Inside Memphis Business, June/July 2018 by Contemporary Media

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MEMPHIS EVOLUTION

Developments in the city look to a future where “live-work-play” thrives.

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MEMPHIS EVOLUTION

JUNE / JULY 2018 VOLUME XII | NUMBER 5

COLUMNS 6

Developments in the city look to a future where “live-work-play” thrives.

FROM THE EDITOR

Let’s see what develops ••• BY JON W. SPARKS

CREATIVE COMMUNICATION

Make the most of your conference experience ••• BY ANDREA WILEY

10 F I N A N C E & I N V E S T M E N T

How to grow Memphis from top down and bottom up ••• BY DAVID S. WADDELL

12 W E S A W Y O U

Carnival Memphis Business & Industry Salute and Inside Memphis Business’ Power Players reception ••• BY MICHAEL DONAHUE

DEPARTMENTS

16 T H E H O T S H E E T 18 T A K I N G C H A R G E

Dr. Marla Royne Stafford New interim dean at U of M’s Fogelman College ••• B Y J O N W. S PA R K S

22 L E A D E R S H I P

H. Montgomery Martin “Leadership is fearing the right things.”

••• B Y F R A N K M U R TAU G H

25 C O M M U N I T Y P A R T N E R S H I P

Alpha Omega Veterans Service and Hilton Helping homeless and disabled veterans ••• B Y EMILY A DA M S K EPL IN GER

58 M A D E I N M E M P H I S

Drayton Mayers of TeamLogic IT “I hire the best pain relievers I can find.”

••• BY JON W. SPARKS

60 T H E O F F I C E

Jay Myers at Interactive Solutions Inc. Do you think he might be a Yankee fan? ••• BY SAMUEL X. CICCI

63 P O W E R P L A Y E R S

Who’s who in Construction 64 F R O M T H E A R C H I V E S

The Federal Bake Shop They had a blast there. Really. ••• BY VANCE LAUDERDALE

ON THE COVER: The aim of the Memphis River Parks Partnership is to open up a six-mile stretch of riverside, from Greenbelt Park to MLK/ Riverside Park, with new amenities and attractions and easier access to make the most of the city’s singular river experience. Different types of trails would allow for different speeds of movement through the area, while parks offer respite and shade along the bluff. RENDERING COURTESY STUDIO GANG

29 On Track The Central Station renovation will serve as an anchor for South Main. 30 Campbell Clinic The $40 million, 120,000-square-foot facility is a boost to Germantown. 31 Smart Growth in Action Germantown’s Thornwood points the way for suburban living. 42 On The Edge

Gary Prosterman is redeﬁning the land between downtown and the Medical District.

43 One Beale Redux? The long delayed mixed-use river project is still in the works. 44 Patients with Patience UTHSC’s new patient simulation center lets aspiring healers get real. 45 Upgrading MEM

Modernization plan looks to 2021 for a revamped Concourse B.

46 Down By The Riverside Carol Coletta leads the Memphis River Parks Partnership into a new era.

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F R O M

T H E

E D I T O R

• • •

B Y

J O N

S PA R K S

• • •

B Y

J O N

S PA R K S

What’s Developing

From the riverfront to Germantown, there’s a whole lotta building going on.

INSIDEMEMPHISBUSINESS.COM EDITOR

Jon W. Sparks

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Brian Groppe

MANAGING EDITOR

Frank Murtaugh

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Samuel X. Cicci

COPY EDITOR

Michael Finger

EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTORS

PHOTOGRAPHY ADVERTISING ART DIRECTOR PRODUCTION OPERATIONS DIRECTOR GRAPHIC DESIGNERS

Emily Adams Keplinger, Aisling Maki, David S. Waddell, Andrea Wiley, Cindy Wolff Karen Pulfer Focht, Larry Kuzniewski Christopher Myers Margie Neal Jeremiah Matthews, Bryan Rollins

PUBLISHED BY CONTEMPOR ARY MEDIA , INC . PUBLISHER EDITORIAL DIRECTOR CONTROLLER DIRECTOR OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC INITIATIVES DIGITAL DIRECTOR SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER SPECIAL EVENTS DIRECTOR EMAIL MARKETING MANAGER

Kenneth Neill Bruce VanWyngarden Ashley Haeger Jeffrey A. Goldberg Anna Traverse Kevin Lipe Matthew Preston Molly Wilmott Britt Ervin

IT DIRECTOR

Joseph Carey

ACCOUNTING ASSISTANT

Celeste Dixon

RECEPTIONIST

Kalena McKinney

In 2015, a Wall Street Journal survey found that the top markets offering “the right live/work/play environment” for millennials were Nashville, Brooklyn, Portland, and Memphis. That “live/work/play” mantra has gained traction as more developments are seeking a workable mix of residential, commercial, and recreational opportunities, not just in downtown, but in other neighborhoods from the Edge district to Germantown. We take a look at some of them in this issue’s roundup of development projects. Some are brand new (Germantown’s Thornwood) but many are reworking what’s already there out of necessity (Memphis International Airport), or doing adaptive reuse (Central Station). One of the most significant changes on the horizon is the push for an improved riverfront being undertaken by the Memphis River Parks Partnership, formerly the Riverfront Development Corporation. I interviewed its new president, Carol Coletta, and she gives us a glimpse of the ambitious concept for unifying that six-mile stretch from the Greenbelt to MLK Park. Elsewhere in our issue, we talk with H. Montgomery Martin, whose construction projects have become landmarks around the region. We also have a Q&A with Dr. Marla Royne Stafford, new interim dean at the Fogelman College of Business & Economics at the University of Memphis. Meanwhile, if you’ve ever gotten grief from your IT system, read our interview with Drayton Mayers,

president and owner of the Memphis franchise of TeamLogic IT on what it’s like to keep ahead of the evil geniuses waging war on our computer systems. In this issue, we bring you something new, although if you follow Michael Donahue’s “We Saw You” features in the Memphis Flyer and Memphis magazine, you’ll be familiar with it. He went to a couple of business-related events recently with camera in hand to inaugurate Inside Memphis Business’ version of “We Saw You.” We also managed to get inside the office of Jay Myers, founder and CEO of Interactive Solutions, Inc. and a recent inductee into the Society of Entrepreneurs. You probably haven’t seen an executive office quite like this one. Let’s just say, “Go, Yankees!” If you’ve never been to a conference — or even if you’ve been to too many — look at what Andrea Wiley has to say about making the most of your experience. And David S. Waddell takes a cold, hard look at some numbers that shows Memphis coming up short, and suggests how the city can get back on economic track.

Innovators: We Want You Inside Memphis Business is published six times a year by Contemporary Media, Inc., P.O. Box 1738, Memphis, TN 38101 © 2018, telephone: 901-521-9000. For subscription information, call 901-575-9470. All rights reserved. Periodicals postage paid at Memphis, TN. Postmaster: send address changes to Inside Memphis Business, P.O. Box 1738, Memphis, TN 38101. Opinions and perspectives expressed in the magazine are those of the authors, and do not necessarily represent the views of the ownership or management.

You’re an Inside Memphis Business reader, so you’re savvy about Memphis’ business, philanthropic, and cultural communities. Because of your informed perspective and knowledge of the city’s cutting edge, we’re asking for your help in seeking nominees for our Fifth Annual Innovation Awards. Keep in mind that, as much as we all value business acumen and financial success, this celebration is not necessarily about entrepreneurship and profitability. The Innovation Awards salute vision and endurance and, most of all, they celebrate real breakthroughs. If you have an Innovation Awards candidate in mind, please take a moment to include the information below and send it to me at sparks@insidememphisbusiness.com:

◗ Name of individual or company ◗ Innovation ◗ Explanation of why this person/organization should be considered Deadline for nominations is July 15th. Stay tuned for the announcement of winners in our October/November 2018 issue, and for information on attending the awards breakfast. — Jon W. Sparks

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CREATI V E COMMUNICATION

• • •

B Y

A N D R E A

W I L E Y

Getting the most benefit from your conference experience Recently I was catching up with a colleague who was lamenting about having to attend another conference for work. I knew exactly how she felt, faced with the feeling that there is no extra time to go out of town for a few days. She had already been to a handful of conferences in the past year, and the topics and speakers were all blending together. She simply was not benefitting from the time spent away from work.

TV Shows • Columns • Radio Show • Books • Podcast

When it comes to attending conferences Take notes on key takeaways from each for professional development, be intentional presentation but make them actionable so about prioritizing what is most important to you know what to do with them when you you and identifying what you can benefit from are back in the office. Ideas for a client, additional reading on an interesting topic, or folmost. It is so easy to fall into the trap of cylowing up with a speaker or fellow attendee cling through from one obligation to the next are all examples of next steps without any purpose at all. you might follow through on Conferences are expensive your return. and time consuming. From Before the event, develop upon the entry fee, travel and hoFocus on learning and an action plan on how to tel costs, meal stipends, and making connections, but be entertainment, your employer on social media too. You can tackle the conference to is making an investment by live tweet, post videos, create get the most out of it. sending you as the company’s an Instagram story or a phorepresentative, so gaining knowledge and to gallery on Facebook, all while using the new connections that can help grow the busiconference hashtag to engage with other atness should be the return. tendees, speakers, organizers, as well as those Before the event, develop an action plan on who were not able to attend. Connect with how to tackle the conference to get the most people you meet on LinkedIn while you are at out of it. Go online to identify the speakers the event so you can further the relationship after the conference. you want to see ahead of time. Read topics Once you are back in the office, reach out and bios and watch videos to find out who quickly to those you met at the conference. If gives dynamic presentations. too much time passes, you will forget them, Locate the attendee list, so you can contact clients, customers, vendors, and colleagues they will forget you, and those connections who will also be in attendance. Schedule to will be lost. Be timely and make a lasting meet for a break-out session, an after-hours impression. Send an email with an article that drink, or to see a local tourist attraction is relevant to a conversation you had, mail a during downtime. Using this trip as an opthank-you note or set up a sales call, whatever portunity to cultivate existing relationships is appropriate for that person depending on whether it is a potential customer, a speaker should be a top priority. or an event organizer. You are also going to be meeting a lot of Invite your co-workers to a lunch and give new people so be prepared with your elevator a presentation to hit the high points from the speech, a 30-second (or less) synopsis on who you are and what you do. Upon introduction best speakers and share your most valuable you should be able to succinctly state your takeaways. Include photos of speakers, with name, your title, and the company you work fellow attendees, of the destination to illusfor, how you provide solutions for your custrate how you and the company benefited tomers, and why you enjoy what you do. through your attendance. Make a recommenOnce you have made it to your destinadation on whether you should go back to that tion, checked into your hotel, and picked up conference again next year. If not, allocate the your lanyard and conference materials from expense to another conference where more registration, it is time to hear those speakers value will be found. you preselected. If there are more than one Andrea Wiley is director of account management speaking at the same time, go to half and half, at DCA Creative Communications Consulting, or pivot if the first you go to does not captivate and is an adjunct professor teaching advertisyour attention in the first few minutes. Be ing at the University of Memphis. She was the flexible. As you are listening to each presen2015-2016 president of the American Advertising tation, jot down questions to ask during the Federation, Memphis Chapter, and can be reached Q&A, but be sure to keep them general so at awiley@dcamemphis.com. they are relevant to other attendees as well.

I N S I D E M E M P H I S B U S I N E S S . C O M | J U N E / J U LY 2 0 1 8

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Growing Memphis from top down and bottom up Development creates civic energy. Cranes swinging overhead and buildings rising underneath signify a city on the move. No place demonstrates this more obviously than Nashville. Your GPS has become worthless there as streets and buildings seem to swap space constantly. A quick visit to Nashville’s “crane watch” web page reveals 248 projects under way, with 44 of them running more than $100 million. Can this happen in Memphis?

The 2018

Now Accepting Nominations

usiness is pushed forward by change and evolution, and it is those in the forefront of that evolution — the tinkerers, the questioners, the visionaries — who keep the machine of commerce oiled. But who are these people? We want to know. Send us your best and brightest nominations for our sixth annual Innovation Awards issue coming in October. Please include any pertinent biographical or business information, and why the person, business, or organization should be recognized as a leader among innovators. Email your nomination to sparks@insidememphisbusiness.com. Deadline for nominations is July 15, 2018.

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Over the last 10 years, the population in the EDGE, TNECD, MLGW, TVA, WIN, etc.) Memphis Metropolitan Statistical Area (which and streamline our approval process to ensure includes western Tennessee, eastern ArkanMemphis has the most responsive, generous, sas, and northern Mississippi) has grown from efficient, and proactive development apparatus 1.29 million people to 1.34 million people at half in the country. If our top-down system rocked, the annualized growth rate for the country our economy would roll. overall and one-third the pace for Tennessee. According to a study from the St. Louis FedWhile it may be unfair to compare our growth eral Reserve, companies in Memphis between rate with Nashville’s, Little Rock 0 and 5 years old contributed 114 has more than doubled our poppercent of the net new jobs creulation growth rate over the last ated between 2011 and 2014. This Since 2001, the decade. If you are building without compares with an 80 percent rate Memphis economy for the United States as a whole. In growing your population, you are other words, Memphis companies merely shuffling the deck. has grown only with more than five employees acThe per capita GDP (econospeak 3.2 percent. for household income) in the Memtually shed workers over the time phis MSA has fallen from $50,024 to $46,260 in period. Entrepreneurs start businesses to seize the last decade. This measure holds population opportunities or out of necessity. With our topconstant and reveals that our economic standdown system failing, our bottom-up system has ing per citizen has declined over the last 10 been working overtime out of necessity. Memyears. Oklahoma City, meanwhile, has grown phis may have a notable startup history but our per capita GDP 8 percent over the last decade. current ecosystem lacks the funding facilities If you are building without growing average to seize more opportunities. In response, we economic well-being, your investment faces built the Memphis Epicenter to channel fundstrong headwinds. ing and support to aspirational startups and To complete our dismal economic assessscale-ups. Boosting our citywide efforts here ment, since 2001 the Jackson, Tennessee, isn’t an economic development option, it’s an economy has grown an inflation-adjusted 11 absolute requirement. If our bottom-up system percent, Chattanooga 17 percent, Knoxville rocked, our economy would roll. Bottom line: While Memphis has some no28 percent, and Nashville 60 percent. Over the same period, the Memphis economy has table development projects in process, without grown 3.2 percent. To realize our development population or per capita GDP growth, these dreams, our economy needs a plan. developments risk depreciation and leave Robust economies have healthy top-down vacancies elsewhere. To support their sucand bottom-up attributes. Top-down attricess, we must honestly assess the business of business-building in our city. While we have butes include the intentional marketing and promotion of the city, active corporate recruitgained media attention for being the most ing efforts of new employers, and coordinated generous city in the country, touting the most retention efforts for existing employers. As non-profits per capita, to sustain our genera top-down example, the state of Tennessee osity we need more for-profits per capita. It’s time to streamline and simplify our top-down has invested more than $150 million into the mechanism while investing significantly into 4,000-acre Memphis Regional Megasite to lure our entrepreneurs. Ramping up attention and a big bang manufacturer. On the local level, the resources in these two areas will surely ramp Greater Memphis Chamber coordinates corpoup resources for us all. rate recruitment and retention incentives with the Economic Development Growth Engine David S. Waddell is CEO of Waddell and Associ(EDGE). Unfortunately, this system has beates. He has appeared in The Wall Street come antiquated, bureaucratic, and politicized, Journal, Forbes, Business Week, and creating complexity and disincentives for corother local, national, and global resources. Visit porate recruits. We should simplify our topwaddellandassociates.com for more. down economic development hydra (Chamber,

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Power Players Reception

At Folk’s Folly on April 5, 2018 • • •

M I C H A E L

D O N A H U E

The Inside Memphis Business 2018 Power Players were honored with a reception April 5 at Folk’s Folly restaurant. The April issue of IMB featured more than 500 profiles of local leaders in more than 30 categories, including banking, business, real estate and insurance. “These are the most influential people in Memphis,” said IMB editor Jon W. Sparks. “And we are pleased to recognize them.”

