Jim Wilson & Associates Buys Land For Carriage Crossing MarketPlace

     More than 42 acres across from The Avenue Carriage Crossing mall in Collierville has been sold for $11.7 million, with the property slated to become the 198,000-square-foot Carriage Crossing MarketPlace shopping center.
     Seven limited liability companies affiliated with Montgomery, Ala.-based Jim Wilson & Associates Inc. bought the land from a limited liability company affiliated with Atlanta-based Cousins Properties Inc.
     At the southeast corner of Houston Levee Road and East Shelby Drive, the property will become what JWA dubs a "power center," said Kay Yarbrough, the company's director of marketing and public relations. A power center is a shopping center that is anchored by a big-box retailer and also has what Yarbrough describes as "mid-box" retailers - those with 100,000 square feet or fewer. She said no contracts had been completed with potential retailers.
     Though The Avenue Carriage Crossing is a partnership between JWA and Cousins with the latter serving as property manager, the new MarketPlace center will be developed and managed solely by JWA, Yarbrough said.
     "I spoke to Jim Wilson III, our CEO, and he said (Monday) that we needed to decide on a date for ground breaking," she said. "So I have a feeling that, since the land's been purchased, it will probably be in the next couple months when the weather's a little bit nicer."
     The JWA Web site lists the projected opening date as fall 2007, but Yarbrough said that date probably would be pushed back.
     Across the street from the planned MarketPlace, The Avenue Carriage Crossing is a open-air mall concept with retailers including Linens 'n Things, World Market, Barnes & Noble and Dillard's, among others.  It opened in October 2005 at the southeast corner of Houston Levee Road and Bill Morris Parkway.

Renowned Parks Expert To Speak in Memphis

     Friends for Our Riverfront hosts Charles R. Jordan, a leading expert on parks and public spaces, Feb. 10 at 10 a.m. at Memphis College of Art Auditorium in Overton Park. Jordan will speak on "Renewing Our Cities, Restoring Our Parks." He will be introduced by Shelby County Mayor A C Wharton Jr.
     In 1985, Jordan was appointed to the President's Commission on American Outdoors by former President Ronald Reagan. And during President Bill Clinton's administration, he was appointed to the American Heritage Rivers Advisory Committee.
     Currently, Jordan is chairman of the Conservation Fund, America's national land trust, which has protected 5.4 million acres of public spaces across America.
     The lecture is the second in a series of "A Visionary Speaks" events presented by Friends for Our Riverfront and sponsored by The Crawford-Howard Family Foundation. Admission is free.
     For more information, visit www.friendsforourriverfront.org.

Crye-Leike Breaks Ground On New Shopping Center

     Crye-Leike Realtors broke ground Friday on a 32,000-square-foot, $3 million shopping center on the corner of Forest Hill-Irene Road and Village Shops Drive between Poplar Avenue and Poplar Pike.
     The new shopping center is expected to be completed by early summer.
     The Crye-Leike Germantown Exeter branch will be moving to the new facility, occupying about half of the retail space.
     This is the fifth time Crye-Leike has expanded its Germantown office capacity since acquiring the Albertine-McCrory Building on West Street in the early 1980s.
     Upon completion, Crye-Leike will have two offices and more than 200 real estate associates in the Germantown area.
     Jerry Preister of Preister & Associates Contractors is the general contractor for the project.

Peabody Museum Changes Its Name

     Over the weekend, Peabody Place Museum had its name changed to the Belz Museum of Asian and Judaic Art to better reflect the art housed at the museum.
     The announcement was made at an event Sunday at the museum at 119 S. Main St.
     Jack Belz, founder of the museum, and Leonid Saharovici, president of the Peabody Place Museum's board of directors, hosted the event and unveiled the new name, logo and several new pieces of art.
     Opened in 1998, the museum is home to a world-class collection of 19th century Chinese art and rare Judaic art. The permanent exhibit at the museum includes objects created for Chinese nobility during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). The Qing Dynasty was founded by the Manchu people, the second ethnic group to rule the whole of China.
     Hours of operation are from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
     For more information, call 523-ARTS.

Cotton Board Beefs Up Communication Efforts

     The Cotton Board has selected Seattle-based Trumba Corp. to promote awareness of the organization's events locally and nationally.
     Through its flagship product, Trumba Connect, the company will work to increase the Cotton Board's communication with other industry organizations. Tumba Connect enables organizations to publish and promote events online and create an interactive, two-way communications vehicle between themselves and their customers.
     Based in Memphis, the Cotton Board is the oversight and administrative arm of the Cotton Research & Promotion Program.
     The Trumba Corp. develops event marketing technology that will enable visitors to the Cotton Board's Web site, www.cottonboard.org, to search for events, add them to their personal calendars, and send them to other organizations. It also will allow visitors to have reminders sent via e-mail, text messages or RSS feeds.