Eighteen months later, sell half of the still unimproved acreage — arguably the least
valuable portion — for $3.7 million to an apartment developer.
Then make plans to develop, sell or lease the rest, perhaps making it worth another $8
million
That’s what businessman Rooziman Shah has done and plans to do with the
Southwind-area tract he bought in July 2020 at the northeast corner of East Shelby
Drive and Hack Cross Road.
“This is one of my top ones,” Shah said in describing where this real estate deal ranks
among the many he’s closed over the years.
His core business is owning and operating convenience stores with gas. Shah
estimates he owns more than 100 convenience stores, small retail centers and other
properties in the Mid-South.
Buckingham Farms apartments off E. Shelby Drive. (Tom Bailey/Daily Memphian)
That’s why he approached the vacant Buckingham Farms property’s longtime owner
about buying just the three to five acres fronting the corner of Hacks Cross Road and
East Shelby Drive.
The owners, Buckingham Farms LLC, declined to sell just part of the tract. So, Shah
bought the whole thing.
“I say, ‘OK, I may put a shopping center in front and on the back land I can put
something in the future’,” Shah recalled.
After all, he said, “Land values go up.”
Buckingham Farms LLC is a decades-old venture of several partners, of which Boyle
Investment Co. was a minority owner.
“We intended to develop it commercial but demand changed. Winchester sopped up
all the major retail for that neighborhood,” Cary Whitehead said, referring to the
heavy node of retail along Winchester Road between Tenn. 385 (Bill Morris Parkway)
and Hacks Cross Road.
Whitehead, executive vice president for Boyle Investment Co., added, “There wasn’t
demand (for retail) further south… The ownership group decided they wanted to sell it.”
Their now-defunct Buckingham Farms retail plan dates back 30 to 40 years, he said.
“That was the last property they had; all the other original investors died. The current
ownership was ready to sell.”
Which meant Shah approached them at the right time.
“I’d say his timing was great,” Whitehead said.
Because soon after Shah bought the 47 acres that had sat undeveloped for decades,
apartment developer Continental Properties started circling.
The Wisconsin-based company approached Shah about buying 24 of the acres.
Initially, Shah didn’t want to sell, thinking he could build his own apartment complex
on the backside.
But Continental’s initial offer of $2 million eventually grew to more than $3.7 million,
an amount Shah could not refuse.
The sale closed earlier this month, and Continental Properties has already started
cutting an access road to the construction site.
The future Springs at Buckingham Farms will offer 296 “luxury” apartment units.
Asked why apartments are just now being built after the land sat dormant for decades,
Continental spokesman Jake Meier responded by email, “Our internal market
research team is constantly evaluating markets across the United States.
“With Shelby County’s employment growth as well as larger employers such as FedEx
and Ford (Motor Co.) expanding in the area, it made sense for us to supply the
community with more housing options,” Meier said.
In the middle of Shah’s highly profitable deal-making were his brokers, Barry Maynard
and Frank Dyer of Gill Properties.
“It’s amazing that almost every commercial real estate developer has driven by this site
for years, but nobody looked underneath the hood,” Maynard said.
apartment developer for $3.7 million. (Credit: Gill Properties)
Shah already has approved plans for a 16,652-square-foot retail building with fuel
sales on three acres fronting the “hard corner,” Maynard said, referring to the
signalized Hacks Cross Road/East Shelby Drive intersection.
Shah’s already received offers of $2 million from potential buyers for the three acres,
in part because “it’s one of the few approved properties where you can build a C-store
after the city put the moratorium on C-stores” with fuel sales, Maynard said.
“We are either going to build it ourselves or sell to another developer,” he said of the
retail with gas.
In addition to the corner property, Shah still owns commercial acreage of eight acres
fronting East Shelby Drive and 7.5 acres along Hacks Cross Road, he said.
“We could sell today the gas station/strip center site for $2.5 million and the 15-16
acres of commercial frontage for $350,000-plus per acre,” Maynard said.
“So if you do the math,” he said, Shah paid $850,000 for the 47 acres “and within a
year the new owners created a property worth potentially up to $13 million.
“That’s almost a 1,510% return on this property,” Maynard said.