1 Muck Sticky, Phil Trenary, Linda Osburn (Mama Sticky) 2 Brett and Veronica Randolph Batterson 3 June West and Scott Bomar 4 Estella Mayhue-Greer, Angelo and Myra Hamilton 5 Katie Midgley, Janet Boscarino, Roshun Austin, Tom Midgley 6 Margot Payne 7 Jon Hornyak, Pat Kerr Tigrett, Steve Ehrhart 8 Paolo Teixeira, David Williams, Darrell Uselton, Michael Bollinger

the 2018 cover: Beale Street nightlife with musician Muck Sticky and the Beale Street Flippers. PHOTOGR APH BY PHILLIP PARKER / COURTESY MEMPHIS CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU

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Business & Industry Salute

At Hilton Memphis on February 28, 2018 • • •

M I C H A E L

D O N A H U E

The Mid-South fashion apparel industry was honored at the 32nd Business and Industry Salute Luncheon, held Feb. 28 at the Hilton Memphis. Carnival Memphis presents the annual luncheon, which recognizes community leaders, businesses and organizations. Mimi Taylor, wife of this year’s Carnival Memphis king, Jim Taylor, is owner of the Pink Door clothing shop, one of the honored businesses. Oak Hall clothing store was this year’s recipient of the Cook Halle Award for outstanding contribution to the MidSouth community. Bob Levy, one of the owners, accepted the award. Babbie Lovett received the King’s Award. In addition to producing and emceeing numerous fashion shows locally and nationally, Lovett also owned two specialty stores. Internationally known fashion designer Pat Kerr Tigrett received the Chairman’s Award. She is a patron of Memphis music, a philanthropist and founder of local charity events. The late Bernard Lansky, founder of Lansky Bros. clothing store, was honored posthumously with the 2018 President’s Award. His son, Bernard Lansky, and grandchild, Julie Lansky, accepted the award. Proceeds from the luncheon will benefit the 2018 Carnival Children’s Charities: Agape Child Camp, Family Services, Emmanuel Center and Memphis Athletic Ministries. 1 Bob and Elizabeth Levy 2 Jay and JJ Keras 3 Babbie Lovett and Chris Johnson 4 Father Colenzo Hubbard and Tay and Claude Chafin. 5 Todd and Michelle Brown and Donna Melton and Ed Galfsky 6 Carnival Memphis president Ginger and Dabney Collier and their daughters Stuart and Dabney Collier 7 Garrett Bizzell and Jay Oliphant 8 Hal Lansky and his daughter Julie Lansky 9 Jeff Cole, Pat Kerr Tigrett, Floy Cole

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Advancement Steve Weaver joined Paragon Bank as senior loan officer. Explore Bike Share named Rajah Brown as operations director. The Exchange Club Family Center hired Nicky Hitching as development director. United Housing, Inc., hired Amy Schaftlein as executive director. HopeWorks hired Keva IrvinEdwards as a success coach. Alex Reed joined the Crone Law Firm, PLC as executive and marketing assistant.

Turner Construction Company added Mary L. Bright, Jeremy Harville, and Elly Olmstead as managers of its Memphis office. Diversified Trust promoted Amy Hudson to vice president, and Cheri Wells to senior associate. Hollywood Feed promoted Christa Gilliland to regional manager. Crown Tenant Advisors hired David Stose as managing director of Tennessee. Mark Louderback joined Guidingpoint Financial Group as a financial advisor. Obsidian PR promoted Christina Babu to account manager. Shelby Farms Parks Conservancy hired Monique Savage as director of hospitality and sales. Agape Child & Family Services added several new members to its team: Barbara Grey (chief financial officer), Daniel Henley (director of faith formation and engagement), Dr. Harold Shank (faith leadership consultant), Jermaine Shorter

(director of performance and quality improvement), Latoria Taylor (director of development), and Benicia Tuthill (operations director, powerline community network). Pinnacle Financial Partners hired Joelle Rogin (financial advisor) and Jeffrey Whitley (credit advisor). Vaco Memphis added Monica Yeckley to its healthcare division. William McDonald Plosser joined Butler Snow’s pharmaceutical, medical device and health care litigation practice group. Lehman-Roberts Co. promoted Jarod Riles to general superintendent of northern operation. Poag Shopping Centers promoted Brian Smith to chief strategy officer and vice president of leasing.

inferno PR hired Alex Kenner and Kelly Supernaw as account executives, Sylvia Banks as project coordinator, and Roy Rothenberger as sales representative. The agency also promoted Tarryn Sanchez to senior account executive.

Appointment Brooks Fowler, a financial consultant at Pinnacle Asset Management, was appointed to the Institute of Investment Management Consulting at Raymond James. Pearl Shaw was appointed president of fund development services firm Saad & Shaw. UTHSC named Tejesh Patel as chair of the College of Medicine’s KaplanAmonette Department of Dermatology. MAPCO appointed Charles “Hal” Adams as CEO.

The Memphis Area Association of Realtors Board of Directors appointed Lauren Harkins Wiuff, of Marx-Bensdorf, as president. Regional One Health named Imad Abdullah as its chief legal officer.

Junior Achievement of Memphis and the Mid-South’s Young Professionals Board named Charlie House, Brittney Murray, Kayley Oaks, Libby Ellman, Mia McIvor, Jennifer Jakob, and Megan Richards as its officers.

BBA Memphis appointed Mark Yates as chief visionary officer. Fisher Phillips appointed David Jones as managing partner of the Memphis firm. Saint Francis Hospital-Memphis appointed Manoucheka Thermitus as chief operating officer.

Awards Pinnacle Financial Partners placed 26th on Forbes’ list of the top 100 banks in America. It was also named the number three best workplace for financial services and insurance by Fortune and Great Place to Work. Running Pony, a Memphis-based video production company, won two regional Emmy awards for a FedEx ad. RISMedia’s 30th Annual Power Broker report named Marx-Bensdorf Realtors a Top 1000 Power Broker. In addition, the firm also received the Pinnacle Award, Outgoing Sales Production Award, and Website Quality Certification during the LeadingRE Conference Week. contin u ed on page 2 0

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Dr. Marla Royne Stafford

Took an order for 100,000 extra units. Jumped up and down in celebration. Stopped celebrating. Started freaking out. Called Phil at First Tennessee.

Interim Dean at the Fogelman College of Business & Economics On May 7, Marla Royne Stafford took over as interim dean at the Fogelman College of Business & Economics (FCBE) at the University of Memphis. Dr. Rajiv Grover, who held the position since 2007, is staying on as a faculty member. Stafford received her PhD from the University of Georgia, MBA from Rollins College, and BA from the University of Arizona. She came to U of M in 2001 from the University of North Texas where she was associate professor of marketing. INSIDE MEMPHIS BUSINESS: What

is your primary

mission as interim dean? MARLA ROYNE STAFFORD: The university has been working on a new strategic plan and I have been on the implementation team. So that is an important work in progress that will continue. I will also be focusing on enhancing and building our already strong relationships with the business community to expand opportunities for our students and faculty. Also, with our Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) reaccreditation site visit coming up in 2021, we will be starting to prepare for that. IMB:

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MRS: As is the case nationwide, there is a decreasing number of traditional college-age students, so enrollment will be a priority in the next several years. With the growth in online programs, increased competition is also at our door. Traditional models of education are changing, and we need to be responsive to such changes. However, we have many outstanding existing online programs in the FCBE, and we continue to improve our current offerings and investigate new opportunities that can benefit students, the Memphis community, and beyond. We have a dynamic and talented faculty, along with students who are performing well, so we are poised to meet the changing needs of the marketplace. IMB: Where would you like to see the college in the next few years?

What are the challenges facing the college?

MRS: The FCBE is already a major contributor to the Greater Memphis area. In the next five to 10 years, I would like to see the college recognized as a major contributor across the state and the region in terms of research and producing qualified graduates. We are already doing cutting-edge research across the college and our undergraduate and master’s students are receiving job offers from a range of organizations from smaller businesses to Fortune 500 companies, including top companies headquartered here in Memphis. Our PhD students have accepted positions at a range of schools including the University of Alabama, Mississippi State, Fordham, and California State. By sharing our faculty and student success, and our innovative work, I would like to see the college’s national profile elevated significantly. IMB: How do you make the most of the resources you have from the state, from donors, and from the community?

ege MRS: The resources we secure are generally matched to our strategic plan. Often, donors provide resources that are targeted for a specific program and we use them as efficiently as possible. For example, the Avron Fogelman Professional Development Center has been an effectively run program that offers our students the opportunity to become more polished and competitive in the job application and interviewing process. Students also have the opportunity to earn a certificate documenting their professional development education. This is just one example of a program supported by donors that helps students during their time at the University of Memphis. IMB: There’s an increasingly vibrant entrepreneurial spirit in Memphis and there’s a lot of potential in the city. But the GDP has declined over the last decade and the economy is growing at a smaller rate than many other Southern cities. What can Memphis do and how can the college figure into it? MRS: We can foster the entrepreneurial talent through

programming, outreach, and support. We have the Sparks Bureau of Economic and Business Research and Le Bonheur Center for Health Care Economics, two centers that can help address the economic development needs of the region. We also have an entrepreneurship minor in the Management Department that helps prepare our students for such endeavors. Student chapters of the Society of Human Resources Management and the American Marketing Association are involved with various outreach efforts and we will continue to encourage such activities. But we also need to look carefully at the Memphis marketplace and identify speciﬁc needs of the city and look at developing programs that meet those needs. I have also just accepted an invitation to serve on the Board of Directors of the Crews Center for Entrepreneurship, and I look forward to partnering with them on programming and outreach initiatives that can help serve the college and the Greater Memphis community. IMB: How did your interest in advertising and marketing develop, and how did you turn that into an academic career? MRS: Prior to entering a doctoral program, my professional career included positions with Philip Crosby Associates (PCA), Cardinal Industries, and Tupperware Worldwide. At PCA, I was involved with both creative services and developing management training materials. At Cardinal Industries, I worked in marketing, and at Tupperware, I worked in the corporate sales promotion department. While working on my MBA, two professors at the Rollins College Crummer Graduate School of Business encouraged me to go into a doctoral program. With my professional background, it seemed like marketing was a natural ﬁt. So, I decided to follow their advice. Moving from the corporate world to the academic world was the best career move I made.

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Beth Wilson, public relations manager at inferno, received her Accreditation in Public Relations (APR) from the Public Relations Society of America and Universal Accreditation Board. Rebecca Adelman, founding shareholder of Hagwood Adelman Tipton PC, was named a finalist in the CLM’s Professional of the Year award. LEO Events co-founder and principal Cindy Brewer was named Smart Meetings’ 2018 Smart Women in Meetings list. Lehman-Roberts Co. received two Quality in Construction Awards from the National Asphalt Paving Association. Lamplighter Montessori School appointed Astrid French as head of school. ANF Architects received first place in the 2018 Vision Design Award for Education by Floor Focus magazine.

Inked RKA Construction purchased the building at 81 Tillman to serve as its new office space. Hollywood Feed opened its first free-standing location at 434 Collins Street. The company also continued its regional expansion with a store opening in North Carolina. Plaskolite acquired Lucite International, Inc.’s 93,375-square-foot sheet manufacturing facility. UTHSC, in conjunction with Regional One Health, received a $16,000 grant to train nurses to defuse crisis situations. Joshua Spotts and Rick Travers launched Best of 901, a digital collection of real estate listings. Turner Construction Company relocated to a new office space at 6060 Primacy Parkway. Volunteers from academic, government, and religious institutions combined to open The Healing Center Wellness & Stress Clinic of Memphis, a community clinic at Oakhaven Church. Momentum Nonprofit Partners relocated its office to the Cooper-Young neighborhood at 630 S. Cooper St. 20 |

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s u p p o r t . m e m p h i s f l y e r. c o m

L E A D E R S H I P

Montgomery Martin

• • •

Founder, president, CEO of Montgomery Martin Contractors.

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F R A N K

M U R TA U G H

“Leadership is fearing the right things.” H. Montgomery Martin knows a thing or two about risk assessment. As the founder, president, and CEO of Montgomery Martin Contractors (MMC), the former distance runner must measure and evaluate risk — and process any fears a client might bring — the moment his business partners with another. You’ve seen the results of MMC’s partnerships: the Shelby Farms “Heart of the Park” transformation, the Pyramid’s conversion to a Bass Pro Shops unlike any other on the planet, and the Kroc Center, to name just three. For 23 years now, Martin has led a transformation of Memphis, one carefully planned project at a time.

