See Inside: The Bluff on the Highland Strip

"Extreme makeover Highland Strip edition is in full swing, and one of its future tenants plans to bring a piece of the Big Easy to the Bluff City.

In April, news broke that a new music venue and Cajun-inspired restaurant titled The Bluff had signed a lease at 535 S. Highland St., and now the owners are serving up their plans.

“When I came here, I was looking for another concept,” said Nickle Smith, one of the three owners of The Bluff. “I thought the space was so cool; me and Hudson [Chadwick] linked up; and here we are today.”

Smith, Chadwick and Austin Wallace are the three people behind the future music hall, restaurant and sports bar mashup. Chadwick also owns Rafters Music and Food and The Corner Bar in Oxford, Mississippi."

Read more in the Memphis Business Journal

Loeb Properties Looking To Develop Highland Strip

"Loeb Properties, the commercial real estate and property management company that revitalized Overton Square, is taking on a new area of town.

The Highland Strip, in the heart of the U of M area, is where representatives with the company are hoping to breathe new life. Representatives said they have renovated some of the existing buildings. They have added the fireball exhibit, right next to Newby's, and they plan to add more public art.

Business owners on the strip are happy to see renovations and changes on the block."

Watch & read the full story at Local Memphis

Highland Strip roars back with $350 million worth of projects in U of M area

"Those loud sounds coming from the Highland Strip last week included jackhammers, the beeping of heavy construction equipment and rushing traffic.

The roar of more and more Tigers — students from the nearby University of Memphis — should add to the cacophony.

The once distressed college district is fast re-emerging nail by nail, paint can by paint can.

More than $347 million in new construction and renovations will have occurred in the area between 2014 and 2018. That’s according to a list of 18 projects compiled by one of the new commercial developers there, Loeb Properties.

The total includes $204 million in public/private projects, mostly on campus, and $145 million in private construction just west of campus."

Uploaded by The Commercial Appeal on 2016-02-19.

Read more in the Commercial Appeal

The Bluff to bring live music, restaurant to Highland Strip

"A new music venue and restaurant called The Bluff is coming to the rejuvenated Highland Strip.

Remodeling of the 5,952 square feet at 535 S. Highland should start within a month, landlord Loeb Properties announced Monday.

The Bluff will include two downstairs bars, a large stage and green room, a 1,300-square-foot mezzanine with an additional bar, outdoor patio seating next to the stage, and another patio facing Highland that offers an outdoor/indoor atmosphere. The Bluff will have entrances on Highland and in the rear closer to the renovated, back parking lot.

Among The Bluff owners are Hudson Chadwick, who owns Rafters Music and Food and The Corner Bar in Oxford, Mississippi.

"The venue will feature live music including country and rock-and-roll acts appealing to nearby University of Memphis students and Memphis residents alike while also offering a great place to watch sporting events on the multiple televisions and projectors,'' states a release by Loeb Properties."

Read more in the Commercial Appeal

Giant 'Highland Strip' sign comes to district near U of M

Photo by Brad Vest / The Commercial Appeal

"For anyone standing or driving by Highland Street at Walker Avenue, there should no longer be any mistaking what commercial district they're in. 

A sign proclaiming the "Highland Strip'' now stands in bright red letters that are 6 feet high, 77 feet long and mounted high on the rooftop of the tight row of commercial buildings long known as a hangout for University of Memphis students.

And for the record, the font is slightly modified copperplate gothic.

Loeb Properties had Frank Balton Sign Co. install the letters on Friday. Loeb owns the two buildings underneath -- Whatever smoke shop and another space available for lease -- as well as other buildings the company has purchased on the Strip and in the University District over the past two years.

Neon outlines the inside edge of the letters, poised to be illuminated at night."

Read more in the Commercial Appeal

Great balls of fire! Public art adds to Highland Strip's transformation

"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."

Read more in the Commercial Appeal