- (female announcer) Production funding for Behind the Headlines is made possible in part by the WKNO Production Fund, the WKNO Endowment Fund, and by viewers like you, thank you.

- A look at downtown Memphis, tonight on Behind the Headlines.

[intense orchestral music] I'm Eric Barnes with The Daily Memphian.

Thanks for joining us.

I'm joined tonight by Chandell Ryan.

She's president and CEO of the Downtown Memphis Commission.

Thanks for being here again.

- Thanks for having me.

- Along with Bill Dries, reporter with The Daily Memphian.

Well talk about kinda all things downtown, and I'll say a couple things up top, one is that you're not the mayor of downtown.

You don't have control of every single thing that is downtown, but you have input at Downtown Memphis Commission and the various associated funding entities and subsidy, or not subsidies, I should say, incentives and so on.

So we'll talk about a lot of things downtown, good and the bad.

And I will do a full disclosure.

While I don't live downtown anymore, I'm downtown five days a week, I love downtown, but downtown has challenges right now.

So let's start on the good side.

There are a lot of really great projects and money, you know, millions of dollars of money being invested downtown.

When you look at the positive side of the state of downtown, what really stands out to you?

- Yeah, I'm really excited that we've got three of our largest buildings with some pathway of moving forward and that people are really interested in bringing those buildings back.

I'm talking about the Sheraton, I'm talking about Sterick, and I'm talking about 100 North Main.

So I think that is going to be really transformational for downtown and help us to bring back some new life and energy into our downtown space.

I'm also really excited about this new contract that we have with a company called Block by Block.

One of the things that I keep hearing from agencies that I've met with and talked with about how we could be more attractive to businesses interested in Memphis or interested in downtowns in particular is how we deliver our clean services.

And this company will allow us to move forward and help enhance the work that we already do day to day to help keep downtown clean and safe.

- I think that's one of the challenges.

Again, as someone that had dinner downtown last night, I mean, I'm down there all the time, and I love downtowns everywhere, and I also travel enough to know that, you know, around the country, let alone around the world, but around the country, downtowns took a huge hit in COVID.

And Memphis' downtown was really, I think up and coming in many ways, had some challenges, really took a hit.

One of the things that hasn't really bounced back is there is a sense that there're more transient people around than it seemed like there was.

This is my anecdotal experience and what I hear from other people, and it is not as clean as it was.

And so go back to the services and what will come from that.

What will people see?

And we'll just stick with the services right now of this new vendor and then we'll get to some of the other issues.

- Yeah, I'm hearing really great reports from the new service that we have.

We've had it for a couple of months now.

They've already gotten started, and they're focused on cleaning, like picking up litter, doing landscaping, putting flowers in pots and things like that.

Things that we already did, but now we're able to do it on a larger scale because we're able to expand the team a bit and we have new tools to do it with.

So we've got street sweepers now.

We have power washing capability.

We did power washing a bit in the past, but it was limited.

Now we have our own equipment to be able to do it more effectively.

- And before I go to Bill, since I brought it up, the challenge of homeless transient people, we did a show, people can go to wkno.org or Daily Memphian or YouTube and search for "Behind the Headlines".

We did a show with the folks from the Hub and the really huge challenges in the work that they do.

But where is your role as downtown Memphis and what is your perception of there's just, it's problematic for people, for tourists, for people to come down to a restaurant.

I'm not saying they should be just put in a bus and shipped away.

I don't know what the answer is, but from your seat, how do you try to address the homelessness and transient problem in downtown?

- Yeah, so we see there be an uptick like in the warmer months and then a downtick in the colder months.

And our goal really is to do all that we can to help people get into services.

So we partner with the Hospitality Hub and we also partner with Healthcare Alliance and we do safety walks or wellness walks every two weeks.

And we try to get those individuals into service.

What's good about having Hub there is they have the location where people can go and get services.

And then the Healthcare Alliance, they help us because if someone is in mental distress or they're having issues where they can't make decisions for themselves, then we have medical professionals there who can make a call and decide that they need to go and receive services so that they are better.

- Let me bring in Bill.

- All right.

The DMC continues to run Beale Street on a day-to-day basis, and the City Council just recently passed something that is probably a milestone a lot of people don't think about.

And that is the historic Daisy Theatre, the old Daisy Theatre, a new long-term lease with the Beale Street Development Corporation.

And BSDC is giving up the master lease for the district.

What does that mean for the district?

- I think the one main thing that I'm excited about from the settlement agreement is that you will see the historic Daisy be able to be brought back in a different way.

You know, so there'll be an opportunity for it to be upgraded and renovated, which is I think going to be really impactful for the historical ambiance on the streets.

