The Urban Pioneers

For decades, the South Main area was lined with old, empty buildings. Then Terry and Phil Woodard brought new life to them.

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Editor’s Note: Shortly after submitting this article to Memphis Magazine, Linda Granell unexpectedly passed away, on January 7, 2024. We are grateful that our paths crossed with hers. Linda moved to Memphis in 2002 from Southern California, having been recruited as marketing director for the American Contract Bridge League. She made her home in the South Main area, including serving on the South Main Association’s board for a number of years. We hoped to get to know Linda better, but never got the chance. We knew she was excited to share this story with our readers, and we do so, now, in tribute to her. — Anna Traverse

Terry and Phil Woodard’s leadership of the 1990s renaissance of South Main Street began with Mae West’s bed. The couple lived in East Memphis, raising their three children and managing their businesses, General Plumbing Co. and Kirby Wines and Liquors. But they had an adventurous nature and found time for Downtown excursions, especially evenings of dining and theater.

On one of those evenings, they attended a Christie’s auction of old Hollywood memorabilia at the Orpheum. Phil left his seat for a moment. When he returned, Terry told him, “We just bought a bed.” To which Phil responded, “I guess we’ll have to buy an apartment down here to put it in.”

They trolleyed down South Main Street and found not an apartment but an entire building that had been abandoned for so long it had a tree growing from the basement through the middle of the rotted first floor. Unfazed by the interior foliage, they bought 508 South Main in 1995.

“When we did the renovations at many of our early proprieties, Phil was the architect and I did the finishes, just like we’re doing now,” Terry says. Phil wasn’t a card-carrying architect, but he was a skilled draftsman for their plumbing company’s bathroom and kitchen renovations. Building owners can draft their own plans for properties less than 5,000 square feet. “I made sure to keep my properties under that,” Phil says with a broad smile. “We wanted to design our properties our way. I built them all like I was going to live in them.”

The unanswered question: Who was going to live in them? Or shop in them or even open shops, given the decline of small retail?

The Woodards had fallen in love with South Main, in part because it was a chapter in Phil’s family history. His father, Bob, was an entrepreneur. After World War II, he learned about the GI Bill of Rights, a government program that offered veterans funding for education and training. With this in mind, Bob bought 517 South Main in 1948 for the Alonzo Locke School of Waitering, naming it for the Peabody Hotel’s head waiter. At the time, one of Bob’s other businesses was running the concessions at The Peabody — the cigarette girls, photo mementos for guests, newspapers, and such. A renaissance man like his son, Bob also had been leader of the big band Down and Dixie Boys.

Phil learned that 517 South Main was for sale. He, along with investors including Robert “Prince Mongo” Hodges, made an offer to the owners. Phil’s was the successful one. He later went to Mongo to explain why he had out-bid him. Mongo’s reply was that he was fine with it because Phil had “good juju.” The Woodards still own 517 and recently leased it to Chelsea Fly Art, a new gallery for the burgeoning South Main Arts District.

Many Memphians did not share the Woodards’ affection for South Main, still picturing the neighborhood as it was following the 1968 assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the ensuing riots: dark, deserted, and dangerous. In the early years of the Woodards’ restorations, Phil says, “No one from Memphis rented from us. The people who moved in were all from out of town.”

Their first step toward South Main’s resurgence was to consult with developer Mark Grawemeyer, who recommended that they join the South Main Street Historic District Association (SMSHDA). Founded in 1985 largely to preserve the architectural character of the district, the association had been working with neighbors who had stuck it out through the dark days, like Arcade owners Harry and Karan Zepatos, along with relatively new residents just as eager for the neighborhood’s revival, including Ephraim Urevbu, who had transformed his property to the Art Village Gallery (and his residence).

A small team rallied to renovate the unwieldly SMSHDA into the simpler South Main Association (SMA) in 2000, now with a focus on residents, businesses, and an emerging arts culture. The new bylaws read, “The purpose of the South Main Association is to maintain a community with goals, programs, and activities that foster and protect the district’s residents, businesses, and art community.”

“The Woodards had a clear vision for South Main. They executed their vision with their own properties, and more importantly, they led the entire neighborhood toward making South Main the cool, fun historic arts district that it became. Without the Woodards, and a few other visionary pioneers, we wouldn’t have this eclectic neighborhood that helps define what is good about Memphis.”  — Paul Morris, former Downtown Memphis Commission president

To help achieve its purpose, SMA hosted the first Art Trolley Tour (now Trolley Night) on Friday, September 29, 2000, an event that has been held every month since (barring ice storms and pandemics), even during the four years the trolleys were out of service for repairs. That first year, Mayor Willie Herenton proclaimed South Main an official arts district.

The 15th anniversary of Trolley Night was held during one of those years, spirits high when a parade down the street was led by a rubber-wheeled trolley bus. Preceded by a police motorcycle escort, the bus carried Ms. Kay Woodard, Phil’s mom, who had been the hostess for the first Trolley Night, filling plastic goblets with champagne back when the rules for trolley riders were a tad looser than they are today.

No story about the Woodards and their impact on South Main would be complete without Ms. Kay, who moved into the Woodards’ St. Martin Condominiums when the restored building opened in 2002. The Doyenne of South Main was an effervescent presence on the street, known for her quick wit, flamboyant hats, and the flask of Canadian blended whiskey she carried in her purse. She will celebrate her 102nd birthday on February 4, 2024.

