Market Share: Penny Hardaway on economic development; project near Ikea

Penny Hardaway spoke of his love for Memphis and discussed the role he plays in the city's growth.

Penny Hardaway, University of Memphis men's basketball coach | Meagan Nichols - MBJ

Development near Ikea

Optima Partnership recently purchased 6.5 acres from Ikea, just south of the retailer's Cordova store. Ikea sold it to Optima for $1.6 million, breaking it off from the 35-acre parcel the store sits on.

Optima bears the address of the Olive Branch Hampton Inn, a property tied to local hotel developer Yogesh Purohit. The property is located between Market Farms Drive and Fletcher Creek, south of Ikea Way and northwest of Bellevue Parkway.

Penny talking impact

At the Greater Memphis Chamber's annual luncheon last week, University of Memphis Tigers coach Penny Hardaway was the final speaker.

Hardaway spoke of his love for Memphis and briefly discussed the role he plays in the city's growth.

”You have people on ESPN everyday talking about Court recruiting class, and that is our city, so I'm very proud of that,” Hardaway said.

In October, Dallas-based investor Doug Banerjee told the Memphis Business Journal that Hardaway's top-ranked 2019 recruiting class gave him and his co- investor Ari Firoozabadi a reason to consider development near the school. The two are partnering with local architect and developer Austin Magruder to renovate 78 vacant apartments at 3341 and 3427 Southern Ave.

New commercial lender

Florida-based commercial lender North Avenue Capital announced Dec. 2 it has opened its fifth office, in Memphis.

The company primarily makes loans for rural development projects, using USDA loan programs.

Credit: Jacob Steimer – Lead Reporter, Memphis Business Journal