The Pinch District took its name in the 1800s from a pejorative term for the emaciated Irish immigrants fleeing the potato famine (“pinch gut”). The Pinch was home to the city’s earliest Irish, Italian, Russian, and Greek immigrants, as well as Memphis’ Jewish community through the 1930s. Suburban expansion post-World War II decimated the Pinch’s population, and it has since struggled to maintain stability. There are hopes that the newly repurposed Pyramid, now a Bass Pro Shop flagship store, will anchor new growth in the area.
Projects include restoration of the Universal Life Building downtown, plans for multifamily units in Midtown, a new pedestrian bridge in the Pinch District, a Trader Joe’s in Germantown and the former Justine’s restaurant building in South Memphis.
Ideas for possible future redevelopment of the Memphis riverfront were on display recently as the City of Memphis and Chicago-based architecture and urban design firm Studio Gang presented concepts that would transform six miles along the Mississippi River.
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Overall population in Shelby County is projected to increase by 0.4 percent by 2020, and by 2040 the area is expected to grow by 33,000 households. Memphis 3.0 is charting how to meet that growth.
The Memphis Area Transit Authority is working on a grant application that could result in up to 16 new electric buses to add to its fleet, and one electric bus is being delivered this week for MATA to test out around town.
Beneficiaries of the Better Memphis Fund also receive job and soft skills training from the city’s Workforce Investment Network.
North Memphis, which has suffered from chronic public and private disinvestment, is getting an injection of capital with a $1 million grant and access to a larger $90 million financing pool.
As tenants prepare to move into Crosstown Concourse and the city unveils plans for the Bicentennial Gateway project, residents of the North Memphis neighborhoods of Klondike and Smokey City wonder what the impact will be on their longstanding communities.
As Memphis modernizes and densifies, leaders are coming up with innovative ways to grow with longstanding industrial tenants or coerce new development.
Downtown may be an unconventional choice for life with children, but these families are attracted to the home-without-boundaries that is Memphis' urban core.
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