PHOTOGRAPH BY KAREN PULFER FOCHT

H. Montgomery Martin

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“We were kind of a 20-year startup,” Martin says through a chuckle. “We weren’t real corporate. Just bootstraps. We’d estimate well, get work, and start relationships. But we didn’t have a mission statement. A couple of years ago, we set out to determine why we’d been successful. What made us who we are? We creplaces where people thrive. “Quality is driven ate That’s our purpose. It helps by the scope of give us focus. And it informs everything we do.” work, and the Martin’s father, David, was scope of work 14 years old and living in Hahas to be done in waii on December 7, 1941. Harold “Beauty” Martin — a given amount Montgomery’s grandfather of time.” and namesake — was a naval officer stationed on the island, overseeing a construction venture. (“He could get away with that [nickname],” explains Martin, “because he was an admiral.”) When asked by his family to see what the air activity was about that fateful Sunday morning, David needed but a glance outside his window to recognize trouble. The bombing of Pearl Harbor took place on the other side of a mountain from their house, but a Japanese kamikaze crashed only a few hundred yards away. It’s the kind of story — and narrow escape — that shapes perspective across generations. “That’s why I’m here, in Memphis,” says Martin. “Granddaddy had tours of duty, in Philadelphia, Washington, Midway. He was always an air guy, a pilot. His last tour of duty was the base in Millington, where airline mechanics were trained. My dad would visit from Stanford, where he was studying architecture. My mother was at Hutchison. And they met.” Martin enjoyed a comfortable youth, attending

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MUS (where he ran the 800 and mile for the track team) and later Auburn, where he graduated in 1978 with a degree in building science. Years of attending his father’s office — cluttered with blueprints and the tools of an architect’s trade — had ingrained Martin with a comfort level that made a career in construction feel like a calling. “I always liked to tinker,” says Martin. “I’d go to my dad’s office with him at nights and on weekends. I went into pre-med [at college], but that was too hard. My brother showed up one morning at my fraternity house and said Dad had a proposition. He’d pay for my next semester if I’d declare a major. So I enrolled in building science, and it was like I already had the vocabulary. It was a walk in the park.” Trust and integrity are words Martin emphasizes when asked about his growth as a leader. (Staffed with fewer than five employees when founded in 1995, MMC now has more than 120.) The company’s website describes one of Martin’s roles as ensuring “the company has the ability to make and keep all of its commitments.” But where does the CEO of a construction company start in making a commitment? “Schedule,” says Martin. “It’s not an exciting answer, but everything’s time-driven. A bid is about time. People ask me when we’ll be finished on a building. My joking answer is, ‘When we run out of money.’ It’s a joke; we’re not done until the contract is completed. But how many man-hours will it take to lay brick? You’re the low bidder if you do things well . . . and fast. Quality is driven by the scope of work, and the scope of work has to be done in a given amount of time.” Martin’s industry is impacted by two volatile dynamics: weather and people. Rain, sleet, and snow will delay a project. So will illness, injury, and neglect. “We have a CQS mindset,” he says. “Cost, quality, and schedule. As crazy and dynamic as our industry is, I’ve always had a philosophy of simplifying it as much as I can. Henry Ford’s assembly line was very predictable. You could figure out what it cost to manufacture a car. If you think of construction that way, anything you can repeat — get really good at — you’re going to be able to do better, cheaper, and faster.” Montgomery Martin — the company — is typically overseeing between 10 and 20 jobs concurrently. Which means Montgomery Martin — the CEO — must lead a team of leaders that includes project managers and superintendents for every last project. And for each client, their project is the only one that matters. How does Martin multiply his brand’s impact while maintaining long-established standards? He wants MMC to be the first company a potential partner thinks about. “Being indispensible is a crazy goal, so to do that, you must have a great company. My

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favorite clients are the ones that are educated and experienced in the industry. They understand what we do, and we have nothing to hide. We aim to be a value-added partner.” MMC hires young talent, in part because the company’s standards and career growth synchronize. “It’s easier to train people than to untrain and retrain,” says Martin. “Teaching people to do things our way is a worthy goal.” As for the qualifications that open a door at MMC, Martin again emphasizes integrity. “Giving somebody a bid or signing a contract is making a promise,” he says. “That starts with showing up for work on time. We aspire to prevent surprises. We spend millions of dollars of other people’s money. They’ve got to trust our commitment. It’s a people business.” Martin’s career has been one of devotion not only to cause but to place. “Growing up in Memphis and going through the tough times

“I’ve been blessed. Most of the trouble I’ve had has been of my own doing. It’s incumbent on me — and this company — to give back.”

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Memphis has had, combined with growing up as the son of an architect has formed much of my heart for helping rebuild the city,” says Martin. “I’ve been blessed. Most of the trouble I’ve had has been of my own doing. It’s incumbent on me — and this company — to give back.” MMC is a supporter of Minority and Women Business Enterprises (MWBE), among other agencies for societal growth. Martin attributes any leadership skills he’s cultivated to his father, a man who built a career of impact after being an eyewitness to the most infamous attack on American soil of the twentieth century. “Bill Clark hired my dad [in the late Sixties] to be the president of the newly formed Clark & Clark Incorporated. Nobody does this, but Mr. Clark formed a construction company to build Clark Tower. Dad was respected by so many people. He was the guy everybody approached to solve a problem. I learned about building — really building — from him. As a leader, [he showed me] what it looked like from the top, to run a company. His was a quiet force of excellence.” The father of two daughters and now a doting grandfather, Martin sees Memphis as already having the qualities that can attract young leaders of distinction. “Memphis has always been a little edgy,” he says, “a little different. We are leaders in music, in education reform, in workforce development. Can we overcome the fear of failure? Understanding fear is a good thing. Leaders in our industry have positioned themselves for such a time as this.”

C O M M U N I T Y

P A R T N E R S H I P S

Alpha Omega Veterans Service and Hilton Worldwide • • •

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E M I LY

A D A M S

K E P L I N G E R

Hilton sponsored construction of this open air pavilion near Court Avenue and McNeil Street for AOVS.

The collaboration between Alpha Omega Veterans Services (AOVS) and Hilton Worldwide started in 2011 with a request. “They asked us to apply for a community grant that they were awarding to different nonprofit organizations in Memphis,” says Cordell Walker, AOVS executive director. “Hilton was offering this grant process to support the efforts of local nonprofit entities.” AOVS made the application and came in second place, which meant it didn’t get grant funding then, but it opened up other avenues for Hilton to work with AOVS. “Through the grant process, Hilton become more aware of our organization and the services we provided,” says Walker. “That awareness actually broadened their ability to work with us, both through their service and through funding from Hilton Worldwide’s Community Partnership Program that was not tied to a specific grant. Their committee met with us to find out how they could work with us to help fund our programs for homeless and disabled military veterans in the Memphis community.”

Walker says that meeting led to a project for Hilton called Day of Caring. “Hilton executives from around the world came to Memphis,” says Walker. “They sponsored a banquet for all of our clients and we made presentations about the work of AOVS, including stories from our veterans who were trying to reintegrate into society.” Soon thereafter, Hilton sponsored the construction of an open-air pavilion at a property near Court Avenue and McNeil Street in Midtown. The pavilion is used for social gatherings, picnics, meetings, group presentations, and movies. It’s also a place for volunteers to be with the veterans by having cookouts and serving meals. “Hilton continued to broaden

its support by sponsoring our the finance group. “We believe annual AOVS golf classic,” says supporting AOVS is a great opWalker. “After three years they portunity to spread the light and moved from being a major sponwarmth of hospitality throughsor to sending teams to particout our community by supportipate. This year’s event will be ing their efforts to find housing held in September at Ridgeway for homeless veterans.” Country Club.” As for how this partnership “More than offering one-time helps meet Hilton’s mission in support, they have built a rethe community, Quarles says, lationship with us,” says Vicki “Hilton’s mission is to be the Azlin, Walker’s executive assismost hospitable company in the tant. “They afford us conference world and one of the ways we room space at their East Memachieve this is by creating a posphis facility, provide volunteers itive impact in our communifor our AOVS endeavors, sponsor ties. Partnering with AOVS has Thanksgiving meals for our cliprovided Hilton a great opportunity to supents, and send port the local us donations community f ro m t hei r own in-house where we all fundraising.” live and work To h e l p through promake Hilton viding meetCordell Walker Charlotte Quarles employees ing space for more aware of the company’s board meetings, hosting food collaborative relationships in drives during Thanksgiving the Memphis community, the to combat hunger and provide company sponsors in-house AOVS’ clients with a complete fairs (Hilton Awareness Days) dinner-in-a bag, financial supfor nonprofit organizations, port and providing Hospitalincluding AOVS, ity Kits including where represenpersonal hygiene tatives are invited items for clients.” “Hilton’s mission to set up a table A lpha Omega is to be the most and share inforVeterans Services mation at the East hospitable company in is one of the first Memphis company private, nonprofit the world and one of headquarters. charitable the ways we achieve corporations Hilton entered this is by creating into a partnership/ i n t h e Un it e d States to ser ve sponsorship with a positive impact in homeless and AOVS b e c au s e our communities.” it was impressed displaced military with the organization’s work. veterans. Since the Memphis of f ice opened in 1987, the “AOVS was selected as one of our official non-profit partners beorganization has served nearly cause of the amazing work they 11,000 veterans in the local to do in the community to help community, of which more than combat homeless for veterans,” 90 percent have reintegrated says Charlotte T. Quarles, maninto society with secure housing ager of distribution services in and income.

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MEMPHIS EVOLUTION

THE CONCEPT. This map view shows how five zones — the Fourth Bluff, Mud Island, Tom Lee Park, MLK Riverside Park, and Greenbelt Park — can leverage their particular strengths to become distinctive places offering activities and experiences that appeal to people of all generations, incomes, races, and backgrounds.

Developments in the city look to a future where “live-work-play” thrives. By Jon W. Sparks In a city’s history, there are times when it all starts coming together. We’re now in a time when the economy is strong and there’s a sense of change in town, a good sense. Young people are coming here and changing not only how we work and live, but where we work and live. There’s an entrepreneurial spirit that’s proving to be a fertile ground for innovators who see opportunities all around. It’s not all blue skies and sunshine. Take a look at David S. Waddell’s Finance & Investment column on page 10. The Memphis Metropolitan Statistical Area has an unimpressive rate of population growth. Household income is declining. The city’s economic growth pales in comparison to other Tennessee cities. Waddell identifies systemic practices that seem to be hampering us and calls for changes.

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Still, there are opportunities, and in the area of real estate and neighborhood development, some impressive projects are happening, either near completion or just getting under way. If some of the numbers seem discouraging, there’s still a sense of Memphis moving forward with gusto. And maybe, the economy willing, it’s a harbinger of greater things to come. We spoke with Jennifer Oswalt, president and CEO of the Downtown Memphis Commission, about what’s going on. While DMC is primarily focused on downtown, of course, Oswalt says that projects outside its area are meaningful to DMC’s work. “We feel like it is all intertwined,” she says. “For example, if the city is trying to recruit or keep a national or international company, then that company has to be able to fly in and out and fill its workforce and then the spouses of that

workforce have to have a place to work and they want to have an enjoyable place to live.” Similarly, the improvements at Memphis International Airport are important for recruiting companies, getting new flights, and attracting carriers. Oswalt’s downtown portfolio includes several developments we’re focusing on in this issue of Inside Memphis Business. Overall, Oswalt says, “In the last five to 10 years, we’ve been really focused on residential and growing the number of people living downtown because we feel like that will drive other investment in retail, grocery, and so forth.” She says that has proven to show it attracts businesses to downtown because employees — especially younger ones and empty-nesters — want to live and work nearby. “So that’s been our strategy and we continue to focus on that right now because

we don’t feel like we’re done with that yet.” Also on the priority list is filling downtown’s hotel requirements. “We have a great amount of small hotels, but we don’t have a really large one that can take a good size group, which hurts our convention center,” Oswalt says. “We have a very high capacity with our [existing] hotels, which shows that we can handle more. So we’re looking at that heavily to coincide with the convention center renovation. That’s a big piece of the puzzle.” If residential is the top priority, it’s also part of the DMC’s mission to make the most of other properties that could be mixed use. “We want to fill the gaps on buildings that are sporadically throughout the core of our downtown that could be either residential or office,” she says, “hopefully a mix of some ground floor retail and office or residential on the

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upper floors.” Oswalt cites the Hickman Building, also known as the Medical Arts Building, as an example of that. It’s a $16 million adaptive reuse as a mixed-use development with offices, apartments, and retail space. The eight-story, 100,000-square-foot building is at 240 Madison and was vacant since 1971. Walk-Off Properties LLC, headed by investor Michael W. Cook, acquired the building and an adjacent two-story parking garage in 2015. Cook is founder, CEO, and CIO of SouthernSun Asset Management, which will be the primary tenant. We take a look at the $55 million Central Station redevelopment that involves creating a 135-room boutique hotel and commercial space, expansion of the Power House into a seven-screen Malco theater, three new apartment complexes with more than 200 units, and a reconfigured

Farmers Market with more vending space. (See our story on page 29). Oswalt says it’s a great example of adapted reuse and a great amenity. “It’s been a long-time wish of the community,” she says, “and it also blends our tourist population that might be arriving at Central Station, staying in that hotel, with an authentic neighborhood. We think the transportation side of it is key in that MATA is enhancing their station right around there for the trolley, the bus station is going to be nearby, and then you have the train. Also, it’s an easy access point for the riverboat cruise that comes into town, so tourism is integrated into our fabric of our community. And with the other new hotel coming at 477 South Main, which is the old Memphis College of Art building, that will be another opportunity for the same thing.”

MAP COURTESY STUCIO GANG

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Another significant, neighborhood-changing project is the Bakery Apartments & Edge Redevelopment, a $73 million redevelopment of six parcels in the Edge district. (See our story on page 30). “That one is definitely catalytic in the same way that the Tennessee Brewery is because of the adaptive reuse,” Oswalt says, “which we think is something that will keep Memphis authentically Memphis in its smart growth. That one really is unlocking a whole neighborhood and shortening the distance between the core of downtown and the Medical District. So it’s really filling a big gap for us, unlocking a lot of potential. It’s making the path to the ballpark short and giving us the advantage to work on Union Avenue and also Monroe to make it more of a pedestrian path as well. It’s a good example of a way for us to work on the connections between our

neighborhoods. And it’s a great mix as well.” Across Union from that redevelopment is the structure built for The Commercial Appeal that has been sold. “That one is seen as one of the few big pieces of property left that could be any number of things,” Oswalt says, “but I do think residential is probably at the top of the list. I’ve heard it could be a big office, but given the need that the Medical District has, there are incentives in place with the hospitals and the schools to live where you work or go to school and there’s just not enough supply. I do think it’s a high likelihood.” One of the more ambitious proposals is for One Beale, an idea that has been out there for a while but hasn’t gotten off the ground. (See our story on page 29). Recent developments with the Carlisle Corp. and its recent partnership with Highwoods Properties indicate

it’s back on track with some changes. “They’ve required a little more land than they originally had,” Oswalt says. “I think they’re in good shape to move forward some time this year with substantial progress. I think they’re in a good place right now and we’re working with them to try to keep the Ellis buildings on Front Street intact and build around them for a really nice public space. And they have been interested in talking with Carol Coletta and us, thinking about a good way to connect to the river at that spot.” We have an interview with Coletta (on page 32) where she talks about her vision for the recently renamed Memphis River Parks Partnership, which could turn out to be the most important and integrated change to the riverfront in the city’s history.

