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Welcome to About Town, where we take a deeper dive into one area of the city each week while also highlighting the latest news, developments and back stories from Memphis’ neighborhoods. This week’s focus: Hickory Hill.
This time next month, work could begin on renovating a Malco movie theater in Hickory Hill into a $50 million entertainment hub.
If everything goes as planned, the southeast Memphis neighborhood could host outdoor movie sets, music recording studios, a sports complex, an indoor family theme park and a 150-room hotel as part of a four-phase project.
MVP3 Entertainment Group, ATWEC Technologies and Worsham Hotel Group are set to close a deal May 15 to purchase the Malco Majestic Cinema and adjacent 20 acres, located at 7051 Malco Crossing.
The property is appraised at $1.8 million and currently owned by Michael Lightman with Michael Lightman Realty Co., according to the Shelby County Assessor’s Office.
Marie Pizano, founder and CEO of MVP3 Entertainment, hopes to transform the Majestic Cinema into an entertainment center comparable with any in the country.
The company’s goal is to attract more film projects and musicians to Memphis through the additional entertainment space.
While the project’s potential appears limitless based on this past Saturday’s press conference, the redevelopment’s location is arguably just as important.
Shelby County Commissioner Eddie Jones attended the press event and said this project – if successful – could spur more commercial development in Hickory Hill and the surrounding neighborhoods.
“Most of the development we see is generally Downtown,” Jones said. “All of what they’re offering here is a good thing.”
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 Indie rock group Music by KOTA performs on a Felix Avenue porch during Cooper-Young Porchfest 2021 April 17, 2021. (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian)
Neighborhood leaders thought the tree-lined streets, where almost every home has a veranda, would be ideal for outdoor mini-concerts.
A nearly $3.4 million project is underway to install “mast arm traffic signal poles” at a dozen intersections along a six-mile stretch of Jackson Avenue. The city will place mast arms at more intersections as funding allows.
 Youth march during a Unity Walk against Violence at Hillcrest High School in Whitehaven in February. (Ziggy Mack/Special to Daily Memphian)
Leaders behind the walk are enthused by the strong community support during the first two events in Downtown Memphis and Whitehaven.
Crime impacts neighborhoods across the city. From Frayser to Whitehaven, community leaders discuss how to address the problem and the causes that contribute to it.
Plans to build a 49-mile pipeline to transport crude oil from southwest Memphis to another pipeline at a connecting point near Byhalia, Mississippi, have run into delays on a couple of different fronts.
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