The idea started with a birthday party. Many years later, the Annie Ervin Willis Scholarship Fund is providing help to a graduating senior that lives or attends school in one of the ZIP codes where Willis attended school and church.

2. At ComCap Partners, Alex Willis Focuses on Improving Community - Friday, March 9, 2018

Ever spot your name on a street sign? It’s a total coincidence – you know this to be true – and yet you may be tempted to stop and grab a selfie with the caption built right in. If you’re a Memphian descended from renowned civil rights leader A.W. Willis, Jr., though, the Willis in white letters on a green sign was your grandfather. And chances are, you share his first and middle initials, too.

3. Foote Homes Last Vestige Of Public Housing - Tuesday, July 4, 2017

As the last of the city’s large public housing developments is demolished, the oldest of the mixed-income communities that replaced them is about to turn 20.

College Park opened in 1998 on the site of what had been Lemoyne Gardens in the area of South Memphis now known as Soulsville.

4. Last Word: No Deal, Ivan Rabb and Intermodals in Overton Park - Friday, June 30, 2017

And the winner is … not Fred’s. After months of speculation about the Memphis-based discount retail store’s transformation into a pharmacy-based enterprise with the purchase of hundreds of Rite Aid stores in a third-party divestment move, Fred’s was nowhere to be found when Walgreens announced a deal Thursday to buy the Rite Aid stores. The corporation told investors it will still pursue its strategy but acknowledged its trajectory is “stunted” – that as Fred’s got hammered on Wall Street.

5. Editorial: We Must Stand Together To Fight Memphis Blight - Saturday, May 27, 2017

The saying is you can’t see the forest for the trees. And at times that is what Memphis’ seemingly eternal battle with blight feels like.

Before you can address properties that have become eyesores in once-proud communities, you must sort through the red tape and bureaucracy that protects these monuments to neglect.

6. The Buying And Selling Of Memphis - Saturday, May 27, 2017

Even before he went to federal prison for 25 years on a racketeering conviction in 1995, Danny Owens had a real estate portfolio. The strip-club kingpin who defined the industry in Memphis across a 20-year period owned the old Memphian movie theater and made possible its 1986 sale to Playhouse on the Square by donating $160,000 toward its purchase.

7. 'War' on Blight - Friday, May 19, 2017

Attorney Steve Barlow has been working on blight issues for 20 years, which is to say he’s been working for two decades almost exclusively on the maze of rules, regulations and procedures that make blight possible and sustainable.

8. Blight Summit to Mark Progress, Challenges - Friday, May 12, 2017

When the leaders of the city’s anti-blight effort gather at Clayborn Temple for their second annual summit Wednesday, May 17, on the next block south of the church will be an example of work still to be done.

9. Frayser Landfill Owner Pulls Expansion Application, But Plans to Return - Monday, July 18, 2016

Amid public opposition, Memphis Wrecking Co. has withdrawn its application to expand its landfill near Whitney Elementary School in Frayser. This is the second consecutive time the company withdrawn its application with the Land Use Control Board before the board could consider the request.

10. Young Cherishes Role of Rebuilding Memphis Neighborhoods - Tuesday, April 12, 2016

“I don’t want to be viewed as the most powerful person in Memphis,” said Paul Young, a Memphis native who became director of Housing and Community Development for the city of Memphis in January.

11. This Week in Memphis History: March 25-31 - Saturday, March 26, 2016

2015: NBA legend Magic Johnson visits Memphis to announce his foundation will award $30,000 in college scholarships to students at Booker T. Washington High School.

2015: Developers Archie Willis and Henry Turley unveil their concept plan for the redevelopment of Central Station, including a boutique hotel by Kemmons Wilson Enterprises in the station building, a Malco movie theater and possibly a grocery store – totaling a $52 million private investment.

12. Cleaning House - Saturday, March 26, 2016

Every neighborhood in Memphis and Shelby County has the right to be free from the negative effects of vacant, abandoned and blighted properties. That’s the battle cry of the Memphis Blight Elimination Charter, a 23-page pledge that will steer policy and programs dedicated to blight eradication.