News Reported By: https://dailymemphian.com/
Art of the deal: Buyer deftly times purchase of 47 acres
By Tom Bailey, Daily Memphian
]]>Nighat and Rooziman Shah arrived in the U.S. from their native Pakistan with ambition and education, but they had to start over from the ground up. They began their pursuit of the American Dream by managing a service station in Memphis. Their hard work and dedication led to the purchase of their first convenience store / service station, and the beginning of Shah Holdings Group, a recognized leader in the development, leasing, and property management sectors.
We had the opportunity to interview Rooziman to gain some insight into his approach to business.
What makes a convenience store / service station successful?
Anywhere and everywhere you go, customer service is key. With good customer service, your customers will come back to you again and again. The store needs to be clean and have easy access. Convenience is key to a convenience store. Our convenience stores are good for the community because they give easy access to quality goods. Every morning we make fresh food, and every week we restock each location with new products.
Please tell me more about the unique difficulties and challenges in the service station industry. Nighat mentioned that those businesses are fast paced and have a high employee turnover rate. Can you tell us a little more?
Safety issues are a big concern for us, especially in the Memphis area. A lot of people are stealing. Last night, someone just walked into one of our stores, grabbed a bunch of lottery tickets, and ran away. In some areas, we’ve had to put up bulletproof glass. A lot of people don’t want to work in a convenience store or service station because they have to stand all day. It’s a tough job. Everyone is scared because of the safety issue. We try to pay higher wages to overcome these issues. It’s important that the city government takes measures toward these safety issues in, and around, the city. The government needs to fix the infrastructure and give incentives to small businesses to operate in areas that are left out, while making their safety a priority.
What surprised you most about doing business in the U.S.?
I’m always surprised to see perfect looking buildings being demolished to make way for new construction. A big part of what Nighat and I do is go around to different areas that have demolition needs. Instead of razing the buildings, we invest money remodelling and uplifting them. If a property is run down and boarded up, a lot of prospective buyers aren’t interested because they can’t see its potential. After we renovate, everyone is surprised to see what we have turned those properties into. We keep the initial structures of the buildings and restore them. We help these areas by not tearing down the buildings. In a lot of instances, the previous owners haven’t paid the taxes on the buildings, we pay for those as well.
Have you encountered anything that has been disappointing to you?
Crime is not what we had expected. In Memphis, that problem is getting a bit out of control.
What advice would you give to others who want to open a small business such as a convenience store?
If you want to run a successful convenience store you need to have the best customer service, keep it clean, and have easy access.
What is the factor that most contributed to your success?
Being hard working, and being honest with customers, as well as with myself.
When was the most challenging time in your journey, and how did you overcome it?
Challenging times don’t discourage me. I never say any is impossible. Initially, when you are starting a new business, it’s almost impossible to get loans from the bank. It can be slow in the beginning. I’ve learned that if you work hard and smart, you can get what you want. Nothing is impossible for a man or woman who is dedicated to success. America is the land of opportunity.
What has been one of your biggest successes, the one you are most proud of and remember the most?
My whole journey has been a success. I can spend time with my wife and kids, and at the same time have lucrative businesses. Recently, I bought land from Boyle for around $850,000, and then within 6 months someone offered me $4 million for it. An investment like that makes me happy.
If you needed to start it all over again tomorrow what would you do?
I’d go into real estate right away. Land is limited.
What are your goals for the future?
I’m 54, but I’m still going to continue with what I’m doing. Perhaps, I’ll expand my ventures into new areas. Gas stations yield the biggest return. We’ve recently worked on BeeHive Homes, a new senior living project in Collierville. We’ve also expanded to include some ventures in the hotel industry in Dallas. Whenever I invest in anything, my target is to get my return on it in two to three years.
What advice would you give to young people starting out in business?
I would tell them they need to work hard. If you work hard and are honest with yourself and others, you will be successful. Take your time. Don’t rush it.
In September, the Shah family sponsored a community barbecue contest held at a small
park in Rossville, Tenn. The annual community barbecue contest, Smokin’ on the Wolf,
was held from September 23-25. This was the Shah’s first time sponsoring the event as
they are new to the Rossville community, with two investments opening just this past
year.
The Shahs own and operate the biggest gas station in the area, the Rossville Express,
which features the town’s only Subway Restaurant. The restaurant has a small outdoor
dining space that has become an area destination for enjoying a quick meal. A tight-knit
community, Rossville’s Mayor Judy Watters has become a regular at the Rossville
Express.