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MEMPHIS EVOLUTION An illustration from Harper’s Weekly magazine provided a view of the city in 1853. This area is today Front Street and Riverside Drive.

Back in 1852, Memphis began to get traction in several areas that set the stage for its future. Paul R. Coppock, in one of his history columns in The Commercial Appeal, listed key events of the year, some of which were relatively minor and yet were necessary to get the city moving forward. Aldermen that year voted to pave Front Row, streets were extended which helped make way for our first railroad depot, a new markethouse was approved to handle the population surge, gas lighting came to town, one bus service began on Main Street and another took riders 11 miles to Raleigh. Steamboat traffic increased and trade expanded accordingly. There was more: 1852 also saw telegraph service offered to New York and Washington, three newspapers joined two already publishing, the wholesale grocery business got under way and the Main Street skyline rose. The first “soda fount” appeared and the city’s first brass band gave concerts. In 1850, population was 8,841 and by 1860, it was 22,263. Memphis was the nation’s largest inland cotton market and for a while, the fastest growing city in the United States. We may not quite be replicating that achievement, but the Memphis area can look to today’s important developments that hold tremendous potential for the city.

DOWNTOWN PROJECTS IN THE PLANNING STAGE

Source: Downtown Memphis Commission ◗ ALOFT HOTEL: $18 million ◗ ARRIVE HOTEL: $14.2 million ◗ BAKERY APARTMENTS & EDGE REDEVELOPMENT: $73 million ◗ BLAIR TOWER RENOVATION: $4 million ◗ CAROLINA WAREHOUSE LOFTS & URBAN TERRACE ◗ COOK CONVENTION CENTER UPGRADE: $55 million ◗ HILTON GARDEN INN MEMPHIS DOWNTOWN: $20 million ◗ HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS: $15 million ◗ HOMEWOOD SUITES: $12 million ◗ LE BONHEUR CARDIOVASCULAR INTENSIVE CARE UNIT EXPANSION: $55 million ◗ METHODIST UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL EXPANSION: $275 million ◗ ODEN HEADQUARTERS: $3 million ◗ ONE BEALE: $160.6 million ◗ PATTERSON FLATS: $14 million ◗ SOUTH CITY: $250 million ◗ SOUTH MAIN ARTSPACE LOFTS: $16 million ◗ ST. JUDE EXPANSION: $1.5 billion ◗ UPTOWN FLATS: $13 million ◗ UTHSC HISTORIC QUADRANGLE: $70 million ◗ UTHSC WOMEN’S AND INFANTS’ PAVILION: $180 million

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IMAGE COURTESY MEMPHIS AND SHELBY COUNTY ROOM, BENJAMIN L. HOOKS CENTRAL LIBRARY

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IBRARY

On Track The Central Station renovation will serve as an anchor for South Main. By Michael Finger

For decades, few in Memphis cared about this city’s last surviving train station. In the 1960s, Memphis International Airport gained international attention as one of the most beautiful air terminals in America. Meanwhile, across town in the South Main district, most passenger trains stopped running through Memphis, until only one survived, the City of New Orleans, rumbling south to the Crescent City and north to Chicago. The train paused only briefly at the old Central Station, and any visitor’s first impression of this city was surely a bad one: a simple platform, a derelict station, and streets with abandoned buildings. Over the years, as the South Main Historic District began to attract restaurants, shops, art galleries, and — most important — people, various improvements were made to the 17-acre Central Station property. The upper floors of the building itself, erected in 1914, were converted to apartments, and the main concourse was transformed into Hudson Hall, a popular venue for wedding receptions and special events. Developers erected clusters of modern condominiums along South Main and Front Streets. The tiny Amtrak station was moved from the basement of the old building to a new location, with a clean waiting room, baggage area, and even a police substation to put visitors at ease. A farmers market sprung up outside, and the old power house, with its iconic smokestack, housed an art gallery and a downtown church. But as the area around Central Station began to prosper — the Tennessee Brewery project is just two blocks away — developers realized that the old railroad station property had potential that wasn’t being used, or was being used in the wrong way. “One of our primary goals, when we started looking at this project, was to enable MATA to exit the party business,” says

Alex Turley, vice president of real estate for the Henry Turley Company, which teamed with Archie Willis of Comcap Partners to form the Central Station Collaborative to repurpose the property. For years, the Memphis Area Transit Authority was involved with Central Station, a hub for its Main Street trolley system. But that meant MATA was also in charge of leasing Hudson Hall, “and we thought they should be focused on the transit business,” says Turley. An inspection of the entire complex, however, revealed problems — along with opportunities. “By the time we approached the property in 2015, it required a lot of additional investment. We knew it would be extremely costly to upgrade those apartments, and we wanted to bring this building back to life without any public funding,” says Turley. “Plus, it had an event facility, ground-floor space that was never utilized, and the Amtrak station. The whole thing seemed disjointed, and it became evident that a complete change of use made sense.” That was the impetus behind the $55 million Central Station project, which has three major components. The main building will be transformed into a boutique hotel, to be managed by the Kemmons Wilson Companies, and called the Central Station Hotel - Curio Collection by Hilton. In addition to 133

RENDERING COURTESY MALCO THEATERS

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The Malco Powerhouse Cinema, one of the major components of the Central Station project, will return a familiar name to downtown Memphis. It’s scheduled to open by the end of the year and the hotel and apartments will be done by mid-2019.

The Malco Powerhouse Cinema: Plans for the seven-screen “boutique cinema” include auditoriums on two floors, a rooftop screen, multiple bars and lounges, and a historic power plant for a lobby. The screen size will be similar to the auditoriums in the Studio on the Square, but the seats will be more comfortable and roomy. It’s intended as an “adult” experience with some blockbusters but mainly focusing on prestige and art films that attract a mature crowd, avoiding films targeted exclusively at teenagers. Source: Malco

rooms, the hotel will feature a ballroom, a 3,500-square foot restaurant, and some 6,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor. “The idea of the Kemmons Wilson Companies coming in here and investing in the South Main area and downtown Memphis, we consider that a very big deal,” says Turley. The second component will be residential. The Henry Turley Company plans to construct 200 apartments, in three clusters. The Main Street Apartments will be a single three-story building at Main and Carolina, the Front Street Apartments will comprise seven three-story structures along South Front, and the Railroad Platform Apartments will occupy a three-story building on Main Street. The third major component brings a familiar name back to downtown Memphis. Malco — fondly remembered for the grand movie palace that now houses the Orpheum — will erect a seven-screen theatre at Front and G.E. Patterson, to be called the Malco Powerhouse Cinema. As the name suggests, the railroad station’s original brick powerhouse will be converted into a lobby and concession stands for the complex. “We’re looking forward to returning downtown after 40 years away,” says David Tashie, senior vice president of theatre operations for Malco. “This will be a unique prototype for us,” explaining that special features

will include motorized reclining seats, online ticket purchases, and a special wide-screen auditorium with high-definition sound. The theatre is scheduled to open by the end of this year, and the hotel and apartments will be completed in mid-2019. The popular farmers market will stay, but will be redesigned for better access. Funding for the Central Station project came from a variety of sources: owner equity, bank financing, and historic development tax credits. Not that many years ago, anyone getting off the City of New Orleans would step out onto a dark street. They might wander over to the Arcade, but there was little else to do in that area. Soon, they will find themselves in the lobby of a fine hotel, with shops, restaurants, and retail. They can visit the Railroad and Trolley Museum (which will remain in the building), or catch a movie. And they will be within an easy walk of many businesses that, years ago, never considered a move to this part of town. “The idea is that this will serve as an anchor for South Main,” says Turley. “You think of the pedestrian traffic that’s generated by a hotel, by a movie theatre, from the residential areas nearby, the farmers market, the restaurants in the hotel, and the retail this will attract. It’s going to be a really dynamic place.”

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5/9/18 3:59 PM

MEMPHIS EVOLUTION Eye on the Future Campbell Clinic looks ahead with Germantown expansion. By Aisling Maki

The nation’s orthopedic industry must continue to grow to accommodate the needs of baby boomers, whose numbers stand at roughly 74 million, according to the Pew Research Center. The Campbell Clinic, which operates five outpatient orthopedic clinics and two ambulatory surgery centers in the Mid-South, began preparing for this need 26 years ago when they purchased the property immediately adjacent to the Germantown clinic’s location at 1400 South Germantown Road. “When we moved to Germantown in 1992, we bought 15 acres of property,” says Campbell Clinic CEO George Hernandez. “The western portion of that property houses the existing Campbell Clinic office. We reserved the balance of it for future expansion. We used a portion of it back in 2002 for our ambulatory surgery center and kept the remaining five acres reserved for future expansion. That time has now arrived.” The Germantown expansion was announced in 2017, the ceremonial groundbreaking took place in May of 2018, and construction is expected to commence this summer. Plans are for the facility to open in fall of 2019. The clinic’s Germantown location near the intersection of Wolf River Boulevard and Germantown Road comprises a 60,000-square-foot clinic and a 12,000-square-foot ambulatory surgery center. Campbell Clinic services include sports medicine, pediatric orthopedics, joint replacement, orthopedic oncology, physical medicine and rehabilitation, and surgery of the hand, hip, foot, knee, shoulder, and spine. The new four-story medical office, which will sit on that long-vacant five-acre parcel, will feature outpatient orthopedic clinical space, expanded physical therapy and imaging suites, and an ambulatory surgery center with eight operating rooms. The current location has four operating rooms. 30 |

The surgery center will feature state-of-the-art technology and equipment, some of which will be brought over from the existing surgery center, the rest of which will be new purchases. “We’re working to improve access and patient satisfaction, and the new building will allow us to expand our outpatient surgery center,” says Dr. Frederick Azar, chief of staff at Campbell Clinic Germantown. “As more techniques and procedures are able to be done on an outpatient basis, we predict more joint replacements being done on an outpatient basis for the future. So, we’re doubling the size of our ambulatory surgery center.” Campbell Clinic is known as a local leader in sports medicine, providing care for the Memphis Grizzlies and Memphis Redbirds, as well as athletes at the University of Memphis, Christian Brothers University, Rhodes College, and about 15 area high schools. “Sports medicine is a big part of what we do, and that’s why we’re broadening the scope of our sports performance services, which will be an integral and large part of the plan for the new office,” Hernandez says. An option to lease a portion of the new building to third-party tenants upon completion is also under consideration. “It’s twice the size of the next largest location — our current Germantown office, which is about 60,000 square feet,” Hernandez says. “We are admittedly

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Campbell Clinic’s new four-story medical office begins construction this summer in Germantown. It will feature outpatient orthopedic clinical space, expanded physical therapy and imaging suites, and an ambulatory surgery center with eight operating rooms.

“The percentage of knee replacements will probably go up about 700 percent in the next 20 years, and hip replacements will probably be over 300 percent. We anticipate doing more joint replacement as outpatient. For younger, healthier patients, those can be done in a same-day surgery setting.” —Dr. Frederick Azar CAMPBELL CLINIC CHIEF OF STAFF

building for future capacity and growth. Our additional plan is to occupy three of the four floors once the building is complete, and we may lease the vacant floor for a period of time. That affords us the opportunity to expand onto the fourth floor at some future date.” The new facility will add about 120,000 square feet of new space to the Germantown campus at a cost of about $40 million. Campbell Clinic retained Rendina Healthcare Real Estate to help guide the design, development, and construction. Rendina is a national, full-service developer of healthcare real estate headquartered in Jupiter, Florida, with satellite offices in Dallas, Texas; Tucson, Arizona; Solana Beach, California; Cincinnati, Ohio; and Livingston, New Jersey. Rendina has managed healthcare real estate solutions for about 30 years and was hired in part because of the project’s aggressive timeline for completion. “We hired them to coordinate all of the design and construction for the new facility,” Hernandez says. “They have the expertise and breadth to manage the development of a facility of this magnitude.” Campbell hired Davis Stokes Collaborative, P.C. of Nashville as the architect for the new Germantown facility because, Hernandez says, “they have a real depth and breadth in orthopedic facilities.” The clinic hired Flintco of Memphis for pre-construction

services. A general contractor has not yet been named, but Hernandez said Flintco is a contender. The clinic has partnered with Cushman & Wakefield/ Commercial Advisors for the last several years in a strategic brokerage and advisory role for all clinic facilities. Along with Campbell Clinic’s physical expansion and expansion of services comes expansion of staff. It employs about 450 individuals at all locations, and about 50 of those are physicians. There are several incoming physicians and Campbell plans to recruit additional practitioners over the next five years and continue to train future orthopedic surgeons. “Our research and training are part of our core mission, and this allows us to expand those areas of our mission,” Azar says. A Cordova office was leased in 2014 as a five-year solution with the intention of transitioning back to the Germantown campus. Azar says the clinic’s investment in expansion is a crucial medical service to accommodate the future of the healthcare needs of a growing community. “The percentage of knee replacements will probably go up about 700 percent in the next 20 years, and hip replacements will probably be over 300 percent. We anticipate doing more joint replacement as outpatient. For younger, healthier patients, those can be done in a same-day surgery setting.”