13. Roadmap to Attacking Blight Awaits City and County Approval - Monday, March 21, 2016

Blighted properties, overgrown lots and abandoned buildings are not unique to Memphis. But Memphis is the only city with a blight elimination charter that affirms cross-sector commitment to uproot the causes of blight and prevent further decline.

14. Four Beale Street Proposals Feature Different Backgrounds - Monday, January 18, 2016

Jeff Sanford fielded inquiries from 17 or 18 companies, local and out of town, expressing some level of interest in the contract to manage the Beale Street entertainment district.

15. 4 Applicants Up for Beale Street Gig - Friday, January 15, 2016

A Fortune 500 corporation, the Memphis-based company behind the Delta Fair, a Memphis real estate management firm with office experience, and a newly formed group of Memphians with experience in real estate, entertainment and restaurants as well as commercial development and financing. Those are the four companies that have applied to manage the Beale Street entertainment district.

16. Beale Board Approves Lease With City - Monday, December 14, 2015

This was all supposed to be settled legally in 2014. But the stickiest legal dispute of many involving the Beale Street entertainment district may be coming back to life.

As the Beale Street Tourism Development Authority approved a 25-year lease with the city of Memphis last week, which includes five renewal options of 15 years each, it learned the city has suspended payments to the Beale Street Development Corp.

17. Beale Board Approves Lease With City - Friday, December 11, 2015

The Beale Street Tourism Development Authority has approved a 25-year lease agreement with the city with five renewal options of 15 years each beyond that. But there are signs of discord between the city and an old Beale Street entity that was supposed to stand down in the transition.

18. Willis Leaving Beale Authority, Lease Transfer Vote Moves to December - Friday, November 13, 2015

Developer Archie Willis is leaving as chairman of the Beale Street Tourism Development Authority.

Willis announced his resignation from the panel Thursday, Nov. 12, at the end of the authority’s monthly meeting, its seventh since it was created in April.

19. Historic Clayborn Temple to be Restored - Thursday, October 8, 2015

Clayborn Temple, the home base for the sanitation worker strikes of 1968, is on its way to restoration after decades of neglect and four years on the market. Nonprofit Neighborhood Preservation Inc. is taking over what is expected to be a multimillion-dollar project to return the church to religious, educational and community uses.

20. Earlier Conversions Leave Lessons for Foote Homes Project - Friday, October 2, 2015

The coming redevelopment of Foote Homes will be different from previous public housing conversions, incorporating lessons learned from relocating residents.

The last phase of neighboring Cleaborn Homes’ conversion to a mixed-use, mixed-income development is under construction on the other side of Lauderdale Street. It will create 67 multifamily units and should be completed by the end of the year.

21. Beale Authority Moves Toward Management Firm - Monday, September 14, 2015

The Beale Street Tourism Development Authority plans to hire a day-to-day real estate management firm by the end of the year.

The authority voted Thursday, Sept. 10, to move toward the hire. The next step is a request for proposal that the board is expected to vote on at its Oct. 15 meeting.

22. Farmers First - Wednesday, September 9, 2015

After all these years – 27 weeks of Saturdays for a decade – Jill Forrester calls it a “nice routine.” And by that she means she and husband Keith getting up at 3 a.m., loading their produce, herbs and flowers, and driving to the Memphis Farmers Market downtown.

23. Problem Properties - Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Memphis has a crippling issue with blight, and one nonprofit is front and center with changing the culture that led to the city’s inundation of abandoned properties and lots.

Neighborhood Preservation Inc. was founded in 2012 as a court-appointed receiver of properties taken away from neglectful owners. Over the years, it has evolved to become a robust advocate for stronger legislation and development tools to deal with problem properties.

