Construction on the new Memphis Brooks Museum of Art Downtown can continue “full steam ahead” after a court ruling Friday.
Shelby County Chancellor Melanie Taylor Jefferson denied a request from Friends of Our Riverfront (FOR) to stop the build. The group has long contended that land at the top of the bluff, where the new museum is being built, is public.
“Neither the city nor Brooks owns this property,” the group has said. “Memphians have an easement to use the property as a public promenade and the city is the trustee. This means that the city can use this land only for the specific purpose of a riverfront greenway.”
With this, the group sued the city and the Brooks in September to halt construction. The court ordered the group to post a bond of $1 million to offset damages to the project should it be temporarily halted. FOR urged the court to waive the bond. The Brooks and city officials asked the bond to be set at $5 million.
The group never posted the bond. So, the judge dismissed its request to stop construction.
“This victory paves the way for us to bring Memphis one of the greatest cultural institutions in the country,” Brooks Chief development Officer Melissa Whitby said in an email to museum members. “This achievement would not have been possible without the unwavering support of our community, patrons, and partners. We are deeply grateful for your trust and commitment throughout this journey.”
Credit: Memphis Art Museum
FOR made no immediate public comment on the decision. In a Facebook post Thursday, the group said, “hard to believe a huge Soviet-style building that blocks the riverfront is actually good for anybody, Brooks included.”
The group has long fought projects along the bluff. It wants to conserve the riverfront from Big River Crossing to the Wolf River Greenway “as green space for public enjoyment, preserving its historic, natural, and authentic character.”
Credit: Friends for Our Riverfront
The Brooks broke ground last year on the new museum at the corner of Front and Union, the site of the former Memphis Fire Services Division headquarters. The museum will have a new name, the Memphis Art Museum, and is slated to open next year.
In her email, Whitby said the facility is expected to attract 150,000 new visitors to Memphis, generate about $100 million in economic impact, and “provide transformative experiences to more than 30,000 school-age children annually.”
“For years, our goal has been to establish for the people of Memphis one of the greatest cultural institutions in the country,” said Carl Person, chair of the museum board. “Today, thanks to the unwavering dedication of many, many supporters, we are closer than ever to making that dream a reality. This portion of our riverfront will soon be home not only to a world-class art museum, but acres of new, open, art-filled, and accessible public space for everyone to enjoy.”
The number of hate and anti-government groups operating in the Memphis area last year held at four, according to a new report from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), amid a record wave of white nationalist and anti-LGBTQ groups.
Each year, the Montgomery, Alabama-based SPLC issues its Year In Hate and Extremism report, which details hate groups and anti-government extremist groups operating across the U.S. This year’s report found a total of 1,430 active groups (in both categories combined) operated in the U.S. last year, up from the 1,225 groups active in 2022.
The number of active groups in the county marked a record in SPLC’s data tracking. The previous record surge in groups was in 2018 when the number totaled 1,020. After that surge, the number of hate groups fell for four years year in a row up to 2022. Last year’s rise broke the streak and the record.
The new report documents 595 hate groups and 835 antigovernment extremist groups, including a growing wave of white nationalism increasingly motivated by theocratic beliefs and conspiracy theories. These groups intensified their efforts over the past year to recruit new members, increase their online presence and in-person demonstrations, exploit international and domestic conflicts, lobby the government and, in some cases, directly participate in elections, especially at the local level.
The report says communities of color, immigrant communities, minority faith communities, and LGBTQ+ communities are all targeted by and experience the negative effects of “hate-filled rhetoric and antigovernment conspiracies through actions such as banning books, protesting drag story hours, and using school boards as political battlegrounds.”
Credit: Southern Poverty Law Center
In Tennessee, 37 hate groups operated here last year, according to the report. They include “racist skinheads,” white nationalists, militia movements, neo-Volkish groups, neo-Nazis, the Ku Klux Klan, anti-Muslim groups, a hate-filled gift shop, and more.
“With a historic election just months away, this year, more than any other, we must act to preserve our democracy,” said Margaret Huang, president and CEO of the SPLC. “That will require us to directly address the danger of hate and extremism from our schools to our statehouses.
“Our report exposes these far-right extremists and serves as a tool for advocates and communities working to counter disinformation, false conspiracies and threats to voters and election workers. Together, we can dismantle white supremacy and ensure all communities see themselves represented in our democracy.”
In Memphis, four groups made the SPLC’s annual report. Moms for Liberty and Proud Boys remain active here, it says.
The local Moms for Liberty group says it is “dedicated to the survival of America by unifying, educating and empowering parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government.” Jennifer Martin is listed as the county chapter chair on the national group’s website.
The West Tennessee Proud Boys website shows a photo of the group marching on Beale Street and tells its members to “walk your streets with your head held high.” An obviously fake Memphis address is listed as “Freedom Street, Memphis, TN 38503.” The ZIP Code is for Cookeville, Tennessee.
