It turns out election turnout in Tuesday’s county primary elections was up from the same election cycle four years ago – almost 19,000 more voters – a 14.9 percent turnout if you only go by the number of “active” voters – 13.4 percent if you go with combined active and “inactive”. Yes, when last we met, I said it was a decrease from 2014. It’s not. And here is how that happened.

2. The King's Castle: Graceland, Whitehaven open 40th anniversary Elvis Week - Friday, August 11, 2017

It begins with a trivia contest and a sock hop. Those are the first two events Friday, Aug. 11, at the top of a crowded Elvis Week itinerary that marks 40 years since Elvis Presley died at Graceland.

3. Germantown Village Square Sells for $27.3 Million - Thursday, April 27, 2017

7694 Poplar Ave.
Germantown, TN 38138

Sale Amount: $27.3 million

Sale Date: April 24, 2017 

Buyer: PEBB Enterprises

4. Editorial: The Ride From Mall To Mixed Use - Saturday, March 18, 2017

Memphis has come a long way from Southland Mall – the city’s first shopping mall – which seemed so cavernous in the late 1960s and now seems so small.

That’s not to say the times have left Southland Mall behind. They haven’t. It can and should be a part of the renaissance now underway in Whitehaven.

5. Oct. 28-Nov. 3, 2016: This Week in Memphis History - Saturday, October 29, 2016

2015: Republican presidential contender Ben Carson campaigns in West Memphis with a stop at West Memphis High School. At the time, Carson is leading in the polls in Iowa, the first stop for the Democratic and Republican presidential contenders in 2016.

6. Bursting the Bubble - Saturday, August 27, 2016

Graceland is in Memphis. But the two have tended to coexist, rather than being part of each other, since Elvis Presley’s home opened as a commercial enterprise in 1982.

That is starting to change as a $137 million expansion of Graceland – a $92 million hotel resort opening in October and a $45 million, 200,000-square-foot entertainment complex west of the mansion to open in the spring of 2017 – begins to overlap with a renewed emphasis on Whitehaven as the home of many of the city’s middle class.

7. Southland Mall Sells In Foreclosure - Thursday, April 7, 2016

1215 E. Shelby Drive
Memphis, TN 38116
Sale Amount: $4.3 million

Sale Date: March 31, 2016
Buyer: 1215 East Shelby Drive Holdings LLC
Seller: Southland Mall Shopping Center LLC
Details: Southland Mall, Memphis’ first enclosed mall when it opened 50 years ago, has sold for $4.3 million in foreclosure.

8. Last Word: Policing The Greensward, A Rural Oasis and Gene Chips - Tuesday, April 5, 2016

The city of Memphis had 88 police staff and other city employees working an Overton Park detail Saturday and another 33 working Sunday on the same detail, according to the Strickland administration’s accounting on Monday.

9. Southland Mall Sells For $4.3M in Foreclosure - Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Southland Mall, Memphis’ first enclosed mall when it opened 50 years ago, has sold for $4.3 million in foreclosure.

The Whitehaven mainstay was bought in a March 31 substitute trustee’s sale by an entity called 1215 East Shelby Drive Holdings LLC. The sale did not include the mall’s two anchor spaces – the Sears store on the west end and the shuttered Macy’s on the east end.

10. Ikea Buys Cordova Acreage For Planned Memphis Store - Tuesday, July 21, 2015

41 Acres for
Future Ikea Store

Sale Amount: $5.7 million

Sale Date: July 10, 2015

Buyer: IKEA Property Inc.

11. Germantown Parkway Parcels Sell for $3.4 Million - Tuesday, May 5, 2015

789 and 725 N. Germantown Parkway
Memphis, TN 38018
Sale Amount: $3.4 million

12. Holding On - Saturday, March 14, 2015

The national outlook for traditional enclosed malls is bleak. No new enclosed mall has been built in the U.S. since 2006. More than 24 have closed since 2010, and an additional 60 are teetering on the edge, according to data from Green Street Advisors. Around 15 percent of malls nationwide are expected to close in the next decade.

13. Raleigh Springs Mall Tests Town Center Concept - Thursday, February 19, 2015

The idea that a declining shopping mall can be redeveloped and reinvigorated as a “town center” with local government offices as a catalyst for private developers appears to be on its way to a meeting with reality.

14. Wharton Administration No Show At Fairgrounds Forum - Friday, January 30, 2015

No one from the administration of Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr. showed up Wednesday, Jan. 28, for a public forum on Wharton’s still-developing plan for the redevelopment of the Mid-South Fairgrounds.

15. City Officials Ponder Macy’s Whitehaven Exit - Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Memphis officials say they were blindsided by the announcement from Macy’s that it was closing its store at Southland Mall in Whitehaven and hope they can prevent more retailers from closing inner city locations.