24. Beale Board Looks at 3-Month Window to Set Up Shop - Monday, August 17, 2015

The Beale Street Tourism Development Authority is looking at a narrow three-month window to get its lease agreement with City Hall signed and, in effect, begin its work for the city and hire some kind of day-to-day manager for the entertainment district.

25. Beale Authority Sets Timetable for Taking Lease To City Hall - Friday, August 14, 2015

The Beale Street Tourism Development Authority is looking at a narrow three-month window to get its lease agreement with City Hall signed and in effect, begin its work for the city and hire some kind of day-to-day manager for the entertainment district.

26. Beale Authority Prepares to Negotiate Lease With Memphis Leaders - Monday, July 13, 2015

The Beale Street Tourism Development Authority is at what Downtown Memphis Commission president Paul Morris describes as an “awkward interim stage.”

27. Beale Group Plans for Lease Agreement Instead of District Ownership - Friday, July 10, 2015

The Beale Street Tourism Development Authority is dropping the idea for now of a fee simple ownership of the entertainment district.

Members of the authority board, which met Thursday, July 9, will instead pursue the leasehold agreement with the city of Memphis, as contemplated in the city ordinance that created the authority as the new long-term planning group for the district.

28. Passion for Architecture Fuels Looney Ricks Kiss' Norcross - Saturday, June 20, 2015

Rob Norcross, a principal at Memphis architecture, planning and design firm Looney Ricks Kiss, has increasingly enmeshed himself into public service, holding positions on several key boards or committees.

29. Beale Authority Wants to Talk New Ownership Deal - Saturday, June 13, 2015

The newly appointed Beale Street Tourism Development Authority wants to talk to Memphis City Council members about a new arrangement for how it would govern the Beale Street Entertainment District for the city.

30. Beale Authority Wants to Talk New Ownership Arrangement - Monday, June 8, 2015

The newly appointed Beale Street Tourism Development Authority wants to talk to Memphis City Council members about a new arrangement for how it would govern the Beale Street Entertainment District for the city.

31. Making the Connection - Saturday, June 6, 2015

Archie Willis III had just earned his master’s degree in business at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill when he returned to Memphis in 1981 to help his father, A.W. Willis Jr., redevelop the Adler Hotel Annex.

32. Beale Authority Wants to Talk Fee Simple Ownership Of District - Friday, June 5, 2015

The newly appointed Beale Street Tourism Development Authority wants to talk to Memphis City Council members about a fee simple arrangement for how it would govern the entertainment district for the city.

33. Beale Street Board to Tackle District Plans, Future - Monday, May 11, 2015

Jeff Sanford has spent much of the past five years consulting on redevelopment projects in other cities.

But Sanford – who stepped down from his post as president of the Center City Commission, now the Downtown Memphis Commission, in 2010 – hasn’t found another entertainment district comparable to Memphis’ most famous street.

34. Density Key to Central Station Timing - Tuesday, April 14, 2015

The redevelopment plan for Downtown’s Central Station is the expansion of the South Bluffs development of the 1990s. Or it is a bridge connecting the transformation of the old Cleaborn Homes public housing development to the east and maybe Foote Homes to come.

35. City Council to Hear Plan for New Police Strategy - Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Memphis City Council members get their first look Tuesday, April 7, at a new strategy for the Memphis Police Department as well as Memphis Mayor A C Wharton’s choices for the new Beale Street Tourism Development Authority.

36. Central Station Project Relies on Local Institutions - Tuesday, March 31, 2015

At $55 million, the proposed redevelopment plan for Central Station that debuted last week isn’t quite the “vertical village” that Crosstown Concourse is. The price tag, all except $3 million of which is private financing, is about a quarter of the $200 million cost of Crosstown.

37. Plans Revealed for $55 Million Central Station Project - Saturday, March 28, 2015

Conceptual plans were revealed Friday for the widely anticipated redevelopment of Central Station.

Archie Willis of Community Capital and developer Henry Turley outlined the $55 million plan for the finance committee of the Memphis Area Transit Authority.

