Tag: Memphis Heritage

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News The Fly-By

MEMernet: Paint Update, Litter Buggy, and BOLO

Posted to Facebook by Memphis Heritage

Memphis on the internet.

Paint Update

Memphis Heritage reached an agreement last week with the owners of Tekila Modern Mexican that will stop the painting of the former Nineteenth Century Club and remove any paint already applied. A GoFundMe for the project had raised $715 of its $10,000 goal as of press time.

Litter Buggy

Posted to Reddit by u/g713

Memphis Redditor u/g713 posted a cool video this weekend of a trash pickup around Overton Park using a litter buggy. The remote-controlled trash cart helped remove about 40 gallons of litter between the park and Union.

BOLO

Memphis-area phones, tablets, watches, and more buzzed or chimed over the weekend to alert locals of a killer on the loose.

On Saturday, Mavis Christian Jr. began a string of shootings at three locations that left one woman injured and four women dead. Police said the man knew his victims and that the spree was likely a result of domestic violence incidents.

Officials issued a rare be-on-the-lookout alert as the citywide manhunt for Christian was underway. Police said the man took his own life after finding his car and body in South Memphis.

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We Saw You

WE SAW YOU: Happy “Howloween”

Edible eyeballs were included in the cuisine at Howloween for the Hounds (Credit: John Stivers)

Howloween for the Hounds was more “woof woof” than werewolf, but the party celebrating the spookiest night of the year was doggone fun.

The party, a fundraiser for All 4s Rescue League, was held October 21st at Howard Hall, the headquarters of Memphis Heritage.

Howloween for the Hounds (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Howloween for the Hounds (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Impala performed at Howloween for the Hounds (Credit: Michael Donahue)

It was the debut of this particular event to benefit All 4s Rescue League, says All 4s director Suzy Hollenbach. “This is the first time at the Memphis Heritage,” she says.  “We had different ones in the fall, but we titled them differently in the past. We’re probably going to repeat this one. I love the venue.”

All 4s, which Hollenbach founded, was created in memory her father’s dog, Skeets, she says. “We are a dog rescue community outreach organization. We assist pet owners in the underserved areas. We provide free resources, such as dod shelter, dog food, supplies and free spay and neuter.”

And, she adds, “Anything on all fours we help.”

Suzy Hollenbach and Lee Pruitt at Howloween for the Hounds (Credit: Michael Donahue)

About 60 people attended the event, which included tarot readers, a silent auction, music by Impala, and food (including eggs transformed into “eyeballs”) catered by Good Groceries.

Howloween for the Hounds (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Howloween for the Hounds (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Howloween for the Hounds (Credit: Michael Donahue)

Guests got a sneak peak at a documentary, The Memphis Underdog. The documentary, produced by Uplifter Video, will be released in 2024. “It will be released in the first part of the year. I think that drew a lot of people to the event. It’s regarding the dog area, the demographic of dogs we assist in underserved areas. Typically, we’re helping a ‘chain dog.’ So, often in the underserved areas these dogs live on chains. Which can lead to neglect.

“We are providing assistance to help the family get involved back with their pets to improve the situation. Trying to bring awareness for the problem with these dogs and the neglect we so often find in these areas. And the stray population that has gotten out of control over the years.”

And, she adds, “There’s no veterinarian in the areas. So many of the pet owners mean well, but it turns to neglect.”

Damien Cull and Chris Hooper at Howloween for the Hounds (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Kelley Carter, Megan Mulligan, Whitney Moore, Todd Stricklin, Randall Hartzog at Howloween for the Hounds (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Henry, Brian, Harrison, and Lauren Yoakum, Madelyn Gray, Trey Crump at Howloween for the Hounds (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Mary Manspeaker and Scott Anderson at Howloween for the Hounds (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Wendy Miller and Peggy Dudley at Howloween for the Hounds (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Marty Jackson and Mary Manspeaker at Howloween for the Hounds (Credit: Michael Donahue)
We Saw You
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Opinion The Last Word

Why Save the Mid-South Coliseum?

Poster from the Mid-South Coliseum’s opening in 1964 (Photo: Steve Hopkins via Facebook)

As a native Memphian — and, yes, biased toward keeping the memories of my childhood alive — I can’t imagine Memphis without the Mid-South Coliseum.

