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Burger Bonanza: Celebrating Burger Week with 10 Bluff City Burgers

The Bishop Burger at Bishop (Photo: Justin Fox Burks)

Everybody loves Burger Week. At least, everyone on the Flyer editorial team certainly seems downright hungry to devour a burger (and write about the experience) for this annual cover story.

And why shouldn’t they be? Hamburgers are the black T-shirt of American cuisine — they go with almost everything. Whatever your palate, you can dress them up or down to your taste, even eschewing the meat if that’s what floats your burger boat (and as 20 percent of this story’s samplings do). This roundup of 10 Bluff City burgers runs the gamut, from the classic to the most gourmet of garnishes.

Whet your appetite with these helpings of hamburger, and then see page 17 for a full list of the Burger Week specials available around town. In the meantime, if, like Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention, you find yourself “Cruisin’ for Burgers,” we hope this list will be your burgerific guide.

The Bishop Burger at Bishop
Bishop, inside Central Station Hotel at 545 South Main, feels both familiar and otherworldly: You’re in the heart of historic Memphis, but with a French twist. A light Eurodisco take on Françoise Hardy’s “Le Temps De L’Amour” echoes through the room when the burger enters, buttered brioche buns gleaming, a steak knife plunged into the center, and all else is forgotten. Much care has gone into this creation, which some food-savvy friends have dubbed the best burger in town.

The double patties are made with beef from Evans Farms, blended with filet and short rib trimmings, topped with cheddar cheese and “all natural, humane” bacon from Niman Ranch. And then there are the enhancements: a B1 sauce, “a play on A1 sauce,” essentially a red wine and butter demi-glace incorporating more bits of filet, and a tomato aioli. The latter is made with tomatoes fermented for several days in the Bishop kitchen, adding a subtle tartness to the profile.

If you opt for pommes frites, try them with the garlic and dijon aioli, which takes the French penchant for mayonnaise with fries and throws a mustardy bite into the proceedings. Merveilleuse! — Alex Greene

Bishop, 545 S. Main Street #111

Steakhouse Burger at RP Tracks (Photo: Shara Clark)

Steakhouse Burger at RP Tracks
“Proud loser of the Best Burger in Memphis award for what, 30 years now?” That’s the text on an advertisement RP Tracks ran in this publication a few months back, poking fun at the fact that they’ve never made it to the top in the Flyer’s Best of Memphis “Best Burger” category. That may well be true, but their burgers are the business.

The standard RP Burger is a good go-to if you’re looking for a classic (8-oz. Angus patty and your choice of cheese, alongside a setup of lettuce, tomato, onion, and pickles), but don’t stop there. The bacon cheddar and jalapeño burgers are both solid choices, but — being a fungi fanatic — I opt for the steakhouse. A thick, juicy beef patty is topped with grilled red onions and mushrooms, covered with melted Gouda shreds, and sandwiched in a potato bun. You can add the fixings to it, if you’d like, but with or without the extras, you’re gonna need to take a tip from Guy Fieri and do “the Hunch” — cradle it from underneath to hold it all together, tilt your head to the side, and open wide to get all that goodness in one bite. Any of Tracks’ burgers can be made with a Beyond Burger veggie patty, and they’re served with hand-cut fries. I go for the tots because that’s how I roll. — Shara Clark

RP Tracks, 3547 Walker Avenue

The Fye Junt at Plant Based Heat (Photo: Samuel X. Cicci)

The Fye Junt at Plant Based Heat
It’s fire, fire, everywhere with one of Plant Based Heat’s signature burgers. The new vegan restaurant by Ralph Johnson brings in all the traditional flavors of Southern cooking, just without the meat. For burger time, I emerged slightly singed, but none the worse for wear, after diving into the Fye Junt burger.

The Beyond Meat patty is simply the canvas for the firestorm to come. Jalapeño peppers? Check. Vegan pepper jack cheese and spicy mayo? Absolutely. But instead of a simply overwhelming heat wave, PBH’s secret sauce, coupled with Memphis Sweet Heat BBQ sauce, brings the spice back down to a manageable level just before things get out of hand. For good measure, toss in fresh spinach, tomato, and caramelized onions.

The Fye Junt fresh off the grill sure feels like messy and greasy goodness, with a texture akin to biting into a regular ol’ beef patty. Even if you’re a devout carnivore, like me, the Fye Junt will satisfy, I promise. Just maybe make sure there’s a glass of water nearby. For it’s all in the name: The Fye Junt truly brings plant-based heat. — Samuel X. Cicci

Plant Based Heat, 669 S. Highland Street

Ostrich Burger at Off the Hoof (Photo: Julie Ray)

Ostrich Burger at Off the Hoof
I’d heard about two great places for a burger in Arlington — Off the Hoof and Slingshot Charlie’s. I planned to try both and the best burger would get a write-up. By default Off the Hoof won the competition. Slingshot Charlie’s was shuttered for the week so that the owner and staff could celebrate the Fourth of July. Don’t fret, Charlie should be slinging shots by the time you read this.

At Off the Hoof, I had planned to have the $5 house burger. But then I saw the “Big Game” menu. I had to go there. It boasted buffalo, elk, wild boar, ostrich, and venison burgers. I was informed that fresh ostrich meat was shipped in on Tuesdays and Fridays. This tasty trek was on a Friday. Score.

I made a mistake. It tasted like beef. I expected more. There were some interesting sides ordered — Frito Pie (Fritos corn chips, chili, and cheese) and Freta Fries (hand-cut battered fries with feta cheese and buffalo sauce).

I wish I’d tried the $5 burger. The place was full of regulars. You don’t get regulars with a $19 ostrich burger that tastes like beef. Google informed me that ostrich was a lot healthier than beef and an ostrich looks like Big Bird.

My apologies to Sesame Street, but I took that as a win. — Julie Ray

Off the Hoof, 12013 US-70, Arlington, Tennessee

Mr. Good Burger at Roxie’s Grocery (Photo: Chris McCoy)

Mr. Good Burger at Roxie’s Grocery
“I hope you don’t have any work to do this afternoon.”

I’m standing next to Daris Leatherwood, chef and owner of the Sum Light Bistro food truck. We’re in line at Roxie’s Grocery, waiting for our orders. The cooks are presiding over a full griddle. It’s lunchtime, and we’re behind a big order destined for workers at nearby St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Roxie’s is an Uptown landmark, the kind of place where you take time to talk to your neighbors. Leatherwood’s been telling me about launching his food truck when he asks what I ordered. I’m getting the Mr. Good Burger, the H-bomb of the Bluff City burger scene. I tell him I’ve got to write about it once I’ve eaten it. “You’re gonna have to take a nap,” he says.

The Mr. Good Burger comes wrapped in a foil package that’s bigger than both my fists — and I’m a bass player with long fingers. It’s a double bacon cheeseburger with all the trimmings, but that generic description doesn’t convey the sheer magnitude of this classic. The four strips of super-thick bacon are bent double and inserted between the patties. I have to unhinge my jaw to take the first bite and blast off to carnivore heaven. They call it “Mr. Good Burger” for a reason. This is the Platonic ideal of the two-patty griddle burger, a mixed-meat masterpiece.

Now I’ve got to lay down. The things I do for journalism … — Chris McCoy

Roxie’s Grocery, 520 N. 3rd Street

The Bshop Wagyu Burger at the Beauty Shop (Photo: Jon W. sparks)

The Bshop Wagyu Burger at the Beauty Shop

My burger of choice, the Bshop Wagyu Burger at the Beauty Shop, is daunting, understandably pricey, and a thing of wonder. The $12 delight comes with a tasty special sauce, lettuce, tomato, cheese, pickles, and onions. I ordered bacon, avocado, and mushrooms on top of that (75 cents each) because I could. Cheeses available are American (my choice), cheddar, pimento cheese, provolone, and gruyère. And you can get an egg in the mix for another buck.

