Tag: Heritage Trail

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A Look inside Oxn – A New Men’s Clothing Store

In an unexpected part of the South Main district, 4-foot tall white letters “OXN” cover the glass of a previously empty storefront to mark the presence of new men’s clothing and lifestyle store. Oxn was recently launched by Zac Woolfolk as part of MEMShop’s latest initiative to activate a portion of the proposed Heritage Trail route with small business retail on South Second Street.

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After applying for the MEMShop Heritage Trail inclusion in January of this year, Zac already knew he would carry brands he personally had been buying and wearing for years. Quality basics such as jeans and T-shirts would define the stock. He points to his first pair of Rogue Territory jeans displayed on Oxn’s back wall. The retired pair is well-worn and well-loved. The wear of his jeans demonstrates the nice fade, not evident when glancing at a fresh pair.

Rogue Territory and other brands at Oxn like Ewing Dry Goods and Apolis are not only high quality and functional but also meaningful to Zac. For example, he recently featured on his website the Apolis Market Bag that sources fabric from a co-op of artisan women in a rural part of Bangladesh, demonstrating their company name meaning “global citizen.” Zac’s care for the mission and story behind each brand drove his choices and eventually led to Oxn. It would be the only shop in Memphis to carry most of these brands.

In the spirit of MEMShop’s mission, Zac developed a name to the retail store that spoke of its potential in Memphis.

‘Auxin’ is a growth hormone in plants. I liked the idea of growth with my type of store in the city of Memphis, so I played around with the homophone and ended up with Oxn,” he explains. Looking ahead, Zac hopes to test out and carry more brands.

“Earlier this week I was introduced to the best T-shirt in the world made by 3sixteen. I was skeptical but 3sixteen proved me wrong. So I hope to be carrying those in the next couple of weeks.”

Zac also is looking forward to carrying another brand acknowledged by GQ in their Best of 2015 Designers of the Year, The Hill-Side out of Brooklyn, NY, for their use of fabric in men’s ties, pocket squares and scarves.

“I’m looking into other accessories and men’s goods. While I may not carry women’s clothes in the immediate future, unisex accessories is something that I plan to always keep in stock, as well. Scarves, bags, and I even had women’s perfumes, which have sold quite well,” he adds.

Oxn will be in the Second street space through October 31 when Zac will then decide on leasing it further on a month-to-month basis or find a more permanent space for his store.

Visit them at 488 South Second Street, east of Central BBQ.
Hours are Monday, Wednesday through Saturday noon-7 p.m. Sunday 1-5 p.m.

The online shop is now open. Keep up with store updates on Instagram and Facebook – OxnShop.

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News News Blog

MEMShop Heritage Trail Seeks Pop-Up Applicants

MEMShop, the city’s pop-up retail and neighborhood revitalization initiative, is looking for businesses to inhabit vacant storefronts in the Heritage Trial area of Downtown Memphis.

Through the program, three small business owners will get a six-month lease in a previously vacant storefront, as well as financial assistance, managerial consulting, marketing services, and access to business-based resources from local agencies. MEMShop is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and the city of Memphis.

The pop-up shops will be the city’s first step in stimulating economic activity in the 20-block Heritage Trail area — bordered by Beale Street on the north, Main Street on the west, Crump Boulevard on the south and Manassas Street on the east. Eventually, Mayor A C Wharton’s administration plans to revitalize much of the underdeveloped parts of the Heritage Trail neighborhood. It’s an area rich in African-American history, and the Trail is intended to pay homage to historical sites throughout the area.

The MEMShop program has been successful in reactivating other areas around town, and most of the pop-up businesses that have launched throughout the last several years through MEMShop have signed long-term leases for their spaces. Successful examples are Five In One Social Club (DIY arts and crafts store) and My Heavenly Creations (bath and body shop) on Broad and Co-Motion Studio (hula-hooping studio) on Cleveland.

MEMShop will be operated and led by Communities Unlimited (formerly known as alt.Consulting). Applications for MEMShop Heritage Trial are due January 31st.

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Opinion

Robert Lipscomb Explains Heritage Trail Plan

Clayborn Temple

  • Clayborn Temple

Reacting to concerns of downtowners last month, Memphis Housing and Community Development and MHA Director Robert Lipscomb has issued a detailed explanation of plans for Heritage Trail, the blighted area south of FedEx Forum.

In a letter to city officials and downtown stakeholders, Lipscomb said there have been “misunderstandings” and inaccurate accounts of the proposal that would use Tax Increment Financing (TIF) to pay for improvements with future tax increases from higher property values.

The document is here in PDF form.

HeritageTrailQ_A.pdf

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Opinion

Downtown Heritage Trail Gets a Hearing

Robert Lipscomb

  • Robert Lipscomb

Downtown residents and activists — sometimes one and the same — are a savvy lot. They like to be in the loop. So about 25 of them turned out Thursday for a meeting of the Community Redevelopment Agency to see what’s up with the blockbuster 20-year plan called Heritage Trail.