Times with Dave Brown and Jerry “The King” Lawler and at Central High School graduations and my first Memphis State University Tigers game (I guess that shows some age) were all spent there. I grew up in Midtown and spent my summers at the Fairgrounds. My sister got to go to concerts there. The Coliseum was the shrine to all things cool. So, the building held future aspirations for me and countless others.

Even today, as it sits vacant, global tourists make it a “must-stop” to take their picture in front of Elvis’ home concert hall. Beatlemaniacs stop by to see where John, Paul, George, and Ringo had to apologize for saying they were “bigger than Jesus.” Fans nationwide see the Coliseum as a cathedral to the history and sport of wrestling. Just ask where Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson got his start next time he comes to film at one of our historic sites in Memphis.

Your eyes don’t deceive as you drive around the immense parking lot. Those memories were long ago, and the place has been empty for years. Why not tear down? Simply put, not all buildings were created equal and the Coliseum was built better than most.

At a time when supplies run short and we all know the costs incurred with construction (not to mention possible new taxes), why not reuse what we have? Take a trip around the surrounding area and you can find empty land to build an amazing stadium, within the footprint of the Fairgrounds area.

I learned from my predecessor, June West, that if you think it can’t be saved … think again. She, as well as so many advocates across our city, have countless stories of working together with developers and city and state officials and coming together to compromise, while still having a thriving and growing economic opportunity. Whether it’s a revolutionized Crosstown Concourse, a revitalized South Main corridor, or the new culinary destination of the Edge District, Memphis knows how to adapt and reuse, not to mention bring jobs, spur economic growth, and give a much-needed boost in revitalizing neighborhoods.

If that is the only location possible, what does saving a “portion” of the Coliseum mean? Memphis Heritage has a successful history working with development partners on these projects, including the Chick-fil-A on Union and the new Caption by Hyatt Downtown — facades can be part of an amazing facility.

However, that is not what was shown. History can’t be replicated, but new stadiums … well, they can always be built and, in some cases, become a great retail space. Yes, the Pyramid is saved, but not the Coliseum.

I, as well as many of my advocate partners, are not naïve. We win some and lose some (RIP Napoleon Hill Mansion, our first loss, back in 1975). Although the loss may be inevitable, we need not speed up time by demolishing before the money is in the bank and final plans are approved. Unfortunately, this happens far too often in our city.

Currently, our members are finding a home for the ironwork left over from the torn-down, historic dog pound building at the corner of North Front and A.W. Willis Avenue. Why was it torn down without a final plan and full funding in place? The hotel never came and the building no longer remains.

I am excited to see the new Brooks campus Downtown, but why tear down a building before its time? The parking lot next door is due to come down as well. Please let the checks clear first.

Our mayor and city council members have been part of many of the successful projects listed above. I know they share our interest in ridding the blight that our city suffers from: crumbling buildings. Demolishing these buildings before their time only further increases this ugly scar on our hometown. It was a campaign focus for many running for office in our city and one we all agree on, no matter what the political stripe. Shiny and new has its place and not every building with some years on it deserves to be saved.

I want to see Memphis grow and prosper. It is why I moved back to my hometown to raise my daughter. I love the idea of our city growing and becoming an even larger economic powerhouse.

But if we lose our history, our soul, our bones (aka our historic buildings), are we still Memphis? That is what we will learn over the coming months. I hope we protect what makes Memphis unique — why it is the city I invested my family’s future in and the city that Memphis Heritage will always protect and preserve.

Leah Fox-Greenberg is the CEO of Memphis Heritage Inc.

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News News Blog

Preservation Advocates Discuss Ideas for Aretha Franklin House

Aretha Frankin’s birthplace at 406 Lucy

Preservationists have less than a week to come up with a solid plan to save Aretha Franklin’s blighted birthplace home in South Memphis or else Judge Larry Potter will have it demolished. That’s what Memphis Heritage Executive Director June West told a room of advocates for saving the home at a meeting at Howard Hall on Wednesday night.