Once you’ve outfitted it, you’ll find it difficult to deploy in the traditional way. There is a top and bottom torta roll, but everything in the middle makes it difficult to chomp without dislocating a jaw, so you may want to have utensils at the ready. Still, going at the mushrooms with fingers or the avocado with a fork doesn’t diminish the pleasure in the slightest. The beef is sublime and the veggies are yummy. It is fairly typical of what you get at the Beauty Shop — or any of Karen Carrier’s eateries — in bringing forth the freshest ingredients and splendidly prepared dishes. — Jon W. Sparks

The Beauty Shop, 966 S. Cooper Street

Firecracker Burger at Clancy’s Cafe (Photo: Michael Donahue)

Firecracker Burger at Clancy’s Cafe

I can’t resist saying the Firecracker Burger at Clancy’s Cafe bursts with flavor. But it really does. It’s delicious.

But I won’t say “explode” because it’s not one of those so-hot-it’s-inedible food items.

“It is two 8-ounce patties, ground beef, that’s stuffed with our homemade pimento cheese and pickled jalapeños,” says Tyler Clancy, owner of the Red Banks, Mississippi restaurant.

“And then we fry the burger, of course. It’s on a toasted sourdough bun with our hand-breaded onion rings. The onion rings are on the burger. And then we do our in-house queso cheese dip on all of it.”

The burger is just one of those things that was so good it stayed around. “This was like a Fourth of July special probably five, six years ago. It had great success. People really liked it. It eventually made its way on the menu.”

And, again, this isn’t some fiery burger that will make you run for water. “I would just describe it as more of a mild to medium heat. The jalapeños aren’t very hot. So it’s more of a spiciness than it is a real tongue-burner.” — Michael Donahue

Clancy’s Cafe, Hwy. 178 West, Red Banks, Mississippi

Chipotle Black Bean Burger at Evelyn & Olive (Photo: Abigail Morici)

Chipotle Black Bean Burger at Evelyn & Olive
As a Catholic, I’ve made my fair share of mandatory confessions, but this is, perhaps, my most embarrassing one yet: I tried my first burger in 2019, not as a curious toddler but as a semi-functioning 20-year-old picky-eater. It was a veggie burger on a certain local college campus, where my options were limited, my standards sinking, my expectations low, and, man, that burger was sinfully bad. Thankfully, I had the wherewithal not to give up just yet on expanding my palate, and I tried the Chipotle Black Bean Burger at Evelyn & Olive. And hallelujah, what a delight!

The ciabatta bun is lightly toasted, and the black bean patty, topped with tomato and lettuce, has just the right amount of crisp. But the mango-barbecue sauce is the real star of the show with a smoky but sweet flavor. Plus, the dish came with a side, so I also devoured some fried plantains, which mmmm, I could snack on all day and night and the next morning, too. Overall, the black bean burger is pretty simple compared to the other Jamaican and Southern dishes on the menu, but Evelyn & Olive can never disappoint. — Abigail Morici

Evelyn & Olive, 630 Madison Avenue

No.1 Farm Burger at Farm Burger (Photo: Courtesy Farm Burger)

No. 1 Farm Burger at Farm Burger
The eponymous sandwich at Farm Burger in Crosstown Concourse is exactly what you’d want something called a “farm burger” to be — fat, juicy, but tight enough in its bun to be easily managed by hand. Cooked to your order (I like mine medium well), the patty I had was topped with cheddar and a generous layer of caramelized onions and marinated in the establishment’s “f.b. sauce” (mayonnaise, garlic, and a touch of chili were some of the recognizable components). The bun encasing all these goodies was an integral part of the package, as well, its breaded halves neither melted on nor floppily separate.

The burger, which is served in a basket, can be further customized more or less to the customer’s taste, and a variety of sides is available. I was happy enough with the basic Farm Burger as normally prepared, but I was curious enough about what was billed as “pimento cheese fries” to give that menu item a try. It turned out to be a delectable (and generously proportioned) selection of french fries smothered in melted pimento cheese and crowned with sliced jalapeños. Forks are available. You can eat as many of the peppers — or as few — as you choose. It may depend on what your drink choice is; mine was a glass of a refreshingly light pilsner beer. Standard teas and soft drinks can be had as well. — Jackson Baker

Farm Burger, 1350 Concourse Avenue #175

Assassin Burger at Wally Hatchet’s (Photo: Toby Sells)

Assassin Burger at Wally Hatchet’s
Drive east past the Malco Summer Drive-In, cross the Wolf River, pass Golf and Games, and drive past the Shoney’s graveyard of Summer and Sycamore View. Find self-control enough to pass Elena’s Taco Shop, cross Elmore Road, and you’ll find Wally Hatchet’s, nestled in a strip mall with a how-can-this-still-be-Memphis address.

The lunch-rush crowd was finishing up as I entered. Customer graffiti covered the walls in between colorful prints of Hank Jr., Merle Haggard, and the like. The aesthetic was NASCAR-dad man-cave with a collage of art (like a painted board that reads “rock me baby”), a dented piece of a race car, a giant Harley-Davidson sign, and a toilet-roll holder shaped like a revolver. One wall was dedicated to military veterans.

Given the drive, I wanted the wildest burger Wally Hatchet’s had to offer. The Assassin Burger was tasty but mild, given an ingredient list that included pepper jack cheese, grilled jalapeños, and pepper sauce that tasted an awful lot like A1.

Wally Hatchet’s won’t become my next burger obsession. But, if you’re out that way, give it a try. — Toby Sells

Wally Hatchet’s, 6439 Summer Avenue

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Memphis 2017: The Year to Come

Business and Development …

Memphis ought to be used to crazy, impossible blockbusters by now.

For example, it may be tough to remember that the Pyramid was once a dim, vacant, hopeless reminder of good times gone by instead of a game-changing outdoor retailer, hotel, restaurant, bowling alley, shooting range, and gator pit with the best view in town. Weird, right? Who saw that coming?

The coming year promises a ton of similar projects, the kind of projects that make you marvel that someone could imagine the thing in the first place — and that teams of people had the guts and determination (and money) to pull it off.

But taking something old and making it new again is just how we do. You can call it “adaptive re-use” if you want. We’re just going to call it the Memphis Way, something that sets us apart from, ahem, other cities of music.

Crosstown Concourse

This is without a doubt the blockbuster-est of 2017 blockbusters. Crosstown is a $200 million renovation project for 1.1 million square feet, about 17 football fields spread across 10 floors. The mammoth structure closed in 1993 and sat dormant, vacant, and hopeless for years, until energy formed around the project, beginning with the formation of the nonprofit Crosstown Arts in 2010. More money was raised, tenants were signed, and work crews have mobbed the place since 2014.

Crosstown will officially open on May 13th, with a day-long celebration of music, food, speeches, and all the rest. But residents of Parcels at Crosstown, the apartments inside the building, will begin moving in on January 2nd, according to Todd Richardson, project leader for the Crosstown Development project.

Crosstown Concourse

Business tenants, including Tech901, Memphis Teacher Residency, the Poplar Foundation, Pyramid Peak Foundation, and Church Health Center will start moving in next month, as well. Richardson expects all of the 31 business tenants, except Crosstown High and the American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities (ALSAC), to be moved in by May.

“We have a healthy panic about us, in terms of shifting from construction to operations,” Richardson said. “I always say once we finish construction we’re about 50 percent done.” The other 50 percent, Richardson said, is the “magic” of Crosstown, the people, the programming, and the activity of the place.

Expect construction inside the building to last at Crosstown for a full year and a half after the celebration — on tenant projects and the high school. Construction of the new, 425-seat performing arts theater will begin next month and continue through June of 2018.

Here’s a list of all the other tenants expected to move into Crosstown: A Step Ahead Foundation; Daniel Bird, DDS; the YMCA; Christian Brothers University; City Leadership; The Curb Market; Crosstown Arts; Crosstown Back and Pain Institute; FedEx Office; French Truck Coffee; G4S; Hope Credit Union; Juice Bar; Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare; Mama Gaia; Madison Pharmacy; nexAir; the Kitchen Next Door; So Nuts and Confections; St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital; Tanenbaum Dermatology Center; Teach for America; and Teacher Town.