Trolley Night lit up that dark street. Within a year, South Main teemed with Memphians emboldened by safety in numbers. SMA, keen on promoting the arts, distributed walking tour maps spotlighting 18 galleries. Trolley Night soon attracted street vendors, musicians, and performers from flamenco dancers to roller bladers.

Businesses stayed open late to maximize the night’s bounty. “Trolley Night was met with much anticipation, lining walls with colorful art, preparing refreshments, setting up a stage for musicians, all in hopes of being mentioned in The Commercial Appeal Playbook or the Memphis Flyer,” says Debra Taylor, whose D’Edge Art & Unique Treasures in The Arcade Building specialized in contemporary Southern folk art. George Hunt, one of Memphis’ most well-known artists, had a studio in her basement and sat at the door on Trolley Nights to greet customers.

“Folks came out in droves to see what’s new,” she says. “Serious collectors sometimes arrived early and returned another day when it was less crowded. It was very rewarding.” And the Woodards would stop by to give businesses a bottle of wine to show their appreciation. “Great memories!” says Taylor.

South Main was suddenly in demand, and the Woodards had the supply. They already had completed several of their historic restorations, adhering to the 85-page Architectural Design Guidelines for the South Main Historic Preservation District issued by the City of Memphis Office of Planning and Development and Memphis Landmarks Commission.

Some of these were quite strict. In the section on “Treatment of Character-Defining Features,” developers are told that if a feature — say, a cornice or keystone lintel, or quoin — is deteriorated or damaged, it must be repaired to its original condition. If repair isn’t possible, the feature must be recreated using historic materials. A quoin? Historic preservation required an encyclopedic knowledge of architectural terms. (Quoins are blocks that form the external angle of a wall or building.)

The Woodards persevered, and their efforts were rewarded with the first Visionary Award given by the Center City Commission (now the Downtown Memphis Commission) in 1998, the 2004 Memphis Heritage Kay B. Newman Award, even awards from the governing Landmarks Commission.

“The Woodards had a clear vision for South Main,” says Paul Morris, president of the Downtown Memphis Commission from 2010 to 2015. “They executed their vision with their own properties, and more importantly, they led the entire neighborhood toward making South Main the cool, fun historic arts district that it became. Without the Woodards, and a few other visionary pioneers, we wouldn’t have this eclectic neighborhood that helps define what is good about Memphis.” 

The Woodards had proven their respect for history, but they had a new direction in mind. They also owned several vacant properties, including one between their St. Martin Condominiums and The Arcade Building. Since old buildings were not located at these locations, the properties were not subject to preservation restrictions, and the neighborhood soon saw their passion for modern architecture when GE5 Townhomes opened in 2005. For GE5, they brought in archimania, the Woodards’ architecture firm for subsequent townhome developments, and their own contemporary home tucked away off Nettleton Avenue.

In its design brief, archimania describes GE5 as “a careful and deliberate filtration between modern and historic architecture.” Preservation purists didn’t get the “filtration.” Where were the cornices, the quoins? “It definitely wasn’t appreciated by the masses,” Terry says. “The point was that great architecture is art, and what better place for it than the arts district? We weren’t apologetic about it.”

“An arts district true to its name will express itself in a creative way,” says archimania interior designer Stephanie Wexler. “To respect the history within an established community while promoting progress, our work is informed not only by regional precedents but national and international. The Woodards have supported this concept fully throughout the duration of our 20-plus-year relationship. It has been a pleasure to see their vision realized and its impact on the district.” 

Not content to just live in an arts community, Terry decided to join the arts community, earning her B.F.A. in photography from the Memphis College of Art. She opened Terry Woodard Photography in their restored Tennessee Street office building and exhibited, of course, on Trolley Nights.

The Woodards celebrate their well-deserved achievements and accolades, but not by posting them on Facebook or Instagram. In fact, they don’t have any social media accounts. They are intensely private, preferring family, friends, and fellow parishioners at St. Patrick Catholic Church over strangers on Twitter. High school sweethearts married 54 years, they are partners both at home and at Woodard Properties. Phil handles the business side and the “grand scheme.” Terry’s influence is seen in interior details, finishes, and colors — “Phil would break out in hives if he had to pick out a color,” Terry laughs — as well as budget management, the “minutia” she calls it, though it’s hardly that.

Their work extends beyond South Main, and even Memphis. During vacations in rural Alabama, the Woodards stumbled across a lakeside complex in Jasper, about a 40-minute drive northwest of Birmingham, with three buildings on six-and-a-half acres. Phil wanted nothing to do with it, but this time it was Terry who had a grand scheme. They bought the property for a retreat (not retirement home), spending two years designing and managing the project themselves. They welcomed the first of many friends and family members for a visit just this past September.

“Phil ended up loving it more than I would have dreamed,” Terry says. They now spend most of their time there, though Memphis is just three hours away should they choose to come to the city for an evening of dining and theater.

What’s next for the couple, now in their 70s? Phil’s bucket list includes renovating an old fire station or church. A neighbor in Jasper, also a local realtor, called recently and said, “Phil, I found your church.” The Woodards bought the First Christian Church of Jasper, resplendent with glorious wood floors and stained-glass windows. Plans are nearly complete to transform the church into four condominiums.

And then? “We’ll never say we’re done,” Terry says. “We may end up being done, but we’ll never say it.” After all, there could be an old fire station in their future.