In its website’s “Beliefs” section, the local Proud Boys say they are “are proud Western Chauvinists who refuse to apologize for creating the modern world.” They say they want small government, freedom of speech, closed borders, the right to bear arms, to “venerate the housewife,” and more.
On racism, the Proud Boys site says it “may be alive, but it is not well” as “progress has been made in overcoming racial prejudice.” With that, they don’t want “anti-racial guilt.” … “Let no man be burdened with shame for the deeds of his ancestors,” reads the site. “Let no people be held accountable for things they never did.”
The site also offers a portal to join the group. Another button, for complaints, takes a visitor to a YouTube video featuring a tune called “The You Are A Cunt Song.”
Two Bartlett radio stations also made the SPLC’s list this year, as they have for years. The “about” section of Blood River Radio says “genocide is being pursued against white gentile people of the world.” The Political Cesspool hosts have said “we represent a philosophy that is pro-white and are against political centralization.”
Read more about those stations in a previous story here. Read an in-depth look at them, their hosts, and their guests from the SPLC blog here. Read about the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s latest hate crime report here.
A federal judge will temporarily allow some transgender discrimination in Tennessee and other states, skirting new changes to Title IX.
Those changes came in President Joe Biden’s first day in office with an executive order that added gender identity and sexual orientation to the anti-discrimination law. Biden later extended those protections to educational environments. The rules are set to go into effect on August 1. All of these changes came after the 2020 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that prohibited companies from firing a person on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation.
In April, Tennessee led a coalition in a lawsuit to block Biden’s new additions to Title IX. The group included Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia, Virginia, Christian Educators Association International (CEAI), and “A.C.”, a 15-year-old high school girl who lives in West Virginia.
The states argued that the new law would chill free speech and religious freedom because teachers would, under the new rules, have to use a student’s “preferred pronouns,” according to the suit. The law would also mandate schools to open up bathrooms and locker rooms to all genders. The states also argued that the new rules subverted Congressional review and overreached into states’ powers to make such laws.
CEAI opposed the rules on grounds of free speech and shared private facilities. Its members — particularly educators in K-12 public schools — wish to “live and work consistent with their shared belief that God created human beings as male and female and that sex is an immutable trait.”
A.C., the 15-year-old student, said a transgender female was allowed to compete on her middle-school track team. The other student’s biology is an unfair advantage, A.C. said, and she did not feel comfortable dressing in front of the other student.
A federal judge agreed with the plaintiffs in a Tuesday ruling.
“There are two sexes: male and female,” wrote Chief Judge Danny Reeves, United States District Court of Eastern Kentucky. But Reeves said in a footnote that the statement was conceded by U.S. Department of Education officials in oral arguments. “The parties have agreed to little else.”
Reeves ordered a preliminary injunction against the new rules but only in those states who joined in the lawsuit. The stay extends to the Christian educators group and A.C. in those six states.
Tennessee schools and universities would have to let boys into girls’ locker rooms and other private spaces.
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti
“If the rule we stopped had been allowed to go into effect on August 1 as scheduled, Tennessee schools and universities would have to let boys into girls’ locker rooms and other private spaces,” Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said in a statement. “If the rule went into effect, our schools would have to punish teachers and students who declined to use someone’s preferred pronouns.
“These are profound changes to the law that the American people never agreed to. This rule was a huge overreach by federal bureaucrats, and the court was right to stop it.”
Chris Sanders, executive director of the Tennessee Equality Project, said, “We have a state government going into battle against trans and non-binary students via their pronouns,” in an opinion piece in The Tennessean Monday.
Government employees should not have more of a right to define a student’s identity than the student does.
Chris Sanders, executive director of the Tennessee Equality Project
“Students are better served by policies that respect their identities,” Sanders said. “They are at school to get an education without barriers, not to serve as an opportunity for adults to exercise virtue by choice.
“Experiencing an agent of the state using the wrong pronoun in front of one’s peers day after day is something students should not endure. Government employees should not have more of a right to define a student’s identity than the student does.”
Elon Musk. Photo by Trevor Cokley / Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Memphians still don’t have many details on xAI’s massive supercomputer project planned for Memphis, though a recent $700 million data center deal for X in Atlanta may offer some clues.
What we don’t know is:
• How much will the company actually invest here? (It’s been touted as “multibillion” and the “largest single capital investment in Memphis history.”)
• What exactly will the so-called Gigafactory of Compute do? (It’s proposed to power X’s Grok artificial intelligence. But how that will happen in Memphis remains hazy.)
• How many employees and new jobs will the project bring to Memphis? (Speculation says about 200 hundred jobs. But no one in the public is yet certain.)
• What will the real economic impact of the project be for Memphis?
• What will local leaders offer to the company in incentives to bring them here?