16. Macy’s Exit Presents Problems, Possibilities in Whitehaven - Monday, January 12, 2015

In what could be a troubling sign for the city’s first enclosed mall, Macy’s is closing its 150,000-square-foot store at Southland Mall in early spring, a move that will affect 112 employees.

The South Memphis store is one of 14 locations Macy’s will close this spring as part of a national restructuring, the retailer announced late Thursday, Jan. 8. The 14 stores account for approximately $130 million in annual sales, according to the company.

17. Southbrook Mall Concept Goes to Public Hearings - Monday, June 2, 2014

As city Housing and Community Development Director Robert Lipscomb began talking in the gym of the Whitehaven Community Center last week, he could see the Pepper Tree Apartments on the other side of Graceland Drive.

18. Memphis Considers Options for Raleigh Springs Mall - Tuesday, August 6, 2013

The city of Memphis is considering acquiring the Raleigh Springs Mall site as part of a civic-driven effort to revive the former retail hub.

“We’re going to explore every option we have, but yes, that is certainly an option,” said City Council member Bill Morrison, whose district includes the area.

19. Retail Resurgence - Friday, May 31, 2013

When leaders of the Delta Division of Kroger kicked off the $5 million renovation of the chain’s Whitehaven supermarket, some of the area’s community and business leaders were looking beyond the store’s parking lot.

20. 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.

21. The Biggest Spenders - Monday, April 12, 2010

David Simon, chairman and CEO of the nation’s largest public real estate firm, told analysts a few weeks ago during Simon Property Group’s fourth quarter earnings conference call that 2009 was a challenging year. And he doesn’t think 2010 will be much better for the company, which owns two malls in Memphis.

22. Raleigh Springs Mall Sells for $650K - Friday, October 23, 2009

The Raleigh Springs Mall has a new owner. Whether that owner can breathe new life into the beleaguered shopping center remains to be seen.

Angela Whichard Inc., a company related to Raleigh, N.C.-based Whichard Real Estate, has bought the mall at 3390 Austin Peay Highway for $650,000 and the JCPenney department store plus an outparcel on the north side of the mall for $100,000.

23. Reappraisal Notices To Go Out Friday - Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Some of the most expensive pieces of commercial real estate in Shelby County are the area’s shopping malls. Reappraisal notices sent out last week to the mall owners show the degree to which that’s the case.

24. Retailers With Strong Local Ties Report Losses - Thursday, November 13, 2008

More signs of economic woe appeared Wednesday with news of sagging sales from retail behemoths Macy’s Inc. and Best Buy Co., both of which have a significant presence in Memphis.

25. Malled by the Competition - Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Editor's note: This is the third in The Daily News' five-part Retail Reinvented series about the past - and future - of the local shopping landscape.

Pat Jacobs knows a thing or two about Memphis malls. He served as general manager of Southland Mall for 18 years before taking the same job at Hickory Ridge Mall in 2003.

26. Shop Talk - Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Editor's note: This is the second in The Daily News' five-part Retail Reinvented series about the past - and future - of the local shopping landscape.

Over the last few years, a trend toward more open-air type malls has grown with the emergence of lifestyle centers across the nation. Still, traditional, enclosed malls seem to be holding their own.

27. Archived Article - Tuesday, February 20, 2007

1215 E. Shelby Dr.
Memphis, TN 38116
Sale Amount: $20 million

Sale Date: Jan. 10, 2007

Buyer: Southland Mall Shopping Center LLC

28. New York InvestorBuys Southland Mall - Friday, February 16, 2007
     Southland Mall at 1215 E. Shelby Drive has sold for $20 million to a New York-based investor. Now public records are giving a little more information about the buyer.
     A limited liabilit

29. Urban Retail Properties To Manage Southland Mall - Wednesday, January 31, 2007
     Urban Retail Properties Co. has been awarded the management contract for Southland Mall in Whitehaven. The project is a 552,687-square-foot enclosed, single-level shopping center.
     Southl

30. Lamar Project Aims to Jump-Start Change - Wednesday, August 17, 2005

The stretch of Lamar Avenue that runs near American Way is very much a neighborhood in transition. With the closing of the Mall of Memphis in December 2003, the area lost a major shopping venue, and in recent years, it has been overrun by crime and blight.

31. Archived Article: Southland (lead) - Tuesday, November 28, 2000
Southland Mall gets new owners Southland Mall gets new owners By SUE PEASE The Daily News Southland Mall will move into the next millennium under new owners. Raleigh, N.C.-based Whichard Real Estate purchased Southland Mall from Equitable Life Assur...

32. Archived Article: Weston Sale Lj - Wednesday, May 6, 1998
By LAURIE JOHNSON Weston Cos. sells three properties for $46 million By LAURIE JOHNSON The Daily News Weston Companies has sold three of its properties with a total value of more than $46 million to one of the worlds leading institutional investment...