https://www.bizjournals.com/ – Feb 11, 2019

In our reporting, we often find interesting details that contextualize today’s Memphis and how it got here. In MBJ’s series, “Who Owns Memphis,” we use a recent commercial transaction as the basis of — and excuse to — dig deep into public documents to identify who, well, owns the city’s prominent properties.

A transaction no less exciting than the sale of a convenience store gets us into one of the busiest stretches of East Memphis. Poplar Property — an LLC managed by Rooziman Shah — bought a BP station. Shah is president of New Development LLC and Shah Investment and was the longtime president (and current board member) of the Mid-South Business Alliance.

Next door, a vacant lot (No. 2) is owned by GPD, a firm whose principals include fast food magnate Joseph W. Mirabile.

Heading west, a Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen (No. 3) and Regions Bank branch (No. 4) sit on land owned by the family trust of late Memphis Mayor Henry Loeb III.

Across the street, BCH, managed by Michael Baird, owns properties occupied by Steve’s Tire & Auto Service Center and Reflection Auto Salon.

The property owner of a location of Zips Car Wash (No. 6) is registered to James Burks out of Little Rock.

The Spirits Shoppe (No. 7) has been in the various, successive hands of one trust since at least 1967 (which is as far back as the Shelby County Assessor’s online reporting goes).

The largest land owner by acreage in this brief window of a map is Loeb Properties and its Erin Way Shopping Center, anchored by the likes of Huey’s Restaurant and Hollywood Feed. That center is currently undergoing facade renovations, with a $750,000 building permit pulled in November. Grinder Taber & Grinder is listed as the contractor and Warren Architecture as the architecture firm.

Sources: Shelby County Assessor of Property, Shelby County Register of Deeds, and MBJ research.

Credit: Greg Akers, Editor-in-Chief, Memphis Business Journal