“Unless someone comes forward with $1 million and wants to do [all the work to save it], then we need to come up with a collaborative plan now, and it needs to be a plan that’s achievable and financeable,” said West, noting that a “solid plan” for saving the house must be presented to Shelby County Environmental Court by Tuesday. The group will have to show up in court to discuss that plan next Thursday. Unless the judge gives the group more time, the home will be demolished.

Last week, the Environmental Court put the home into a city receivership and ordered the home to be demolished. It was first declared a public nuisance in October 2012 due to its blighted state. The entire back half of the home was nearly destroyed by fire years ago, and one side of the roof over the porch is sagging. South Memphis Renewal CDC was appointed a receiver for the property about a year ago, and Jeffrey Higgs of the LeMoyne-Owen College CDC informed the Environmental Court that his group would fund-raise and relocate the home. No physical progress has been made with that plan so far, so last week, a group of volunteers from Memphis Heritage worked to board up and stabilize the home.

Higgs attended the Memphis Heritage meeting on Wednesday, and he said he has a $15,000 commitment to help stabilize the property, but he said he wasn’t at liberty to discuss those details. West emphasized the need for “serious players” to step up and put money and an actionable plan together. After the meeting, she invited anyone who could get serious about saving the home to stay and help them come up with a plan to present to Potter on Tuesday.

Addressing Higgs, West said “We have a history here. And we’re down to the wire. We need better communication.” Higgs nodded his head in agreement. 

Earlier in the meeting, a group of about 20 or so Memphis Heritage volunteers, South Memphis residents, Soulsville stakeholders, and preservation enthusiasts threw out various ideas for what the house could be. They also debated whether or not the house should be moved from its current location at 406 Lucy.

“The most impact would come from seeing it stay as close to what it originally looked like,” said artist Jay Etkin, who advocated for revitalizing the home to its original state and using it as a birthplace museum similar to Elvis’ birthplace house in Tupelo, Mississippi.

Other ideas included a place to host music and arts lessons for kids, a Soulsville radio station, or a “musical playground” with an outdoor stage on the porch.

Many, including West and Higgs, advocated for having the house moved to another location in South Memphis, closer to the Stax Museum. The street where the house is located now is filled with blighted and boarded-up properties, many with waist-high weeds growing in the front yards.

“Part of the rationale for moving it is that it will be 10 to 20 years before there will be development over there. It will be a hard sell to get people to go over there [to visit the home] if the only thing over there is Aretha Franklin’s house,” Higgs said.

Shelby County Historical Commission member Grover Mosley was perhaps the loudest voice at the meeting advocating leaving the home where it is. He said he’d like to “see the whole neighborhood revitalized, period.”

At the end of the meeting, a young man, who walked in late, spoke up. He identified himself as Christopher Dean, the 2011 Booker T. Washington graduate whose introduction of President Barack Obama before his Memphis speech earned Dean an internship at the White House. Dean said he grew up in Franklin’s old house, which is currently owned by his grandmother Vera House.

“We’ve been trying to save that house for so long, so I want to say thank you to people here trying to save it,” Dean said.

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News News Blog

Memphis Heritage Stabilizes Aretha Franklin Home in “Guerilla Preservation” Action

CREDIT: Bianca Phillips

A handful of Memphis Heritage members and preservation enthusiasts met at Aretha Franklin’s childhood home on Thursday morning to board up and secure as much of the unstable structure as possible. The home at 406 Lucy in South Memphis is facing potential demolition if a group doesn’t step in to save it soon.

June West, executive director of Memphis Heritage, called their action “guerilla preservation” since her group isn’t the one charged with saving the home. That task fell to the LeMoyne-Owen College CDC, but that group has failed to save the blighted home so far, although the CDC’s executive director Jeffrey Higgs told the Flyer they’ve been working behind the scenes.

Bianca Phillips

Memphis Heritage volunteers attempt to secure Aretha Franklin’s birthplace home.

Last week, the Shelby County Environmental Court put the home into a city receivership and ordered the home to be demolished. It was first declared a public nuisance in October 2012 due to its blighted state. The entire back half of the home was nearly destroyed by fire years ago, and one side of the roof over the porch is sagging. 

Mark Fleischer

The back portion of the home was mostly destroyed by fire years ago.