Trader Joe’s

“Coming 2017” is all the Trader Joe’s website offers Memphians about its plans for a store here. However, a building permit was pulled this month for a $2.5 million renovation of the former Kroger store on Exeter in Germantown. The project has been on again and off again since officials announced the move here in 2015. So, Two-Buck-Chuck fans, keep your fingers crossed for news in 2017.

Poplar Commons

That old Sears building close to Laurelwood has been razed to make way for a new $15.5 million, 135,000 square-foot shopping center called Poplar Commons, to be anchored by Nordstrom Rack. Store officials said to expect Nordstorm Rack to be open by “fall of 2017.”
Ulta, the beauty products retailer, has also signed on as a tenant at Poplar Commons. Nordstrom officials said the center will include “national retailers, specialty retail, and several well-known restaurants.”

Wiseacre Brewing

Will they or won’t they? Wiseacre Brewing officials have until early 2017 to tell Memphis City Council members if they will convert the long-vacant Mid-South Coliseum into a brewery, tasting room, event space, and retail location.

The idea was floated to the council this summer by brewery co-founder Frank Smith. The council approved the lease terms for the Coliseum, and Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland lauded the deal.

But Wiseacre would have to bring the 104,000 square-foot building up to code. They’d also have to retrofit it for their uses. It all comes with a price tag of about $12 million, brewery officials said earlier this year.

ServiceMaster

Crews have been hard at work converting the former Peabody Place mall into a new headquarters for Memphis-based ServiceMaster, parent company of Terminix, American Home Shield, Merry Maids, and more. The company says about 1,200 employees will be moved to the new location by the end of 2017.

The transformation will bring light and life to a long-darkened corner of Peabody Place in downtown Memphis. The company, which reported $160 million in profits for 2015, received about $24 million in taxpayer-supported incentives.

South City

Demolition will begin on the Foote Homes housing complex sometime early next year, said Marcia Lewis, executive director of the Memphis Housing Authority. When it’s gone, the massive, $210-million South City project will revitalize the area, which is a stone’s throw from Beale Street and South Main.

Only 40 Foote Homes residents were still living in the complex in mid-December, Lewis said. Those residents all have housing vouchers, are looking for new housing, and will all have moved out by early 2017. Once it’s gone, there will be no more “projects” in Memphis.

Foote Homes will be replaced with an apartment complex, to be filled with tenants of mixed incomes. The apartment campus will have green space, retail, and on-site education centers. Developers and government officials hope the new apartment will spur further economic growth in the area.

Lewis said no solid timeline for construction exists, since some federal government approvals are still being sought.

Tennessee Brewery

Work continues at the former Tennessee Brewery site, and the project’s developers say the brewery — slated to become an “urban apartment home community” — will be “re-established in 2017.”

Tennessee Brewery

Construction crews have spruced up the old brewery, completed the parking garage across the street, and have raised the bones for the two other new apartment buildings that will complete the project.

The brewery building was saved from the wrecking ball in 2014, when developers bought it for $825,000. The planned mixed-use development will cost about $28 million.

Central Station

The 100-year-old train station at Main and G.E. Patterson is getting a major, $55-million makeover, and parts of that project will become visible in the new year. Construction of the new Malco movie theater on G.E. Patterson will begin in January as will the major improvements at the Memphis Farmers Market, including the construction of a more-permanent market plaza area that will front Front.

Work is in full swing on the new South Line apartment buildings on Front, which are expected to be completed in February. Design work has begun on the concourse area around Central Station, which will connect trolleys, buses, bike riders, and pedestrians with Central Station from Main Street, the South End, and Big River Crossing. Dirt should move on these projects in the next few months.

ALSAC/St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital & the Pinch District

No formal plans have been revealed for the St. Jude/ALSAC hospital campus or the long-dormant Pinch District. But one thing is clear, the plans are really big.

ALSAC/St. Jude officials say they are investing between $7 billion and $9 billion to expand the organizations’ facilities and operations. Leaders there say the newly expanded ALSAC/St. Jude will bring an annual $3.5 billion economic impact to the city.

The expansion is expected to bring about 1,000 new jobs, more beds for more patients, and officials hope to double the amount of patients in the hospital’s clinical trials.

The Pinch got $12 million in state funds this year. City leaders have promised to invest $25 million in the area with funds from the already-approved Tourist Development Zone. Again, no final plans for these infrastructure investments have been made public. City leaders wrapped up a series of public meetings on Pinch development last month.

Also Upcoming for 2017

The Hampline should break ground on a project to connect Broad and Tillman.

New plans for the skyline-changing One Beale project are expected to be revealed to city leaders.

Plans for upgrades at the Cook Convention Center should come into focus.

Work on a new luxury boutique hotel called Teller (with a rooftop bar called Errors and Omissions) on Madison should be finished.

Construction should begin on a new Hilton Garden Inn Downtown at the former Greyhound bus station site on Union.

The fully-restored Memphis Grand Carousel is expected to open at the Children’s Museum of Memphis.

The Memphis Bike Share program will launch with a networked system of 60 stations throughout Memphis — and about 600 bikes. — Toby Sells

Theater and Dance …

Prediction #1: You will see a lot more dance in 2017, even if you never go to the theater. All you have to do is go to the Overton Square area.

For years, Ballet Memphis has been hidden away on Trinity Road in Cordova where “street life” is limited to cars zipping by. “Transparency” was the word most frequently used by architect Todd Walker on a late November media tour of the construction site for Ballet Memphis’ new Midtown home on Overton Square, one of the city’s most heavily pedestrian areas. The 38,000 square-foot building will literally bring dance to the corner of Madison and Cooper.

Ballet Memphis

The Ballet’s new, glass-walled home has five studios, all linked together by a series of courtyards. It will house business offices, conference rooms, a physical therapy room, and an egg-shaped cafe. Dancers rehearsing in Studio A will be visible from the street.

There’s also limited retractable seating in Studio A, and an observation area. This brings the number of available stages in Memphis’ growing theater district to six. Eight if you include the Overton Square amphitheater and Circuit Playhouse’s cabaret space. Ballet Memphis has a long history of scheduling public rehearsals in places where they are accessible to pedestrians. This takes that idea a little further.

Prediction #2: You’ll see a lot more of everything else. Memphis’ performing arts community has been experiencing a growth spurt, and that trend promises to continue. The Hattiloo Theatre, which moved to its Overton Square facility in 2014, will complete its first expansion in 2017, creating additional rehearsal and office space. A little further to the west, Crosstown Arts will begin construction on a new, versatile 450-seat theater in the Crosstown Concourse community.

Byhalia, Mississippi, which co-premiered in Memphis last year, went on to become one of the best reviewed and most talked about new American plays of 2016. Memphis continues to cultivate its reputation as a fertile environment for new work with Playhouse on the Square’s January 6th world premiere of Other People’s Happiness, a family drama by Adam Seidel. Haint, a spooky rural noir by Memphis playwright Justin Asher gets its second production at Germantown Community Theatre starting January 27th.

Although she will continue to direct, Memphis’ Irene Crist will retire from the stage in June, following her performance in David Lindsay-Abaire’s comedy, Ripcord. — Chris Davis

Politics …

The year 2017 will be an off year as far as elections go, and the politics that really counts may happen in our state capital. The venerable (if indelicate) political adage that “money talks and bullshit walks” may come in for an overhaul in Nashville in 2017. The second term in that expression may, in fact, be on as firm a footing as the first.

For the second year in a row, the State Funding Board in Nashville is projecting a sizable budget windfall — stemming from an increase of almost $900 million in revenue growth for 2017-18. And for the second year in a row, the forecast of extra money is actually complicating, rather than facilitating, some overdue state projects — the most vulnerable of these being overdue infrastructure work on increasingly inadequate and dilapidated state roadways. 

Governor Bill Haslam, who, with state transportation director John Schroer, went on a fruitless statewide tour in 2015 trying to drum up support for a state gasoline-tax increase, is almost certain to raise the idea of upping the gas tax when the General Assembly reconvenes in January. 

