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- The future of growth and reinvestment in Whitehaven, tonight on Behind the Headlines.

[intense orchestral music] I'm Eric Barnes with The Daily Memphian, thanks for joining us.

I am joined tonight by Michael Harris.

He runs the Greater Whitehaven Economic Redevelopment Corporation, thanks for being here.

- Thank you for having me.

- Pearl "Eva" Walker is among other things the founder of the I Love Whitehaven Neighborhood and Business Association, thanks for being here as well.

- Thank you.

- Along with Bill Dries reporter with The Daily Memphian.

We'll talk about things big and small going on in Whitehaven.

And there are big things like the movie studio that's been planned and is moving forward and, you know, we'll touch on Graceland 'cause we, you know, not because we have to but because we have to.

But there's also small things, and neighborhood-level things, and you know, street-level things going on in Whitehaven.

Before we kinda walk through all those and maybe I'll go to you first Michael is describe Whitehaven for someone who has not been to Whitehaven or maybe has driven through to Graceland, or driven through to a destination but has not sort of been in Whitehaven as it is.

What would they see?

What would they feel?

What would they experience?

- So I have this interesting concept that I, analogy that I like to use, and I say, Graceland is to Whitehaven as Disney is to Orlando.

Because you can simply go to Orlando and experience an entire experience without experiencing Disney or seeing Mickey Mouse right?

Well it's the same concept in Whitehaven.

Many people come to Whitehaven for the tourism and for Graceland.

However there's another layer that if you pull it back and it's a layer of excellence, it's a layer of strength, it's a layer of opportunity.

It's a community that has overcome decades of disinvestment.

It's a community that has a core group of people that will come together in times of crisis and band together to support one another and it does it as a 95% African-American community.

Our numbers are moving in a better direction, and it's a place where we're on the pathway to a vibrant thriving community.

- We'll talk about some of those numbers.

But I mean, same question to you Pearl.

What would people see?

You work at the, again, like the neighborhood level, the business by business level, and active in all kinds of things across Whitehaven.

What would people see, and feel, and experience?

- Some of the best food in Memphis in Shelby County is in Whitehaven.

I actually conduct a tour for Leadership Memphis, I'm also a double alumni of Leadership Memphis and on that tour, of course I include Graceland, but I also include the first Memphis Plaza building at 4466 Elvis Presley.

It's the headquarters for the CME church, but it's also the Office of Summit Management.

We know Summit Management as the Southern Heritage Classic, Reeves Law Firm is in that building, The Greyhound bus station is in Whitehaven.

The Benjamin L. Hooks Job Corps Center is in Whitehaven.

We have a golf course, we have some beautiful homes, and so it's just a community where people can live, work, and play and that's what I highlight during my tour.

- All right, let me bring Bill and we'll go deeper into all that.

But Bill.

- And the dichotomy, it, between people who come to Graceland because for the most part and I'm not saying anything that Graceland hasn't already said, but most people who go to Graceland are not Memphians you know?

And so Memphians know Whitehaven without Graceland largely.

Is there a point which those two meet, or is this kind of the way things are?

You used the Orlando example.

Does the tourism bubble ever meet Memphis?

Should it?

- Yes, absolutely and if I'm, can I answer the question?

- Sure.

- Yeah, I think that there's room for both.

It's just like an education.

You don't have to choose, you shouldn't have to choose vo-tech or high, or college bound right?

Well, you shouldn't have to come to Whitehaven and have the Memphis experience or the tourists experience.

And right now what I can tell you is that we're working together with Graceland and building better partnerships and engagement opportunities, and also working on opportunities to bring the rest of the grassroot leaders in the community together so that they can have a better relationship with Graceland, because we should be able as a community to be both Graceland and Memphis, and just say this is the beauty of Whitehaven.

- Pearl, Memphians come to some of the shows that Graceland has at the Soundstage.

They've had some pretty good shows, and as we come out of the pandemic they're booking some acts that are really turning heads.

So how do you get Memphians who are coming there to go to those restaurants in Whitehaven?

To have that experience that you talked about that you know about, to come out of the Graceland footprint and discover those businesses in that community?

- So one of the things that I do personally is on social media, on Facebook.

When I see things from the Graceland page, I always share it to my personal page and to the Memphis Raise Your Expectation Page.

So a lot of people find out about things happening at Graceland and the concerts at the Soundstage, and by the way Tower of Power is coming, it's gonna be a really big show.

And so they find out that way and then additionally, we have the, I Love Whitehaven Week.