South Memphis Renewal CDC was appointed a receiver for the property about a year ago, and Jeffrey Higgs of the LeMoyne-Owen College CDC informed the Environmental Court that his group would fund-raise and relocate the home. Higgs said his group has been in talks with Franklin’s agent to make sure the soul diva is okay with them using her name and likeness in any future use of the home. He said they’ve been working to find partners to try and preserve the house. But it appears, if action isn’t taken to stabilize the home soon, the court is ready to abate what it considers a public nuisance.

Higgs and West have said there may still be time to save the home. West and a team of volunteers braved the summer heat Thursday morning to secure what parts of the home they could. West said they’ll get a price for a construction crew to come in and take the burned-out back half of the home off.

“I don’t think there will be a rush to judgment, and they’ll bring the dozers out tomorrow. But I do think this is a wakeup call to Jeffrey [Higgs]. The only reason we’re doing it is because I believe this is the only thing that will stay the demolition,” West said.

Higgs said his group fully supports Memphis Heritage’s action to board the property. 

“Everyone is working collectively. Everyone is trying to save this house,” Higgs said.

Although Higgs was charged with coming up with a plan to save the property, the home is still owned by its former resident Vera House. She lived there from the mid-80s until about a decade ago and raised her 12 children there. 

“Only thing that’s really still good is the front room, the room [Aretha] was born in, and maybe the next room part of the way. But it really needs to be rebuilt, if you ask me,” said House, who was there on Thursday as overseeing the Memphis Heritage volunteers as they worked.

West said the home would likely have to be moved in order to save it. It’s currently located on a street with as many boarded-up homes as livable ones, and many front yards have waist-high weeds.

“It has to be moved. There’s no way it can survive, even fixed up, where it is. There’s no way anyone is going to go there. As much as a preservationist doesn’t like to move something, I think it’s only hope is to get it over by Stax,” West said.

Although she has no say in the matter, West said she’d love to see the home moved to a lot near the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, where it could serve as a historical tribute to Memphis’ soul history, much like the old Memphis Slim house that was revitalized and turned into a music colloboratory a few years ago. Higgs’ group (along with Community LIFT) was behind the revitalization of the Memphis Slim House, and he says moving Franklin’s home closer to Stax has been his group’s plan all along.

West said Memphis Heritage will likely hold a public meeting about the next steps for the house next week. She said the group may also soon launch an ioby crowd-funding campaign to fund its renovation.

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News News Blog

Ballet Memphis Overton Square Design Plans Revealed

CREDIT: Archimania

From the street, Overton Square patrons and passers-by will be able to watch Ballet Memphis dancers and students practice in their planned new building at the old French Quarter Hotel site.

Plans for the new studio space, which is being designed by Archimania, were unveiled in a meeting on Thursday night at Memphis Heritage’s Howard Hall. The new studio that would replace the long-abandoned and blighted hotel will feature large windows on all the studios and public courtyard spaces between each studio. 

Archimania

Proposed Ballet Memphis Overton Square facility daytime view

The current hotel building would be demolished, and a new two-story, 27,000-square-foot studio space would be constructed in its place. In keeping with the Midtown Overlay standards, the new building would be closer to the corner of Cooper and Madison, and the parking lot would be moved to the back, blocking the lot from view and creating a pedestrian-friendly area in front of the building. The parking lot would be blocked off from the alley that runs behind the building by a masonry wall. There will entrances to the parking lot on both Cooper and Madison.

The new space will serve as practice space for Ballet Memphis’ professional company, and it will also serve as classroom space for the ballet’s younger students. Ballet Memphis intends on keeping its current facility on Trinity Road to serve students who live in the suburban areas. Most of the ballet’s professional company shows are held at the Orpheum or Playhouse on the Square, so the new Overton Square space won’t host many performances.

But at Thursday’s meeting, Ballet Memphis Director Dorothy Gunther Pugh indicated that they may host some smaller events and performances there for donors. She said she may also rent the space out to other nonprofits for events.