On one of her visits to the gas station, Mayor Judy Watters personally invited the Shahs
to the barbecue. Rather than just attending the event, the Shahs wanted to contribute.
The Shahs thought sponsoring the event would be a great place to start. Since joining
the Rossville community, the neighborhood and city leaders have been very welcoming
and supportive of the Shahs. They wanted to share that same appreciation and
celebrate their new partnership with the city.
At the event, the Shahs met with the chamber of commerce, locals, police, and other
community partners. The family enjoyed food and live music. In the upcoming years,
The Shahs plan to continue their sponsorship, invest in city development, and welcome
those who join the growing Rossville community.
SouthernSun Asset Management’s employees flew well over 200,000 airline miles last year checking on investments as far-flung as Asia and Africa.
And travel this summer? Zero air miles. Zoom video chats occupy analysts.
Deep into August, the odd summer of the coronavirus has grated on the 26,000 enterprises in metropolitan Memphis, forcing many to figure out new ways to do old chores.
Memphis firms learn adapt to summer of the coronavirus
Davene Inc. relies on relentless phone sales instead of driving to face-to-face meetings. National Filter Supply assures clients its clean plant keeps the virus in check. Happi-Stores, long a testament to a Memphis family of retail entrepreneurs, opted to permanently close.
What’s going on in Memphis and America reflects the change in consumer habits, the decline of regular travel and extraordinary unemployment levels. Layoffs mounted after the April shelter-in-place orders were given by mayors and governors intent on shutting businesses considered nonessential. The effort aimed to stop the virus from infecting people in close quarters.https://a3eca09a70b0db306f16e4f7ad55f2d4.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html
By June, Memphis’ retail sector, along with the hefty tourism, hotel, restaurant and entertainment economy, were shaken to their cores. Only 547,000 metro Memphis residents were employed, marking the lowest employment level here in any June since 1995, while 73,800 people were unemployed.
No one calls what the nation is enduring a depression, though the 11.9% June jobless rate in the nine-county metro area signals a slow snap back to normal. Slow or not, might a recovery have begun?https://a3eca09a70b0db306f16e4f7ad55f2d4.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html
Last month, sales volumes climbed after the shelter-in-place mandates lifted and more people ventured into shops, stores and restaurants. Local sales taxes collected in Memphis and Shelby County totaled $36.8 million in July, about 31% more than a year earlier, state tax reports show.
Whether the surge shows a recovery on the way or a mere catch-up from the spring coronavirus lull isn’t clear. Sycamore Institute, a public policy analyst based in Nashville, figures catch-up. Sycamore experts say local tax rates rose in January, distorting comparisons to the year before. More on point: State taxes.Your stories live here.Fuel your hometown passion and plug into the stories that define it.Create Account
Tennessee sales taxes collected in Memphis and Shelby County dropped 21.6% in May and dropped 9.3% in June compared to the year before and finally kicked up to $87.9 million collected in July, down only 0.2% from the prior July. Whether Memphis can sustain the rebound into the autumn is an open question, Sycamore reported.
Both the city and state face similar economic winds. Overall, state taxes collected across Tennessee during budget-year 2020 totaled 2% over the amount state officials had budgeted for, which sounds good, but might not be a bright omen.
Looking out over the next dozen months, Sycamore analyst Mandy Pellegrin calls Tennessee’s economic outlook “uncertain.” In a report a week ago, Pellegrin says: “Several federal programs helped boost consumer spending and state revenue collections, but some of those programs have expired or their effects have dissipated. At the same time, temporary job losses may become increasingly permanent the longer the pandemic goes on – which would have a negative effect on state revenues.”
Facing the fuzzy outlook, Memphis firms have adapted. Hundreds of companies kept work-from-home rules intact and cut spending after the virus infection rate stayed high. Not all sectors were hit in in the same way. Here’s a look at how five small firms have handled Memphis’ coronavirus summer.
Expansion minded
Sure, fewer commuters are inbound these days.
Vacant parking stalls abound in Memphis’ center city. For instance, only about 250 employees arrive daily in First Horizon National Corp.’s 23-story skyscraper, instead of the customary 1,000 bank employees. Office staff are working from home primarily until the virus crests, a bank official said.