Many of the questions were slated to be answered next week. The project was supposed to go before the Memphis-Shelby County Economic Development Growth Engine (EDGE) on Wednesday, June 19. Officials cancelled that meeting in observance of the Juneteenth holiday. So, locals could be left waiting for a month for answers on xAI, unless EDGE calls a special meeting.
In the meantime, I took a suggestion from someone on the Memphis subreddit. (I couldn’t find the comment or I would’ve given you a shoutout). For what could happen in Memphis, they suggested looking to Atlanta.
Atlanta case study
X Corp. (not xAI) proposed to build a $700 million data center there in December. It already had a data center in the city and another in Portland, according to WSB-TV Atlanta. Incentive packages would decide whether the company brought its big, new project to Portland, Oregon or Atlanta.
“Either location, in addition to similar alternative locations, could serve as the near-term location for this infrastructure investment,” reads the company’s application to Develop Fulton, Atlanta’s EDGE equivalent. “The incentive is a critical part of the analysis and decision process of whether to locate the equipment in Atlanta, Portland, or other locations.”
For the new Atlanta project, the company asked Develop Fulton to approve a $700 million inducement and final bond resolution “to acquire, install and create the next generation of high-performance computing and Artificial Intelligence (AI) products for the X platform.” The company also asked for a tax break of more than $10.1 million over 10 years.
Taxes for the project in its first year were promised to be more than $4 million. Taxes over the project’s first 10 years would be more than $16.5 million.
The project would retain 24 jobs in Atlanta, not create new jobs. X Corp. predicted an overall economic impact of the project to be more than $241.7 million in 10 years.
The economic impact figure changed, though, from when X first brought the project to Develop Fulton, according to WSB-TV. The company’s original pitch to the board said the economic impact for the project would be more than $1 billion, way higher than the updated $241.7 million figure:
Credit: Develop Fulton/ X application from DecemberCredit: Develop Fulton/ X application from January
X Corp.’s proposal ended in a deadlock from the Develop Fulton board in December. The vote came after the board “got an earful from opposed residents,” according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
One board member, Laura Kurlander-Nagel, said the X platform’s value dropped by more than half after xAI founder Elon Musk bought it. For her it was a concern and she voted against the project, according to London-based Data Centre Dynamics blog.
The Atlanta site, northwest of Downtown on Jefferson Street, was once proposed for another data center. Kansas-based Quality Technology Services (QTS) wanted to build a center there but asked Develop Fulton for a $45 million tax break over 10 years. The board voted against it, and, apparently, QTS moved on.
However, when the X project came back before Develop Fulton in January, it passed with that $10.1 million tax break included. Two board member voted against it.
Data boom
Data centers are booming in Georgia’s capital city. Atlanta City Council member Jason Dozier said the market is growing faster there than in any other U.S. city. Construction for data centers in Atlanta grew by 211 percent, Dozier said, from 2022 to 2023.
This is partly why he and council member Matt Westmoreland proposed a ban on building them close to transit stations and the Atlanta BeltLine. It was unclear whether the ban had yet passed.
1/ Excited to introduce legislation alongside @WestmorelandATL to address the rapid growth of data centers in Atlanta. Atlanta's data center market is booming faster than any other in the US. From 2022 to 2023, data center projects under construction increased by a whopping 211%. pic.twitter.com/m49mTo44Pv
“Despite their growth, data centers don’t create many local jobs compared to other sectors,” Dozier tweeted in mid-May. “This limits economic benefits for our communities. Their existence presents a trade-off, diverting resources and focus away from alternative, people-oriented development priorities.
Their existence presents a trade-off, diverting resources and focus away from alternative, people-oriented development priorities.
Atlanta City Council member Jason Dozier
“Additionally, the energy demand of these centers is substantial, oftentimes equivalent to an entire natural gas plant’s output, further stressing our fragile electric grid.
“By prohibiting new data centers near transit and the Atlanta BeltLine, we aim to preserve these vital corridors for people-oriented priorities like housing, retail, transportation, and green spaces.
“It’s time to ensure that our city’s growth is sustainable and equitable for all residents. Let’s work together to shape Atlanta’s future in a way that prioritizes the needs of our communities and that benefits all Atlantans.”
But urban Atlantans aren’t the only ones with qualms over data centers in the Peach State. Georgia state lawmakers voted to temporarily suspend a tax break on equipment for data centers, according to the Associated Press. The legislation followed a monthslong review of all of the state’s many tax breaks and incentive programs.
The bill gained traction as Georgia Power reported a massive spike in electricity demand, and the data center industry accounted for 80 percent of that growth, it said. Also, one lawmaker also cited a 2022 state audit report that found that the tax exemption for data centers returned 24 cents on the dollar.
However, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp vetoed the legislation in May. He said the bill’s July 1 deadline would have interrupted “projects that are already in development — undermining the investments made by high-technology data center operators, customers, and other stakeholders in reliance on the recent extension, and inhibiting important infrastructure and job development.”
