"Fireball Alley is the latest — and perhaps crowning — proof that the University of Memphis is finally getting one of those vibrant, walking-friendly commercial districts that tend to border campuses where students live.
The same developer that transformed Overton Square with colorful murals and sculptures has just installed its first public art in the Highland Strip. There’s more to come, said Bob Loeb, president of Loeb Properties.
“It makes the place special,’’ Loeb said of what the new installation does for the alley between the buildings Loeb Properties now owns on the Highland Strip.
“It’s not just floodlights. It’s a way of adorning the space and saying ‘This is special.’ And so the patrons’ experience over there, it’s different.’’
Over the past year or so, Loeb Properties has acquired 65,000 square feet of buildings on Highland, 35,000 square feet north of the Norfolk Southern Railroad tracks and 30,000 square feet south of them.
In addition to renovating buildings and parking lots and installing landscaping, Loeb is adorning the district with public art. The first call was to Bob Loeb’s old friend, Dallas artist Taylor Boyd."