Less road traffic hasn’t slowed real estate investor Rooziman Shah. He just bought six Flash Markets to add to his East Memphis firm’s 100 or so Mid-South convenience stores.https://a3eca09a70b0db306f16e4f7ad55f2d4.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html
“We don’t know what’s going to happen with this economy,” Shah said. “Everybody’s struggling, but convenience stores, gas stations, we are doing pretty good.”
Shah said he is confident the near future will bring a virus remedy and a return to normal. And he wants to be prepared when the upturn begins. Seeing an opportunity in the low interest rates, Shah borrowed money and bought the Flash Markets for about $2.9 million, including the high-value land under the buildings. He’ll spend more on new canopies, signs, gasoline pumps, renovations and, for the store on Hickory Hill Road, a completely new building.
Normal and clean plant
Trey Cummings, general manager at National Filter Solutions, never slowed his plant down as the virus reared up in Memphis. The 24-employee shop distributes and services air and fluid filters. The devices keep unwanted particles out of offices, products and machinery in the region.
“On the filter side of things, we’re mission critical,” said Cummings, referring to the businesses whose employees stayed on the job after the pandemic began.
Food processors, for example, never closed. Demand for National’s filters stayed constant. What changed was the workplace.
Working surfaces in National’s plant are routinely cleaned with disinfectant. Employees’ temperatures are taken when they arrive. They are asked where they have traveled and whether anyone close to them has caught the virus. They wear masks. Most now work in two-member teams told to keep at least 6 feet away from other teams.
“Working in the teams has limited our ability to run more efficiently,” Cummings said. “That’s hit us on the profit side a little, but it’s worth it not risking a widespread situation in the company.”https://a3eca09a70b0db306f16e4f7ad55f2d4.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html
Not normal at all
When hotels laid off workers as travel subsided, David Dierkes saw the impact immediately. Davene Inc., a Memphis supplier of trophies and other awards, cut down to 6 hours per day in May for some of its 6 employees.
Dierkes, sales director for the family-owned firm, immediately tried to find new orders. Corporations such as hotel marketing-services giant Hilton Worldwide in Memphis buy the awards for recognition of worthy employees at company banquets. With hotels sidelined, he wanted to make sure other clients were aware he was open and taking trophy orders.
“We sell mainly business-to-business,” Dierkes said. “It’s uncertainty every day for us. We’re finding through the grace of God we’re staying in business with enough orders to keep us going.”
Before the virus, he liked to make an appointment at a client’s office and drive over. But many firms shifted to a work-from-home policy. He rummaged through his files, found home phone numbers, began dialing.
“I was trying not to wait for someone to have to call me,’’ Dierkes said. “We’ve been doing business for over 30 years. I’ve built up a pretty good library of that kind of (home contact) information. It came down to the old-fashioned working the phone lines.”
Revenue is down about a third from last year, though he said it could have been far worse. Hilton Worldwide eventually ordered awards. So did other clients including a big order from FedEx, he said, following its unparalleled effort to keep cargo moving around the world in spite of the virus.
Taking a Zoom meeting
It would be normal for Michael Cook to cross the ocean and land in South Africa this week, head to Seoul next week and be back in his Memphis office the next week.
Of course, normal work travel is a now a thing of the past for Cook, chief executive of SouthernSun Asset Management, which oversees $1.1 billion invested primarily in about 40 companies located throughout the world.https://a3eca09a70b0db306f16e4f7ad55f2d4.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html
Looking inside a factory, interviewing a chief executive and checking on supply lines were long part of normal face-to-face duties for SouthernSun’s seven globe-crossing analysts. Then the virus came on.
“We haven’t traveled since,” said Cook. “We tended to spend a lot of time in the plants and facilities of the companies we own in our portfolio…. One of the eye openers for us has been how we can do (our jobs) without the travel.”
Video chat systems such as Zoom are now a regular part of the work day. While the video meeting can drain people compared to meeting in the same room, Cook said, no one has backed away.
“The uniqueness of this situation is everybody is in same boat,” Cook said. “They realize you can’t travel. They can’t travel either.”