RENDERING COURTESY CAMPBELL CLINIC

5/14/18 10:25 AM

Smart Growth in Action Germantown’s Thornwood points the way for suburban life. By Cindy Wolff

It’s hard to see all the progress made in Thornwood, a mixed-use development at the corner of Neshoba and South Germantown roads that was approved as part of Germantown’s Smart Growth Zoning regulations. A four-story Hampton Inn & Suites and a 5,000-square-foot Bob Richards Jewelers store are completed and open in the coveted front spots along South Germantown. The 73-foot clock tower that chimes on the hour from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. is in the center of a roundabout, circled by freshly planted bushes and a fountain. But it’s the construction going on now that will prove whether the Smart growth really is. There’s a 251-unit apartment building under construction behind the hotel and work is continuing on a 71,500-squarefoot, residential-retail building at Neshoba and South Germantown. The apartment design includes four studio units, 124 one-bedroom units, and 123 two-bedroom units. The rent ranges from $1,400 to $3,500 a month. They’re expected to be completed by the end of summer. Newk’s Eatery will be the first restaurant to open there in the retail space, which is on street level. Twenty-five loft apartments will wrap around the building on the second floor. They range from 1,089 square feet to 2,075 square feet, with rents from $1,797 to $2,075. Staks Pancake Kitchen initially agreed to open last year in the retail area, but after repeated construction delays caused by rain and a bitter

winter, the restaurant went elsewhere. However, Spence Ray, executive vice president of sales and leasing for McNeill Commercial Real Estate, which leads the development, says three additional tenants signed leases and he’s in negotiation with a small grocery store. One of those tenants is a new restaurant called Moondance, set to open at the end of summer, when construction is expected to be completed. Moondance, a nod to Van Morrison’s popular song, will feature live background music while customers dine. The 212seat restaurant will feature food with a Southern flair, says Matt Williams, director of operations for Beale Street Blues Co. The company also operates B.B. King’s Blues Clubs, Lafayette’s Music Room, and Itta Bena. The other tenants are Bella Vita, gifts and interiors, and Itty Bitty Bella, a store for baby items. Ray is looking for three more restaurants to add to the mix. All of the businesses and the apartments are part of a “livework-play” design by Ray. The

THORNWOOD BY THE NUMBERS ◗ Four-story, 108-room Hampton Inn & Suites ◗ 5,000-square-foot Bob Richards Jewelers ◗ 73-foot clock tower ◗ 251-unit apartment building with 378 reserved parking spaces for tenants in an underground garage ◗ 148,000-square-foot, residential-retail building with a parking garage ◗ 212-seat Moondance restaurant ◗ Newk’s Eatery RENDERING COURTESY THORNWOOD

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“It’s trying to give people a way to live and work and eat and shop and carry on their life without necessarily having to get into an automobile all the time,” says Spence Ray, executive vice president of sales and leasing for McNeill Commercial Real Estate. “I looked at this project and thought is there any way you could live, own a dog, walk across the street, and eat dinner?”

“People need choices whether they are empty-nesters, professionals, or millennials. Not everyone wants to have a yard or house to maintain. There are people who grew up in the suburbs, who want to live in the suburbs, but they want a cool place to live.” —Shawn Massey PARTNER WITH THE SHOPPING CENTER GROUP

project has proximity to the Germantown Performing Arts Center, the Germantown Athletic Club, and the Germantown Library, as well as access to the Wolf River Greenway. “Basically it’s trying to give people a way to live and work and eat and shop and carry on their life without necessarily having to get into an automobile all the time,” Ray says. “I looked at this project and thought is there any way you could live, own a dog, walk across the street, and eat dinner? I started looking at Germantown’s Smart Growth code to see if there was a way to get it to work on this piece of land,” he says. “The zoning code they wrote really focused on those things.” Smart Growth is a national guideline for cities to promote denser, mixed-use, and pedestrian-friendly development. Thornwood is the first project to use the special zoning for a multi-residential development, says Cameron Ross, Germantown’s economic and community development director. “This project is one of the most incredible things we’ve seen,” Ross says. “Some developments have a shelf life that’s pretty limited. What McNeill put in at Thornwood is timeless and it’s going to bring something to the community and bring it together.” Bedroom communities typically appeal to families who work in major urban cities but want to leave the congestion,

commerce, and crime behind. “The things that were important to the suburbs, especially in the South, were low density, low height ... they didn’t want seven-story buildings looking out over their homes ... lots of landscape screening and staggered zoning,” Ray says. In the mid-2000’s, Germantown, like other municipalities, recognized the need to be open to new ideas that would attract the next generation of citizens, namely the millennials, says Shawn Massey, a partner with The Shopping Center Group. “It’s where the future is going for suburbs,” he says, pointing to other developments planned in Germantown and another in Lakeland. “People need choices whether they are empty-nesters, professionals, or millennials,” he says. “Not everyone wants to have a yard or house to maintain. There are people who grew up in the suburbs, who want to live in the suburbs, but they want a cool place to live.” And it’s more than that, Ross says. The city faced a growth variance that the other suburbs didn’t have. The city is landlocked with no annex reserve. That left them looking inward to see how to make better use of the land in their city limits. “Eighty-five percent of Germantown’s property is devoted to residential,” Ross says. “We have very limited land area — three square miles that we could focus. This mix

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(Thornwood) is a key residential/commercial strategy to add value to those miles.” Ray and his design team spent about three years traveling around the country — and even to London — looking at best practices. “There’s nothing we are doing that is new,” Ray says. “What we are doing is replicating communities that European settlers brought to America, but it wasn’t a European idea either. You see it in South America. You see it in Africa and in Asia. We’re replicating things that we believe are healthy.” These are the touches Ray added to enhance the project: 378 reserved parking spaces for apartment tenants in an underground garage and another parking garage for the retail/residential building. Also, there will be a doorman at the apartments to announce guests and allow them up 24/7, three fenced dog areas for residents’ pets, a courtyard with an L-shaped swimming pool and areas for sports games such as bocce ball. The streets are tree-lined with extra-large sidewalks around the development so couples can pass side by side. There are benches and a switchback that leads to a pocket park with grass and benches for people and events. McNeill also plans to add two brick-paved crosswalks across Neshoba so residents and customers can walk to the Germantown Civic Center. contin u ed on page 4 2

RENDERING COURTESY THORNWOOD

5/14/18 10:25 AM

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On The Edge Gary Prosterman is redefining the land between downtown and the Medical District. By Jon W. Sparks

The Edge District has been attracting increased attention in recent years as a place with an eclectic mix of commercial and residential along with art, performance, and dining spaces. In large part, it’s because it’s on the edge of downtown and the Medical District, both of which are expanding. It got into high gear last year thanks to planning and acquisitions by Development Service Group (DSG), headed by president and CEO Gary Prosterman. He’s helmed several enterprises in healthcare and real estate, not only in Memphis but in Philadelphia, Tampa, and Houston. At a recent Rotary Club lunch presentation, he spoke about the Bakery Apartments & Edge Redevelopment, a $73 million project of six parcels in the Edge District, including the old Wonder Bread Factory at 400 Monroe, and the former Memphis Cycle Supply at 421 Monroe. It includes 286 apartment units on the site of the Wonder Bread Factory, and more than 155,000 square feet of retail, office, and mixed-use space spread throughout the development. Over the years, Prosterman was bothered seeing tourists walking from, say, The Peabody up Union to Sun Studio, a stroll with some pretty shabby sights and leaving a poor impression to visitors. He felt it had to be better and, as a fourth-generation Memphian, he realized he could bring historic insight as well as present capital to improve the area’s future. “My great-grandfather came here, worked on the sugar boat from New Orleans in the 1890s and eventually, he was one of these hardworking guys that saved all his money,” Prosterman says. “He opened a small tavern down on the riverfront and he opened a hotel.” The family had the Tennessee Hotel across the street from The Peabody, now the Doubletree, as well as the Adler Hotel across from the Chisca. In the late 1960s when 42 |

downtown was fading, his grandfather lost those hotels. “We’ve kind of come full circle,” he says, “as I’ve now been able to come back and do some of these things.” One such contribution was The Chisca Apartments in the South Main Arts District, a rescue of the historic Chisca Hotel that was built in 1913. It closed in the 1980s and became an eyesore. The city proposed to demolish the property in 2011, but DSG acquired it, and the redone Chisca has 161 apartments, garage and surface parking, and two restaurants, Lyfe Kitchen and Catherine and Mary’s. Another significant project was the office tower revitalization of One Commerce Square. DSG was in on the $7.6 million acquisition and managed the $20 million renovation of the downtown Memphis landmark. DSG updated major systems in the 465,000-square-foot building and created the city’s first LEED-certified downtown office tower. So when the Wonder Bread Bakery site came up for sale a few years ago, Prosterman saw an opportunity that went far beyond fixing it up. DSG got with investor Worthington Hyde Partners to buy it. “And then we quietly acquired a number of pieces of property around there,” Prosterman says, “so that we assembled, in total, about 10 acres in what is known as the Edge District.” The district is generally defined

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The old Wonder Bread bakery at 400 Monroe will be reborn as the headquarters of the Orion Federal Credit Union. The structure just to the east has been torn down and will see the Bakery Apartments, a new 286-unit apartment complex surrounding a 450-space parking garage.

At one time, Baby Boomers who were married with children, comprised 50 percent of households. Today that’s 25 percent. The combination of that shift at the same time that Baby Boomers are now empty nesters, has resulted in a demand for live-work-play walkable communities. There are 27,000 people in the Medical District and when you combine that with the people downtown, it’s a population of 81,000 people that are working in between downtown and the Medical District.

as the area from Danny Thomas on the west to Health Sciences Park on the east, and from Beale Street on the south to North Parkway on the north. Putting his attention and resources to developing the Edge District was a natural extension of what DSG had been doing. “In about 2005, we shifted our focus to working predominantly in the urban core, and predominantly focused on doing adaptive reuse of existing buildings,” Prosterman says. “But there are a lot of reasons we chose to do this. Among them are the economics, study of demographics and trends, as well as noticing what was happening with the shift in populations.” He says the urban core is particularly important to development in Memphis. “You have to realize that every city is competing for talent,” he says, “and particularly the Medical District, where we’ve got intellectual capital, so we’ve got to position ourselves so that we offer choices, that we offer the best. Cities throughout the country are competing for intellectual capital, and while I’m not so naïve as to believe that the only thing that matters is offering vibrant live-work-play communities, it is something that matters greatly, particularly to the younger population.” And that younger population is redefining what developers need to focus on. Prosterman cites the book The Great Inversion and the Future

of the American City by Alan Ehrenhalt. “There’s really an inversion of demographics that, if you study these things, which those of us in development do, you can see this trend happening,” he says. “We’ve had so much of change for multiple reasons. What’s happening with the younger cohorter is that they are delaying having children longer, if they have them at all. They’re delaying marriage longer, if they get married at all, and so you have these very compelling data points. At one time, Baby Boomers who were married with children comprised 50 percent of households. Today that’s 25 percent. That’s an amazing shift in numbers. We’ve learned that the combination of that shift happening with the younger cohort at the same time that those of us who are Baby Boomers are now empty nesters; many of us are returning to these live-workplay walkable communities. And you now have this conversion of demographics which is creating a lot of demand throughout the country for the housing stock returning to urban core.” But, he says, the housing that’s available in the Edge District is old, “with the exception of the Bristol Apartments, which is 14 years old. All the other housing stock was built in the 1960s and 1970s.” Prosterman says the Medical District is particularly important to Memphis because of the jobs. “This is probably the number one thing for our city that would help us cure the issues we have,” he says. “And the number one job machine we have — probably it’s too much of a secret — is our Medical District. If you’ll look at these data points, we currently have 17,000 full-time employees in the Medical District. In addition to that, we’ve got 10,000

PHOTOGRAPH BY JON W. SPARKS

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SOME ELEMENTS OF DSG’S PLANS Orion Federal Credit Union will have its new headquarters in the repurposed Wonder Bread bakery building. A building east of the bakery on Monroe has been torn down and will be the site of a new 286-unit apartment complex surrounding a 450-space parking garage. Prosterman says these will be class A-plus apartments with many amenities to lure downtown and Medical District workers. The first openings of the phase one project are a couple of years down the road. Across the street will be the new home of LEO Events, which is moving from downtown. What was formerly the Cycle Shop, with about 35,000 square feet, will have a coffee shop, a retailer, and on the ground floor a cycle shop. The Memphis Medical District Collaborative will move its headquarters to the second floor, along with other businesses. Phase two is expected to include what will become an “urban linear park” that is now being called the Ravine. It’s a former Southern Railway right-of-way that physically divides properties along Monroe Avenue between South Lauderdale Street and Marshall Avenue. The park, which Prosterman calls a “hidden jewel,” will extend from Union Avenue at the south, going under Monroe up to Madison. Phase two would also include apartments fronting on Union and extending to Madison. “We’ve been studying these urban parks throughout the country, and a lot of cities have already taken advantage of these types of properties,” Prosterman says. “We’re going to change that into a place that you actually want to hang out. Those of us in the development world realize at least one role we can play is, if we can create first-class communities, we can create neighborhoods that are desirable because they have great housing opportunities, because they have restaurants, because they have retail. And that will animate and stabilize our neighborhoods.”

The old Memphis Cycle & Supply Co. at Monroe and Lauderdale will have a cycle shop on the ground floor, along with a coffee shop, a retailer, and office space on the second floor.

full-time students. So in the population every day, you have 27,000 people in the Medical District and when you combine that with the people in our downtown, it’s a population of 81,000 people that are working in between downtown and the Medical District. So we have 81,000 people that we need to serve, that we want to make it an area of choice, from the housing perspective.” He says that of the 17,000

people who work in the Medical District, only 2.7 percent live there and of those 10,000 students, only 6 percent. “We think this is a matter of choice,” he says. “We’ve got to improve our community to make it desirable.” A key organization to promoting those improvements is the Memphis Medical District Collaborative, a community development group that has partnered with several healthcare and academic institutions in the area. They include Baptist College of Health Sciences, Memphis Bioworks Foundation, Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare, Regional One Health, Southern College of Optometry, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Southwest Tennessee Community College, and the University of Tennessee Health Science Center.

The old William C. Ellis & Sons Ironworks and Machine Shop, founded in 1862, has been in the same location since 1878. It remained in the family until it shut down in 2016 and last year the property was sold to the Carlisle Corp. Preservationists are hoping the One Beale project will incorporate the buildings rather than tear them down.

Front where a warehouse was recently demolished. The metal business, described as one of Memphis’ oldest, closed in 2016. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places and it and the land were sold to Carlisle in 2017 for $3.5 million. The boundaries of the proposed project are Riverside

Drive on the west, Front on the east, Beale to the north, and Pontotoc on the south. As of early May, Carlisle president Chance Carlisle had not announced further details, but the company is expected to come before the Downtown Memphis Commission soon with a revised plan.

One Beale Redux? Long delayed multi-use river project is still in the works. By Jon W. Sparks

The city’s skyline will be very different if the ambitious One Beale development is completed. The five-acre project at the foot of Beale Street at the river would have two towers with 280 apartments and 255 hotel rooms and a parking garage with 640 parking spaces. The developer is Carlisle Corp., which first proposed the idea in 2005. The late Gene Carlisle, chairman and founder, wanted to build a 27-story condo and hotel with office space. The next year he revised the proposal to have two towers and the plan was approved by the Land Use Control Board. The flagging economy delayed the project until it was revived in 2014. But Carlisle died the following year and One Beale again went quiet. In late 2017, the company announced partnerships with office developer Highwoods Properties

and others to get it under way again. In March, the Land Use Control Board approved Carlisle’s plans to add two acres to the project, bringing the total to five acres. It added the old William C. Ellis & Sons Ironworks and Machine Shop at 241-245 S. Front and property at 275 S.