So I'm excited about that.

In terms of day to day how we operate in our role in helping to oversee Beale Street, it won't change much of what we do day to day, but I am happy to see that we'll have some new energy in the historic Daisy.

- Right, and the theatre just had an electrical fire not too long ago, but the City I think has long had a vision of that theatre being a place for the culture and history of the district, which has a lot of both going on.

- Yeah, I totally agree with that.

I mean, it could be a really special place for people to really learn about Beale Street and how it was developed and where it came from and how it came to be today.

So yeah, I'm excited that that is a chapter that has closing now, we're going to be experiencing something brand new right there at the historic Daisy.

- How did the spring peak go on the street this year?

- We had some really good traffic on Beale Street actually this year.

I think in terms of how it performed, I think it was pretty similar to last year.

And I think we're seeing some really good programming happening from what we get from the convention center, the tourism that comes in, even from the boats that are docking in Mississippi.

We've seen the tourists come from that as well.

And we just had Kicks on Beale, which was really great to see people listening to country on Beale Street.

And it's just a place where you can have all kinds of music and it's very authentic being there.

Country music, blues, jazz, anything there on Beale Street is just magical.

- Okay, not too far away, you mentioned the Sterick Building.

Definitely some signs of life there.

Some of the plywoods come off the windows.

I believe they're now lit at night, right?

- They are, yes.

They are doing some small activations too.

I went to an event there doing Juneteenth where they had a lot of people in their kind of like a popup market where people were selling some of their creative items, and it was really special to be inside of the Sterick.

It looks beautiful inside, can't wait for them to start renovations.

- Talk a little bit about the impact of that because people are probably thinking, well it's a skyscraper, it's offices, maybe apartments to go with it, some kind of mix like that, but it's just a big building there.

I don't think people understand that if you're in that area, you see tourists all the time who just come upon it, stop, and take pictures of it.

- Yes, it is a jewel.

What was it called, I think the Queen of the South?

It's a very special building and just having that building activated will bring so much foot traffic into that area and into downtown in general.

The more that we can have buildings occupied and open, the more that we can have people enjoying our great Memphis and Shelby County.

- Again, I talked about some of the things going on, you know, we've got investment in the museum, we've got investment in Tom Lee Park.

We've got St. Jude's spending millions of dollars downtown.

The cobblestones, the AutoZone headquarters, Civil Rights Museum recently announced, let's see, also AutoZone Park, the Redbirds stadium, $55 million in renovations.

So all these big investments, but they take a lot of time, 100 North Main you mentioned, the big office building is paused right now.

They're kind of going in before they go into their next phase.

We wrote about that recently.

Sterick will take a long time.

We know that from other big redevelopments like Crosstown or the brewery downtown and so on.

What can you do in the short term?

You talked about the cleaning, I mean, to sort of help spur activity because these big massive projects, as many as there are, they take some time.

100 North Main had to go into receivership, be bought out, like it just takes forever for impatient people like me.

- Yeah, yeah.

So I think one of the things we can do right now outside of cleaning and making things beautiful and more attractive is just inviting people to come downtown and enjoy and revisit the spaces that they've enjoyed.

And we can be planning right now for the rollout of the museum.

We know that it's supposed to open next year, the Civil Rights Museum is open, and they have other phases that'll open before the museum.

So we are building the runway right now for the opening of all those things.

So we're planning different activations and events just to get people excited about this new amenity that will be downtown.

And we always are, as a organization, bringing events and activities downtown, just like July 4th, which was an amazing return to have July 4th right back downtown.

It was well-attended, it was great.

- How much did the shutting down of the trolleys hurt downtown?

- Oh man, we really desperately needed the trolleys back.

I'm really excited to have a version of it back right now.

- The bus trolleys, the gas- - Bus, yes, that rubber tire, I think that's what they call it, the rubber tire, the rubber wheel trolleys are back and that's great.

We've gotta be able to move people downtown in a convenient way, have people park once and be able to hop on and visit different areas.

So I know I heard from businesses that it's really important to have the trolleys and people, go ahead.

- Are you part of those conversations with MATA?

MATA has many, many challenges, so I don't know what the highest priority would be, but again, downtown businesses will say, the tourist people will say the trolleys actually generated revenue, they didn't pay for themselves, but they generated significant revenue, and they were a big tourist attraction a time when parts of the street are not as active as they were before COVID.

I mean, is that a conversation you guys get into with MATA or you just wait and see?

- No, we are definitely actively in those conversations.

It's the highest ridership of any line in the MATA portfolio.

So it was just the most well-used line in general.

And we are absolutely in those conversations, definitely an economic development conversation.

