Local tourism businesses have come up with some creative services to keep their operations going during a time when the COVID-19 pandemic severely restricted leisure travel.

On a Wednesday afternoon, March 10, someone without permission cut down scores of trees on the publicly owned Mississippi River bank below Martyrs Park, a parks official says.

The Design Review Board will meet in a special-called meeting Thursday, April 22, to judge whether a revised design for the 7 Vance Building fits in South Main’s historic warehouse district.

A Mississippi tree service owner says Steve Harvey’s wife, Marjorie Harvey, told him she had permission to remove the two large magnolias, even though they were on public land.

The permit is a critical juncture in the $60 million project. In an update for donors and potential donors Wednesday, April 14, park planners said the Tom Lee statue in the park will not be moved and will be a focal point of the park. 

Owner Dara Vongphrachanh said the Paycheck Protection Program loan and Our Beautiful Comeback Grant were “lifelines” for her business.

The Hyatt Centric is the city’s first hotel with a Beale Street address. It’s intended to be a mix of the old and the new, as well as a mix of the familiar and the unique.

WLOK seeks a $50,000 grant to beautify its buildings at 363 S. Second. And the owner of the planned Big River Market, a small food/coffee store, seeks a $60,000 grant to help prepare space at the corner of Tennessee and G.E. Patterson.

The Design Review Board approved and heaped praises on the design for the massive Walk on Union mixed-use development. But the board rejected the design for the $43 million 7 Vance Building, saying it might fit in Cordova or the suburbs but not in Downtown’s historic warehouse district.

Developer Tom Intrator plans to fill a vacant lot in the heart of South Main with a relatively tall, mixed-use building.

The Design Review Board gets details about “Building G,” a massive structure of 400 apartments, 27,000 square feet of retail, a parking garage and much more.

The new Board of Adjustment applications include a business that wants to produce ice cream in Whitehaven, a 3-acre self-storage business in South City and a 10-acre mixed-use development in the Medical District.

The Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest is back after sitting out 2020. 

Peabody Place will soon be getting a new tenant. But not in the space that ServiceMaster Brands recently announced plans to vacate.

With the economy recovering, local hotels and restaurants are hiring again. But are there enough potential employees to keep up with the increase in demand?

A 36-year-old construction worker fell to his death while helping renovate a building in the Cotton Row National Historic District.

ServiceMaster Brands will be relocating its corporate headquarters to Atlanta. Terminix, the larger of the two companies created in a spinoff last year, has no plans to move its corporate headquarters out of Downtown Memphis.

The developers of the Historic Snuff District plan a second, mixed-use building of six stories, 292 apartments, 420 parking spaces and 10,000 square feet of commercial space. They seek a tax incentive valued at $19 million over 20 years.

The existing PILOT on the center runs through December 2026.

The city plans to offer the property to developers once the sale from THM Properties of New York City closes. Demolition of the part of the city’s skyline is also an option.

There’s a new end of the line for the Memphis Area Transit Authority’s Main Street trolley service.

Salad Expressions will be wedged between the new URBN on Union buildings. The restaurant will open at 1308 Union, which formerly housed E’s 24 Hour Café.

The sales director for the Hyatt Centric offered journalists an early, sneak peek of the $75 million, 227-room luxury hotel that is nearly finished at 33 Beale.

The council votes next week on the further use of a PILOT extension fund already being tapped for $62 million for four Downtown parking garages. Meanwhile, one of the banks involved in financing the garages wants some more loan guarantees, which includes a proposed TIF.