But the projected revenue windfall may actually undercut his hopes. Not only does all the windfall talk create a difficult atmosphere to talk about new taxes. There are also indications that the governor’s Republican party-mates in the GOP legislative super-majority see the dawning surplus as an excuse to dream up new tax cuts and eliminate existing ones — a double whammy that would sop up such financial gain as actually materializes.  

Democratic legislators (five in the 33-member state Senate and 25 in the 99-strong state House of Representatives) are too few in number to do much about the matter, and even some members of the Republican majority are troubled. State Representative Ron Lollar (R-Bartlett) touched on the problem at a recent forum of the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) in Memphis, when he lamented that the ongoing elimination of the state’s Hall tax on interest and dividends — slated for staged reductions and final abolition over a five-year period — will mean the ultimate loss to financially struggling local governments of the fairly significant portion of the Hall tax proceeds that they are accustomed to getting annually.

At that same NFIB meeting, state Senator Lee Harris of Memphis, leader of the Democratic minority in his chamber, pointed out another fiscally related conundrum that he thinks has escaped the consciousness of the GOP super-majority. 

In their categorical rejection of Haslam’s “Insure Tennessee” proposal to permit state acceptance of federal funding of as much as $1.5 billion annually for Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), Republican leaders like retiring state Lieutenant Governor Ron Ramsey always said their attitudes would likely be different under a Republican president, who would surely reapportion such funds as block grants for the states to dispose as they saw fit. 

Harris maintains that the new block grants would be converted from the previous A.C.A. outlays and could be extended only to those states that had already opted for the federal funding. The truth could be even harsher; with congressional Republicans and President-elect Donald Trump both having sworn to “repeal and replace Obamacare” as a first order of business in 2017, it is uncertain just how much federal bounty — if any at all — would actually be available for the states, in whatever form.

Money is at the root of another pressing issue sure to be vented in the General Assembly. At the very moment that the state’s short-changed urban school districts, including the Shelby County Schools system, are entertaining a variety of legal actions to force the state to honor full-funding commitments to them under the Basic Education Program (BEP), word is that enough steam may have finally gathered among legislators to allow passage of long-deferred school voucher legislation that would re-route a significant proportion of the state education budget toward private institutions and out of public schools altogether. 

Under the circumstances, even a rumored bipartisan willingness among legislators to at least begin the consideration of medical-marijuana legislation may not be enough to ease such doldrums as continue to afflict the state’s population. — Jackson Baker

Food and Dining …

Old Dominick

For those keeping your eye on the Old Dominick Distillery, Alex Canale tells us, “We’re 100 percent, well, 99 percent, sure we’ll be open by late spring. We’ll definitely be open in 2017.”

Old Dominick

Old Dominick will sell bourbon, a nod to forebear Dominico Canale. There will be a tasting room, and the distillery will be open for tours. Construction is currently wrapping up, and all licenses have been secured. Shipments of grain and malt are currently on the way. Bourbon takes a few years to age, so Old Dominick will be selling vodka at first. They hope to have stock ready to sell by the spring.

Sunrise

The breakfast concept by Sweet Grass’ Ryan Trimm and Central BBQ’s Craig Blondis and Roger Sapp now has a name: Sunrise. They hope to have both places — one on Central, one on Jefferson — up and running by January or February. The Central location will serve breakfast from 5 to 11 a.m. and then switch to a Central BBQ to-go. The Jefferson location will open at 5 a.m. as well and will serve lunch.

Trimm says the coffee program they’ve come up with is particularly impressive. Cold-pressed and nitro will be on the menu, as well as “normal hot coffee.”

“The biscuit sandwiches will be more interesting than your typical sausage and egg biscuit,” says Trimm. Think bologna and house-cured meats and house-made sausage.

The lunch at Jefferson will offer hometown cooking and large sandwiches piled high with house-cured meats. The meats will also be available for purchase.

Crosstown Concourse

The Crosstown Concourse will be one of the biggest food stories of the upcoming year. The revitalized Sears building already has a stellar list of food and drink venues: I Love Juice Bar, Next Door, Mama Gaia, French Truck Coffee, Curb Market, Crosstown Cafe, and Crosstown Brewing Company.

“Our vision was to curate a really great mix of offerings to add to the food scene,” says Crosstown’s Todd Richardson. Richardson says that about 65 percent of the retail space has been rented. He’s in talks with what he calls a “really great ice cream concept” and a pizzeria.

With all that plus a bank and barber and apartments, it seems like there would never be a reason to leave the Concourse. Richardson says that’s not the goal at all. “We’re not trying to create a city within a city. We want something that draws interest and has the greatest impact on the neighborhood.”

South Main Market

Shooting for a summer opening is the South Main Market. Rebecca Dyer has been busy converting the building at 409 S. Main into an event venue. Once she has the third floor ready, she’ll then re-renovate the first floor into the market. (“If I survive,” she says.)

The market will feature 12 to 15 kitchens. Think Boston’s Faneuil Hall. Dyer says she’s already got 11 chefs signed on, all local. “It’s going to be very varied,” says Dyer. That means each kitchen will serve a distinct cuisine — no three cupcake spots or duplicate falafel shops.

“We don’t want our chefs to compete with each other,” Dyer says. “We want to give our customers the best opportunity for dining.”
The Liquor Store
Lisa Toro, who owns City & State with her husband Luis, estimates that 50 percent of the businesses on Broad Avenue are owned by women. In that ladies-doing-for-themselves can-do spirit, Toro helped form an all-woman angel investment group. Their first investment is the Toros’ latest project The Liquor Store.

Toro describes it as a modern take on a diner. There will be blue-plate specials but with cured meats and fresh vegetables. There will be a bar as well, offering boozy milkshakes and soda fountain cocktails. The diner is being carved out of an old liquor store space. Floors are being ripped up, electrical and plumbing added.

The Toros hope to be open by early spring. — Susan Ellis

Film …

It’s safe to say that 2016 was a less than stellar year in the world of film. Will 2017 be better? Early signs point to probably not. The slate of announced films for the year so far is more of the same: Franchises, sequels, reboots nobody but a branding specialist could possibly want, and superheroes, superheroes, superheroes.

In January, a few 2016 films currently in limited release will make it to Memphis, such as Hidden Figures, starring Taraji P. Henson and Janelle Monáe as unsung black women engineers and mathematicians who helped America land on the moon, and A Monster Calls, a modern Irish fairy tale about loss and grieving. Then there’s Monster Trucks, a big-budget film so bad Paramount took a preemptive $100 million write-down on their earnings report. I have to see it, but there’s no reason you should.

In February, the pop S&M sequel Fifty Shades Darker is sure to both light up the box office and contribute to this reviewer’s depression. Hopefully The Lego Batman Movie will cheer me up. If that doesn’t work, there’s the Oxford Film Festival, which just announced a stellar lineup, and Indie Memphis’ new Indie Wednesday series, which will bring in quality arthouse and indie films from all over the world to Studio on the Square, Malco Ridgeway, and Crosstown Arts.

March brings Logan, Hugh Jackman’s final turn as X-Man Wolverine; Kong: Skull Island, a King Kong spinoff with an all-star cast; and the controversially Scarlett Johansen-led anime adaptation Ghost in the Shell. In May, the Marvel drought ends with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, which will be answered in June by DC’s Wonder Woman movie. Pixar’s weakest series, Cars, gets a third installment before Marvel fires back with Spider-Man: Homecoming, which looks promising in previews. Later that month, I’m looking forward to War for the Planet of the Apes, which concludes the underrated Planet of the Apes reboot trilogy, and the Stephen King epic The Dark Tower.

All I know about August’s Baby Driver is that Edgar Wright of Scott Pilgrim fame is directing, but that’s enough to get me excited. September looks bleak except for the unexpected remake of the ’90s cult film, Flatliners, and the only oasis in the wasteland of October is Denis Villeneuve directing Harrison Ford in Blade Runner 2049.

November will kick off with the Indie Memphis Film Festival, before Marvel and DC go at it again with Thor: Ragnarok and Justice League. The holidays will bring the as yet untitled Star Wars: Episode VIII, directed by Breaking Bad badass Rian Johnson, and Mark Wahlberg going bionic in The Six Billion Dollar Man.