The virus came on as the 23-employee Memphis firm bought out a stake in SouthernSun held by a West Palm Beach, Florida, investment firm. Cook said plans to bolster SouthernSun’s Memphis infrastructure are continuing this summer.
Collierville merchant shuts down
Merchants close for many reasons. Richard Holley had only one: “We just can’t do it anymore.’’
Holley and wife Carol, had launched the Happi-Stores gift shop in 1975 in Memphis and expanded nationally. Years ago they sold off 41 franchise locations.
Then it all fell apart.
Carol, his wife of 60 years, recently died. Kyle, their son, came down with a bad tooth. He died. Shortly after the funerals the virus set in. Any idea of selling the business faded. After all, sales didn’t rebound in July. Holley was the only family member left with a knack for running the store. He was tired.https://a3eca09a70b0db306f16e4f7ad55f2d4.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html
He decided to close shop in September, a victim of the year of disasters.
Ted Evanoff, business columnist of The Commercial Appeal, can be reached at [email protected] and (901) 529-2292.
]]>Nighat Akbar Shah
Shah Holdings Group, VP and co-owner
“I am a dreamer and an achiever.”
“Don’t let anyone tell you, ‘You can’t do it,’” Nighat Akbar Shah said.
If people have told her this, she clearly didn’t listen. The VP and co-owner of Shah Holdings Group — which has a portfolio of about 600,000 square feet of gas stations, restaurants, and retail space in the Memphis area — Shah prepares and executes the company’s operations and strategic goals. She also ensures projects are completed on time while looking for opportunities for new development.
Shah also manages her own stock portfolio and invests in startups.
Originally from Chitral, Pakistan, Shah built a hostel for women there that can house 200 people. And when the coronavirus broke out, she helped finance the production and distribution of face masks to hospitals, business unions, and other places in Chitral.
Here, she’s aided the Mid-South Food Bank and is involved with the Junior League of Memphis.
What is your next big professional goal? To create entrepreneurial opportunities for young adults by funding new ideas. I have started this on a small scale and wish to take it to the next level.
What professional achievement are you most proud of? Success and achievement are very subjective. Completing my undergraduate degree with a perfect GPA, and a master’s degree in one year, while at the same time mothering two wonderful young kids and establishing a successful business, makes me proud. I would shortlist properties to buy from the Shelby County Land Bank before my evening classes at the U of M and update my kids’ very hectic schedule of tennis, voice, math, science, and everything in between for the next morning. I worked through it all!
What super power would best equip someone entering into your profession today? People entering any industry should have the ability to believe in themselves and cultivate a support system and aptitude for hard work. With real estate, one needs to be patient, because construction and development take their sweet time.
]]>MEMPHIS, TN—In a time when it would be easy to become complacent about charitable donations, Shah Holdings Group continues to fulfill their corporate giving goals. In September, Shah presented a check for $5,000 to the Mid-South Food Bank, with similar donations to other worthy groups planned for the future.
“When I was a child, I watched as my parents fed the needy, so choosing the Mid-South Food Bank as a grant recipient felt very natural to me,” said Nighat Shah, Vice President of Shah Holdings Group. She and her husband Rooziman were born and raised in Pakistan, moved to the U.S, in the early ‘90s, and now own and finance several businesses in the Mid-South.
“Food is a basic human need. We can’t survive, let alone thrive, without it. There’s so much food in the world, enough for the whole world’s population, yet there remain people who don’t get a proper meal each day. My husband and I try to do our part to balance the food distribution.”
The Mid-South Food Bank distributes more than three million pounds of food every month to people who struggle to put food on the table every day. According to Cathy Pope, President & CEO of the Food Bank, Shah Holding’s gift of $5,000 will provide 15,000 meals to children, families and seniors in need in our community.
Monetary donations are the safest and easiest way to help. All donations are used in efforts to access and distribute nutritious food throughout the Food Bank’s 31-county service area. These expenses include purchasing food, transportation costs, and warehouse supplies. Just $10 provides 30 nutritious meals to those in need.
Another easy way for the community to raise money to ‘Feed the Need’ in the Mid-South is by hosting Facebook Fundraisers. Facebook members can create fundraisers for their birthdays, to honor a loved one, or for a cause they care about. Once the fundraiser ends, Facebook sends the donations to the Food Bank with no fees.
