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Welcome to About Town, where we take a deeper dive into one neighborhood each week while also highlighting the latest news, developments and back stories from Memphis’ neighborhoods. This week’s focus: Klondike-Smokey City.
The nonprofit group behind the Northside High School redevelopment project reached a milestone Wednesday, Feb. 16, with approval for a 20-year tax incentive.
The payment-in-lieu-of-taxes, or PILOT, was approved by the Economic Development Growth Engine for Memphis & Shelby County. The school, located at 1212 Vollintine Ave. in the Klondike-Smokey City neighborhood, has been vacant since Memphis-Shelby County Schools closed it in 2016 due to low enrollment.
Through the years, there were a number of well-known alumni of the Cougars. Hurdler Sharika Nelvis, Richard ‘Master Blaster’ Madison, who went on to play basketball at Kentucky, and James Wade, the coach of the WNBA’s Chicago Sky, all attended Northside, as did Juicy J of Three 6 Mafia.
Their footsteps will be replaced by a community-focused development.
Northside Renaissance, Inc., the group of area nonprofits and entities behind the project, hopes to convert the blighted, 270,000-square-foot building into a community hub with a variety of services for nearby residents.
Rob Moore, business reporter for The Daily Memphian, reported the initial story about the group seeking the 20-year Community Builder payment-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOT) agreement from the EDGE board.
“I’ve seen quite a few applicants go before EDGE,” Moore said. “Often, they’re corporations looking to expand local operations. There’s an industrial component to the work that they do. But this is a Community Builder PILOT. So it does things differently in that aspect, just that it’s a little bit more community-centric.”
Community Builder PILOTS are a newer type of tax incentive, created in 2015 to revitalize distressed neighborhoods. Binghampton Development Corp. was among the first organizations granted this type of PILOT for its Binghampton Gateway Center on Sam Cooper Boulevard and Tillman Street.
Northside Renaissance will purchase Northside High for $450,000 and plans to spend more than $71 million for remediation, demolition, site work, renovation and related costs.
The Northside High project is within one of two neighborhood anchors highlighted in the city’s Memphis 3.0 Klondike Small Area Plan. Other plans for the area include the Chelsea Greenline, roadway improvements and residential and retail developments.
The redevelopment project is the epitome of a neighborhood anchor, considering its proposed role as a community hub with affordable family housing, workforce development and technical training, Moore said. The 41 housing units would serve families making 50% of the area’s median income.
“I think it’s always a good idea to provide people with access to technical skills, because that often leads to good-paying jobs,” Moore said. “All the trained workforce that they’ll need for West Tennessee in Shelby County, we have an opportunity to cash in on that opportunity, as well. … I also really like the affordable housing component, too. Just based on that EDGE report, I know that the poverty rate in that neighborhood is really high.”
More About Town:
 In addition to the 26 interactive spray toys, the splash pad plans include new features, like bike racks, a drinking fountain and a covered pavilion with picnic tables and seat benches. (Rendering courtesy of Vortex)
Children will be able to play with 26 interactive spray toys, some shaped like leaves and sprouts and others shaped like garden bugs and snails, while learning about motor skills, water safety, socialization and cause and effect.
 Keatric Reed sits on the porch of his home in the Alcy Ball neighborhood of South Memphis that he purchased through the Alcy Ball Development Corp.’s homebuyers program. “Without them, at my age, I wouldn’t have been able to buy my house,” Reed said. “I will never go back to renting.” (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian)
The community development corporation bought and fixed up a home, incorporating it into its tenant savings program to help a resident save for a future home purchase.
Memphians who live below the poverty line were left without the ability to pay for damages, hotel stays and the replacement of groceries following the winter storm Thursday, Feb. 3.
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