I told a curious colleague that “nothing happened” at the meeting, but on second thought that is not exactly right. The fact that these people came to the meeting of an agency that fills its meeting room about as often as the 100-year flood is significant in itself.

Heritage Trail, previously called Triangle Noir, has been around for years. The target area is south of FedEx Forum, but the potential funding area is a much bigger chunk of downtown. Its author is Robert Lipscomb, head of the Memphis Division of Housing and Community Development (HCD) and executive director of the Memphis Housing Authority. Downtowners have learned to pay attention to anything that has his fingerprints on it.

As well they should. Many a grand plan starts out as a consultant’s report loaded with jargon and details about monster economic impact and possible creative funding sources such as PILOTs and TIFs that mean little to the average person. They go to second-tier agencies such as the CRA for original endorsement, then to the Memphis City Council and the Shelby County Commission. Depending on who wants to do the deal and how badly they want to do it, the proposal can suddenly move from the drawing board to the fast track. Then the argument will be made that so-and-so has already signed off on this, studies have been done, state and federal funds hang in the balance (or a small amount has already been appropriated as bait), and elected officials must act NOW.

At the meeting Thursday, the CRA board chairman, Michael Frick of Memphis Bank of America, repeatedly assured the small crowd of people opposed to Lipscomb’s Heritage Trail plans that “this is still early in its development,” that “the plan has not emerged from our committee yet” and “at the end of the day everything we do here has to approved by the City Council and County Commission.”

“I hate for everybody to spend a lot of time on something that is not going to happen,” he said, adding that a vote might not come until February.

If and when that happens, Heritage Trail is in for some tough sledding because downtowners have learned to pay attention and get involved early and often when something comes out of HCD.

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Opinion

Blockbuster Plan for Downtown Would Declare it “Blighted Menace”

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Downtown leaders and property owners are being asked to weigh in on a blockbuster 20-year redevelopment plan that would capture $100 million in taxes and spend it on a public housing project and “Heritage Trail” by declaring all of downtown a slum.

The Flyer obtained a copy of a previously unpublicized memo from the Downtown Memphis Commission that was sent to board members and, by them, to other downtowners this month. It discusses a proposed Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) under the control of the Memphis Housing Authority and the Division of Housing and Community Development, currently headed by Robert Lipscomb. The City administration wants the input of stakeholders before the City moves forward with this plan. The focus is redeveloping Cleaborn and Foote Homes, housing projects in the southeastern part of downtown.

From the memo:

“The CRA is established “to combat slum and blighted areas that constitute a serious and growing menace, injurious to the public health, safety, morals, and welfare of the residents of Shelby County.” To provide CRA with jurisdiction to adopt and implement the Master Plan, the CRA is considering declaring Downtown Memphis to be a slum, blighted, and a growing menace.”

The proposed master plan, a 196-page document dated September 13, 2012, includes the entire downtown core, the Beale Street Entertainment District, the South Main District, the South End, Victorian Village, the Edge Neighborhood, and part of the Memphis Medical Center. It targets some 200 downtown parcels for CRA acquisition by purchase or, if necessary, eminent domain. A master developer would be hired by the CRA.

From the memo:

“To begin funding implementation of the Master Plan, the CRA would establish a Downtown tax-increment-financing (TIF) District that would redirect future property tax revenue growth generated Downtown over the next twenty years from the city and county to the CRA. It is projected that over twenty years the TIF would redirect $102,751,238 of city and county property taxes to the CRA. The bulk of this revenue would be generated in the out years, with the first five years generating less than 1.5% of the projected revenue.

“It is projected that 98.7% of this future, incremental TIF revenue will be generated by private properties primarily in the Downtown core outside the Focus Area of the planned improvements. The Cleaborn and Foote Homes redevelopments are expected to generate 1.3% of the TIF revenue over twenty years. PILOT roll-offs are expected to generate 44.5% of the TIF revenue, and general property value inflation is projected to generate 47.5% of the TIF revenue.”

The Master Plan includes 27 miles of streetscape improvements, 6 miles of new streets, and 17 acres of new parks. The TIF funds along with federal grant money would help support the public housing redevelopment in the southeastern section of Downtown, but the source of funding for improvements throughout the remainder of downtown is not identified, nor is a budget or schedule provided for such improvements.

An earlier plan in the Herenton mayoral era dubbed Triangle Noir focused on a much narrower area around Cleaborn and Foote Homes.

The memo asks several questions, including:

How will needed improvements in the rest of Downtown be paid for?

What happens to ongoing private development initiatives if the CRA officially adopt this new, largely unfunded Master Plan for Downtown?

What are the lost opportunity costs of borrowing against and spending twenty years of property tax growth in Downtown Memphis?

If the next twenty years of property tax growth in Downtown Memphis is pledged to pay for the public housing redevelopment project in the southeast corner of Downtown, then how do other important Downtown plans and projects get funded over the next twenty years?