PHOTOGRAPH BY JON W. SPARKS

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MEMPHIS EVOLUTION Patients with Patience UTHSC’s new patient simulation center lets aspiring healers get real. By Michael Finger

Dr. Chad Epps seems pleased with the condition of the patient waiting for a heart procedure in the brand-new operating room at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. As one might expect, the patient lying on the table can breathe, speak, express pain, respond to treatment, react to medications, and — if something goes terribly wrong — die. As one might not expect, this particular patient can be restored to life within minutes, by restarting a computer program. Meet the Human Patient Simulator, a $220,000 lifelike mannikin that can present a variety of medical problems at the Center for Healthcare Improvement and Patient Simulation. Epps is the executive director of healthcare simulation at the center, which opened in May at 26 South Dunlap, in the heart of the UT campus in Memphis. The “patient” in the operating room has plenty of company. Epps steps into another room and says, “This is our $60,000 high-tech baby,” showing a crib holding another simulator. In this case it’s a newborn child, with the “mother” resting nearby — so “her” sensors tell the doctors and students. Yes, the “high-fidelity” patient simulators in the OB GYN department can actually deliver a baby, complete with umbilical cord and placenta. The Center, or CHIPS, can simulate almost any medical condition, from high blood pressure to cardiac arrest, and allow UT students to perform procedures and interact with each HPS, before they start their medical practice on human beings — who don’t reboot when things go wrong. “The first epidural [pain blocker] I did was on a real woman in labor,” says Epps, initially trained as an anesthesiologist. “She didn’t know it was my first time, and that’s

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probably a good thing. But now we can learn skills here before we do it on a real patient. That’s really the whole idea for most of the facilities in this building.” The 45,000-square-foot center has three floors. The ground floor has “low-fidelity” simulators. These don’t look human, but have ports and realistic-looking and -feeling body parts — arms, shoulders, knees. The Arthro Mentor, for example, enables students to practice arthroscopic surgery, while another device allows students to perform endoscopies and colonoscopies. It’s not as simple as slipping a tube into an opening in the machine, says Epps. “It has haptic feedback, so if I bump the side of your colon with my scope, I can feel it,” he says. The simulator doesn’t actually have replicas of organs inside, “but the monitor gives a realistic image of what it would look like, and you get a real sense of what it’s like to do this.” The second floor holds the operating room and the more advanced simulators, along with classrooms and “debriefing” areas where instructors can review a student’s work. The third floor, the Kaplan Clinical Skills Laboratory, is a series of 24 examination rooms where students in all six UT departments — Health Sciences, Health Professions, Medi-

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The Center for Healthcare Improvement and Patient Simulation will serve all colleges at UTHSC. Dr. Chad Epps (above), executive director of healthcare simulation at the center, says that prior to the existence of simulation centers like this one, “Doctors learned by reading a book, watching someone else do it, and then doing it themselves.”

“We are different from other facilities around the country because of the varied experiences offered here, from the technological sophistication of the mannikins to the range of real-life scenarios we offer.” —Dr. Kennard Brown UTHSC EXECUTIVE VICE CHANCELLOR AND CHIEF OPERATIONS OFFICER

cine, Nursing, Dentistry, and Pharmacy — can interact with “standardized patients.” These aren’t simulators, but actors. In this setting, the medical student meets a real human being, who is portraying a patient with a specific medical condition. This too, is more high-tech than students might encounter in the past. Not only are these visits carefully monitored, but afterwards the “patient” can use a computer to leave feedback about how well the student treated them. The Center is the brainchild of Dr. Kennard Brown, executive vice chancellor and chief operations officer, who got the idea while attending a conference on academic medical centers like UT. “We were discussing advances in medical education,” he says, “and about simulation being the future of healthcare.” Brown had previously worked with the local architecture firm brg3 and asked if they could put him in contact with an authority on simulation centers. “They found Dr. Michael Seropian at SimHealth Group in Oregon,” he says, “who is ‘the guy’ in that field, and he played an instrumental role in making it a reality.” Brown explains that the $39.7 million project was entirely state-funded. “We are different from other facilities

around the country because of the varied experiences offered here,” he says, “from the technological sophistication of the mannikins to the range of real-life scenarios we offer.” Epps, hired as the director in 2016, points out that as recently as 2000, when he began practicing, simulation centers like this one didn’t exist: “Doctors learned by reading a book, watching someone else do it, and then doing it themselves.” But the center is also about showing medical practitioners how to work as a team. “In the past, we really didn’t communicate with each other, with people in other departments, other specialties,” says Epps. “So what we do in this building is put students together — not just from medicine but from nursing or clinical lab sciences — and they learn from each other about what everyone’s role is.” The name on the building says it all, says Epps. “It’s the Center for Healthcare Improvement and Patient Simulation, and that really explains both the what and the why. The ‘patient simulation’ is the what, and the ‘healthcare improvement’ is the why, because everything we do here is about improving patient safety and their quality of healthcare in the community.”

PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY UTHSC

5/14/18 10:23 AM

Upgrading MEM Modernization plan looks to 2021 for a revamped Concourse B by Samuel X. Cicci

When Delta Air Lines decided in 2013 that it would no longer use Memphis as a hub, it could have been disastrous for Memphis International Airport. However, Scott Brockman, president and CEO of the Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority, pivoted quickly to integrate the large areas of unused space into the airport’s ongoing modernization plan. “After they [Delta] announced the dehub, we had big chunks of the concourses that weren’t being used,” says Brockman. While the plan initially called for renovations and additions to Concourse B, the airport realized midway through the process that they would have to switch gears. Closing Concourse B required the airport to assess the other concourses to make sure they were able to accommodate increased flight traffic. “We realized we’d have to make significant improvements to A if we wanted to use it, so this last AIRLINES AT MEM ◗ Air Canada ◗ Allegiant Air ◗ American Airlines ◗ Delta Air Lines ◗ Frontier Airlines ◗ OneJet ◗ Southern Airways Express ◗ Southwest Airlines ◗ United Airlines ◗ Vacation Express MEM TIMELINE APRIL 2018: Delta Air Lines moves to A, Allegiant moves to C MID-2018: B Concourse construction begins EARLY 2021: Modern-

ized B Concourse opens MID-2021: Consolidation

completed, end of C removed

year we’ve worked to get that concourse ready.” Gates in Concourse A that didn’t previously have jet bridges would now be equipped to handle new, full-sized aircraft. However, even after work on A had been completed, the airport had to take a look at the buildings’ seismic standards. “As soon as we started work on Concourse B,” says Brockman, “we would have to bring it up to code. That would occur by digging underground and putting in seismic improvement to create support mechanisms for the building. It was going to be a very expensive proposition, in the neighborhood of $40 million to $50 million, that no one would ever see, touch, feel, or recognize.” With that in mind, the project moved towards creating a more appealing aesthetic for a new and improved B Concourse. High ceilings, glass outer walls, and other amenities are some of the features now being implemented with the modernization process. Other additions, like more automated walkways and electrical outlets at every seat, aim to make the airport experience more palatable to travelers. Construction on Concourse B began in April. If the plan proceeds on schedule, it would reopen in early 2021. For now, the closure has caused the airport to reshuffle some of its operations. Delta Air Lines has moved its flights to A Concourse, while

RENDERINGS COURTESY MEMPHIS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

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The new Concourse B will have higher ceilings, glass outer walls, more automated walkways, and electrical outlets at every seat.

Delta’s decision to dehub in 2014 had dramatic effects. The daily flight count dropped from 250 to 19. Delta’s leased gates plummeted from 69 to six, which meant the total number of leased gates went from 83 to 17. Today, FedEx’s use of the facilities makes Memphis International Airport the busiest cargo airport in the United States (and only second in the world behind Hong Kong). After its lowest annual passenger traffic in 2015, the airport has been steadily increasing its passenger load. The year 2017 saw 4,196,259 passengers travel through Memphis, a 4.88 percent increase from the previous year. By February of this year, the airport had seen 590,767 passengers, a 5.96 percent growth from the same timeframe last year.

Allegiant moved to C. The refined aesthetic and increased functionality, Brockman hopes, will go towards making Memphis International Airport the premier flight destination in the Mid-South. “Our plan is geared around two things,” he says. “One: modernization. Two: bringing the customer experience up to this positively memorable level, which meets our other goal, to become the airport of choice for the MidSouth.” While the partial demolition of Concourse B is under way, the airport has advanced the bidding process for contractors. After a prequalification for five firms, the number has been reduced to four finalists. Flintco LLC and Yates Construction both have Memphis offices, while Archer Western and a joint venture between Caddell Construction and FS360 General Contractors are based out of town. Each contractor was thoroughly vetted before being given the opportunity to bid. ”We evaluated their familiarity with an airport environment, their familiarity with a project that was similar to this, and their ability to work within a secured environment,” says

Brockman. “This is a heavily regulated, security area that has its own requirements.” Other changes the airport made included the elimination of southern extensions to concourses A and C. That, combined with new jet bridges to accommodate Delta, should allow for increased traffic into the airport. “Previously, there was only one way in and one way out,” says Brockman. “If somebody had a vehicle, car, truck, or plane, you couldn’t move another plane in.” Beyond airport efficiency, the modernization plans will consolidate retail operations and include more shops and dining options. Among them are Torn Basil, an Italian restaurant by gate A27, and a new Blue Moon kiosk by gates C1 and C2. The airport has also installed a Starbucks and Urban Market by the B security checkpoint. Brockman is bullish about the project and has high hopes for the airport. “We’ve adapted, tweaked, and changed, and we’re getting there. I believe the project we’re moving on with here is going to be one that the community, and the entire Mid-South region, will be very proud of.”

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MEMPHIS EVOLUTION Down by the Riverside Carol Coletta leads the River Parks Partnership into a new era.

By Jon W. Sparks

Memphis has a remarkable riverfront that made this city, but hasn’t gotten much love in return. Carol Coletta plans to change that. In 1924, the first comprehensive vision of the unattractive space was offered by the nationally renowned city planner Harland Bartholomew. It didn’t get far but there have been plenty of other studies, ideas, and projects since then, and while we have Tom Lee Park and Mud Island, there’s not much in the way of a unifying concept. In April, Coletta took over as president of the Memphis River Parks Partnership, formerly known as the Riverfront Development Corporation. And she brings considerable energy and knowledge to further a concept that’s already under way. Last year, the urban design company Studio Gang unveiled its idea for a six-mile stretch along the river that, as it says, could be “distinctive places offering activities and experiences that appeal to people of all generations, incomes, races, and backgrounds.” It identifies five zones along the riverfront: the Fourth Bluff, Mud Island, Tom Lee Park, MLK/Riverside Park, and Greenbelt Park. The consultants researched and extensively interviewed organizations and citizens about what they wanted to see in a revitalized riverfront. The plan was guided by these principles: “Foster positive encounters, civic pride and identity, and new understanding of the Mississippi River; restore natural conditions, native ecology, and a more dynamic relationship between people and the river; and connect assets along the river, the riverfront to the city (downtown and the neighborhoods beyond), and people with each other.” There are, generally speaking, three levels of making this happen — short, medium, and long-term. As Coletta says, it has to be malleable as time and circumstances change. But the 46 |

idea will be that eventually the six-mile-long public riverfront will have bike trails, playgrounds, parks, performance areas, and plazas. Moreover, every zone will have greatly improved access. The Studio Gang concept has already prompted at least one potential dramatic change with the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art hoping to move to a site on Front Street. In a letter to friends of the museum, Brooks officials say the concept is “a remarkably thoughtful, cogent, and actionable blueprint for reawakening portions of our historic riverfront that have been too dormant for far too long.” Coletta says several elements of the project drew her in, particularly how Tom Lee Park might evolve. “We want to make it much better and even less expensive on Memphis in May to help them get in and out of the park quickly,” she says. “And once they get out, to have a great park for Memphians 365 days a year.” This is already under way, she says, with festival consultants checking out the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest and the Beale Street Music Festival to see how the infrastructure might be improved. “What you really want to do is make sure that Memphis in May has a good, stable location with good utilities and can set up quickly, safely without damage to the park at all.”

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1 ROOM FOR EVERYONE.

Under the concept to improve the riverfront, the environment of Tom Lee Park would have new plantings, topography, and amenities allowing for multiple activities to go on simultaneously. Street festivals, fitness classes, family outings, and bike rides, for example, could all take place at the park.

2 ECO HUB. A variety of new plantings and structures to enhance Mud Island’s river ecology could help transform the peninsula into an active place offering opportunities for learning, teaching, research, gathering, and recreation. 3 FESTIVALS ON THE FAIRWAY

Converting MLK/Riverside Park’s underused golf course to a festival grounds could bring a wide range of events to the park. New signage, the creation of new trails, and better connection from the park with existing roadways, trails, and bikeways, could open up access to its forested acres for new users from the surrounding neighborhoods and the rest of the city.

4 CANOPY WALK. Elevating visitors above the river, a thick arch of native trees would direct their view across the Mississippi and provide great habitat for birds and other animals. Below the walkway, visitors could explore a native wetland on foot or by kayak, depending on the rise and fall of the river.

