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Welcome back to Bluff City Biz, where every Monday we speak with someone in the know about our top stories from the previous week. Follow along for insight into key developments and analysis of all things Memphis business.
This week, we’re talking development Downtown and in the Edge District with retiring business reporter Tom Bailey, who has left an indelible mark on Memphis journalism and the author of this newsletter. Thank you, Tom!
Downtown PILOT approved for proposed Butler Row development
 Butler Row would span more than two acres, including the intersection at East Butler Avenue and B.B. King Boulevard. (Courtesy of cnct. design)
Whenever Tom Bailey goes Downtown, he makes a mental note of the density on the sidewalks. A veteran business reporter with decades of experience covering development in the Mid-South, Bailey knows that busy, activated sidewalks are key to urban vibrancy.
“I get really excited when I see people on the sidewalk and it seems a little thicker than it was earlier,” Bailey said. “You want people on the sidewalks.”
A new planned development project from KRN Development, tentatively titled “Butler Row,” would develop 2.54 acres of South Main, including 1.5 acres of vacant lots.
Located at East Butler Avenue and B.B. King Boulevard, Butler Row would include ground-floor retail space, designed to promote walkability and a connection between B.B. King and the South Main Historic District.
“When I read (the project) includes one and a half acres of vacant space, I thought ‘Bingo,’” Bailey said. “You want people on the sidewalks, but the thing you don’t want is vacant surface lots. If they can fill one and a half empty acres, that would be huge.”
The Center City Revenue Finance Corp. (CCRFC), an affiliate board of the Downtown Memphis Commission, on Tuesday, Jan. 11, approved a PILOT for Butler Row, which would include 10,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space, 285 new residential units and a 300-space structured parking garage.
“That’s really what you want,” Bailey said. “With more people, there’s more energy and a sense of community.”
Edge District’s revival inches onto Union Avenue
 More apartments are likely to take the place of the Coleman Taylor Transmission being dismantled at 480 Union Ave. in the Edge District. (Tom Bailey/The Daily Memphian)
Atlanta-based META Real Estate Partners has been buying old industrial and automotive service properties in the Edge District for several years, including, most recently, Coleman Taylor Transmission.
In partnership with Gary Prosterman’s Development Services Group (DSG) and its affiliated PGK Properties, META paid $1 million for the business’s three Union properties, including a 97-year-old structure.
In its place, the Rise on The Ravine apartments could front Union Avenue for nearly the length of two and a half football fields.
“I’m sorry to repeat myself, but the Gold Standard will be when there are a lot of human beings on those sidewalks,” Bailey said. “Whether you’re Downtown, or in the Edge District or the Medical District, you want to see people on the sidewalks at all hours of the day.”
Aside from the planned Rise on The Ravine, other developers are investing in the neighborhood, including Henry Turley Co.’s Orleans Station, a mixed-use community of 350 apartments and commercial space.
“Hopefully that’s where (the Edge) is heading,” Bailey said. “You can have beautiful buildings, great programming, but everybody wants people on the sidewalks. It’s safe, it’s energy, it just means the world.”
More Bluff City Biz:
 Shelby County mayor Lee Harris (in file photo) said raising the pay of Shelby County corrections officers will help in the fight against crime. (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian)
Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris said the raises approved this month for 200 corrections center guards are being funded in part by fees the Justice Department is paying the county as it closes down a privately run federal prison.
A nine-page letter from Capitol Hill questions a central tenet of TVA’s pitch for Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division to remain the federal agency’s largest customer for electric power.
A $38 million federal grant will help with construction of the West Tennessee Veterans Home in Arlington. The 126-bed facility has been planned for years.
 A Memphis journalism giant signs off.
Like Elvis, Tom Bailey started in Tupelo and found his way to Memphis. He’s now ending a journalism career that spans four decades in the two locations.
Mark Herbison, who was instrumental in the work associated with the megasite, said they weren’t willing to accept just any project for the location.
This decision comes after tuition was also unchanged for the 2022 academic year.
After spending several months as a consultant, aiding WYXR in fundraising initiatives, Kate Teague joined the station’s full-time ranks.
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