Broad Ave. redevelopment

[Bears]

A few weeks ago, the MPO, and citizens and business owners in the Broad Ave. area met to discuss the future of their neighborhood.

http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/local_...4446782,00.html

It seems as if the inner loop area will become a very walkable and desirable location in the up coming years. IMO Cooper Young, Broad Ave, and the Fairgrounds will be the catalysts for growth and redevelopment in that area and Orange Mound will no longer be considered "dangerous."

[sleepy]

A few weeks ago, the MPO, and citizens and business owners in the Broad Ave. area met to discuss the future of their neighborhood.

http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/local_...4446782,00.html

It seems as if the inner loop area will become a very walkable and desirable location in the up coming years. IMO Cooper Young, Broad Ave, and the Fairgrounds will be the catalysts for growth and redevelopment in that area and Orange Mound will no longer be considered "dangerous."

I always loved those blocks of Broad. It looks like some hood in the middle of Chicago.

I think much of the inner loop--particularly old East Memphis and Midtown--will continue to be highly desirable areas. I'm not sure, though, what it would take to turn Orange Mound around. Plus, the inner loop also encompasses some really devastated areas like South Memphis and North Memphis.

When the 2000 census came out, the CA had an article about how for the first time, the number of Memphians living outside the I-240 loop exceeded thos living inside it--something like 320,000 inside and 330,000 outside. It'll be interesting to see what 2010 holds.

But at about 80 sq. miles, that puts the inner loop pop. density at a respectable 4000 per sq. mile--not too bad for a southern city.

[Bears]

A sneak peek into whats planned for this area:

http://www.memphisflyer.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A12031

Looks like the entire city is becoming urbanized. Luckly suburban sprawl hit us late so the inner loop is pretty dense, but we have many parking lots and empty fields that could be infilled and redeveloped easily.

[hgupta]

I think 2010 will show reverse of more people living outside the loop than inside. Just the growth in downtown would probably reflect it. It seems that areas that were considered unsafe ) a few years ago (like north of jackson in midtown have cleaned up and are attracting lots of home buyers. I was driving around all parts of Memphis yesterday, and even streets like Chelsea , Lamar, and Jackson have cleaned up significantly. The binghampton region is sandwiched between really nice neighborhoods to the east (high point terrace) and the west (E parkway), so it has to come up sooner or later.

Summer seems to be heading in the right direction too: the opening of that Lowes will attract more businesses back to summer.

If there is a population decline outside the loop, I will bet that it is because young couples without kids are buying homes at a furious pace within the city, and families with children are moving outside the loop.

[mandrws1]

I was exiting the Sam Cooper freeway yesterday and noticed a huge building being built in the area. It looks like a school. Does anyone have any info on it?

[qwertycc]

It's the new Binghamton Elementary. That's all I've got.

[sleepy]

Herenton has always been criticized for building up downtown while neglecting other areas of the city, particularly using TIF which essentially takes property off the tax rolls meaning that the tax burden just shifts to people outside of downtown.

So, I think it's good that the city seems to be reaching out to some of the older areas outside downtown such as Binghamton. Midtown itself seems to be doing fine as is. The Uptown area I think was also a good move.

Read an article from downtownmemphis.com recently about how some developer is going to be rehabing the old Universal Life Insurance building at Linden and Danny Thomas into offices. Here's hoping that sort of thing extends deeper into South Memphis and the south Forum area.