38. Goldman Sachs ‘Confident’ in Memphis - Tuesday, March 3, 2015

In April, Rachel Diller, managing director of the urban investment group at Goldman Sachs, received a phone call in her New York office from officials at Phoenix-based Dudley Ventures.

The executives at Dudley Ventures, which specializes in large tax-credit supported projects, were arranging financing for the $200 million effort to transform the old Sears Crosstown property and wanted to know if the New York-based investment bank was interested.

39. Morris: Public Transit Tops Downtown Goals - Thursday, January 15, 2015

A stronger and more vital public transportation presence in Downtown and a plan for development of land south of Central Station are two priorities of the Downtown Memphis Commission for the coming year.

40. Designing the Medical Center for Creative Collisions - Thursday, January 16, 2014

The Memphis Medical Center near Downtown is currently in the midst of a significant building boom. Major new facilities by Southwest Tennessee Community College, University of Tennessee Health Science Center and the Bioworks Foundation are underway or nearing completion, joining successful hospitals, clinics, educational institutions and many other great small businesses.

41. Regions Morgan Keegan Fund Directors Settle Federal Claims - Monday, June 17, 2013

Eight former mutual fund directors have settled federal claims that they allowed others at the firm to set values for subprime mortgage securities that were held by funds on which investors lost about $1.5 billion.

42. Federal Regulators Charge Eight Directors of Morgan Keegan Funds - Saturday, December 15, 2012

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced charges Monday, Dec. 10, against eight former members of the boards of five Morgan Keegan mutual funds for “violating their asset pricing responsibilities under the federal securities laws.”

43. SEC Charges Eight Directors of Morgan Keegan Funds - Tuesday, December 11, 2012

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced charges Monday, Dec. 10, against eight former members of the boards of five Morgan Keegan mutual funds for “violating their asset pricing responsibilities under the federal securities laws.”

44. 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.

45. Haslam Chimes in on Local Issues - Monday, January 31, 2011

Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam has a warning about his developing set of regional economic development strategies.

“The days where government was able to be seen as somebody who was always giving something are gone, quite frankly,” Haslam told a group of 40 business and civic leaders at the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law. “They’re gone for at least the foreseeable future.”

46. Real Estate Recycling - Monday, November 8, 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.

47. Development Partners Reunite on Midtown Project - Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Community Capital and Architecture Inc. have teamed up again, this time to build Community Capital’s new headquarters at 1708 Monroe Ave. between South Belvedere Boulevard and South Evergreen Street.

48. Fairgrounds Ownership Question Lingers - Friday, November 21, 2008

The Herenton administration’s plan to take a development agreement for the Fairgrounds to the City Council was delayed this week. The delay came the same week that the Shelby County Board of Commissioners finally approved a development agreement for Bass Pro Shops to remake The Pyramid.

49. Archived Article: Memos - Wednesday, February 21, 2001
Jon Woods joined Chris Woods Construction Co Jon Woods joined Chris Woods Construction Co. Inc. as an assistant project manager/estimator. He earned a bachelors degree from Auburn University. Four community members were elected to the board of trust...

50. Archived Article: Wesley Bott - Wednesday, July 7, 1999
Construction underway on Wesley Forest Construction underway on Wesley Forests first phase By LAURIE JOHNSON The Daily News Construction is underway on the first phase of Wesley Forest, an affordable housing development on Neely Road in the Westwood...

51. Archived Article: Cornerstone Chg - Wednesday, November 5, 1997
By CAMILLE H Dallas company buys apartment properties By CAMILLE H. GAMBLE The Daily News Cameron at Kirby, a 324-unit apartment complex at 3094 Autumnwood Ave. in Southeast Memphis, and Stonegate, a 208-unit apartment complex at 4500 Stonegate Driv...

52. Archived Article: Memos - Wednesday, October 8, 1997
Billie Peterman has been named chief financial officer and executive vice president of Baptist Memorial Health Care Corp Billie Peterman has been named chief financial officer and executive vice president of Baptist Memorial Health Care Corp. She pr...