Weaving New Life into a Landmark

The dramatic story of two survivors — the Umarov Family and the Exchange Building.

by

Driving downtown one afternoon 12 years ago, Sardor Umarov took a second look at a 19-story historic Beaux-Arts skyscraper and noticed an “Under New Management” sign in the window. “At the time, I dreamed of owning something of that grandeur within a decade,” says the 36-year-old. Intuition told him that his family’s financial future would involve the stoic, copper-roofed grande dame that still stood on North Second Street.

Not long after, his older brother, Gulam, learned of an opportunity to purchase the Exchange Building, a property listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. They consulted with their parents, Drs. Sanjar and Indira Umarov, who soon bought the building and started restorations.

For this close-knit family, the joint project offered a way to rebuild personally and professionally after a tumultuous period in their lives. The new mural painted by Michael “Birdcap” Roy on the building’s west side, titled Grow N Grind, gives a fresh spin to the Memphis Grizzlies’ beloved mantra, and the Umarovs live out its message of persevering through obstacles. Street art may not seem a natural match for a historic building, but its inclusive accessibility and power to stir dialogue about social and political issues calls to the family members, who have some experience speaking out.

“I’m impressed by the way they came to America and took on a difficult task in a different culture. I admire the family for taking on such a big complex for their first apartment endeavor.” — Henry Turley

In 2005, Sanjar paid a price for challenging the oppressive government in his homeland of Uzbekistan and was arrested by the Uzbek secret police. U.S. Congressional legislators declared him a Prisoner of Conscience and coordinated his release and return to Memphis four years later. Sanjar was tortured in prison and his case was reviewed by the United Nations Human Rights Council, which found numerous human and civil rights violations against the Nation of Uzbekistan.

Sanjar continues to testify in Congress as an expert on international affairs. Meanwhile, family members concentrate on running the Exchange Building. The property provides a base for overseas tourists, affordable residences for hourly-wage workers, and luxury apartments for doctors in the medical district and investors who support burgeoning new businesses in the Bluff City.

“I’m impressed by the way they came to America and took on a difficult task in a different culture,” says longtime Downtown developer Henry Turley, founder of the Henry Turley Company. “I admire the family for taking on such a big complex for their first apartment endeavor.”

A central character in the Grow N Grind mural rises over figures lost in twenty-first-century distractions, and a Spider Man character is poised to fly away from problems. Birdcap portrays Memphis’ soul as more powerful than its problems, and the art reflects personal grief and challenges.

“My mother had died, and someone said, ‘You don’t get rid of grief, you grow to hold it,’” says the artist. “But the mural is about more than grief. There are lots of things we wish we could be better about, whether it’s having a hot temper, codependency, smartphone addiction, or being on social media too much. It’s not necessarily something that you stop overnight but something that you grow around.” His mother is memorialized, and the mural is the last work he had an opportunity to share with his father before his death. The names of slain rapper Young Dolph and deceased bandleader Omar Higgins form parts of the mosaic.

Birdcap’s message resonates with the Umarovs. After moving his family to America in 1995, Sanjar focused on strengthening U.S.-Uzbek business relations in the agricultural, petrol, and natural gas sectors, forming businesses with American partners and supporting Central Asian Seed Company, an Alabama-Uzbekistan cotton seed company. Then he returned home to found the pro-Western democracy party, Sunshine Coalition, with goals of normalizing free trade relations, ending child labor in the cotton industry, and advocating for free speech and a free press. In 2005, he decided to challenge President Islam Karimov in an election. That endeavor led to his politically motivated arrest by Uzbek secret police.

“God meant for us to have five children. My fingers represent each of my children. One finger can be easily broken, but together, they are strong, like a fist.” — Indira Umarov

“While my dad was taking a walk, plain-clothed men whisked him away in an unmarked car, injected him with a psychotropic drug, and basically tried to make him disappear. Only after several days of international uproar, through the European Parliament and U.S. Congress, the Uzbek government revealed they had him in custody and presented fabricated charges,” says Sardor.

Led by their petite but indomitable mother, he and his brothers, Gulam and Arslan, worked full-time for four years to gain their father’s freedom. Sanjar was granted unconditional amnesty, and Indira hosted a homecoming party just before Thanksgiving in 2009. Reflecting on those difficult years, when their much younger daughters, Zarina and Emina, attended elementary school, Indira folds her elegant, manicured fingers to demonstrate their family’s rallying symbol.

“God meant for us to have five children. My fingers represent each of my children. One finger can be easily broken, but together, they are strong, like a fist,” she says.

In addition to costing Sanjar his freedom and health, political opposition to post-Soviet Uzbekistan’s President Karimov also cost the physicist-turned-entrepreneur 95 percent of the family’s Uzbek and Central Asian holdings in cotton, transportation operations, logistics businesses, and telecommunications. With a nest egg the family had brought to America 14 years earlier, the young Umarovs needed new careers.