Sierra Club Georgia Chapter Director G Webber called the move “beyond disappointing.”
“The surge in the demand for power from data centers is propping up old coal plants and causing a rush to build new gas infrastructure,” Webber said in a statement. “As a result, Georgia communities will see higher levels of air and water pollution, and our fight to curb the worst effects of climate change is hampered. Kemp is burying his head in the sand by refusing to address an issue already having such a significant impact on our state.”
A group of OP99 players tee off at Overton Park 9 Tuesday. (Photo: Toby Sells)
They played 99 at OP9.
That is, a group of friends played 99 holes Tuesday at Overton Park 9 for the good of Memphis golf.
The 15 friends started at 6 a.m. — three groups of five. The goal was to play 11 consecutive rounds of the nine-hole course. They’d walk the whole thing. One of the group said total milage would be around 25 miles.
For this, they raised money, all the money going to the Overton Park Junior Open, the Overton Park Conservancy (OPC), and the Loren Roberts Scholarship Fund through The First Tee.
Will Frazier’s face was sun-reddened by around 4 p.m. on the eighth round of the 11-round OP99, as they called it. His feet hurt but his spirits were still up. His irons were still crisp. His sense of humor was still intact.
“I just wish somebody else would’ve put this on,” Frazier joked. “From the beginning I said this is a good idea. This should happen. Sounds great. Who’s going to be the guy who’s going to put it together?”
The guy turned out to be him and his “partner in crime” John Irvine. Frazier had survived a similar golf event in East Tennessee, that one a total of 100 holes called the Hundred Hole Hike. That event helped to subsidize golf rounds up to $5 for kids there. Memphis kids play every city-owned course for free. So no need to help pay for rounds.
Instead, the OP99 funds will help fund the Overton Park Junior Open. The tournament has been a staple of the Memphis golf scene since it began in 1947. While free and open to all Memphis youth ages 7 to 16, organizing and creating the event is not.
Funds for the OPC will support the OP9 golf course, of course.
The Loren Roberts Scholarship fund through The First Tee is awarded to a graduating Memphis student who participates in the First Tee program. That program introduces youth to the game of golf with coaches and practices. The scholarship came from PGA Tour member Loren Roberts, who wanted to make an annual contribution to the Mid-South Junior Golf Association (MSJGA).
As of Thursday, OP99 had raised $54,400.
“I have two little boys — an 8-year-old and a 5-year-old — who love the game of golf,” said OP99 golfer Daniel Connerley. “When [Frazier] said we’re doing this, and we’re going to get it going for the growth of the game and to get more kids involved in it … I’m like, absolutely.
“I grew up playing golf with my dad and I want to do the same with my boys. If there’s more places to do that and more opportunities for them to do it, that’s what I’m here for.”
Game play on the eighth round was still brisk and competitive. Word on the fairway was that Chase Harris, a former University of Memphis golfer and current PGA golf pro at Chickasaw Country Club, had set the OP9 course record on one round. He was on pace to break his own record in following rounds. Harris finished the day with an astounding 55 birdies, more than half of 99 holes he played.
Frazier is ready to do it again.
“So the game plan is to try to build enough momentum from this that it just sort of rolls on itself because it’s a great idea,” Frazier said. “We’ve got 15 guys out here. But I bet there are 50, 75, 150 guys in Memphis that would love to do this and these legs aren’t going to hold up forever.
“I can do it a couple of times. But not forever.”
The OP99 players were Frazier, Irvine, Connerley, Harris, Stephen Ellis, Tucker Fox, Justin Smith, Alex Ransone, Davidson Alexander, Brian Abraham, McCown Smith, Luke Jensen, Alex Butterworth, Foster Smith, and Jimmy Beard.
A bass-and-drum beat boomed over a party that pulsed around the twilight-and-neon-painted patio of Rock’n Dough.
Pizza scented the warm air. Plastic cups flowed with golden beer. Corn hole bags rattled, flew, and fell home. Balloon animals squeaked in the hands of delighted children. Duck pins crashed occasionally somewhere inside. Laughter and raucous conversation raised high over the entire scene, building a cathedral dome of fun and positive energy.
A new light switch flipped on in The Edge District that Friday night in early May. The once-vacant building (that formerly housed Trolley Stop Market) came alive again and drew scores to its shores for the promise of something new, exciting. The promise was delivered. The energy was electric, especially for that corner of town. But that sort of vibrancy is becoming more and more commonplace there.
New light switches are being flipped on all over The Edge. No task force was formed for its revitalization. No hashtag was blasted on social media. No special study for it was ordered by the Memphis City Council.
That new energy is largely organic. It’s been fueled with years of care and investment by the Downtown Memphis Commission (DMC) and the Memphis Medical District Collaborative (MMDC).
