Mike Todd

Mike Todd, president of The Edge Community Association, said the neighborhood got its name because it's on the edge of Downtown. Todd said he thinks it has a good location because of the general momentum of Downtown growth, which is why he started buying property in the area 10 years ago.

"I think it's sort of like the next South Main," Todd said.
...
Much of the residential properties in the neighborhood are mixed-use with living spaces above commercial, Todd said. His general contracting business, Premiere Contractors Inc., shares a building with an event space called Premiere Palace Ballroom and two artists' living and working spaces. The event space features a retro 1930s ballroom and is available for private parties and events.

Todd did some design work for Quetzal Internet Cafe, a new restaurant in the neighborhood. With it and the Hattiloo Theater, Todd said he hopes the new developments will add to the neighborhood.

The neighborhood has one successful draw already, Sun Studio, which sits at the corner of Marshall and Union avenues a few doors down from Quetzal.

"It never ceases to amaze me that there are people there at all times of day and night," Todd said.

But Mike Todd, The Edge Community Association president, said the biotech foundation is "moving toward establishing a good, permanent relationship with us."

Mike Todd, president of The Edge Community Association, a neighborhood civic group, said the threat of eminent domain contradicts what he was told about the cancer institute."We have participated in the Medical District planning process from the very beginning and have been provided assurances that eminent domain was not going to be used to take property over here."

The Edge Community Association's boundaries are Danny Thomas on the west, I-240 on the east, Jefferson on the north and Union on the south, Todd said.
...
"This would offer us federal protection from any future land grabs," Todd said in an E-mail to members.

Wolfe said the offer he got in January from a Commercial Tennessee representative for UT was less than half what he needs to move his shop to a new, comparable site."If they do buy it for what they offered, I'll be flipping hamburgers down on Union."

Mike Todd, president of The Edge Community Association, said his constituents made a persuasive case in public meetings that the master plan honor and preserve the neighborhood's individuality."They had kind of a large-scale urban renewal mentality for our area until we enlightened them about what was going on," Todd said.

Some of the plan's targets for new development in the district over the next 10-15 years:

500 to 1,000 residential units including single-family and apartments

250,000 to 450,000 square feet of office space

Mike Todd

PresidentThe Edge Community Association

Mike Todd, a downtown property owner and president of the Edge Community Association, said government officials were trying to make up for a deficit of parking spaces "on the backs of small business owners."

Mike Todd, president of The Edge Community Association, said the neighborhood got its name because it's on the edge of Downtown. Todd said he thinks it has a good location because of the general momentum of Downtown growth, which is why he started buying property in the area 10 years ago.

"I think it's sort of like the next South Main," Todd said.
...
Much of the residential properties in the neighborhood are mixed-use with living spaces above commercial, Todd said. His general contracting business, Premiere Contractors Inc., shares a building with an event space called Premiere Palace Ballroom and two artists' living and working spaces. The event space features a retro 1930s ballroom and is available for private parties and events.

Todd did some design work for Quetzal Internet Cafe, a new restaurant in the neighborhood. With it and the Hattiloo Theater, Todd said he hopes the new developments will add to the neighborhood.

The neighborhood has one successful draw already, Sun Studio, which sits at the corner of Marshall and Union avenues a few doors down from Quetzal.

"It never ceases to amaze me that there are people there at all times of day and night," Todd said.

Mike Todd, president of the Edge Community Association, says the moniker better characterizes the neighborhood's geographic orientation to downtown while also celebrating its "eclectic heritage and cutting-edge perspective."

The attention generated by the neighborhood's real estate has accelerated considerably as downtown redevelopment -- the light-rail extension on Madison; the proximity of AutoZone Park; UT's biomedical research facility slated for the site of the former Baptist Medical Center Campus -- has effectively surrounded the area.The CCC's plan for the Edge calls for the reconfiguration of the dizzy cluster of streets to enable increased storefronts on Madison, buildings designed for both retail and residential use, parking garages, and a 250-room hotel adjacent to historic Sun Studio.

The inevitable development of the Edge, hastened by Memphis' emerging status as a hub for medical research, is ultimately beneficial to the once-blighted area and for Memphis at large, but it will require deliberate action by artists and the city to ensure the continued presence of an art community.As the Sohos and South Mains of the world can attest, the casualties of redevelopment are often the very occupants who gave the neighborhood its distinctiveness and charm.Gentrification is predictable, so enlightened municipalities have established decisive means of incubating artists' activity and preserving cultural amenities as assets to redevelopment even while property values rise.
...
Todd says a proposal for Tax Incremental Financing status, where all taxes generated by redevelopment remain in the district to foster further growth, might be useful for "providing down-payment assistance for artists purchasing buildings or rent buy-downs."

Other means of retaining artists are rent control, subsidized studio spaces, or artist-relocation programs.

"This neighborhood has been somewhat of a no-man's-land between Midtown and downtown, and we want to bridge that gap between the Medical Center and the river," says Michael Todd.Todd serves as president of the Edge Community Association and owns property in the area.On Saturday, the association will hold its first Edgefest, featuring live music, art exhibits, an Elvis play by Sleeping Cat Studio, and a walking tour through the neighborhood."This neighborhood is unique because it's a mixed-use area, and we have a lot of grassroots-type businesses here,&q...

Read the full article

» More stories from Issue # 704

Mike Todd, President629 Monroe AvenueMemphis, TN 38103

Phone: 901-725-5625FAX: 901-272-0934