RENDERINGS COURTESY STUDIO GANG

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She stresses that it is a concept and not a detailed plan. “When I look at that concept, I see a set of small, elegant, connected moves along the entire riverfront with an emphasis on connections and a de-emphasis on any one big, bold stroke,” Coletta says. “Not one silver bullet that’s going to save our riverfront, but rather understanding that the power of a riverfront is the connectedness and the continuous. That’s one reason we changed our name, to reflect that.” Coletta sees the concept developing on different levels and at different speeds as important to doing it right. Some elements can be built or adapted fairly quickly, others will require a bit more time, and more ambitious projects may be years down the road. “There are small tweaks design-wise, small tweaks operation-wise, and certainly a lot more activation this summer,” she says. “You’ll start to see things immediately on the riverfront. We also think that there are certain aspects of the riverfront that we need to do, and we need to do right and completely.” One such priority for her is slowing traffic on Riverside Drive, traffic that has, she says, knocked down six light poles and a fence in six months and which does not augur well for increased pedestrian activity. “We need to think what will deliver an experience that people recognize as a significantly elevated experience,” she says. “I also think if you look at the way Shelby Farms developed, first some of the adventure aspect, then they did the playground, then they did the lake. They bought time for themselves, and let people enjoy the park in the near term, while they took away the lake to make something much bigger. I think we need to use

that same sort of strategy as we work through the riverfront. Here’s an example: We could do, with the help of the city of Memphis, a street bike connection to MLK/Riverside Park much sooner than we could do a riverfront connection. Ultimately, we want a riverfront connection, but I’ll take a street option to get that connection between MLK/Riverside Park and Big River Crossing and the heart of downtown.” The city of Memphis is the key partner for the re-christened and re-energized Memphis River Parks Partnership. “Our new name reflects the fact we’ve got to work in partnership with the city of Memphis and the citizens of Memphis,” she says. “So I do think that concept telegraphs a future in some ways that are more specific than most concepts.” Coletta says it’s a long list of partners. “First of all, the city of Memphis owns the land,” she says. “We steward it for them on behalf of the citizens of Memphis. Because Memphians still make up the majority of the county, I think we also have an opportunity to be partners with county government, and I look forward to that. I think the county deserves great credit for the investment they made in Shelby Farms. That raised the bar for everybody. And there are the state and federal governments. But beyond that, as far as I’m concerned, everybody in this region has a stake in what happens downtown and the riverfront. I did some on-site surveying of people in Tom Lee Park and on the bluff walk for the concept. We had 4,000 surveys come in, and it was amazing to me. We plotted where everyone lived, and they live all over the area.” Beyond the recreational users, there are businesses and residents downtown and in neighborhoods north and

PHOTOGRAPH BY JON W. SPARKS

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Carol Coletta’s office gives a grand view of her mandate. As the new president of the Memphis River Parks Partnership, she is keen on getting the ambitious concept by Studio Gang under way, one that, as the plan says, “connects assets along the river, the riverfront to the city (downtown and the neighborhoods and beyond) and people with each other.”

“When I look at that concept [by the Studio Gang], I see a set of small, elegant, connected moves along the entire riverfront with an emphasis on connections and a de-emphasis on any one big, bold stroke. Not one silver bullet that’s going to save our riverfront, but rather understanding that the power of a riverfront is the connectedness and the continuous.“—Carol Coletta

south. “People feel kinship,” she says. “They want to volunteer. So it’s beyond our governmental partners and our donor partners. People are seeing a transformed riverfront as something that will bring new value to their business or their real estate investment or their home, or their neighborhood. That’s what happens when you run something that is owned by everybody.” Coletta is a senior fellow with the Kresge Foundation, a former vice president of Community and National Initiatives for the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, led the two-year start-up of ArtPlace, and was president and CEO of CEOs for Cities. She’s been on the board of the River Parks Partnership for two years, but was involved with it when it was created in 2000. “That was early in my consulting life,” she says. “When I came back home two years ago, I saw that we were stalled. I felt like our riverfront was the jewel waiting to be claimed.” Kresge funded travel for Coletta and some of the staff to visit riverfronts in three cities — Chicago, Philadelphia, and Detroit — to see ways to make the one in Memphis work. More support came along

and last year, RDC’s longtime president Benny Lendermon decided to retire, saying a new staff would be needed to carry out the ambitious concept. Coletta was on the board and was approached about taking the job. “Yes, we needed to make a beautiful riverfront,” she says. “Yes, we needed to carry out the Studio Gang concept. But my question was: Can we make this catalytic for the city, the county, and the region, and most especially for downtown and north Memphis and south Memphis adjacent to the riverfront? That’s where it got interesting to me. The riverfront is sort of the power we haven’t claimed. It’s linear. It goes north and south. So can you make downtown connected to north and south Memphis in a way that takes the growing momentum of downtown and push it not just east, which I love, yay, but push it also north and south?” It’s a grand ambition — and a tough haul. “Nobody’s done this,” she says, “but if we could, we‘d be on the map. Every urbanist in the country, if not the world, would be coming to Memphis, going ‘Show me how you made the riverfront an equity play.’”

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MAGNOLIA LIGHTING >>> Pam Whitfield Magnolia Lighting is a fullservice residential lighting store with four locations: Hernando, Oxford, Tupelo and Ridgeland. Pam WhitďŹ eld manages the family business. Magnolia Lighting is committed to offering the best selection of lighting, ceiling fans, and home accessories in the Mid-South. Most importantly we are committed to customer service and industry knowledge. We are grateful for every customer and we make it our goal to express that in the service we provide. Magnolia Lighting is your premier lighting store and so much more. HERNANDO: 470 Hwy. 51 North 662.429.0416 OXFORD: 2206 B. West Jackson Ave. 662.236.0025 TUPELO: 1730 McCullough Blvd. 662.840.8833 RIDGELAND: 314 New Pointe Dr. 601.499.0693 MagnoliaLighting.com SPECIAL PROMOTION

2018

FACES OF THE

MID-SOUTH

THE FACE OF

PAIN MANAGEMENT

MAYS AND SCHNAPP PAIN CLINIC AND REHABILITATION CENTER >>> Left to right: Moacir Schnapp, MD and Kit S. Mays, MD Kit S. Mays, MD, and Moacir Schnapp, MD, have been pioneers in the management of chronic pain for over 30 years. The physicians at Mays and Schnapp Pain Clinic and Rehabilitation Center are dedicated to providing state-of-the-art care for patients suffering from chronic pain. Continually certiﬁed by the Commission for Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities since its inception, it is still the only certiﬁed pain clinic within 500 miles of Memphis. The physicians' philosophy of care is to treat the whole patient by relieving

pain, restoring function and improving quality of life. That approach starts with taking a comprehensive and fresh look at each suffering individual. This unique multidisciplinary approach may include nerve blocks, physical therapy, and medical management, as well as psychological support when needed. Every patient is evaluated personally by a physician during each ofﬁce visit. "When the problem is pain, we're here to help, offering world-class care in the heart of the Mid-South."

55 Humphreys Drive, Suite 200, Memphis, TN 38120 | 901.747.0040 | MaysAndSchnapp.com SPECIAL PROMOTION

2018

FACES OF THE

MID-SOUTH

THE FACE OF

PET RESORT

WALNUT GROVE PET RESORT >>> At Walnut Grove Pet Resort we provide a full-service hotel, spa, and daycare for your favorite companions. Drive by and check out our brand new facility at the corner of Walnut Grove and Tillman. We believe that our experienced staff of Veterinarians make our pet resort the right choice for all of your family's boarding, grooming and daycare needs! 2959 Walnut Grove Road, Memphis, TN 38111 | 901.323.1177 | MyMemphisVet.com SPECIAL PROMOTION

2018

FACES OF THE

MID-SOUTH

THE FACE OF

PIZZA

BROADWAY PIZZA >>> Legendary Broadway Pizza, one of Memphis’ favorite family-owned-and-operated restaurants, was opened by Lana Jeanette Cox in 1977 at 2581 Broad. Third-generation family members now offer Broadway East at 629 S. Mendenhall. Elder family members raised in extreme poverty

ﬁnd it important that faithful friends “get their money’s worth and don't leave hungry.” Not just a pizzeria, Broadway offers salads, whole wings, ﬁsh, spaghetti, chicken parmesan, burgers; homestyle plate-lunch specials. Cakes made in-house daily. Call-in orders welcomed.

2581 Broad Ave., Memphis, TN 38112 | 901.454.7930 629 S. Mendenhall, Memphis, TN 38117 | 901.207.1546 BroadwayPizzaMemphis.com SPECIAL PROMOTION

2018

FACES OF THE

MID-SOUTH

THE FACE OF

RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE JOSHUA SPOTTS >>>

Joshua Spotts, a premier, top-producing Realtor® with Crye-Leike, Realtors, specializes in residential real estate in Memphis. Spotts uses his unique high-touch, personalservice style by accepting a limited number of listings and working diligently to ensure efﬁcient results are produced for each client. Spotts uses years of market knowledge, the latest technology, a well-deﬁned marketing plan, a cohesive network, energy, enthusiasm, and the excitement of a job well done to achieve great results. Crye-Leike, Realtors 6525 N. Quail Hollow Road Memphis, TN 38120 Josh@JoshuaSpotts.com (E) JoshuaSpotts.com (W) 901.361.4211 (C) 901.756.8900 (O)

SPECIAL PROMOTION

2018

FACES OF THE

MID-SOUTH

THE FACE OF

SECURITY

SECURITY ONE >>> Since its founding in 1973, SECURITYONE has become one of the largest contract security providers in the Mid-South and Southeast. Locally owned, the award-winning ďŹ rm has set the standard for delivering superior security services by providing cutting-edge technology and support to their clients. Their unparalleled 45-year reputation and recognition as security experts has led many Fortune 500 companies, government facilities and a broad spectrum of commercially owned and managed properties to choose Security One to protect their assets. 5685 Quince Road, Memphis, TN 38119 | 901.341.2017 | soisecurity.com SPECIAL PROMOTION

2018

FACES OF THE

MID-SOUTH

THE FACE OF

WEALTH MANAGEMENT

WADDELL AND ASSOCIATES, LLC >>> David Waddell Waddell & Associates is a wealth management firm led not just by one person, but by a host of talented people driven to see others succeed. Among our 20-member team are eight masterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s degrees and 23 professional designations, all put to service in providing families with thoughtful financial counsel. We commit to staying on the forefront of investment thought and personal financial strategies. We commit to being available to you, whatever the need. We commit to treating your situation with integrity and compassion. WaddellAndAssociates.com 901.767.9187 Locations in Memphis and Nashville SPECIAL PROMOTION

M A D E

I N

M E M P H I S

Logical Outcomes

Drayton Mayers is ready to come to the rescue. B Y

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Drayton Mayers

Drayton Mayers proudly proclaims it: “I’m a technology evangelist. I believe that technology, when used properly, can better our life and world.” And much like a crusader who thunders that evil and malware are ready to lay waste to our very existence, he takes his mission to those who need it, which is, essentially, everybody. Mayers is, as he like to say, the chief promise keeper, president, and owner of the Memphis franchise of TeamLogic IT, where the mission is to keep tech healthy for independent businesses and branches of larger companies. “Technology is wonderful, but it breaks. And it breaks at the most inopportune time,” he says. “We’re really in the IT pain relief business. There’s acute pain (‘I can’t do my job right now … fix me yesterday’), and there’s chronic pain (‘I need a new server … I need to be more HIPAA compliant’). So I hire the best pain relievers that I can find.” Mayers’ experts are experienced engineers he compares 58 |

to emergency room doctors on a Friday or Saturday night. Although, if you stand in the control center of the Memphis office, it’s the opposite of frenetic. Monitors silently update client info, and the engineers in their headsets murmur while slinging cursors and nursing a cup of coffee, relieving pain all the while. “It’s the way they’re wired,” Mayers says. “They know to triage. They know how to identify the pain point. They know how to fix it. That’s what they do all day, every day — pain relief.” What Mayers wants is for his company to be known as the best IT security and compliance company around. To get there

sometimes means defusing the enough to bet a piece of the farm, crisis first, before you get to say but not the whole farm.” They looked at franchises, he says, a proper hello. But at some point, Mayers and the client have the “And I could envision TeamLogic conversation where strategic IT being successful in Memphis.” plans are formulated and outHe also had a clear philosophy of the role of technology: rather comes discussed. “Technology has to increase revenue, reduce than being an unavoidable excosts, increase client retention pense, tech should be treated as through satisfaction, increase a high-performing W-2 employee efficiencies and productivity, eswho can bring a competitive adpecially in payrolls,” he says. vantage. And as an experienced “The evil geniuses,” he says, businessman, he can talk the lan“are truly evil and they are truguage to other business owners. ly geniuses. They’re hacking They, in turn, spread the word as, into stuff that you would think Mayers estimates, about 70 perwould be impregnable, and cent of his clients are referrals. they’re laughing at the securiJust as important to making ty measures.” Some companies the client happy is making sure may think they’re he takes care of too small to mathis own employter, but Mayers “Our success is “The evil geniuses,are ees. cautions that small predicated on my truly evil and they and mediumability to hire right, are truly geniuses. sized businesses to train up, to build are low-hanging up, to empower, They’re hacking fruit. “It’s like a and to literally uninto stuff that you smash-and-grab,” leash.” Mayers says. would think would he says. “They can He says that a key sell 10,000 medical component to makbe impregnable, and records or a client they’re laughing at the ing that happen is list or employees’ doing customer security measures.” S o cia l S ecu r it y service excellence numbers on the deep dark web training. “I think that’s 10 percent just like that.” of my technical payroll on trainSo TeamLogic IT deals with ing,” he says. “That’s unheard of.” the essentials: passwords, fireMayers also believes in seeding walls, phishing, reconnecting the future. “There’s a group of downed systems. The company amazing women called the Society of Women Engineers, Memis part of a nationwide network of more than 135 managed service phis Chapter,” he says. “They creproviders. In all, it manages close ated this robotic competition for to 30,000 servers and workstamiddle school students, and it’s tions nationwide. just phenomenal. We give monIn 1993 Mayers joined the ey to that. There’s also a great Cotton Council International, school called Tech 901. A good which involved lots of overseas piece of the money that started duty, and then became president that school came from our naand CEO of the Cotton Board in tional trade association called 2007. When he resigned in 2010, COMPTIA. It’s about jobs for Mayers wasn’t exactly sure what the future, and they are all techhe wanted to do, but he didn’t nology based. We have to start want to travel and did want ownimmediately, as young as possible ership of a business. He and his in order to get to where I think wife, Martha, had, he says, “saved we could be.”

PHOTOGRAPH BY JON W. SPARKS

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Nominate your local favorites Top 8 most nominated per category will make up the ďŹ nal ballot! NOMINATIONS: JUNE 4-28 | BALLOT VOTING: AUG 1-23 memphis flyer.com

The Office Jay Myers

Interactive Solutions, Inc.