If you prefer, donate online at midsouthfoodbank.org/donate; by Cash App $MSouthFood; or PayPal Giving Fund (search Mid-South Food Bank). Or, you may send a check by mail to 3865 S. Perkins Road, Memphis, TN 38118 or to P.O. Box 1164., Batesville, MS 38606.
Shah Holdings Group
3264 West Sarazens Circle
Memphis, TN 38125
Shah Holdings Group
MEMPHIS, TN—In a time when it would be easy to become complacent about charitable donations, Shah Holdings Group continues to fulfill their corporate giving goals. In September, Shah presented a check for $5,000 to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital® with similar donations to other worthy groups planned for the future.
“We chose to support St. Jude based on the kind of work they are doing,” said Nighat Shah, Vice President of Shah Holdings Group. “St. Jude is taking care of children, which is a very needed and tough job. We love to support them because we are parents as well.” Nighat and her husband Rooziman are parents to two teenagers. “Having healthy children is a blessing. We want to share that blessing so that St. Jude can continue its mission: ‘Finding Cures. Saving Children.®’”
The Shah’s $5,000 donation will help ensure that families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food – because all a family should worry about is helping their child live. While the average donation to St. Jude is $43, St. Jude welcomes donations of any size. Become a part of their mission by visiting stjude.org, sharing stories and videos from “St. Jude Inspire,” liking St. Jude on Facebook, following St. Jude on Twitter and Instagram and TikTok, and subscribing to its YouTube channel.
Shah Holdings Group
3264 West Sarazens Circle
Memphis, TN 38125
A local physician’s practice area and a personal experience converged to bring a new memory care concept to the metro.
Memphis neurologist Dr. Salman Saeed sees dementia and Alzheimer’s patients in his practice. But, his familiarity with those diseases extends to his life outside of work, as one of his own family members suffers from dementia and needs extensive care.
A few years ago, Saeed and his wife Ghazal began investigating dementia care companies. While researching options for her mother, who has Alzheimer’s disease, the idea to open a memory care-focused assisted living facility here began to take shape.
They settled on Boise, Idaho-based BeeHive Homes, which has more than 170 facilities in 19 states. The Saeeds partnered with local couple and entrepreneurs Rooziman and Nighat Shah to open a 21-bed BeeHive location in Collierville.
In the Mid-South, BeeHive has nine locations in Mississippi and in addition to the Collierville location, one in Knoxville.
BeeHive Collierville will be on Wolf River Boulevard on a roughly 3-acre site. The facility will total about 12,000 square feet when complete, and will serve as an adult daycare for about 10 patients in addition to its 24-hour residents.
Including the land and the facility, the BeeHive Collierville project will cost about $4 million and is expected to be completed later this year.
A second phase for the facility could add more licensed bed capacity if needed, Saeed said. But, one aspect of BeeHive’s model that attracted him was its emphasis on personalized care. So, the intention is to keep the facility small.
The largest BeeHive facilities are home to only 25-30 residents.
“The way they do interaction activities for their residents is somewhat different, a little bit more hands-on. … And, as this is a smaller facility, you have a much better employee-to-resident ratio,” Saeed said.
A couple other aspects of the BeeHive model are noteworthy. Their facilities have a few double occupancy rooms for elderly couples if both have memory care needs.
And, BeeHive has a software that family members can access 24 hours a day and see if a loved one had medication administered, when they had meals, and other care details.
Most of BeeHive Collierville’s staff will be hired closer to the opening date, but the hiring process for some positions on the management, administrative, and marketing side could begin this month.
Saeed and the Shahs hold area rights from BeeHive for the Memphis metro. And, their BeeHive holdings may eventually go beyond the Collierville location.
“After we finish this center and successfully run it, we are looking into expanding to different parts of the city and maybe North Mississippi,” Saeed said. “Once you’ve done it, then, a lot of [BeeHive] owners do have two or three facilities.”
]]>From Olive Branch north into Germantown, not a single gas station offers the convenience of easy, right-turn access for motorists driving north on Hacks Cross.
Which is a big reason why Rooziman Shah and his wife Nighat Shah this week paid Boyle Investment Co. $850,000 for 45 undeveloped acres on the northeast corner of Hacks Cross and East Shelby Drive.