And the I Love Whitehaven Black Restaurant Week and so that way we specifically target businesses and different activities that are taking place in Whitehaven, and we do really hard, really strategic guerrilla marketing to get people to come to Whitehaven.

So that's what we do within the association.

And we do partner with GWERC and other associations in the community to help us get the word out.

- Michael, your organization functions as a community development corporation?

- Yes we do.

- So what are some of the big projects that are involved and the incentives that come with that?

- Well, so we look at things from a different angle from most CDCs we're finding across the city.

A lot of other organizations decided to say we're gonna tackle community development, but we're gonna start with housing.

And for GWERC that wasn't the case.

GWERC chose to start with economic development.

And that's primarily because of the infrastructure we already have in place.

When you think about your Medtronics, your Smith and Nephew, your FedEx, your airport, Old Dominion, we've got business, and with tourism that other communities they just can't celebrate that right?

At this time.

So that's what we're using to move forward.

If you've ever driven from the airport down Winchester going from Airways to Elvis Presley, you'll see what that looks like now and it's just not helpful when you're talking about revitalizing a community, or you're talking about adding economic investment.

So what we've done is we launched a Small Business Exterior Improvement Grant last or in January, and what this does is we partner with businesses along these corridors to offer $5,000 grants.

These $5,000 grants require 20% match.

And I know it doesn't sound like we're talking much money here, but in certain areas we can then partner them with EDGE, to get an additional $12,000 to do an exterior improvement project.

Now, when we start making the community look better and actually feel that sense of community and pride, more patrons will now come and shop in your businesses when it doesn't look scary from the outside, and then this is also how we can then attract better or big, not necessarily better but bigger business opportunities to the community to strengthen that and shore that up, which then creates jobs.

And once we create jobs, the idea then is, hey, now that the people are making these great wages, have these jobs, now we focus in on how do we start transitioning these renters into homeowners?

And so it's just, it's a process over time.

But right now we're focused mainly on our exterior improvement grants, we're focused on our home-based business incubators, we've gotta build the businesses that we need to sustain.

If we can't attract the businesses right now, we're not gonna just sit here and say, well, we won't have anything, I'll make it.

So we'll go find the folks.

- Right, and Pearl talk about the unique combination of these local businesses that Michael has talked about.

It is a different combination and I know that some people have said, well, there have been car lots there so I wanna have a car a lot there where there's always been a car lot.

That's really changing because this is kind of a delicate combination at this point, in terms of the business mix that is on the major thorough affairs in Whitehaven.

- Absolutely, so what we, we look at it as this combination between the corporate partnerships as well as the mom and pops.

And so these unique businesses in Whitehaven most of them are independently owned.

That's where our focus is with the association, the smaller businesses.

The name is Neighborhood and Business Association because we believe that you're sustaining neighborhoods through attracting and sustaining these small businesses.

And so we were known for the restaurants, but we also have shopping.

I can manage every holiday in Whitehaven if I choose to, you have to be creative and strategic, and just know those specialty shops that are there where you can purchase a gift card, you can purchase apparel, jewelry and things like that.

So we, and in addition to the retail, we have marketing companies in Whitehaven that are independently owned, the newly renovated Southbrook mall, they have retail, but they also have an accounting firm, law offices, and the current Shelby County Register, Shelandra Ford, she just opened a satellite office out there.

So that's the third county satellite office that we have in Whitehaven.

So that just goes to the need as well as the uniqueness of things that are settled within the community.

- So how close is the momentum in Whitehaven to really being at the point where other people who maybe haven't considered it before, turn around and say, hey, there's something happening there and we want to be a part of it?

- I think we both can speak to that.

I'll go first.

Yes, so with promoting the I Love Whitehaven Black Restaurant Week, and the I Love Whitehaven Week, people are noticing Whitehaven.

So there were three new businesses that opened on Elvis, independently-owned businesses that opened on Elvis Presley Boulevard in the month of December alone so people are seeing us, they're hearing the buzz, and they're coming to see what we have to offer.

- I agree 100%.

As we continue to make this, to make these changes, to have these conversations, to continue to be creative, and dream big, and identify that just because this is the way it's been for decades, it doesn't have to be that way anymore.

Dream with us, let's grow, let's get big.

And I think what's happening is the momentum is there, we need the investment.

The investment is what is required at this time.

I think that it's safe to say the momentum is there.

If we had the investment of resources to help us with our business development and help us to fix up what we need to then to attract larger business, that will then help us be able to springboard into these new housing market, right?