Basically, the year in film will be like everything else in 2017: Hope for the best, cherish the bright spots, but expect the worst. — Chris McCoy

Music …

As productive as this year was for Memphis music, you can expect 2017 to be just as fruitful for the local scene. From where to be to who to watch, here are some early tips for following Memphis music in 2017.

What to Buy and Why:

Valerie June will be releasing her new album, The Order of Time, on January 27th, her third full-length and first for Concord Music Group. June recently toured with Sturgill Simpson and Norah Jones, but she’ll come back home for a show at the Hi-Tone on Friday, February 17th. As for her new album, the song “Astral Plane” is already being heralded by NPR, which is a good indication that the three years that have passed since Valerie June released an album weren’t in vain. Expect big things in 2017 from one of our city’s most intriguing songwriters.

Another band with a considerable amount of hype behind them that’s releasing a record in 2017 is Aquarian Blood. The band’s debut effort will be released through Goner and is expected to be out in February. Aquarian Blood has released singles on Goner and New Orleans label Pelican Pow Wow, but their first LP has been months in the making, and should showcase the Midtown supergroup and musical freak show.
Southern Avenue is also set to release a new record in 2017, after burning up the Midtown bar circuit with their take on modern Memphis soul. Their debut record is coming from the fine folks at Stax. Being promoted as the first Memphis band to be signed to Stax since the ’70s, you can expect Southern Avenue to kill it in 2017, but don’t count on the band being in town very often.

Where to Be

The FedExForum has an impressive lineup early next year, including the Red Hot Chili Peppers on January 12th and Garth Brooks doing an entire weekend February 2nd-4th . Minglewood also continues to impress, with Lil Boosie, Juicy J, and Ben Folds all scheduled to play in the first few months of the new year. You can also expect shows to start cropping up at both the Galloway House and the Clayborn Temple downtown, and don’t forget about the excellent River Series at the Maria Montessori School; the laid-back, all-ages shows are becoming a staple for live music enthusiasts. And you can always catch a good mix of local and traveling talent at Overton Square and on Beale Street.

Memphis music will be well represented at the largest music festival on planet Earth — South by Southwest — this year. Music Export Memphis will host the Memphis Picnic at SXSW on March 14th in Brush Square Park. The lineup is still being finalized — expect an announcement around mid-January — but the event promises a totally Memphis experience, complete with the Amurica photo trailer booth and Gus’s Fried Chicken on site. — Chris Shaw

Categories
Cover Feature News

The Year Ahead in Memphis

CREDIT: Brandon Dill

Business

Bass Pro Shops: Last year, right here in this very same spot in this very same issue, we said the opening for the Bass Pro store in the Pyramid was delayed until May 2015. (We apologized because in 2013, right here in this very same spot in this very same issue, we said you’d be doing your 2014 holiday shopping there. Remember? No? Well…)

It’s not big news that the wait is over. Bass Pro Shops in the Pyramid opened April 29th with a line of customers that stretched into the parking lot. More than 35,000 visitors cranked the turnstiles that day.

Brandon Dill

Bass Pro: now open.

By August 4th, more than one million people had visited Bass Pro Shops in the Pyramid. In mid-December, store officials said Bass Pro had seen more than two million visitors. Also, the store sold more than 27 tons of fudge in about eight months.

Ikea: Memphis rode high on the 2014 news that Ikea, the Swedish retailer with a cult following, announced it was building a store in Memphis, not “It-City” Nashville. And, boy, did we rub Nashville’s nose in it (on social media). Nashville, ya burnt! Ha!

Then, we noticed that no work — nothing — was being done on the Ikea site behind Costco on Germantown Parkway. The store, the source of our cool cachet, was held up by a tax dispute. The city breathed a sigh of relief when, in late November, locals came up with a tax-payment workaround and Ikea said it would go ahead with the Memphis store, with a late 2016 opening date.

Brandon Dill

What’s in store for the Mid-South Coliseum?

Mid-South Coliseum: Can rape allegations save a building? Maybe. Last January, the Mid-South Coliseum seemed destined for the wrecking ball. Locals were considering the Tourist Development Zone deal, which would fund a huge plan to reinvent the Mid-South Fairgrounds into a youth sports destination. That plan had no place for the Coliseum.

A grassroots group, the Coliseum Coalition, started organizing. They hosted two events, called Roundhouse Revivals, to get people to the Coliseum and to get them to share their thoughts as to what it could be. The Urban Land Institute even said part of the Coliseum should be saved.

Then this summer, Robert Lipscomb, the city’s former director of Housing and Community Development and the major backer of the youth sports plan, was accused of raping a Memphis teenager, years ago. Lipscomb was fired, and the entire Fairgrounds deal, which includes the Coliseum’s future, was left up in the air, where it remains.

Tennessee Brewery: The only bad news about the Tennessee Brewery this year was for the thousands who loved drinking beer in its makeshift annual beer garden. Developer Billy Orgel bought the brewery building in 2014, a big win for preservationists, as the building was slated for demolition. In January, Orgel and his team unveiled a plan that included apartments, a parking garage, retail shops, and more, in a $25 million project called the Brewery District. Orgel promises a restoration of the historic building and a renewed vibrancy to South Main. He’s said the buildings could be complete and occupied in 2016.

The Pinch District: Not much is yet known about the future of The Pinch, except local leaders are making plans for changes.

In January, the district was in the crosshairs of the Tennessee Historical Commission, slated to be removed from the National Register of Historic Places. The plan was thwarted, then a MEMFix event in April brought in thousands.

In October, Memphis City Council member, Berlin Boyd, assembled government and business leaders to announce they were moving forward with plans in the Pinch. Though Boyd didn’t share many details, he did say that the area’s two largest tenants — St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Bass Pro — would likely drive much of the direction of the plan. That meeting came right before St. Jude announced an expansion plan for its Memphis campus worth about $9 billion (yes, billion with a “B”).

The Commercial Appeal: Until this year, the city’s daily paper had had one owner — Scripps — since Franklin D. Roosevelt was president. But it got a new owner in the spring of 2015 — Journal Media Group — and will likely have another by March.

Gannett Co., the largest newspaper company in the U.S., agreed in October to buy JMG for about $280 million. If the deal is approved by stakeholders and the government, it is expected to close in the first three months of 2016.

The move could possibly bring more layoffs in the CA newsroom. Some analysts are concerned the move could mean less emphasis on local reporting and bring a homogenous USA Today format to the paper’s look and writing. The deal also worries some media watchers, as it would mean Gannett would own all but one of the state’s major dailies.

Midtown Market: Those blighted buildings on the southwest corner of Union and McLean could be gone by June. That was developer Ron Belz’s prediction earlier this month to Memphis City Council members.

Later that day, the council agreed the city would take out a loan for $4 million to help Belz build “Midtown Market,” a mix of apartments, retail shops, and, perhaps, an “upscale” or “boutique” grocery store.

The city’s part of the funding was one of the last (and most critical) pieces of funding Belz said he needed to make the project work. City officials are still working on a plan to control traffic around the site, which will also soon have a new, expanded Kroger nearby.

Central Station: Want to watch a movie downtown next year? Well, it’s likely that you’ll be able to. Developers want to transform the 101-year-old Central Station building and the area around it at the corner of G.E. Patterson and Main into a residential and entertainment campus.

Henry Turley Co. and Community Capital LLC plan to transform the station building into a hotel, with a restaurant and some retail shops. Around the corner, they hope to build a Malco movie theater, apartment buildings, and, possibly, a grocery store.

The city council approved $600,000 for the project this month, which developers said they needed to begin construction. Expect dirt to move on the project soon.

One Beale: Scrapped during the recession, One Beale is expected to rise at the western end of Beale in 2016. If built, the $150 million project will change the city’s skyline with two — possibly three — new towers right on the Mississippi River: a 12-story office building, a 22-story hotel, and a 30-story apartment tower. Construction could take more than two years, pushing the grand opening to sometime in 2018. — Toby Sells

Food & Drink

The Green Room: The latest project from Jeff Johnson of Local/Oshi Burger Bar/Agave Maria, will be an event space and restaurant with a pop-up concept. Johnson is hoping to start holding events in the Green Room, located in the old Evergreen Grill space on Overton Park, as soon as January. He’s also planning to launch the restaurant that same month.

