Crosstown Development Layout

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Visiting Whitehaven on the King's Birthday

I've spent part of the last two days traveling around Whitehaven. I think it's a fascinating area of the city, and far less blighted than its reputation in certain quarters. I tend to think that this neighborhood is a good gauge for the city as a whole in the future.

It's easy to imagine that Midtown, East Memphis, and even Downtown will remain stable communities years into the future. It's similarly easy to imagine areas like Hickory Hill, Cordova, and Berclair becoming more blighted. If you were to tell me that Whitehaven is a uniformly unsafe and blighted community in twenty years, I would expect Downtown, East Memphis, and Midtown to also be less stable. If you were to tell me that Whitehaven in twenty years is thriving, then I would probably think Berclair, Hickory Hill, and Cordova would be stable communities. This is just a hunch I have. I haven't really thought about why I think so.

The future notwithstanding, it's entirely possible to drive around Whitehaven today and have no inkling that the area has any problem with crime and neglect (mostly this involves staying away from Brooks/Millbranch area). There are a number of quite fetching neighborhoods in great condition, as well as great retail options on Elvis Presley south of Graceland.

The Elvis Presley Boulevard commercial strip, from Graceland to Shelby Drive, is very interesting to me. You don't see all of the stores that would accompany big strip developments on say Houston Levee, but the stores you do see are well kept up. Whitehaven seems to have a good number of locally owned stores, which seems very healthy. The Southland Mall is a revelation to me. The mall is spotless. People walking for fitness greatly outnumber the lingering teenagers you see in every other mall in town. I saw maybe three vacancies in the whole complex. There is a great mix of local stores and national chains. Again, the stores are not as upmarket as those you would find at Wolfchase, but are well maintained.

Whitehaven's proximity to Downtown, the Airport, and North Mississippi bode well for its future. Massive development around Graceland, as well as investment in the concept of the Aerotropolis will hopefully in sure that most of the world's first and last impression of Memphis will be a good one.

Update: Since I wrote this post last night, the Memphis Flyer has a cover story on the plans by CKX, the company that owns American Idol, to redevelop the tourist complex around Graceland. Somewhat disappointingly, the article doesn't speak much to the state of the neighborhood itself, or how such an investment will help it. The southbound approach to Graceland, which is the one used by almost all tourists is decidedly more run down than the northbound approach, so any investment there will be good. The link to the Flyer article isn't up yet, but you should be able to find it here soon: http://www.memphisflyer.com/memphis/Content?oid=oid%3A37881

Also of interest might be this discussion from the Smart City Memphis blog last May.


At any rate, here are some pictures from my wanderings yesterday.

Whitehaven has a good mix of residential stock:

This neighborhood is on the east side of Whitehaven between I-55 and the Airport.



There are several new subdivisions with houses like those found in Olive Branch or Cordova.



The area just west of Graceland shelters some very lovely homes on gently hilly terrain. I believe the neighborhood is named Bluebird Estates. There is some infill going on there as well, which is a healthy sign.







If you've never been, the Whitehaven Branch Library at Raines and Millbranch is lovely. It's done in an Art and Crafts style, even going so far as to include Morris Chairs and Benches for seating with Mission Style tables, as well as appropriate light fixtures. The library manager very politely asked that I not take pictures of the interior, so you'll have to go experience it for yourself. The design lends itself to a certain quiet that one expects of libraries, as opposed to the Central Library, excuse me er...the 'Infohub' which makes me want to yell loudly.







In closing I'm including a picture of Whitehaven Presbyterian on Shelby Drive, which I think rivals Holy Communion Episcopal and Evergreen Presbyterian in its combination of lovely architecture and setting.