So we can then bring new houses online, and we can really create that vibrant thriving community.

- What would that investment, comes from where?

Public, private, all the above?

- All the above.

- You mentioned EDGE earlier, which is the Economic Development Growth Engine, which does a lot of the big incentives and small incentives, they probably get a lot, over attention for the big, big multimillion dollar incentives they'll do to move a big, you know, warehouse, or a manufacturing facility, but they do these neighborhood-level ones more and more.

Where does that investment come from?

Who writes that check?

- So that's the thing, it's really, it's an everyone, it's kinda like a village approach, right?

You know, I was talking to some friends the other day and I simply said, corporations cannot bankroll this.

Like the amount of investment, my, our corporate partners through their great corporate social responsibility, that's awesome and the support that they lean and they provide, that just can't cover the numbers of what we need.

This is going to take some good government partnership and philanthropic partnership to make this work.

- There's been investment, and I think a bunch of this from the city, maybe city and county, and so, and they funnel money from other sources, but the, a new fire station, which some people might say that's nothing, well, no, that actually shows to people?

That there's this, like you were saying about cleaning up the exterior of a building, we've had lots of people on over the years from the Blight Authority and Neighborhood Preservation Inc. talking about the importance neighborhood level, you know, community development, people who talk about the importance of simple, but profound changes to the landscape.

That's another one, right, the city, the all, is it Elvis Presley Boulevard, the streetscape investment that, you know, for tourists or for locals going to one of the concerts we talked about or tourists coming in, that strip was not so great.

It looked literally like a strip but there's investment going on the streetscape.

What is, I think you had highlighted in an article that Julia Baker from our staff did, the Whitehaven Community Center, the Whitehaven Library, all those are public investments.

Are there more city county type public dollar investments that need to be made?

- You know, I think that, yes.

I, you know, let's just say we have issues in some areas where, and I know that it's supposed to be, could be a part of a larger project with the state, but every time we get a good amount of rain, the corner of Elvis Presley and Shelby Drive, Shelby Drive going west, two lanes of traffic are now taken out of commission and a cone is there, and you have one lane to go down for just a small piece of lane.

But we are flooded.

- Yeah.

- And if you go down to Elvis Presley, not Elvis Presley, Shelby Drive and Millbranch, Millbranch going north, that floods so bad the MPD has to put cars out, because people's vehicles get stuck.

And then going south it's the same thing.

So our community needs that type of infrastructure support as well.

- It is interesting.

I mean, I get some people think, well, that happens elsewhere, but people everywhere in Memphis are frustrated by that.

I mean, Jim Strickland, when he ran for mayor the first time articulated it well, people wanted government to be brilliant at the basics, right?

That was one of his, so things like that add up for people.

Let's go bigger scale to talk about BLP Film Studios.

It's a proposal for 85 acres, it would be the second largest black-owned, black-focused movie studio in the country.

What could that do?

Or what will that do?

It seems to be moving forward.

It's such a huge investment so, you know, nothing's done until it's done, but they seem that a lot of momentum, they seem to be pulling together the money and the plans, what would that do to Whitehaven?

- Well, to the earlier question about what would bring other people to Whitehaven, this is something that will make people notice Whitehaven as well a major film studio.

And the amount of land that is located on, and a lot of people don't know this about Whitehaven but there is a lot of still unoccupied land in Whitehaven.

And so we're just excited about it for everything that it's gonna mean to the community and especially the fact that it's gonna bring jobs and not only what it means to Whitehaven, but this is just gonna be something very special for Memphis, Shelby County and Tennessee to have a major studio here.

- I mean it has transformed Atlanta, people I know who live in Atlanta it's, the movie industry there, but Tyler Perry's, which is the largest black-owned film studio in the country.

And it's, you know, a lot of the Marvel movies were made there, are made there, all kinds of things are made there and it has transformed, I think it's the second largest place for movies in the country now.

I'll go to Bill, we got eight minutes or so left.

- All right, let's talk about residential.

How much care does there have to be in terms of new home construction in Whitehaven?

Because of the fact that you can still buy a home on a lot that's a lot bigger than it is in other parts of the city.

So it's not just any kind of throw it up home construction in Whitehaven.

- That's true.

Our homes have good bones.

And we have a lot of land that you get with it.

I think that as we evolve as a community, that we're gonna have to find ourselves in a situation and do things differently.

I think long gone are the days of people truly wanting to move to Whitehaven for the large ranch style home with the two-acre lot, that's a lot of maintenance and that's just, that's not what people are looking for.