The pop-up aspect is ambitious. Fare and chefs will change on a regular basis. One idea Johnson is currently contemplating is a French brasserie. Johnson says he’s been in contact with chefs from Memphis and around the country to work in the Green Room. As for the name, he says it’s a nod to the location, the Evergreen neighborhood, as well as to green rooms, a space for celebrities and VIPs at TV shows and concerts. Johnson says he wants customers to feel like they’re the star of the show.

Justin Fox Burks

Lyfe Kitchen

LYFE Kitchen and Catherine & Mary’s in the Chisca: The opening date is unknown at this point for these two restaurants set for the old Chisca Hotel, though it should be sometime in the coming year. The Carlisle Corporation, which has been renovating the Chisca, bought a minority share of LYFE in 2015 and moved its headquarters to Memphis. Carlisle opened the first Memphis LYFE, offering healthier meals in a fast-casual setting, in East Memphis.

In regards to Catherine & Mary’s, the partnership with Andrew Ticer and Michael Hudman of Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen, Hog & Hominy, and Porcellino’s was a bit of a surprise, as Ticer and Hudman seemed dedicated to building something of a restaurant commune on Brookhaven Circle. Catherine & Mary’s, according to a press release that announced the deal, will serve “traditional Italian cooking through the lens of the American South.”  

The Curb Market: The Curb Market is a hyper-local market set to open in the old Easy Way space on Cooper in late January. It’s owned by Peter Schutt, who is also owner of two farms as well as The Daily News Publishing Co. Ben Fant of Farmhouse is working with Curb on its marketing. Fant says in an email: “Completely LOCALLY sourced produce, meats, and groceries. The goal of the market is to support local farmers and source their goods first. Depending on seasons, they will source regionally and on occasion, nationally, but always U.S.A. All meats will be grass-fed and free-range. Everything in the market will be economically viable and sustainable … The focus is on agriculture not agribusiness.”

Wine in Grocery Stores: It’s happening. Area grocery stores can start carrying wine in July. — Susan Ellis

Crime & Public Safety

Despite a shortage of Memphis Police officers, crime steadily decreased in 2015. Comparing statistics from January to November, crime was down 1.5 percent countywide and .6 percent in the city.

But the drop since 2006 has been phenomenal — 17.8 percent countywide and 13.6 percent in the city. That’s when the Memphis Police Department (MPD) first started using data-driven policing via its Blue Crush model. It was also the first year of Operation: Safe Community (OSC), a massive, multi-agency, crime-fighting initiative from the Memphis Shelby Crime Commission that addresses everything from offender recidivism to truancy.

“We’re down significantly from 2006, and if you go back to what some might say are the good old days of the late 1980s, we’re considerably down from those numbers as well,” said Crime Commission interim director Rick Masson.

It’s impossible to predict crime rates for 2016, but Masson said he believes we’re on track to continue the crime decrease. Next year will be the last year for the current version of OSC, and various law enforcement agencies will be coming together to work on another five-year OSC plan to launch in 2017.

The MPD will gain a new police director in 2016. Current Director Toney Armstrong announced in October that’d step down once Mayor-elect Jim Strickland found a replacement. One challenge for Strickland and the new police director will be hiring and retaining officers.

“There’s a shortage of police officers, so that’s something that will have to be addressed by the new administration,” Masson said.

At a public forum this month, Strickland’s transition team threw out a few ideas to reduce crime. They set a goal of decreasing police resignations by 20 percent in his first year and 30 percent each year during the rest of his term. They also want to reduce police response time to an average of three minutes, educate the public on the proper use of 911, and fully staff the 911 call center, and seek public/private partnerships to offset the costs of police recruitment classes.

The city’s rape kit testing backlog should be cleared in 2016, according to Memphis Sexual Assault Kit Task Force coordinator Doug McGowen. “We hope to have the vast majority of the kits tested in 2016. We ship about 300 a month out, and we have about 3,900 that need additional analysis, so we’ll be very close to meeting that goal,” McGowen said.

McGowen, who has been tapped by Strickland as the city’s new chief operating officer, said he’d continue to run the task force for the foreseeable future.

— Bianca Phillips

Music

The New Daisy: After signing an exclusive booking deal with Live Nation, the New Daisy went through major renovations and became one of the best places to see live music in Memphis. The “new” New Daisy features a state-of-the-art sound system and stage lighting, and even a VIP area known as the Big Star Room.

After years of being the bookend on the dark side of Beale Street, the New Daisy is alive and well, and bringing big names like Dropkick Murphys and Disturbed to Memphis in 2016.

FedExForum: The Forum has a stacked calendar early in 2016, with Barry Manilow, The Doobie Brothers, and Billy Joel (the Piano Man’s only Tennessee appearance) coming to town.

The Hi-Tone: The club changed hands just over a year ago, but the Crosstown venue is still going strong under the direction of Brian “Skinny” McCabe, hosting festivals such as Gonerfest and Rock For Love, in addition to specializing in metal, punk, and garage rock shows.

Bar DKDC: This small Cooper-Young restaurant/bar has become a full-fledged venue, with local and touring talent playing the room on a weekly basis. Don’t expect that to stop anytime soon.

Rocket Science Audio: RSA continues to be one of the most intriguing venues/recording studios in Memphis, and their monthly Variety Show has come a long way since its inception. Expect big things from them in 2016.

Found: Another new venue worth a mention is the vintage clothing/furniture store on Broad Avenue that every so often hosts musical up-and-comers of all kinds in its back room.

Lafayette’s: The signature music club in Overton Square continues to make the Square a hot destination for tourists and locals alike by booking bands every night of the week. Expect that to continue in 2016.

Levitt Shell: It was recently announced that the Shell will undergo $4 million dollars in renovations. The Overton Park outdoor venue will receive upgrades to its sound system, bathrooms, and musician load-in area. In addition, a bigger, permanent area for vendors will be constructed. All those improvements should make for an exciting (and packed) Concert Series.

The Bands: Plenty of Memphis acts had strong years in 2015, including NOTS, Cities Aviv, Julien Baker, and Lucero, to name but a few.

NOTS released their debut We Are Nots late last November, then did lots of touring before impressing the U.K. label Heavenly Recordings at South by Southwest. The label brought NOTS to Europe last month for a slew of shows. NOTS begin working on their sophomore LP in January.

Cities Aviv also continued to be one of the most intriguing figures in the Memphis rap community, even if he spent most of the year in New York City. He’s back in Memphis now, and his new album Your Discretion is Trust, is some of his best work.

After conquering Europe with his sidekick Quinton-JeVon Lee, aka RPLD GHSTS, expect to see plenty of Cities Aviv in 2016, starting with a Hi-Tone show in early January.

Andrea Morales

Julien Baker

Julien Baker is another Memphian who had to leave the city to get national recognition (she currently attends MTSU). Her debut album Sprained Ankle, released this fall, has been championed by NPR, Pitchfork, and every other music media outlet that has good taste.

Other local bands to watch out for in 2016 include Deering and Down (who have a new album coming in early 2016 from BAA), HEELS, Aquarian Blood, Evil Army, RPLD GHSTS, and the Sheiks, who are already headed back to Europe in 2016 with Jack Oblivian.

Hometown champs, Lucero, dropped a great new record that they recorded at Ardent with Ted Hutt, and they also join the ranks of Memphis bands crossing the pond in early 2016.

Deck the Halls: The 2015 openings of the Blues Hall of Fame and the Memphis Music Hall of Fame were notable events, creating two worthwhile institutions that will honor Memphis music for years to come, in addition to bringing in tourism revenue. The opening ceremony of the Memphis Music Hall of Fame brought Jimmy Fallon, Justin Timberlake, and Keith Richards to town, making for one of the most star-studded events of the year.

