The 901: Can Downtown Memphis handle the rise in housing demand?
Good morning, Memphis, where restaurant owner Peggy Brown brings her soul food restaurant back to its original spot on South Cleveland Street.
But, first, the housing demand in Downtown Memphis is rising, with units rarely staying on the market for an extended period — creating one of the country’s most competitive rental markets last year, our Corinne Kennedy and Niki Scheinberg report in their story for subscribers.
“We know that residential apartment occupancy is at about 95% Downtown,” said Paul Young, president of the Downtown Memphis Commission. “We know that demand continues to be high for apartments.”
With limited open space to build large projects in or around Downtown, adaptive reuse will play a large part in providing new units.
Corinne and Niki take a look at the progress of some Downtown residential projects in the works and how many more units the market can absorb.
Takeaways from FedEx’s first investor day
FedEx executives said the company will become more efficient over the next five years, eliminate redundancies across its divisions and grow revenue, our Samuel Hardiman reports.
The new strategy, "Deliver Today, Innovate for Tomorrow," would drive improved operating income and revenue over the next five years. It was announced during the company’s first investor day.
"We've built an unparalleled global network. And we are now focused on unlocking the value from the foundations," CEO Raj Subramaniam said.
Samuel gives us three takeaways that you should know from FedEx’s investor day.
Owner reopens Peggy’s Heavenly Soul Food
Twenty-four years ago, Penny Brown quit her job to open her first soul food restaurant, Heavenly Hash, in Millington. However, it closed shortly after because of building maintenance issues.
Now, while at the age of 73, Brown’s latest journey has her moving Peggy's Heavenly Home Cooking back to its South Cleveland Street location, our Porsha Hernandez reports.
"It makes me feel like I'm back at my grandma's house waiting for a good dinner," said Eric Dorse, who has been coming to Brown's restaurant for four years.
Who’s running in the 2022 suburban elections?
Candidates have begun pulling petitions for the Nov. 8 municipal elections in Bartlett, Collierville, Germantown, Lakeland and Millington.
The deadline to qualify for the election is Aug. 18, and the deadline to withdraw petitions is Aug. 25, our Dima Amro reports.
Dima provides us with a list of candidates who have pulled petitions so far for the election.
Former Memphis basketball player Emoni Bates transfers to Eastern Michigan
The Memphis basketball chapter of Emoni Bates' career has concluded once and for all as he will instead continue his career at Eastern Michigan in his hometown of Ypsilanti, our Jason Munz reports.
In 18 games as a true freshman last season, he came out of the gate strong, scoring a season-best 17 points in his debut against North Carolina Central in the Tigers' opener. After that, however, Bates struggled to adjust.
Jason breaks down his career at Memphis and his decision to transfer to Eastern Michigan.
The 901 is written by Ray Padilla, digital producer for The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at raymond.padilla@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter at @Ray_Padilla_.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: The 901: Downtown Memphis housing demand; FedEx's first investor day