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• • • PHOTOGRAPHS BY LARRY KUZNIEWSKI

At Interactive Solutions, Inc. (ISI), founder and CEO Jay Myers has an open-door policy. Walking through that door could leave a visitor confused — is this the boss’ office or is it part of a New York Yankees exhibit? Decorating the walls, several end tables, and Myers’ main desk is Yankees memorabilia, from light-up models of each iteration of Yankee Stadium to a hanging Derek Jeter jersey and several baseball bats. And so much more. The bats aren’t just for show, either. “Everybody’s got their hobbies,” says Myers, “and I like to play in these fantasy camps.” Myers selects one of the bats, than in ISI’s continued success as which he recently used at a Yankees camp to score two RBIs. “I a business. Myers remembers all too vividly the rocky start love baseball, and all this he had as an entreprestuff has accumulated over time.” At the neur. “I was workcenter of it all is a ing for a telecom f lip-up stadium company for a while. I wasn’t seat that Myers a telecommunirescued before the demolition cations guy but of the old Yankee got introduced to videoconferStadium. W h i l e Mye r s encing and helped 1 loves baseball, he to build up that part doesn’t just want to play of the business to about $5 million in sales. But then, for a in the fantasy camps; he wants to win. That drive to succeed isn’t lot of reasons, they fired me. On more apparent anywhere else my 39th birthday. I had two kids, 2

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1. ‘The Rookie” Baseball: Myers once met Jim Morris, the subject of the Dennis Quaid film The Rookie. Morris was a Texas baseball coach who, after stepping away from the game for years due to a terrible shoulder injury, was able to rediscover his talent and make his way on to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays’ roster at the age of 35. 2. Yankee Stadium Model: “I feel like a little kid,” says Myers, “but instead of a model railroad, I have these. They even have lights! This is the one that Babe Ruth played in. You can see when they made the transition, it was in keeping with the same architecture.” Myers has three different stadium models, each one for a different version of the Yankees’ home.

3. Yankee Stadium Seat: “This is a seat from the old Yankee Stadium before they tore it down,” says Myers. The seat crowns a display of Yankees paraphernalia, like photographs of players, baseball cards, the stadium models, and baseball bats. 4. Jay and Jordan Myers: Jay Myers calls ISI “one big family,” and that rings true two ways. He is dedicated to practicing honesty, integrity, and ethics in the workplace and in all the company’s business dealings. His son, Jordan Myers, who will soon be taking over the company as CEO, is a match for ISI’s entrepreneurial and creative culture. He moved to Chicago for a lengthy period, but the younger Myers has helped out at the company every step of the way,

a wife, and a dog to feed, so I had to scramble. I didn’t come from money or have a rich grandfather to finance the company. We had a few initial investors and I had to take a bank loan out to pay them back.” On top of that, Myers had to deal with melanoma and a supplier stealing from the company. Finally, one of ISI’s initial partners didn’t want to move to Memphis, so he had to be bought out. A tough start, but ISI weathered the storm and started its long road to growth. Myers credits an early surprise visitor as key to maintaining his focus in the tough early years. “When I first started the business, I got a call from Kemmons Wilson. He founded that little company called Holiday Inn. He didn’t buy anything from me that day, but he did provide me some priceless words of encouragement. He said ‘You hang in there, you’re going to make a lot of money in this business.’ Good old Catholic that I am, it felt like I’d been blessed by the pope. So I’ve always kept that photo of us, it’s been my good luck charm since 1996.” He found out about us after seeing an article in the Memphis Business Journal, and I thought ‘Why us? Why then?’ Maybe it was fate.” The success of his business isn’t about luck, though. One of the strengths of Myers and ISI over the years has been adapting to a changing landscape. “The way we made money five years ago is nonexistent,” says Myers, “so we have to be quick on our feet.” As an audio/video conferencing and integration company, keeping up with the latest trends in tech comes with the territory in order to be competitive. “As we’ve grown, we’ve been able to address different needs, whether it’s a hospital for telemedicine, distance learn-

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starting when he helped his dad load equipment into a truck back in the 1990s. 5. Presentations and Brainstorming: Sean Carter makes use of ISI’s versatile 10-foot touch-screen monitor. “Through this,” says Carter, “you have 40 feet of digital canvas. This is a 10-foot section, and for every 10 feet of presentation there are 10 points of touch, so everyone in this room could contribute.” 6. Tech Support Department: Everyone had learned (often the hard way) that technology can be fickle. Many problems are hard to trace and can’t always be fixed using the “turn it off, then back on again” method. But ISI remains on constant alert. “Here, we have all the data and content we need visualized in a central location,”

ing for schools that have remote campuses, and of course corporate places like FedEx or Autozone.” The main conference room at ISI is fully synced with Amazon’s Alexa, which projects content from company computers and phones onto a big screen and initiates video conferences. The system is designed to be as seamless as possible, making conferences and presentations simple and easy to start for even the least tech-savvy users. Jordan Myers, Jay’s son and a recent full-time addition to the ISI team, believes that’s an62 |

says Jordan Myers. “We have a video feed, support tickets, our Twitter feed, anything we need up on the screen. We’ve got a tiered support system. A call comes in here, and they kick it out to one of our support guys.” 7. Telemedicine Cart. Hunter Fitzgerald shows off the video capabilities of one of the telemedicine carts provided by Interactive Solutions, Inc. The device is present in hospitals throughout the Mid-South as an important tool in healthcare. It gives patients in rural areas access to healthcare and medical professionals they might not have had the chance to see otherwise. To ensure that technical problems never leave a patient in peril, the cart is designed to send a message to ISI’s tech support unit if the system detects a problem.

other of the company’s strengths: “We’re taking a lot of these parts and pieces and putting them together in way that makes sense for the customer. A lot of the custom programming and back-end to make all these pieces communicate is something we excel at.” The rest of ISI’s office layout is also designed for ease of communication. There are no isolating cubicles. Instead, low-cut walls provide an open environment between departments. A 10-foot-long touch screen on the far wall works either in an interactive presentation or a

brainstorming session. To prevent loud voices from carrying too far, ISI even installed a white noise machine in the ceiling to cut down on distractions. In the support department, a large monitor streams content from multiple sources, ensuring that technicians are able to see new requests coming in. ISI has its own warehouse where necessary installation equipment — TVs, monitors, cables — are stored. Finally, there is what Jordan calls the guts of the operation, ISI’s build room. “If we have anything going outside Memphis,” he

says, “we like to build it in-house to test it out and make sure it works before shipping it out on one of our trucks.” Over the years, ISI’s constant adaptations have led the company to a valuation of $25 million dollars. The biggest change of all, however, might be Jay Myers’ decision to turn over the reins of the company to his son. “These days, the people buying our products look more like him than me,” Myers jokes. “I’ll be taking a slightly reduced role, but I’m not going anywhere just yet.”

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P O W E R

P L A Y E R S

Construction “If you build it, they will come.” With that declaration, the construction industry could be said to operate. But a lot of meaning is in the simple statement. To “build it” is no mean feat. It takes the minds and muscles of professionals, skilled laborers, farsighted foremen, and multitasking managers. The structure exists on paper, but pragmatic hands are required to turn wishful thinking into a realized vision. In the Architecture category, we quoted Le Corbusier: “Architecture is the learned game … of forms assembled in the light.” So, who do you think does all that assembling? A construction site is one sure sign of economic progress. Whenever cranes dominate the urban or suburban skyline, you can almost hear the economic engine revving. A designer dreamt the city up. The POWER PLAYERS in construction put it on the map. JACK BEARDEN Vice president, Belz Construction LLC. Firm offers design, design-build, general contracting services. Focuses on healthcare, industrial, ofﬁce, retail, government, education construction. Clients include Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare, St. Jude, Nike, Saint Francis Healthcare, Campbell Clinic. LEED Accredited Professional. Member, Associated General Contractors, American Society of Healthcare Engineering, U.S. Green Building Council, Memphis & Shelby Co. Building Code Board.

H. MONTGOMERY MARTIN Founder & CEO, Montgomery Martin Contractors. B.S., Auburn. Firm specializes in retail, ofﬁce, healthcare, multi-family, hospitality, urban redevelopment, institutional. Clients include Shelby Farms Park, Rael Development, Highwoods Properties, Henry Turley Company, AutoZone Park, Kroger, CBU, Regional One Health, Dixon Gallery and Gardens. Board member, WKNO, Independent Presbyterian. Member, Kiwanis International, Urban Land Institute, Memphis Chamber’s Chairman’s Circle.

FRED GRINDER President, Grinder, Taber and Grinder. Firm offers general contracting, design/build, construction management, LEED-certiﬁed projects. Projects include The Crosstown Project, Rhodes College, Christian Brothers University, Wolf River Medical, Enoble Building, LYFE Kitchen, Hutchinson School, KPMG, Second Presbyterian, Presbyterian Day School, FedEx. Recipient, AIA Awards for Excellence for MIFA, Christ Community Medical Center. Member, Associated Builders and Contractors.

CHRIS MCDERMOTT Owner, Grinder Haizlip Construction. BSCE, Oklahoma. More than 30 years’ experience in the ﬁeld. Specializes in commercial, industrial, residential construction. Projects and clients include Wright Medical HQ, Grizzlies Sportsplex, Mellow Mushroom, Gossett Porsche/VW/Audi, Trinity Ridge Business Park, OrthoMemphis, Valero, FedEx, Cargill. Board member, Ronald McDonald House. Recipient, District 6800 Rotarian of the Year. Professional engineer, LEED professional, Leadership Memphis ‘03.

RUSTY LINKOUS President, Linkous Construction Company, Inc. Firm specializes in general contracting, construction management, consulting. Projects include Malco Theatres, Michael Lightman Realty, CBHS, Briarcrest Christian School, Lausanne Collegiate School, MCR Safety, Poplar Healthcare, FedEx, Highland Church of Christ, Financial Federal. Recipient, Platinum Safety Training and Evaluation Process Award; multiple Excellence in Construction Awards, Associated Builders and Contractors.

CLYDE L. PATTON JR. President, Patton & Taylor Construction Company. Firm offers services in general construction, construction management, value engineering. Projects include Harbor Town Landing, The Carrington at Schilling Farms, Civic Center Apartments, 88 Union Center, Centennial Garden Apartments Phases 2, 3, & 4, Fieldstone Apartments Phases 2-6, Memphis Cotton Exchange, Taylor Bend Apartments in Oxford, MS. Named Builder of the Year, MAHBA. Member, Memphis Area Association of Realtors, Lambda Alpha International, Associated Builders and Contractors.

JOE T. SAVAGE Owner and CEO, Metro Construction, a commercial General Contractor founded in 1981 that offers pre-construction, project management, design-build services. Specializes in commercial renovation and new construction of cold chain, education, historic, hotel & condo, industrial, office, religious, restaurant, retail projects. Projects include Memphis RISE High School, Graceland West Retail, Oxford Toyota, Frida’s Restaurante Mexicano, Green Mountain Technology, Chickasaw Country Club, Junior League of Memphis. ALLEN WAGNER President, Wagner General Contractors, Inc. B.B.A.,Harding University. Wagner General, a commercial general contractor licensed in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas; Diamond Level certified in the ABC Safety Training and Evaluation Process; business is the culmination of a dream to have a company where employees and clients are treated with respect and always dealt with honestly. TIM WEATHERFORD Vice president and area manager, Flintco, LLC. Flintco specializes in construction management projects for healthcare, education, hospitality, research, corporate clients. Clients include St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, FedEx, ServiceMaster, UTHSC, Baptist Memorial Health Care Corporation, Collierville Schools, Regional One Health. Recipient, Excellence in Construction Awards for Guest House at Graceland, West Cancer Center, St. Jude KRCC. Member, Associated Builders and Contractors, Memphis Chamber Chairman’s Circle. CHRIS L. WOODS President, Chris Woods Construction Co., Inc. Founded in 1985, firm services include general contracting and construction management. Clients and projects include FedEx, Memphis Shelby County Airport Authority, Bayer Crop Science, Main Event Entertainment, Olympus Corporation of the Americas, TAG Truck Center, Gill Properties, Tennessee Air National Guard, Memphis Land Bank, Lakeland School System, MGM Resorts International, ExxonMobil Pipeline Company, Baptist Memorial Healthcare Corporation, Indmar Marine, Brim’s Snack Foods, Brixmor Properties, Enterprise Rent-A-Car. Recipient, multiple Excellence in Construction Awards, Associated Builders and Contractors. Member, Associated Builders and Contractors, Associated General Contractors of America, American Institute of Architects, U.S. Green Building Council.

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F R O M

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The Federal Bake Shop

Employees once had a blast at a downtown bakery. B Y

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Part of a national chain, the Federal Bake Shop opened a Memphis branch downtown at 119 Madison in 1923. It soon became a popular place for hundreds of downtown workers to pick up doughnuts and coffee on their way to the office, or for shoppers to grab a quick snack during lunch. As you can see in these nice old photos taken in 1947, the exterior of the bakery was quite spiffy-looking, with its gleaming black, white, and stainless-steel panels. The interior was stark-white to the point of being sterile, but who cared about that when those glass cases were packed with doughnuts and cakes and cookies and plenty of other things to satisfy your sweet tooth? The place didn’t look quite so spick-and-span on September 26, 1955. Early that morning, an employee, Ben Batsel, fired up the bakery’s big gas ovens. A few hours later, he noticed that they had apparently gone out, so he looked inside, struck a match, and … BOOM! The blast from the buildup of gas knocked him and another baker across the building, send64 |

ing them both to the hospital with first- and second-degree burns. According to newspaper accounts, “the explosion was

heard throughout downtown Memphis. The glass front door and windows of the shop were blown out as well as all the windows in the rear. Glass was scattered for 100 feet up and down Madison Avenue.” Both men were lucky they weren’t killed, and they eventually recovered from their burns. After

a few weeks, the bakery was able to return to business as normal. But the changing face of downtown eventually closed the Federal Bake Shop. Following the death here of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, much of downtown became a ghost town. After struggling to survive — when normal sales dropped from $175 in the first hour to $50 for the whole morning — the bakery’s corporate owners decided to close in 1976. The store manager wasn’t happy with the downturn in business, as you might imagine, complaining that he was now losing more than $1,000 a week. “In the clothing business, that’s not much,” said Bill Fraser, “but for a bakery, it’s big. Business started falling off about a year ago. We used to have a tremendous birthday cake and wedding cake business. But office girls just buy one of something, and the only shoppers left are people who work downtown.” Memphis wasn’t alone. In other cities, Federal Bake Shops closed downtown locations and

ABOVE: The Federal Bake Shop in 1947. BELOW: After the ovens exploded one morning in 1955, the store interior didn’t look quite as nice. Within weeks, however, the bakery was back in business.

opened suburban branches. A company official said Federal considered that possibility here, but “couldn’t find anything suitable and so decided to close down completely.” Federal sold its last Memphis doughnuts on March 27, 1976. Newspapers declared, “The closing will be traumatic for the longtime customers, many of whom first entered the shop with their parents in the days when it was second nature to shop downtown and watch cake decorators at work.” Over the years, various developers have considered new uses for 119 Madison, most recently as an upscale coffee bar and café. Although those plans are still in the works, Brett Roler, vice president of planning and development with the Downtown Memphis Commission, says that “preserving this historic building remains a priority for the DMC.”

PHOTOS COURTESY SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS LIBRARIES

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