Vinyl Thoughts: The Memphis Record Pressing plant is up and running, cranking out records for Sony, Fat Possum and Goner, and bringing the vinyl business back to the birthplace of rock-and-roll. It’s an amazing addition to our music resume to be one of the few cities in the United States to have a vinyl pressing plant. Take that, Nashville! — Chris Shaw

Politics

Hillary’s Boast and Red-state Reality: The most obvious political fact about 2016 is that it’s a presidential-election year, and that fact would ordinarily not be expected to ruffle Tennessee’s red-state Republican feathers, except that presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton has already barnstormed the state once, declaring that she intends to “turn Tennessee blue” again by dint of hard and purposeful campaigning here — something that Barack Obama conspicuously did not do in either 2008 or 2012.

Of course, presidential elections still call out Democrats in disproportionate numbers to the polls, and if Donald Trump should keep on keeping on and succeed in telling the Republican establishment, “You’re fired,” then really weird things could happen here.

But, as things stand now, Clinton would have to recreate a state party infrastructure, more or less Phoenix-like, from the ashes.

City Council and County Commission: Memphis’ newly configured city council seems well-stocked with youthful, business-friendly members, a good match-up with the city’s new mayor, Jim Strickland, who made his name as a council advocate of fiscal solvency above all. (Which means that the core issue of how to retain a stable police force in the absence of restored benefits will continue to be a vexation.) And, while Democrats are nominally a majority-of-one on the Shelby County Commission, the chairman, Terry Roland, is a Republican, and, on key votes, Democrats Justin Ford and Eddie Jones fairly persistently go with the GOP, more than canceling out Republican Steve Basar’s working relationship with the Democrats.

Beyond matters of partisanship, the unresolved issue in county government is whether the current commission power struggle with county Mayor Mark Luttrell succeeds, and to what extent.

Electoral Matters: It wouldn’t be an even-numbered election year without somebody venturing once again to do that which so far nobody has succeeded in doing — namely, mounting a serious challenge against 9th District Congressman Steve Cohen.

Among those who have been talked up — by themselves or by others — as itching to take a shot are attorney Ricky Wilkins (a redux case from 2014), state Representative G.A. Hardaway, and, most recently, state Senator Lee Harris.

And, though Harris’ seat wouldn’t be the right location geographically, current Shelby County Commissioner Heidi Shafer, an East Memphis Republican, is looking hard at making a run, ASAP, for the state legislature. That’s why Shafer, the commission’s budget chair for three years running, opted to chair the legislative affairs committee this time around.

Haslam’s Task: The 2016 session of the General Assembly is just around the corner, convening on January 12th. And that aforesaid GOP legislative majority has seemingly peaked out at a hyper-conservative level too daunting for either of moderate GOP governor Bill Haslam’s two major wish-list items — his Insure Tennessee proposal for Medicaid (TennCare) expansion, which was blocked in the General Assembly last year, or any form of a gasoline tax to fund overdue attention to the state’s increasingly obsolete infrastructure.

State Senator Ron Ramsey, the state’s lieutenant governor and presiding officer of the Senate, usually calls the shots on such things, and he has basically declared that the Medicaid-expansion matter will not be considered until and unless an elected Republican president, post-2016, proposes the additional funding via block grants to the states.

As for the question of infrastructure improvements, a little bit of good news — a modest windfall in unexpectedly good state revenue collections — may extend the bad news of inaction on creating new funding sources for roads, bridges, and the like. Current thinking within the legislature is apparently to sprinkle the bonus funds where they are most needed but to eschew any major upgrades. — Jackson Baker

LGBT Rights

The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of marriage equality nationwide will ensure that 2015 goes down as perhaps the most important year in the fight for LGBT rights.

But, in Tennessee (and a handful of other conservative states), the battle might not be over. The Tennessee Natural Marriage Defense Act was filed in September, and if passed, it would revert the state definition of marriage back to one man and one woman, and it would require the state attorney general to defend local government officials who refuse to recognize the Supreme Court’s marriage ruling.

Justin Fox Burks

Cole Bradley

“The federal government doesn’t preempt the action of legislatures. In other words, if the federal government gets wind of an unconstitutional bill being filed, they don’t send a note to the legislature saying, by the way, you can’t do that,” said Tennessee Equality Project (TEP) Executive Director Chris Sanders.

“What happens is the legislature passes its law, and it goes into effect. It harms someone, and then someone has the basis to sue the state. If passed, it could temporarily interrupt marriage equality,” he said.

Sanders believes the bill would eventually be struck down, once lawsuits make their way to the Supreme Court.

“I think they’ll lose at every turn. That’s why we all pray for [Supreme Court Justice] Ruth Bader Ginsberg every night,” Sanders said.

Sanders said TEP is also watching a state Pastor Protection Act, which would “protect religious clergy” from having to perform same-sex weddings. But he points out that such a bill would be redundant since pastors are already protected by the First Amendment.

“There could also be bills that ‘protect’ businesses from having to do business with our community, particularly wedding vendors,” Sanders said. “And another possible bill would exempt local government officials, like a county clerk, from having to serve our community. That’s a Kim Davis-style bill.”

Transgender rights also may be on the line in Tennessee in 2016. Tennessee Representative Bud Hulsey announced his intention to file a bill that would prevent transgender students from using the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity.

Some possible bills may have a direct impact on LGBT equality in Memphis.

“We’ve heard some rumors that there could be a bill to try and undo existing local nondiscrimination ordinances, like the one in Memphis,” Sanders said.

On a more positive note, the Memphis Gay & Lesbian Community Center (MGLCC) has announced that they will launch a new program in 2016 to house homeless LGBT youth. Dubbed the Metamorphosis Project, it will employ refurbished shipping containers as transitional housing structures, and it will be the first housing project for LGBT young adults in the city. The shipping containers will be set up on property the MGLCC has purchased in Orange Mound from the Shelby County Land Bank.

“We’re going to alter the containers by adding windows and doors and making them into individual living spaces with a bedroom and a bathroom,” said MGLCC Youth Services Manager Stephanie Reyes. “And we’ll have an administration building there with a classroom, where we’ll teach classes on writing a resume, nutrition, and life skills.”

— Bianca Phillips

Film

The new year will kick off with Ocsar hopefuls like The Revenant hitting Memphis screens, and the Sundance Film Festival debuting the year’s crop of indie and arthouse pictures. We’ll get to see if the long-delayed Western Jane Got a Gun starring Natalie Portman was salvaged after a troubled production. February looks livelier than usual with the Coen Brothers’ Hail, Caesar!, the Marvel comedy superhero Deadpool, and Zoolander 2, which heralds the return of Ben Stiller’s beloved male model. March gets us the Iraq War comedy/drama Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, and the long awaited Batman v Superman: The Dawn of Justice which, if the trailers are any indication, could be a historic debacle. More intriguing is the biopic I Saw the Light where Tom Hiddleston (aka Loki) plays Hank Williams.

Richard Linklater’s new film Everybody Wants Some debuts in April, as does Iron Man director Jon Favreau’s live action adaptation of The Jungle Book, which presumably has some reason to exist. Summer blockbuster season starts in earnest with the new Marvel epic Captain America: Civil War and X-Men: Apocalyspe. For the more serious-minded, there’s Snowden, the tale of the NSA whistleblower. June brings us the big-budget video game adaptation Warcraft, helmed by Moon director Duncan Jones, and the sequel to Finding Nemo, Finding Dory.

July sees Steven Spielberg’s Roald Dahl adaptation The BFG and The Legend of Tarzan, directed by Harry Potter‘s David Yates from a script penned by Memphis’ own Craig Brewer. Then the all-female Ghostbusters remake will do battle with Star Trek Beyond. In August we get the all-villain comic book oddity Suicide Squad and the story of the gulf oil spill in Deepwater Horizon.

The theme for November will be magic, with Marvel’s sorcerer supreme Doctor Strange squaring off against J.K. Rowling’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, while Indie Memphis brings the scrappy underdogs to Memphis screens. December will be once again dominated by Star Wars with Rogue One telling the story of how Princess Leia got the plans to the Death Star.

