Good morning, all. Welcome to The Early Word. It’s Wednesday, Jan. 26, and the Board of Adjustment should have a full agenda today, with a partial Whitehaven hotel conversion and a proposed parking garage for the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital campus on the docket. 

Rhodes College will begin its Literature and Medicine Zoom series with a lecture on Old English remedies. And the Memphis Grizzlies are playing the Spurs.

THE NEED TO KNOW

Shelby County Schools Superintendent Joris Ray prepared to cut the ribbon on the district’s new Medical District High School last August. (Daja E. Henry/Daily Memphian file)

Next period begins: The new Memphis-Shelby County Schools made some big moves Tuesday. First is its new name, bringing Memphis into the Shelby County Schools mix more than a decade after the Memphis City Schools voted to surrender its charter. Second, the board voted to close two elementary schools permanently, and though plans for those buildings are yet to be decided, there’s been talk that the property on Shady Grove Road would be sold. (Residential developers, are you hearing this???) Four other schools-within-a-school will move to new facilities, as well, and there’s even talk of needing a new high school in the future because of Ford’s Blue Oval City. What the board didn’t do yesterday was revoke the charters of two KIPP schools in North Memphis, seemingly due, in large part, to the fact that a former district administrator joined the charter network as its head only a few months ago.

The Blue Plate Cafe closed earlier this month and Sunrise Memphis is expected to rise in its place. (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian)

Sunrise on the horizon: It’s true what they say: the sun rises in the East. Especially when it’s a popular restaurant clearing up what will happen with an almost iconic East Memphis brunch location. The group behind Sunrise Memphis will open a new location of the restaurant in what was the Blue Plate Café space up until very, very recently. The menu should be very similar, if not the same, as the original Sunrise, and the East Memphis restaurant may just get a new patio.

Collierville college campus closing: When the University of Memphis opened its Collierville Center in 2015, it wanted to provide the suburb’s students with a convenient alternative to the college’s main campus. But a lot has happened since 2015, and during this past summer, the U of M asked Collierville leadership if it could reduce its footprint within the town-owned building. Now the school plans to close the Collierville satellite campus entirely at the end of June.

QUOTED 

“As much as I hate it, I think we are going to end up using existing equipment for all three elections. I’m leery about trying to change election equipment in the middle of the year.”

— Shelby County elections administrator Linda Phillips
Although a court order has been entered giving the Shelby County Commission final approval on funding for voting equipment, Phillips told election commissioners earlier this week that she doesn’t believe it’s possible to install a new voting system before any of this year’s upcoming elections. 

THE NICE TO KNOW

Whataburger, an iconic Texas restaurant chain, has pulled its application for a restaurant in Collierville. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Watching the Market: Gus’s might be gone, but Guthrie’s is pecking its moment. The Collierville Board of Mayor and Aldermen recently approved the Alabama-based fast-casual chicken chain for a new location on the south side of Poplar Avenue near Market Boulevard. In closely related news, topically and geographically, a Whataburger planned for the north side of Poplar, also near Market, is off the table, so to speak, at least for now. 

A tennis player prepares to swing on Colonial Country Club’s clay courts in 2020. Part of the club’s property will be redeveloped. (Mark Weber/Daily Memphian file)

Country club’s last resort? New “resort-type” living is headed to Cordova, as a long-term plan is put into motion. CCClub Holdings bought the Colonial Country Club in 2013 and closed the club’s north golf course with an eye toward redevelopment. Plans for the 170-acre mixed-use project includes a dense, walkable residential neighborhood, senior living, retail space and a hotel; already, more than half of the 50 residential lots have been sold.

Bartlett strip part of trend: A dilapidated, 50-year-old commercial building in Bartlett has been mostly vacant for more than a decade — but the owners say it will be occupied at 100% within the year. Dana McLemore Edwards’ father, Billy McLemore, built the original structure and operated it as McLemore’s Market and gas station for many years; now Edwards and her two brothers are in the process of renovating it. But they are not alone. A local trend is for strip centers to be renovated instead of being torn down and redeveloped.

WE’RE TALKING ABOUT

The 2022 Memphis Challenge volleyball tournament Jan. 29 and Jan. 30, being held at the Renasant Convention Center.

That’s a lot of volleyball. Good luck to all the teams and athletes participating. 

We hope you’ll join us back here tomorrow, right here, for more news and views. Have a great one!

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