Memphis Metropolis

Jason Farmer, founder and CEO of BLP Film Studios, visits Memphis Metropolis to talk about the 100-acre film production facility the company is developing in Whitehaven. 

The Henry Turley Company has been at the forefront of enlightened neighborhood development and redevelopment for decades, including developing Harbor Town - which became a national model, partnering with the city and others on redeveloping the Uptown area, and most recently, adding a mixed-use community, Orleans Station, to the Medical District. 

 In this program, company CEO Alex Turley visits Memphis Metropolis for a wide-ranging conversation about the recent surge in development in the city's core and the need for community partnerships that support redevelopment but avoid the levels of displacement and gentrification that other cities have seen in recent years. 

Andre Jones of Jones Urban Development joins Memphis Metropolis this week to talk about so-called "missing middle" housing,  the duplexes, quads, and small apartment buildings that fill our older neighborhoods but haven't been developed in newer neighborhoods. Jones and his company are bringing missing middle housing back, starting in the Uptown neighborhood. In this show, he discusses his Malone Park Commons project - a cottage community - and talks about the challenges he has confronted in its development. 

In this show, Memphis Metropolis does a deep dive into state preemption,  or when state legislatures use their authorities to preempt or essentially override local control of issues as wide-ranging as gun violence, blight remediation, and whether or not Confederate statues can be removed. 

Guests Dr. Megan Hatch from Cleveland State University and Dr. Austin Harrison from Rhodes College are our guests, discussing the impact of state preemptions on affordable housing development both locally and around the country. 

Get more information about the State of Memphis Housing Summit 2022 here.

Shopping centers, offices, and residential neighborhoods often come to mind when many people think about the real estate business. But industrial real estate - where the region's warehouses and distribution centers are located - dwarfs those other sectors locally. Commercial Advisor's Kemp Conrad joins Memphis Metropolis to explain the geographic and transportation factors that drove industrial real estate's growth, how the Blue Oval City development will impact the sector, and how recent economic trends - such as interest rate increases - may temporarily slow new development even though demand remains high. 

Outside of his day job in the planning and legal professions, fans of the built environment and its history know him as the creator of the Creme de Memph blog. Creme de Memph first came to life when Josh discovered a trove of historical planning documents - zoning cases, maps, renderings, photos, etc. - in the basement of Memphis' city hall. Years later, the blog has covered sidewalk curb cuts, street configurations that make no sense, historical signs, buildings that are long gone, and others that were designed but never built. 

In this episode, we talk to Josh about his Lost Memphis series on the blog, and in particular about two buildings that once stood in the neighborhood where Crump becomes Lamar - VA Hospital #88 and the Memphis Furniture Manufacturing Company. 

The Lynching Sites Project works to illuminate the truth about lynchings in Shelby County, foster community conversations about the history of racial violence in the community, and create a new legacy of racial equality and justice. In this program, LSP board members Richard Watkins and Kelsey Lamkin explain the organization's goals and programs generally and also discuss their current efforts to add the site of Ell Persons' lynching to the National Register of Historic Places. Ell Persons was lynched in 1917 near what is now Summer Avenue, after being accused of killing a white girl. 

The Lynching Sites Project is hosting a symposium - Turning the Light of Truth: The Lynching of Ell Persons - on Saturday, October 15. More information is available here. 

The Lynching Sites Project website

The Red Record Podcast

Memphis' new Hospitality Hub is literally breaking new ground in how unhoused Memphians are welcomed and assisted. With an expanded array of services available, the Hub Hotel for women and their families, open space, and other amenities, the Hub has created a calm and accessible campus where people can be helped along their journey to becoming housed. Terry Conley, case counselor at the Hub, and Ellen Roberds from Dragonfly Collective visit Memphis Metropolis to talk about the new facility and how the Hub team approaches the work with a focus on developing solutions to the many challenges faced by their clients and guests.

Visit the Hospital Hub website for more information. 

The Memphis chapter of the NAACP is one of the national organization's oldest and most important. The chapter has been in several locations since its founding more than 100 years ago but has remained rooted in the neighborhood now known as South City, which is home to many important local sites in local Black history, including Clayborn Temple and the Universal Life building. For the past 40 years or so, the NAACP has been located at 588 Vance Avenue, in a building that has its own history, including housing an early Black-owned bank branch as well as Benjamin Hook's law offices. 

The NAACP building recently had a significant facelift and also is undergoing inside renovations to allow it to better serve its members, as well as provide office space for small businesses and nonprofits. In this program, longtime NAACP leaders Deidre Malone and Felica Harris discuss the chapter's illustrious history and the importance of the 588 Vance building and the surrounding neighborhood to Memphis Black history and culture. 

Later in the program, regular commentator Cole Bradley returns to talk with Emily about the connection between physical spaces and the history and stories we remember. 

Additional information

NAACP Memphis

Memphis Heritage Trail Walking Tours and Maps of Important Historic Sites

Whitehaven, one of the largest Memphis neighborhoods, is experiencing positive change and renewal after years of disinvestment. In this program, Jason Sharif, founder of the Respect The Haven advocacy group, talks about growing up in Whitehaven and the ways that his organization is working to build economic, social, and political capital in the community. 

Visit the Respect The Haven Facebook page to learn more and support the organization.