I think that there's an opportunity for us to build new homes $250,000 and up, and really start to transform our residential layout.

I think that the need is there.

I think that the fund, that the dollar value is there, and I think that's just the direction we need to go.

Senior housing and just single family homes.

- And Pearl, homes sell pretty quickly in Whitehaven when they go on the block right?

- Yes they do, yes they do.

And in addition to the new housing, housing for, especially for young urban professionals who wanna raise families and the senior housing, so we have a aging considerable size about 25% aging senior population, and they want to go to senior housing that reflects the same quality of the homes that they have been living in for 30 and 40 years and so that's definitely a need but in addition to that we want the homes, we want the development to occur, but a lot of people in Whitehaven they want to rent, but there's not an option for new and modern apartments and condos.

And so that's something that's lacking as well.

And so we want the housing development, but we also need new apartments.

Most of the apartments in Whitehaven they are, they have been converted to subsidized residential facilities and that's just something that we don't want to increase.

We do have apartment complexes where the tenants don't rely on subsidies to pay their rent, but we would like more, new, modern, like I said dwellings of that nature.

- I think this is the case in really any part of our city that when a developer comes along and says an apartment complex, the first visualization that comes to mind to that are the apartments that were built in the '60s and '70s here which were current for the time, but which didn't really age that well over the years.

They just didn't hold up.

But to your point about as homeowners grow older, they may not want the yard that is the size that they had when they were- - Correct.

- In their 30s and even 40s, and so we're talking about more density in that place correct?

- Correct.

- So, what does that market look like?

I mean, is there enough available land in Whitehaven to do those kind of developments?

- I think so.

- I believe that it's there, you know, when you talk about bringing in apartments and the cost of turning the key, that's where I think we have a little bit of work.

To ensure that number one, when we do this we know that when we want these more modern, up-to-date apartment communities, that that's gonna come with a price.

Well, in order to do that and make that equitable for all parties involved, we have to do a little bit of workforce upskilling on the front end to ensure that we have a population of 31% within the GWERC boundaries, thirty-one percent make less than twenty-five thousand dollars a year.

Okay?

And so when I'm looking at how do I fix this?

How do I get people ready?

Investing in workforce is what it's gonna take.

Which is why we've taken this long road approach to not start with the residential piece, because there's just some pieces that we have to connect first.

- We talked a bit before this, and I hate to go on a negative note but you know, the whole country is seeing this big spike in crime.

Memphis is seeing a spike in crime, it, there's lots of theories and a lot of writing about it, some of it related to COVID, all that kinda thing, you had an interesting answer.

We were talking just for a minute before about crime and how you're not here to fight crime, that's not your job, but your response to crime and how you from your seat can help was.

- It's simple, be supportive of our law enforcement and all of our partners that are trying to do this work.

Be supportive of our educators who are trying to help shore up and really be there to support our children.

Support our community, but even more so as an organization we must invest in workforce development.

And that, we are doing that now through our job readiness workshops, in job fairs, we're partnering with Equus Workforce Solutions to try to develop this full cycle workforce turnaround process.

Because we have to get people upskilled and prepared.

Eleven percent of my population right now has no high school diploma, or what we consider unskilled.

So even in a perfect world, how am I supposed to get these folks employed to be able to turn that key on those new apartments?

So we've got a little bit of a room here, but we're gonna have to do some work aggressively with workforce.

When people, and this is just, think about it for yourself, you got a job, you're making good wages, you can provide for yourself and for your family, your environment is changing because of the economic development around you, imagine what that would do for crime?

The environment looks better because of the changes to our exterior improvements, we are creating workforce solutions, crime plummets.

- Just 30 seconds, same for you.

I mean, how, what do you see about crime?

How, like every community that's dealing with this spike of crime how is Whitehaven dealing with it, and what should it do?

- Well per the West Precinct which is on Raines Road, we still have the second lowest crime rate in the city.

- In Fair, yeah.

- And the recent, these recent occurrences, and even beyond that not so recent a lot of these crimes that are being committed in Whitehaven are being committed by nonresidents.

And so I have to support Michael's position about the workforce development is really important and supporting and sustaining small businesses.

We need to create jobs and sustainability for our residents.

- I put the pressure on you 'cause I put the time limit on you.

And, but I appreciate both your answers on both of that and didn't like ending on a negative note.

But thank you both, thank you Bill, and thank you for joining us.

Please do join us next week, we'll see you then.

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