Archimania

Proposed Ballet Memphis Overton Square facility nightime view

Several Overton Square neighbors in attendance raised concerns about the sudden change in plans from a new boutique hotel, which was announced for the site a few months ago, to the Ballet Memphis facility. Some expressed disappointment that the 1.73-acre site was no longer going to be a hotel since Midtown is lacking in hotels.

Brenda Solomito, the land planner on the project, said the hotel deal just didn’t work out but didn’t really elaborate. The property owners purchased the hotel land in 2013, and she said they were toying with different versions of a hotel for the site and had even gained some of the necessary approvals to go forward. 

“Everything [with the Ballet Memphis deal] has happened in the last three weeks. It’s been a very compact process,” Solomito said.

Gunther Pugh couldn’t give an official timeline for the project, but she said she’d love for construction to break ground in the spring and be in the building by the summer of 2017.

“No one needs to worry that this isn’t going to happen. We’re not going to do that to Midtowners,” Gunther Pugh said.

The project goes to the Shelby County Land Use Control Board on July 9th at 10 a.m. If there’s no opposition, it should get approval on the consent agenda. But the final site plan will also have to be approved.

Archimania

Proposed Ballet Memphis Overton Square floor plan

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News The Fly-By

Pinch District Keeps Historic Designation

The Pinch District won’t lose its listing on the National Register of Historic Places any time soon.

In January, the Pinch was in the crosshairs of the Tennessee Historical Commission (THC) to be removed from the register. The commission said the area had lost many of its buildings, and “has lost the significance for which it was listed and no longer retains integrity of location, setting, design, materials, workmanship, and feeling.”

But the THC deferred a decision on the removal in January. In a letter to state Senator Lee Harris, E. Patrick McIntyre, executive director of THC and the State Historic Preservation Office, said “I have deferred consideration for the de-listing of the Pinch District indefinitely.”

View of the Pyramid and Pinch District

Harris said Pinch constituents asked him to get involved in the decision just as he was taking office in January. Since then, he said he’s been in talks with the THC and planned public meetings on the topic.

“For now, that fire is out,” Harris said in a Friday meeting with Pinch stakeholders.

But he warned that things could change if the THC gets new board members or a new executive director.

Listing on the National Register goes beyond words on a plaque. June West, executive director of Memphis Heritage, said Friday the degeneration allows building owners to leverage historic tax credits to renovate their properties.

“If it had been de-listed, each individual property owner would have had to nominate their building as an independent, self-standing building to be on the National Register,” she said. “In some cases, some of the buildings probably would not be allowed to do that on their own because they may not have the significance that the National Register might require.”

The news comes as Pinch neighbors and business owners prepare for the MEMFix event (the city’s ongoing series of neighborhood revitalization festivals) happening there on Saturday, April 11th. Friday’s MEMFix meeting at the Crowne Plaza Hotel brought together stakeholders and volunteers to get the Pinch ready for hundreds of visitors expected at the event.

John Paul Shaffer, Livable Memphis program director, looked down at the Pinch from an 11th story window in the hotel. He pointed to lots of vacant properties there but noted the many opportunities for development. From the window, it was hard not to notice the huge, silver Bass Pro Shops sign on the Pyramid and just how close it is to the Pinch.

“The thinking on the part of the Pinch stakeholders was to get out in front of Bass Pro,” Shaffer said. “to bring attention to the Pinch to say, ‘We’re here. We’ve been here. We’ve been waiting for this for a long time. Now’s our opportunity to show everyone where we are on the map’.”

Many of the vacant lots in the Pinch got that way by lack of restrictions on surface parking lots when the Pyramid was built. So many buildings came down as property owners looked to cash in on Pyramid parkers.

In fact, the original nomination to the National Register was comprised of 41 buildings or sites in the Pinch. The figure was bumped up to 43 in 1990 in an administrative correction. But in the time of the Pyramid’s construction and its closure, only 19 of the buildings remain in the Pinch.

“The expanse of vacant lots is distressing for what once was the cradle of the City of Memphis,” the THC petition says.

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Letters To The Editor Opinion

What They Said …

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

Greg Cravens

About Bianca Phillips story, “Richards House Redux” …

Thank you so much for bringing awareness to Memphis Heritage’s first “receivership” project.