There's millions of dollars of infrastructure right in downtown with that trolley system, and we've got to nurture, we need to lean into it.

- I should mention, we're taping this, this is airing a week after we taped because of my schedule, but a few days ago as we tape, the Sheraton, the convention center hotel that the city took over, it thinks it has a buyer for that, the Carlisle company to manage.

We've written about it in Daily Memphian.

What is DMC's part in this potential change of ownership, and what will happen with the Sheraton?

- So we have spun off a nonprofit organization called 250 that will hold the hotel.

So Council approved for us to hold the hotel in that nonprofit because the City can't hold a hotel.

So we'll hold it and we'll be overseeing it in a way while it's under the, well, the A&E portion of it before I think it gets into renovation.

- Architecture and engineering.

- Yes, I'm sorry, architecture and engineering.

I shouldn't use acronyms here, but yes, while it's in that period, we will hold it, there's a board established that will oversee that operation of it, but more directly, there will be a company that deals with it on a day-to-day basis.

- Bill?

- It's taking a little bit longer than I think was first outlined on this, is that having an impact on conventions that are being booked?

- We know that the sooner we can get the hotel renovated, the better for all of us.

We just need the hotel renovated.

But I also understand that these deals are complex and so you've gotta take the time to make sure that you are crossing all your I's and dotting all the T's, I messed that up.

[everyone laughs] But make sure that you're putting everything in place.

See, you don't wanna make a mistake like that when you're renovating a hotel.

- Right, right, and not too far away from that.

A lot of news this week as we record about possible plans to move the jail, build a new jail.

What is the DMC's involvement in this?

Because that's about 10 or 11 acres of new real estate in the downtown core if this happens.

- Yes, so there have been conversations where we've been asked, and I think that it would be important for us to be a part of the conversations moving forward.

I think of other cities that did this same maneuver, and being really intentional on how we backfill that is gonna be important, but yes, definitely, we are in in those conversations, and we're happy to be a part of it and participate and help be a thought partner around that.

- And I think you've told the Council that you see the jail moving out of downtown as an opportunity.

- Absolutely.

I think it's a great, a wonderful opportunity for us to unlock the potential of that area.

It is really near to our convention center and where the Sheraton is and Crown Plaza is.

We've got a lot of surface parking around that area, and I think that supports the use of the jail right there.

But if we could do something different there and reimagine that area, it could be really transformational for us.

But we've gotta be intentional, we've gotta have the conversations, we need transition plans and all that for it to be a huge success.

- This early in it with no definite plans made.

Do people still come out of the woodwork and approach you and say, "Hey, we're interested" if that happens", or do they wait until this is closer to a sure thing?

- Right now, I'm not hearing a lot yet.

I think people are just trying to understand what will happen.

I know that it is just seems like very early conversation right now, but I think there will be a lot of interest in that space, but I think people are just kind of trying to see what will happen, yeah.

- Talk about reimagining an area, and again, staying in downtown, FedExForum, and a new lease agreement with the Grizzlies to keep them here for another long period of time.

For people not as close to it might be surprised, it's not just about, the details of the proposals the Grizzlies and the negotiation with the City are not totally public.

But the gist is not just a new jumbotron and fixing the concessions and maybe changing some seats out.

They're also wanting a lot of improvements to the whole area so there's more of a district to infrastructure.

What is DMC's role or potential role in the negotiations and in the future of that whole area around FedExForum?

- So we're definitely in conversations.

We're not in negotiations with the Grizzlies, but we work with the Grizzlies very, very, very closely on just downtown amenities in general.

You know, we've got the traffic plan that happens with traffic flow.

So I think our job is to help bring those conversations to life with how we can improve just in and around the stadium.

We're definitely, again, in those conversations and thinking about how we can complement the arena area.

If you go to other cities, there are a lot of the arenas that have districts around them.

So the whole area is alive with activity and buzzing with activity.

And I think we want to help to be a part of that conversation to help bring that to life, especially with our connection with Beale Street as well.

- One of the challenges, you talked about the traffic plan and some of that's just getting, you know, people in and out of there.

Some of it, you know, there's safety issues, or certainly perceptions of safety issues downtown, right?

Sometimes a high profile shooting or a high profile kind of event.

Is downtown safe?

- Absolutely.

I'm really excited about the command center being downtown, and that is where we have more eyes on the street.

We just, there was just a story the other day about where they saw an individual with a weapon and they were able to intercept him before anything happened and he's been arrested and just dealt with that situation before it could turn into anything.

So I think having the eyes in the street has really helped, and seeing it in other cities work the way that it's working in our downtown, I think it's been really great and helping us to move things forward.

