New restaurants coming to the Highland Strip

Vacant lots and empty structures currently dot the Highland Strip. Buildings sit uninhabited and sidewalks have fallen into disrepair.

“They could put more stores aimed at college students and clean it up,” Katheryne Wilkerson, sophomore pre-nursing major, said.

The University of Memphis recently supported an application by the University Neighborhoods Development Corporation to utilize tax revenue for improvements to the Highland Strip.

Some of the vacant lots will soon be filled with new restaurants including a fast-casual burger joint, a bakery that delivers cookies until 3 a.m. and a new music venue.

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Improvements are coming to the Highland Strip

The University of Memphis is supporting an application by the University Neighborhoods Development Corporation that would improve the areas along the Highland Strip.

You can read the U of M proposal here: 

“It’s kind of dodgy,” sophomore Maya Benson said. “As you go on the other side of Highland and Southern, things get sketchy.”

The areas surrounding the university are full of empty lots and sidewalks that have fallen into disrepair. Some students agree the area would benefit from a facelift while others do not believe it’s decrepit or dangerous.

“It could definitely be better,” junior sports and leisure management major Stephen Rose said. “But they’re getting it where it needs to be.”

UNDC proposes that the redevelopment would attract new businesses and industries, which would increase property value and economic activity. Increased property taxes from such activity would fund future improvements to the university area with the remainder of the taxes going to the city and county.

Read more in the Daily Helmsman