Categories
News The Fly-By

Five New Downtown Projects

Changes — big and small — are planned for downtown spaces in moves that follow the investment of hundreds of millions of dollars poured into the city’s urban core and the national trend of urban revitalization. 

These five changes were slated for a vote by the Downtown Memphis Commission’s Design Review Board this week:

1. Central Station: With a price tag of about $55 million, the Central Station plan is no doubt one of the biggest development projects in the works for downtown. 

The project will completely transform the corner of Main and G.E. Patterson. The train station is currently home to an Amtrak station, a Memphis Police Department substation, apartments, offices, the Memphis Railroad and Trolley Museum, and the Memphis Farmers Market.

Artist’s rendering of Central Station

The Henry Turley Co., Community Capital, and their partners plan to overhaul the 100-year-old structure and its campus for a hotel, a six-screen Malco movie theater, a restaurant, seven new apartment buildings, a new space for the farmers market, public spaces, and more. Developers also plan to move the trolley stop that sits across G.E. Patterson from The Five Spot to a new site close to Main and St. Paul.     

2. South Main ArtSpace: Artspace is known nationally for creating low-income housing for artists and hopes to do the same in Memphis in an abandoned warehouse on St. Paul. 

The Minneapolis non-profit organization has built similar spaces in Pittsburgh, New Orleans, Reno, Houston, and more. Artspace chose Memphis for a site in 2011 and has been raising the $16 million for the project ever since.    

With the money now in hand, officials believe they can start construction around the old United Warehouse building in April and finish the project around July 2017. Crews will renovate the warehouse building and construct a new four-story building next to it.

When it’s done, the Lofts will feature 58 apartments, commercial space, community space, and a gallery.   

3. Gould’s Day Spa & Salon: The high-profile, long-vacant, southwest corner of Union and Main will be the new home of the downtown Gould’s as it moves from its long-held space inside the Peabody Hotel. 

The company will spruce up the exterior of the corner with an outdoor patio, new signs, and new windows. Inside, the new Gould’s will have styling stations, a shampoo room, a barber area, and a foot massage station.

4. Facing History and Ourselves: The new office on Huling for the educational nonprofit organization will get a face-lift with some new signs and a big mural. 

Since 1992, Facing History and Ourselves has helped students examine racism, prejudice, and anti-semitism for “a more humane and informed citizenry.” It recently moved to a new office close to the National Civil Rights Museum. 

The centerpiece of the renovation project will be 25-foot-long mural that will face Mulberry Street and feature diverse individuals engaging with one another in different settings.

5. The Tower at Peabody Place: Belz Enterprises hopes to attract new clients and retain existing ones in the Tower at Peabody Place by putting those clients’ names on the side of the 15-story building.    

The names would be lettered in block bands between the building’s windows. The signs would be about three and a half feet high, stretch about 66 feet, and would glow at night.

Categories
News The Fly-By

Central Station Plan Makes it “Central” Again

CREDIT: Henry Turley Co.

A hotel, movie theater, restaurant, new apartments, shops, and maybe a grocery store are coming to the century-old Central Station in a $55 million project unveiled last week.

Henry Turley Co. and Community Capital have been working for more than a year on a plan for the South Main campus that is now home to an Amtrak station, apartments, the Memphis Railroad and Trolley museum, event space, and the Memphis Farmers Market. The companies plan to bring more activity to the area by building new access to trolleys, trains, housing, entertainment, shopping, buses, and for cyclists and pedestrians.

“Our theme as we’ve moved through this process has been to make Central Station central,” Archie Willis, president of Community Capital, told members of the Memphis Area Transit Authority’s (MATA) finance committee Friday.

Henry Turley Co.

Artist’s rendering of Central Station improvements

The plan would transform the tower of the Central Station building into a boutique hotel. Willis said Friday he’s been in talks with the Kemmons Wilson Companies, which has been in talks with “major” hotel companies interested in the project.

Partners are “ready to go,” Willis said, and are awaiting approval from MATA to begin final negotiations. Willis said he expected construction on the hotel to begin in the middle of next year and wrap up by Elvis Week 2017. Hudson Hall, the event space inside the station, would become a meeting space or ballroom for the new hotel. The new restaurant would be inside the hotel.

Malco Theaters would build a movie theater on the southeast corner of Front and G.E. Patterson. The Powerhouse would be converted into the theater’s ticket counter and refreshment station, according to the plan. The theater would be a five-screen, two-story, art-house movie theater, Willis said. The building would have a modern look with glass and brick, and it would be accented with neon signage. Construction there could begin early next year with a planned opening around the end of 2016.

About 370 new apartment units would be built on the site, mainly in the big empty lot behind the station. The plan shows that a grocery store could be built adjacent to the apartment building.

The Memphis Farmers Market would be moved to the southeast corner of Main and G.E. Patterson in four new open-air pavilions. Willis said there is no firm plan yet for the Railroad and Trolley Museum, but its move to a new location would be “as good or better” than the current location in the first floor of Central Station.

To open and connect the entire campus, the trolley stop next to the Powerhouse would be relocated, maybe to Main Street. Also, a new concourse would be opened in the big wall that fronts Main Street where the wall now meets the Central Station building.

Much of the funding for the project would come from federal government grants. MATA president Ron Garrison said local entities would only need to come up with about $600,000 to draw the remaining money to fund the $55 million project. The full MATA board will vote on the project on April 27th.

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News The Fly-By

Central Station Celebrates 100 Years

CREDIT: Memphis Rail & Trolley Museum

Downtown’s Central Station may not be the passenger hub it was in the heyday of train travel, but it’s still chugging along.

This weekend, October 3rd through 5th, the Memphis Railroad & Trolley Museum, located inside Central Station, will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the station’s 1914 grand opening with live music, a train memorabilia sale, special exhibits, and more.

“We want the younger generation to have an experience that shows them what it might have been like to be alive in Memphis in the 1900s,” said Joe Oliver, founding director of the museum. “Rail transport and travel is a big part of the Memphis story, part of our history, and our heritage is in danger of being lost because it isn’t as easy to see as it once was.”

On Thursday, October 2nd, the celebration will kick off with a show by country band the Grahams at 7:30 p.m.

On Friday, October 3rd, two train exhibit cars will pull into the station — one displaying the history of Amtrak and another displaying that of Norfolk Southern. Both will be open for tours from noon to

5 p.m. on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Memphis Rail & Trolley Museum

Central Station in 1914

“The Norfolk Southern car will have a locomotive simulator. You’re the engineer. You’ll see the countryside pass and the tracks as you’re rolling down. You’ll have to blow the horn when you approach streets,” said Bill Strong, director of the Memphis Railroad & Trolley Museum.

On Saturday, October 4th, the official anniversary of the station, the Memphis Rail & Trolley Museum will be open for free. Guest lecturer Milton Winter will talk about the history of Central Station. A train show and sale will be set up in the building’s boardroom, peddling all sorts of rail artifacts and collectibles.

Double J Bar-B-Q will be served in the Amtrak parking lot from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Visitors can also board a bus headed to the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) trolley barn on North Main for a tour.

Central Station was constructed for around $1.5 million at the corner of Main and Calhoun (now G.E. Patterson) to replace another train station at that same location. In the station’s heyday, numerous rail lines operated passenger trains there.

By the 1960s, many rail lines began discontinuing passenger trains. On

May 1, 1971, Amtrak took over all inter-city passenger train service. Illinois Central, which was headquartered here, moved their offices out of the station by 1989.

“After Illinois Central moved out, the station became a hull. It was at one time referred to as the worst Amtrak station in America,” Strong said. “People were scared of the neighborhood, and there were drunks passed out in the street.”

In the 1990s, the station was remodeled, and the once-sleazy South Main area was transformed into a thriving arts district.

“In 1991, the Illinois Central railroad sold the station and all the property to the city of Memphis for $10. And the city said, ‘MATA, you’re going to run this building,” Strong said.

Today, Central Station still serves as the Amtrak hub, and it’s home to the Memphis Rail & Trolley Museum. The former Illinois Central office space on the upper floors is now apartments, and parts of the bottom floor is rented out for special events.