They will likely sell off the northern 40 acres. But on the 5 acres nearest the intersection — and across the other corners anchored by Southwind High, a Walgreens and an Exxon — the Shahs plan to build and operate a BP gas station/convenience store as well as a 16,000-square-foot shopping center.
Building, acquiring, renovating and reviving convenience store/gas stations is what the Shahs do.
The Collierville couple owns more than 100 convenience store/gas stations and shopping centers and a handful of residential properties.
They’ve built their C-store empire on hard work, common sense and a vision.
Delayed gratification
They are from mountainous Chitral in northern Pakistan near the Afghanistan border. He earned a master’s in political science and worked in Pakistan for the upscale Pearl Continental Hotel chain.
Shah seized an opportunity to immigrate to the U.S. in 1997, but was challenged to find a white-collar job in part because of the language barriers.
Living in Atlanta, a friend told him he could get a job as a gas station cashier. “I thought that was better than doing nothing sitting at home,” he said.
Shah recalls working for $5 an hour 16 or 17 hours a day, 365 days a year for three years. With no car, he walked to work. He drank a lot of water. He made his own meals at home. He saved $30,000 over the three years.
He was driven from an early age.
“Even when he was in Pakistan, he was very young and he used to read famous people’s quotes and stories,” Nighat Shah said. “To keep him motivated, he would read those stories, like autobiographies and biographies.”
Becoming owners in Memphis
Shah returned to Pakistan in 1999, married Nighat, and they returned to the U.S., this time to Memphis.
The two of them got jobs at a rundown convenience store/gas station at Knight Arnold at Ridgeway. The Shahs also got an offer: The owner said if they would run the C-store and start making a profit, he would give them a share of the business.
Nighat ran the store from 5:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., then went to classes at Southwest Tennessee Community College while Rooziman took over the store until midnight.
Their plan to draw more customers into the store by selling gas and cigarettes at cost worked effectively.
“Within two months, I made the inside sales double,” he said.
The store owner gave the Shahs a 30% share in the business.
Growth mode
Rooziman Shah keeps a list of the properties they now own. The single-space list fills seven or eight pages displayed under glass that covers the desktop in his office in the Southwind area.
He has a knack for finding good business deals.
Here’s a couple of examples.
He bought for $375,000 at auction 65 undeveloped acres at a corner of Holmes and Malone. He spent $1.5 million to develop the 4 acres nearest the corner into a truck stop.
Before he could complete construction of the truck stop, he accepted an offer to sell it and its 4 acres for $2.1 million. And a national industrial developer already has offered him $1 million for the other 61 acres.
“I’m not going to sell,” Shah said.
Not long ago, commercial real estate broker Barry Maynard of Gill Properties spotted a closed, First Tennessee (now First Horizon) branch building for sale at 9034 Germantown Road in Olive Branch. He told the Shahs.
Maynard and Frank Dyer III have handled several dozen real estate deals since 2008, including this week’s purchase of 45 acres from Boyle Investment Co.
Shah immediately jumped on the purchase of the bank building. He paid about $450,000 for the building, and needed to spend only $100,000 more to convert it into a convenience store/gas station. He figures he invested only half of what it would normally cost to build a C-store at the site.
The location has a built-in customer base; the building is adjacent to a big residential subdivision. The site also gives him a competitive advantage to the nearby gas stations in Memphis. The property is just inside Mississippi, meaning the C-store’s fuel taxes are 7 cents less than in Tennessee.
American dream
The Shahs own or manage about 200 convenience stores, shopping centers and other properties in Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas and are among the largest owner/developers of privately held convenience stores in the Southeast, Maynard said.
“Rooziman is the definition of coming to America and building the American dream,” Maynard said. “He came to the U.S. with little and has amassed a ton of real estate and is one of the biggest privately owned gas station operators in the country.”
Rooziman Shah is earnest about the American dream.
He even embraces paying his taxes.
“I like paying taxes,” he said. “I’m proud to be able to pay taxes. It means I’m an American. … We need to give our share as a society.”
One day, Shah was driving down the wide and fast Winchester Road when he spotted something out of place in one of the traffic lanes.
As soon has he could, he turned his car around, returned to the object, turned on his flashers and got out of his car.
The driver behind him, furious about being delayed, honked his horn and glared at Shah.