But an ad hoc group of Edge stakeholders is forging the neighborhood, too. They gather and strategize (as they did recently) over a lunch snack of ribs and catfish bites at Arnold’s BBQ and Grill. Ad hoc, maybe, but their members are mighty. Henry Turley Co. The MMDC. Longtime landowners who own and manage key properties in The Edge. If you’ve ever been to Strangeways Wednesday for free food and drink, you’ve experience a portion of this group’s influence. You’ve also experienced their overall mood for The Edge: fun, communal, welcoming, and connected to the neighborhoods around it.
Let’s Go to The Edge
The Edge is just quirky. Its mother might say, “It has character.” And it certainly does.
No one can agree on its boundaries, for one. Not really. Is it Union and Madison from Manassas to Danny Thomas or onto Fourth? Broaden that to capture Health Sciences Park and Jefferson, right up to Victorian Village? No facts exist on this. Only opinions. The Edge doesn’t even have its own Wikipedia page like so many Memphis neighborhoods. Border disputes aren’t new or controversial, though. Just ask a local to define Midtown.
The streets in The Edge perform mind-bending shifts from the traditional city grid. Arrow-straight Monroe terminates in the heart of The Edge, only to curve slightly north where it transforms into Monroe Extended. What? Marshall crosses Monroe in the center of the neighborhood at an angle that defies the city’s parallel street design. Madison flies up and over (for one of the best views of the city) to meet up with its old self on the west side of Danny Thomas. Why? The DMC website says the “odd, zig-zag streets and alleys” were laid out to accommodate railroads in the 1800s.
Arnold’s BBQ and Grill (Photos: Ziggy Mack)Sharrion Smith showcases Regular Order of Ribs combo at Arnold’s BBQ Shop in the Memphis Edge District for the Memphis Flyer on Saturday, June 1, 2024
Those twists and turns make The Edge full of surprises, too. Siri led me to Arnold’s on a recent visit. I arrived. Nothing around but Mutt Island. But Arnold’s was right on the map. I turned and spied a sign with a pig and an arrow on it. I followed it. Through a brick archway, down some stairs, and across a grass lot, I spied another pig sign. I followed it (and the scent of pork and hickory smoke) to Floyd Alley and found Arnold’s. I felt like I’d joined a secret club.
Years ago, Tommy Pacello, the late (and missed) director of the MMDC, gave me a big surprise on a bike tour of The Edge, which even then brimmed with opportunity in his endless optimism. We stopped at a weedy spot on the Madison bridge. He bid me look over. I found a deep, overgrown, urban canyon. From his experience with the successful Tennessee Brewery Untapped project, he said to imagine what could be done down there with some string lights and a few kegs of beer. That abandoned, forgotten canyon became The Ravine years later.
The Ravine (Photo: Ziggy Mack)
In The Edge, paint and body shops sit cheek by jowl with architect firms, tattoo parlors, salons, arts organizations, souvenir shops, brand-new condos, breweries, the headquarters of one of the city’s biggest homegrown banks, and that huge, gold guitar hoisted high outside Sun Studio, maybe one of the most photographed spots in Memphis. All of this sits just outside the steel canopy of Downtown skyscrapers and the glow of summer lights over AutoZone Park.
For all its quirks, defiant nature, and surprises, one thing is a fact about The Edge: Mike Todd, president and CEO of Premiere Contractors, came up with “The Edge” name. When he first got there, he said the place “was a total wasteland.”
“The Last Place on Earth”
Todd likes and dislikes the moniker “the Mayor of The Edge,” even though he admits it’s kind of true. His company bought Premiere Palace in the 1970s. Even though the area was not even close to up-and-coming, he decided Downtown and the Medical District were good bets. So he placed his.
The auto shops were there, giving credence to the area’s first use and nickname, “Auto Row.” The shops serviced the Downtown community, diminished as it was after white flight following Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination years before. Later, officials planned the area for a Biomedical Research Zone (BRZ). Landowners would get rich if they held onto their buildings, Todd says. But they never did because the BRZ never panned out.
But Todd didn’t leave. His company doubled down and bought the Stop 345 building on Madison in 1997. At one time he leased the building to a club called The Last Place on Earth, which hosted Eddie Vedder and Sonic Youth before its eventual close, he says. The trolley project came and took years longer than promised. This closed Madison and killed traffic there forever, Todd says. Tenants moved out but Todd didn’t give up.
“I couldn’t let this place just become this shit place under the bridge,” he says. “So, we ran that place for 20 years as various entities. Los Comales just moved in less than a year ago.”
Scott Bomar was 19 the first time he went to The Edge. His band, Impala, was recording an album at Sam Phillips Recording.
“I thought, man, this is where I want to work,” Bomar says. “Cut to a couple of decades later. Well, that’s where I work now.”
Even back in his teens, Bomar thought The Edge was cool. The automotive factories and auto shops were all there. He loves the new energy, too.