We hope, through this program, that the community and city leaders will understand MHI’s commitment to being part of the solution of blight in our city, especially in our older neighborhoods.

Many of the blighted properties in Memphis still have good bones, are built with higher quality materials than are available today and built to last more than 100 years. Many of these inner city properties are worth reinvesting in and will assist in revitalizing neighborhoods.

We are not saying that all buildings should be saved — far from it. But if we can effectively reuse these properties, get them back on the tax rolls and in some cases teach the building trades, through the redevelopment, then I think we can all win.

June Waddell West

Director, Memphis Heritage

About Mike Working’s Viewpoint,

“Deforming Justice” …

Mike Working’s column on the recent appointments by Governor Haslam to the Task Force on Sentencing and Recidivism is right on point. This assortment of white Republicans is clearly not tasked to develop reasonable guidelines for incarceration, sentencing, and rehabilitation of those “caught” in the criminal justice system. The group identified, so far, fails to include representatives from those who are involved with criminal defendants on a daily basis, namely, public and private criminal defense lawyers and advocacy groups, such as the NAACP, which have a longtime involvement with offenders.

Madeleine C. Taylor, Executive Director

Memphis Branch NAACP

About Bruce VanWyngarden’s Letter From the Editor about Tiger football, Lucy, and Charlie Brown …

I love Tiger football. I just hate that my season ticket is between Pigpen and Peppermint Patty.

Jeff

About Louis Goggans’ story, “Bloody Beale Street Incident Leads to Sunday Morning Fee” …

The street will remain open. There will be a fee for its use, just as there are fees to park on the street, ride the bus, or play golf on a city-owned course. Time to try something new. If it does not work, I’m sure there will be a plan C, D, E, and so on. As far as closing off the street for a select few, well, that precedent was set the moment the police began to card individuals at Beale’s access points.

Barf

Really, just go at 11:59 p.m. to avoid the cover charge. This way you’ll have plenty of money left to get drunk and act like a fool. Ain’t we lucky we got ’em, good times?

Midtown Mark

About Bianca Phillips’ story, “Velsicol Seeks Permit for Site Clean-up” …

Not only do the areas near the plant need to be included in the investigation, but also the bed of the Mississippi River, including the Wolf River harbor. The Tennessee Department of Environment has posted these areas as having fish that are unsafe for human consumption. Veliscol’s chlordane — now out of production — attaches to the sediment. The organisms that several fish species eat interact with the sediment, causing the fish to become contaminated. In an area with so much subsistence fishing, this contamination lingers. Additionally, we are starting to make more recreational use of the Mississippi River. There’s a real need to find a way to stop this pollution.

Sue Williams

About Toby Sells’ webpost, “Shelby County Prosecutor Censured by Tennessee Supreme Court” …

Tom Henderson has been around much longer than Amy Weirich, and he has engaged in this unethical behavior for years. The tragedy is that Weirich knows of his questionable behavior and instead of firing him as an example for all other asssistant attorneys general, she has promoted him to teach the way to try cases. By allowing him to remain on the attorney general’s staff, she gives tacit approval to this unethical behavior. We had a chance to replace her in the last election but instead of focusing on her and her staff’s unethical behavior, we reduced the election to name calling: Joe Brown is a “clown.”

Mark D. Francis

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News The Fly-By

Blighted Historic Home to Get Facelift

CREDIT: Courtesy of Memphis Heritage

In 1883, cotton merchant Newton Copeland Richards built a stately Queen Anne-style home with a rounded porch and circular balcony latticework at 975 Peabody. Richards went on to become the president of the Memphis Cotton Exchange in 1902.

But today the crumbling Richards House, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is hardly fit for a president. Or anyone for that matter.

“It’s been in dire shape cosmetically for years. It looks like you could blow on it, and it would come down,” said June West, executive director of Memphis Heritage.

But thanks to a 2007 state law aimed at curbing blight in urban areas, Memphis Heritage has entered into a receivership of the home. It has partnered with locally based Rising Phoenix Development Group to restore the property back to its original glory.

The property owner at 975 Peabody was sued under the Neighborhood Preservation Act, which allows an interested party to sue a property owner if their property is vacant and uninhabitable. In a first for the preservation organization, Memphis Heritage was named as the receiver of the property.