“But when I picked up the American flag and held it up for him to see, he grinned big and gave me two thumbs up,” Shah recalled with a big smile.
]]>In 1997, Rooziman Shah mopped floors at a Blimpie Subs & Salads gas station.
It wasn’t the job he had expected. Rooziman came from Chitral, Pakistan. He studied political science and economics at the University of Karachi. He worked as a business center manager for Pearl Continental Hotels and Resorts, a chain of five-star hotels in the country.
Coming to America was his dream — and so far, it meant toiling at a service station in Atlanta.
“But he was optimistic,” said his wife and business partner, Nighat Shah. “He wanted to change his life.”
Twenty-three years later, that optimism has helped propel the Shahs to the success Rooziman imagined in South Asia. Through Shah Holdings Group and other LLCs, they have a portfolio of about 600,000 square feet of gas stations, restaurants, and retail space in the Memphis Area, with more projects on the horizon.
To understand how the Shahs reached this point, however, you must start in 1997, when Rooziman took the only job in the U.S. he could find.
The road to independence
In the hotel industry, Rooziman’s colleagues had often told him, “When I save money, when I get old, I will start my own business.”
The line gave him a thought: Why not now, when you’re young? Why wait until you’re old to start a business?
Rooziman knew he wanted to run his own company. So, in Atlanta, he worked around 18 hours a day. He saved money. And while it wasn’t the job he expected, he realized he liked the fast pace of running a service station.
“If I do it right,” he told himself. “Everything is going to be possible for me.”
In 1999, he flew to Pakistan to marry Nighat. They lived in Canada for several years — the two are dual citizens — and wound up in Memphis. In 2001, they purchased a Conoco gas station at Knight Arnold Road and South Mendenhall Road for about $25,000.
Nighat would run the station from 5 a.m. to 1 p.m. Then, Rooziman took over, so Nighat could attend evening classes at Southwest Tennessee Community College.
Six months in, they purchased two more gas stations.
When the Shahs had a son in 2002, Nighat worked from home, ordering materials for the stores, while Rooziman managed them. Often, he worked long hours, ready to go in at a moment’s notice.
“Gas station management is tougher than any other thing, because you have to keep it open, and you have one employee at a time,” explained Nighat. “If that employee isn’t coming, and you have no backup, you have to go and stand there.”
At one point, the Shahs owned 12 gas stations, and Rooziman managed each, constantly traversing around the city.
“I usually call him the Memphis Navigator,” Nighat said. “He can navigate around Memphis pretty easily.”
Becoming developers
Over time, the Shahs expanded from owning gas stations to property development. During the Great Recession of 2008, they purchased a six-acre property at Knight Arnold Road and Ridgeway Road in a Shelby County Land Bank auction, for $75,000.
After building up the location, they sold a portion of it for $1.4 million.
Then, at another auction, they purchased two run-down stores on Mount Moriah Road and Lamar Avenue for $150,000. According to Rooziman, each is now worth more than $1 million.
These days, the Shahs often finance others, and bring them on as partners.
“We started bringing in more partners,” Nighat said. “Instead of us just owning everything and having managers, our strategy of running this business was giving ownership to other people so they can also own part of it, and do work there, so that way they can give us money, and get themselves money.”
While the COVID-19 pandemic has slowed some areas of business — the Shahs received a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan and allowed for rent delays from some tenants — it hasn’t prevented them from moving forward with projects.
In early 2020, the two completed the purchase of a 20,000-square-foot property on Presidents Island that has a restaurant, grocery store, post office, and base for Standard Global Services, a Swiss inspection and verification company. Rooziman said he wants to invest another $400,000 to $500,000 in the space.
They have plans to develop a gas station, along with retail and restaurant space, on a 35-acre property they own at East Holmes Road and Tchulahoma Road. And, they plan to put a truck stop on their 65-acre property at East Holmes Road and Malone Road.
Careful to remember where they started, the two said they donate to various organizations, including St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the Mid-South Food Bank.
The Shahs provide aid to Pakistan as well. Nighat built a hostel for women in Chitral that can house 200 people. And when the virus broke out, she helped finance the production and distribution of face masks to hospitals, business unions, and other places in the city.
“We’ve been lucky, things went in our favor,” Rooziman said. “We’re happy to do that, because we can share success.”
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