Rootstock Wine Merchants (Photo: Ziggy Mack)Images of Rootstock in the Memphis Edge District for the Memphis Flyer on Saturday, June 1, 2024
“We have a lot of clients who come in from out of town,” he says. “It’s really great to be able to walk across the street to the wine shop [Rootstock Wine Merchants] to pick up something if we need it, or to go down to French Truck and get a coffee, or go to Rock’n Dough and get food. … It’s exciting that there’s so much stuff down there now that’s walkable.”
The Edge was “quiet” when Anthony Lee first got there back in 2004. Well, quiet during the day, anyway.
“It would activate at night because of the club there, which was at one point 616 Club, and then Apocalypse, and then Spectrum,” Lee says. “Then, it was a strip club. So that one little building used to activate it on weekend nights.”
Sun Studio (Photo: Ziggy Mack)
Lee is now the gallery manager at Marshall Arts, an Edge pioneer, founded by Pinkney Herbert. The studio and gallery was converted from an automotive shop, Lee says, just like Sun Studio and many other buildings in The Edge.
“Makers and the craftspeople and the artists kind of converted some of those buildings and [The Edge] took on another quality,” Lee says. “It became sort of like the craft district.
“Pinkney Herbert was probably the first artist that imported that format from New York City. He created Marshall Arts in 1992 with his wife. He saw what they were doing up with there with all those old buildings in SoHo and the Lower East Side and decided to bring a similar idea back to Memphis.”
Lee lists a bevy of artists and craftspeople still working in The Edge with woodworking shops, recording studios, a greeting card studio, and more. With the club gone, he says, the area shares a “two-fold personality” with car maintenance and the arts.
“For years, this was a forgotten neighborhood, but sandwiched by growth in the Medical District and the vibrant Downtown Core, all eyes are now on The Edge as businesses, breweries, and restaurants have all become neighborhood staples,” says the DMC website.
New(ish) Faces
Energy pulsed into The Edge before Orion Federal Credit Union got there. High Cotton opened in 2013, for example, and Edge Alley in 2016. But the Memphis company’s 2019 move from Bartlett to Monroe in the old Wonder Bread factory was a power station large enough to buoy confidence and development in the neighborhood.
“The location in The Edge was chosen when the Orion leadership agreed that the organization could strategically position their corporate headquarters to anchor a historic Memphis neighborhood, end blight, spur commercial and residential growth, and reinforce a critical connection between the Medical District and Downtown Memphis,” says Orion’s board chair Andre Fowlkes.
The Wonder Bread factory sat vacant from 2013 to 2019, making the stretch of Monroe near the building and several surrounding properties “a visible eyesore that could be seen from high-traffic areas including Downtown Memphis and Sun Studios,” the company said in a statement. Instead of tearing down the factory and leveling the block, Orion chose to keep the original shape and bones of the building and added a third story. A new, period-appropriate exterior facade was made of reclaimed bricks from the original building. And, of course, Orion kept that iconic, old-school Wonder Bread sign.
“A better Memphis means a better Orion, and the headquarters move to The Edge was our commitment to the city,” says Orion CEO Daniel Weickenand. “A strong city core can create a ripple effect for development and energy throughout the region. We’re proud to be a part of that.”
That ripple effect is real (just check our sidebar with a list of all the new businesses and real estate developments). The energy is clearly there. Chef Joshua Mutchnick saw it and grabbed on tight. His JEM (Just Enjoy the Moment) restaurant opened in The Edge in April.
“Since day one, we had our eyes on The Edge District because we saw it as this up-and-coming neighborhood that has some iconic landmarks in it, like Sun Studio, Sam Phillips Recording, the Edge Motor Museum,” Mutchnick says. “It has so much potential and we feel very lucky to be a part of that, and that we got on the boat before it left the harbor.
“There was concern once we saw Orleans Station being built. We were like, ‘Maybe we missed the ship. It’s too expensive or we’re getting boxed out,’ but we nailed it.”
Sheet Cake Gallery (Photos: Ziggy Mack)Interiors of Sheetcake Gallery in the Memphis Edge District for the Memphis Flyer on Saturday, June 1, 2024
Sheet Cake Gallery, a contemporary art gallery, opened on Monroe late last year. Its owner, Lauren Kennedy worked closely with MMDC and DMC on many art projects through her work as executive director of the UrbanArt Commission.
“I was familiar with all of the work and investment they have been making in The Edge, and that felt like something I wanted the gallery to be apart of,” Kennedy says. “The support I have felt from both groups from when I first started looking at spaces through to being open has been incredible for me. Everything has felt just right.”
When asked what drew Memphis Made Brewing Co. to open a new taproom in The Edge, co-founder Drew Barton says the answer was simple: Tommy Pacello.
“When we told Tommy we were looking for a bigger production space, he immediately began telling us about every space in The Edge he could think of,” Barton says. “It didn’t take long after that to find our new spot. We walked into what is now the production space and knew it would be perfect for us.
