of course, that's an expansive footprint thanks to Memphis International's role as an "aerotropolis," the term coined by University of North Carolina business professor Dr. John Kasarda to describe an airport as a hub of business, retail and other activity that sprouts up around it.

Kasarda has called Memphis the lone aerotropolis in the United States thanks to the airport's $21.7 billion impact on the local economy and its status as the world's busiest for cargo. He has said the airport is the economic engine that fuels the city and the region.

Now, the AADC hopes to tap into that notion as well.

"We're the gateway into and out of this aerotropolis," Lawrence said. "What we're trying to define from an aerotropolis concept is how much of that is driven from specific development that is adjacent to the airport versus what linkages are created metro-wide to other amenities in the communities."

Dexter Muller, senior vice president of community development for the Memphis Regional Chamber, touted the creation of the AADC. He thinks the organization's ability to unite public and private leaders will help the airport area reach great heights.

"What you have with this new group is a broad vision with the highest level of private-sector involvement and a highly professional executive director to get the work done," Muller said.

Dealing with real issues

One of the more important linkages is Brooks Road, which has gained notoriety for its strip clubs and crime, serving as an eyesore and embarrassment for companies along the corridor.

Lawrence understands that cleaning up the area - with the help of businesses who operate there - will be mission critical for the AADC. But he said he first wants to ascertain the degree of the problem before making any declaration of what needs to be done.

"It's difficult to deal with perceived issues, but we absolutely have to deal with the real issues," he said. "When we get in and really discover what type of criminal activity is taking place and where, then we'll decide how to deal with that, what measures can be put in place, how can private industry in the area participate, and what can we do to encourage the police department and sheriff's department to participate."

Lawrence said he wants the AADC to become a clearinghouse of information from area businesses and a catalyst for rejuvenating the airport area into a place where companies of all sizes and types will want to do business.

"To create an identity for this area and to help coordinate growth around all these tremendous anchors," Lawrence said, "you don't get opportunities like this very often."