- Let me bring Bill back.

- And that command center is at Peabody Place and BB King, so.

- Absolutely.

- Which visibility is a big, it sounds like a small thing, but the visibility is really a necessary ingredient in this.

- Absolutely, having it prominent, you know, letting people know that we are here and we want you to know that if you are doing things that you should not be doing, we can see and we absolutely will be acting, well MPD will be acting when we see things.

I'm also excited that DMC, we have dispatchers inside the command center as well so that we can respond to some of the ancillary issues and be a very good complement to what police is doing.

So if there is an unhoused individual and it's not necessarily a police thing, we can get a call in from a citizen or we can get a call in just from anyone to say "We need some support here" and send one of our safety ambassadors over to check on that area and try to bring some relief.

- All right, we were talking about FedExForum and the Grizzlies, is there any scenario where you might foresee the Grizzlies running Beale Street as part of a larger district?

- I don't know that that is what they desire.

Again, I'm not in those conversations.

I think what you will see happen on Beale Street is that it continues to be just a special place for people to visit.

It'll remain an iconic street, it'll remain a cultural epicenter for Memphis.

And I think that that will be constant.

But I think also just around the area, we'll see elevation.

- Right, and Beale Street has always been known for its night life, but I've seen several iterations of this where the emphasis is to try to let people realize that the street has a daytime side to it too.

- Yeah, yeah, that's really important for us, you know, having events during the day.

Like we just had a dog parade on Beale Street the other day and it brought like families out, and when I'm often walking, just checking things out on Beale, I see families wanting to come and participate.

We've got a number of things for families to do.

You can go and get a soda, you can get, what is it called, root beer float at, ah, the name is escaping- - Schwab's, - Schwab's, right.

So there are things for families to do in the daytime and we're really trying to lean into having more daytime activities as well.

- With a couple minutes left here, the blighted buildings that, you know, Bill talked about plywood coming off the Sterick Building, there are other smaller buildings that are kind of blighted.

They don't look great, in great shape.

What authority do you have as DMC, even if a building isn't under redevelopment, to get them to clean up the storefronts in some form or fashion?

- So we rely on code enforcement to help us.

We also rely on courts to help us.

We have filed lawsuits on blighted buildings.

If we see the need for, if it's dilapidated and it looks uninhabitable to us, then we will absolutely file a lawsuit to try to, you know, light a fire onto the owner to do something different.

- Shifting to streets and sidewalks, I mean, some of the streets are in real bad shape, you know, when you're driving, when you're walking, you all don't, I don't think, have a budget for improving all the streets and sidewalks, but where do you have any leverage, if at all, to improve those amenities?

- You're absolutely right.

We do not have budget for streets, but we do have strong partnership with the City of Memphis and we bring those kinds of things to their attention.

And when we have issues, we share it with them and they're able to respond.

So lots of conversations about streets that are ongoing right now.

- One more, you know, incentives can be controversial.

Developers rely on them throughout the city, it's not just a downtown thing, throughout the country really.

And there are all kinds of tax incentives of various forms that help spur development in many, many cities and communities.

I think one thing we'll see pushback on is when a project sits and doesn't take off, you know, the [indistinct] had a whole bunch insiders will know from Daily Memhpian, a whole lot of buildings downtown, got a lot of incentives to develop them.

Not very much ultimately happened.

A lot of talk, no results.

At what point do you all pull incentives back from a project that just isn't getting off the ground?

- Yeah, the good news is when we approve an incentive, no money goes out, there's nothing that happens.

If the project doesn't happen, then the incentive never attached.

So it is a way for us to try to help bring a project to life.

But if it ultimately does not come to life, then nothing has been lost.

We have done our best to try to help bring it, you know, to like get it renovated, but you haven't lost anything.

So I hope people understand that it doesn't mean dollars have transferred to these projects that never happened.

It just means that they received the right to get an incentive if they were to do the renovation.

If they didn't do the renovation, then the incentive never really happens.

- In the timeframe you give businesses, does it vary by project or is there a set amount?

- It varies by project.

You know, it's based on what they think, when they think they're going to get started.

Sometimes they have to ask for extensions.

- All right, that is all the time we have this week.

Thank you very much for being here.

Thank you, Bill.

Again, we taped this a week ago, so if things happen downtown and we miss that, it's only because of the timeframe in my schedule.

But that is all the time we have this week.

If you missed any of the episode, you can go to wkno.org, YouTube, or The Daily Memphian and get the full episode, including past episodes on the school board takeover, a show with MLGW talking about things going on there.

All that is available at wkno.org, Daily Memphian, or wherever you get your podcasts as well.

Thanks very much, and we'll see you next week.

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