“At that point we didn’t even know about The Ravine. Once we heard more about the massive outdoor space tucked away in The Edge, we couldn’t wait to open a taproom with The Ravine being our backyard.”
As for when that taproom will open, Barton says, “We did end up having to wait a little while during the pandemic, but we are aiming to have the taproom open in late July.”
Leaders
At least three groups look after The Edge: the DMC, the MMDC, and that group of local stakeholders. (An Edge District Association is listed on the DMC website, but the link to the group takes you to a foreign football gambling site with the URL northcountrycremationservice.com.)
The DMC has for years offered a host of incentives to spur growth in The Edge and throughout Downtown. It offers tax breaks, loans, grants, and other programs to promote the vibrancy of all Downtown.
The MMDC is in its eighth year improving and transforming the Medical District for some of the city’s biggest medical anchors like University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare, and Regional One Health. The group’s quiver of incentives helps people improve their properties, recruit new businesses, create new signage, and more. MMDC has invested $2 million in grants alone since its inception.
More than 20,000 people work in the 700-acre Medical District. But less than 2 percent of them live there. MMDC president Rory Thomas says most people would want to live close to where they work, “but if you don’t have the right housing stock and supply, that becomes a challenge.”
Bridging this gap is now a strategic objective for MMDC. Thomas rattles off a long list of new-ish, available apartment buildings — Orleans Station, The Rise Apartments, The Tomorrow Building headed for the Cycle Shop — all of them in The Edge. Fill those with professionals or students from the many medical organizations and The Edge would buzz with new foot traffic that could then drive new business recruitment and overall improvement of the commercial corridors there.
The DMC and the MMDC work closely together on all of this and more, Thomas says. They both work with that less formal group of Edge stakeholders that met at Arnold’s recently. This group (which featured members of the MMDC that day) has eyes on the bigger picture but also focuses on more on-the-ground issues.
How can we make The Edge more walkable and connected? Could Memphis Brand do a “We Are Memphis” billboard for the neighborhood? Should we make flyers with a QR-code link to an events calendar that we hand out to visitors? All of it to promote the neighborhoods, connect them, and bring more folks in.
Alex Turley, CEO of Henry Turley Co., praised the success of other Memphis neighborhoods like Cooper-Young and South Main. But he says The Edge, the Medical District, and Victorian Village have something those neighborhoods don’t: a major employment center.
“One of our goals was to create a seamless connection from those institutional buildings right into a neighborhood,” Turley says. “That informed the scale and the design of what we built at Orleans Station.
“You have Victorian Village and The Edge. There’s this opportunity to help populate this neighborhood. You already have an established brand for a neighborhood. But how do we get those people who work and go to school in those institutional buildings to come across Manassas? That’s what we keep hearing. They say, ‘We never come across [Manassas].’”
“Wasteland” to Next Big Thing
Remember when South End didn’t have a name? It was vacant, derelict, and spooky, according to some. Remember those blighted warehouses? Now think of how busy it can be at Loflin Yard or Carolina Watershed. Now think about all those apartments — completely filled — where those spooky, old warehouses used to be.
It’s a familiar cycle now if you think of South Main back in the 1990s or Broad Avenue a decade ago. The Edge could be next.
Energy continues to build there and energy has a way of attracting more energy. Big pieces are in place. Optimism is high. Leaders are motivated. And it truly is a community effort in The Edge.
“A win for one is a win for all,” says Meredith Taylor, communications and engagement associate with the MMDC. “Talk to the businesses in The Edge and they’ll say one reason they decided to choose it for the roots of their business is that they feel supported by one another, that when they succeed, all the other businesses succeed as well.
“I do think that’s something that’s very special to The Edge District. I think The Edge is a good backdrop to create and build on the sense of place that’s already existing.”
… … … … … … … … … …
New Neighborhood Businesses Opened or Announced:
• JEM
• Rootstock Wine Merchants
• Inkwell
• Ugly Art Co.
• Sheet Cake Gallery
• Contemporary Arts Memphis
• HOTWORX – Edge District
• Rock’n Dough Pizza
• French Truck Coffee
• SANA Yoga
• Lavish Too A Luxe Boutique
• Memphis Made Brewing Co.
• Flyway Brewing Company (announced)
• Cafe Noir (announced)
• LEO Events
• Hard Times Deli (announced)
Real Estate Developments:
• Orleans Station – 372 residential units, 16,000 square feet commercial space
• University Lofts – 105 residential (micro) units
The Memphis Zoo plans to invest $250 million over the next 20 years on a comprehensive campus plan to “fortify our reputation as a world-class zoo.”
Zoo president and CEO Matt Thompson announced the plan in an email sent Monday morning to zoo members and community stakeholders. That email came with a link to a survey seeking opinions to guide the planning process.