Courtesy of Memphis Heritage

(Left) Historic Richards House in its better days; (Right) June West and Joey Hagan of Memphis Heritage with Varanese Pryor and an intern from Rising Phoenix on the porch of the present-day blighted Richards House.

Bianca Phillips

Here’s how it works: If, after being sued under the Neighborhood Preservation Act, the owner is unable to pay for repairs or demolition, the Shelby County Environmental Court may appoint a receiver to develop and carry out a plan to rehab the property using the receiver’s own funds.

Once that property has been restored, the owner has the option of taking it back by paying the receiver the cost of repairs and labor, plus an additional 10 percent. If the owner cannot or does not wish to pay, the property would go up for sale in a public auction. If it doesn’t sell to a third party at auction, the receiver may take the title to the property as the sole bidder.

Since Memphis Heritage isn’t in the business of restoring homes, it has teamed up with Rising Phoenix Development Group, a blight remediation nonprofit that both works to physically repair properties and offers vocational training and financial planning to people living in blighted neighborhoods. West said they’ll assist Rising Phoenix with marketing the project and fundraising.

Varanese Pryor, CEO/owner of Rising Phoenix has big plans for restoring the Richards House.

“I’ve moved into the community, and I’m getting to know the people who will watch this change, develop, and grow,” Pryor said.

If the property owner, who hasn’t lived in the home for nearly a decade, doesn’t pay back the funds used to fix up the home, and it doesn’t sell at auction, Pryor plans to use the home as the headquarters for Rising Phoenix.

Although the outside of the house looks worse for the wear, West said the home’s “bones are still good.” The original gingerbread latticework over the stairs, the mantles, and the gas lighting system have been maintained.

“There is some water damage in the walls and a lot of plaster damage,” West said. “But the original structure of the house is in good shape.”

Joey Hagen, president of the Memphis Heritage board of directors, believes this receivership process might help the organization save other blighted historic properties.

“If this works, this opens a whole new avenue of possibilities for Memphis Heritage to be more proactive,” Hagen said. “We’ll be able to target properties before they become super-endangered.”

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News News Blog

Appeal to Save Nineteenth Century Club Withdrawn

Nineteenth Century Club

  • Nineteenth Century Club

Standing on the sidewalk outside the crumbling and boarded-up Nineteenth Century Club, attorneys Steve Mulroy and Webb Brewer announced that the plaintiff in an appeal to save the stately historic home at 1433 Union has decided to withdraw. That means the building’s owners, the Lin family, may go forward with any plans they have for the property.

“We continue to believe we had a strong case legally, but without a buyer to purchase and preserve the property, any legal victory would be a hollow victory,” Mulroy said.

The plaintiff in the case is a former member of the Nineteenth Century Club who believes the club’s vote to auction the property violated its bylaws because the entire membership wasn’t notified about the planned sale. The property was sold at auction after a vote was held by some members of the Nineteenth Century Club. The club’s president Lynn Heathcott donated the money from the sale to the Children’s Museum of Memphis. Heathcott has contended that the club could not afford the repairs on the property, which was in violation of Memphis Fire Department code, leaving no other option than to sell it at auction.

Chancery Court Judge Walter Evans declared the sale of the property had been properly conducted, but the plaintiff appealed. Memphis Heritage had been helping promote public awareness around the plight of the building, which they believe the Lins intend to demolish to make way for a strip mall with a Chinese restaurant. The Lins currently own New Hunan Restaurant on Park, Kublai Khan Crazy Mongolian Stir Fry on Airways, and Red Fish Sushi Asian Bistro in Lakeland. The Nineteenth Century Club is one of the few historic properties left on shopping center-heavy Union Avenue.

When the plaintiff appealed, there were two potential buyers who had offered to purchase the property from the Lins. One was from Nashville, and the other was from California. But both deals have since fallen through. Memphis Heritage members had raised $100,000 to pay a bond for the appeal.

“We didn’t want to put our donor money at risk when there wasn’t a clear-cut idea for a buyer,” said Memphis Heritage president Joey Hagen.

Mulroy said the $100,000 would be distributed back to the Memphis Heritage donors.