“As we look to the next twenty years and beyond, we seek to invest upwards of $250 million to reimagine this home for wildlife, to unlock opportunities for animal care and conservation, and strengthen our position as a community amenity through guest education and enhancement,” Thompson wrote. “This comprehensive campus plan aims to improve outdated priority areas across our campus and will create world-class animal exhibits and unforgettable family memories for decades to come.”
The plan calls for general infrastructure improvements but will focus on these exhibits: Great Lawn and Stingray (coming in 2025), Africa, Penguins, Oceans to Forests Journey, Nature Adventure and Ambassadors, Weird and Wonderful, and South America.
The first exhibit set for improvement is the Africa Veldt, home to “some of our most iconic and loved species, the African elephants and giraffes.” The plan could increase habitat space there by four times and cost $75 million.
“The existing facilities are dated and the habitat provides insufficient space for new and improved levels of care for our elephants, giraffes, rhinos, hyenas, and mixed hoofstock,” Thompson said. “Our reimagined habitat will increase acreage by four times to improve naturalistic features by unlocking time-shared and mixed-species spaces.
“The improved infrastructure will also provide the community with new ways to connect and learn about wildlife with a new Africa lodge and immersive guest experiences such as a new giraffe feeding zone.”
Zoo officials have hired CCS Fundraising, a strategic fundraising consulting firm, to guide its campaign planning efforts. The zoo said a “vital step” of their work will be to gather feedback and advice from leaders and friends of the zoo on the scope, leadership, timing, and key messaging of a potential major fundraising campaign for the first phase of these efforts.
Jerry’s Sno Cones will close its original location in the Berclair/Nutbush area.
The iconic Memphis establishment announced the move on Facebook Wednesday afternoon. They gave no reason for the closing. But they said the Jerry’s location at 1601 Bonnie Lane in Cordova is open.
Jerry’s Sno Cone’s via Facebook
“We are grateful for the past memories and are looking forward to new family memories at our Cordova location,” the owners said in the post. “We will be voting soon on a new location. God loves you and so does Jerry’s Sno Cones!”
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti led a coalition of 17 states in filing a lawsuit against the federal government over new rules that would mandate pronoun respect in the workplace.
In September, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) voted to approve updates to its workplace harassment rules. The new rules reflect changes in such laws, including the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to protect employees against discrimination because of sexuality or gender identity (Bostock v. Clayton County), the #MeToo movement, and emerging issues such as virtual or online harassment.
The rules were published and given a period for public comment, and became federal law in late April.
“Harassment, both in-person and online, remains a serious issue in America’s workplaces,” EEOC chair Charlotte A. Burrows said in a statement at the time. “The EEOC’s updated guidance on harassment is a comprehensive resource that brings together best practices for preventing and remedying harassment and clarifies recent developments in the law.”
The EEOC said between fiscal years 2016 and 2023, more than a third of all discrimination charges received by the agency included an allegation of harassment based on race, sex, disability, or another characteristic covered by the laws enforced by the agency. Also, since fiscal year 2018, harassment has been alleged in over half of federal sector equal employment opportunity complaints. Among the 143 merits lawsuits that the commission filed last year, about 35 percent of them included an allegation of harassment.
However, Tennessee AG Skrmetti said companies should be able to use whatever pronoun they choose to use for their employees. As he has done in several such lawsuits in the past, Skrmetti claims the federal government is overreaching into powers given to states.
“In America, the Constitution gives the power to make laws to the people’s elected representatives, not to unaccountable commissioners, and this EEOC guidance is an attack on our constitutional separation of powers,” Skrmetti said in a statement. “When, as here, a federal agency engages in government over the people instead of government by the people, it undermines the legitimacy of our laws and alienates Americans from our legal system.
“This end-run around our constitutional institutions misuses federal power to eliminate women’s private spaces and punish the use of biologically-accurate pronouns, all at the expense of Tennessee employers.”
Skrmetti also complained about EEOC’s new rule that would make an employer liable if it limits access to a bathroom or other sex-segregated facility, such as a shower or locker room, based on biological sex and not on gender identity, the AG said. Skrmetti claimed employers also may be liable if a customer or other non-employee fails to use an employee’s preferred pronouns or refuses to share a restroom with someone of the opposite sex.
Tennessee is joined the lawsuit with attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia.
More broadly, the EEOC’s new rules protect an array of what the agency calls ”legally protected characteristics,” including race, skin color, religion, disability, age, and more. Workplace harassment includes saying or writing an ethnic, racial, or sex-based slur, forwarding an offensive or derogatory “joke” email, mocking a person’s accent, groping, touching, or otherwise physically assaulting a person, and more.
If a harassment claim is filed, business owners should investigate the matter and take corrective action, EEOC said. That action can include firing the employee, but it isn’t required. The employer can also mandate informal counseling, give a written warning, mandate harassment training, suspend the employee without pay, reassign them, or demote them to a non-supervisory position.