Gulam and Sardor had both graduated from the University of Memphis, while Arslan, the middle brother, graduated from Texas Tech School of Law and lives in New Mexico. “Our father’s release came on the heels of the Great Recession, and we needed to go to work,” says Gulam, smiling at the irony. They sought to invest in and improve commercial buildings, and after completing several smaller projects, the tall beauty Downtown called to them. Then the Umarovs realized they had a link — cotton.

“We chose to move to Memphis because it was the cotton capital, and the chance to buy the Exchange Building was miraculous.” — Sanjar Umarov

Soon after it opened in 1910, the Cotton and Merchants Exchange Building buzzed with commerce. Visiting the second floor, Sanjar pictures a scene with men on ladders recording market changes on blackboards four times daily as traders shout price calls. The state of commerce was vastly different at the time in Uzbekistan. Most cotton was exported to Russia for pennies on the ruble, and poor farmers relinquished crops to creditors at fixed prices. “We chose to move to Memphis because it was the cotton capital, and the chance to buy the Exchange Building was miraculous,” he says.

Evolutions over the years included the exit of the Cotton Exchange to a different building several blocks away. During urban renewal in the mid-1980s, plans for affordable housing resulted in the gutting of interior offices, but a tax law halted development. “Unfortunately, due to removal of some low-income tax incentives, the building stood vacant for years,” says Sardor. “In 1995, the previous developers worked out their business deals and started converting the empty shell into a multi-family, cookie-cutter apartment complex.” In 2009, the project fell victim to foreclosure due to mismanagement and market conditions.

That’s when the Umarovs decided to take on the difficult rehabilitation project. Unlocking the doors of the newly acquired property on December 23, 2010, Indira was overwhelmed.

“I cried,” she recalls. “Garbage was everywhere!” Guided by their matriarch, the family launched into restoring and redecorating their passion project. Inside, plenty of grit and grind still takes place. All family members help, including the couples’ college-age daughters and daughters-in-law, Naira, Diora, and Alida, who concentrate on social media and Airbnb work.

According to Sardor, the project might have been easier if a wedge of Downtown had been included in the Opportunity Zones that pour designated capital gains into appointed areas — but not the core of the city, bordered by the river on the West, Poplar on the North, Third on the East, and extending south of McLemore. “This inclusion might also have attracted more investors to refurbish the 15 vacant buildings in close proximity to us which present additional challenges.”

“Now we’re looking at the next 20 years with exterior renovation and returning to systems upgrades,” adds Gulam. “Our challenge is that we have to do it without closing down the building, which is our income.” In addition to continuing cosmetic changes, the Umarovs have plans to showcase cotton again by displaying ikat fabric.

A product of Central Asia for hundreds of years, the origin of ikat fabric is a legend spun through time, and recounted by the Umarov family’s patriarch as his wife models an ikat coat. “It says that many years ago, a man in Siberia saw the Northern Lights, reached up and caught some and brought them back to his love. But there are two endings to the story. In one, the man gives the heavenly design to his love and is killed. Then, she spends the rest of her life weaving cloth from designs.”

“That’s the sad one,” says Indira.

“But there’s another ending,” adds Sanjar with a glint in his eye. “It says that she weaves the design into her wedding robe, and they live happy, long lives together.”

Together, the Umarov family is choosing the happy ending, moving past the grind of their difficulties and growing as a business and a family.

How “the World’s Largest NFT Mural” Generates Funds for St. Jude

While Indira, with a doctoral degree in art history, focuses on restoring features such as the mosaic tile, her youngest son, Sardor, explores technology applications. An NFT (non-fungible token) art collector, the Exchange’s owner-operator acquired an illustration by Michael “Birdcap” Roy called Grow N Grind and asked him to enlarge it as a mural for the building’s exterior. Sardor describes the 66-by-50-foot mural as “the world’s largest NFT mural.”

Digital tokens can be attached to art, music, and other digital formats, designating work as provably unique and exchangeable. For creators, NFTs provide a blockchain record of provenance and allow engagement with a broad online audience. While murals can be painted over, NFT art has a permanent place in the blockchain.

Birdcap’s provocative work transformed a discolored brick wall, exposed when an adjacent building was demolished, into a work of art and conversation piece. “This area of Downtown needed brightening up by an artist who really cared about Memphis,” says Sardor.

“What I hope is for people to learn more about the technology that can have a tremendous impact on their lives.” — Sardor Umarov

Brenda Barnes, who has lived and worked in the Exchange for 22 years, notes that the mural fosters community spirit. “People have different opinions about what it means and talk to one another about it,” she says. Painted in the Mississippi native’s signature cartoon mosaic style, Grow N Grind shares an encouraging message with the city, while providing funds for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Sardor nested the mural with $100,000 in cryptocurrency, and the interest generated is channeled to St. Jude through the website giving block. The average cryptocurrency contribution is 82 percent higher than the average cash donation, according to Evan Mann, a local NFT educator. Mann hosts the social platform Conversations with Evan and radio show Crypto Radio Network.

“Because cryptocurrency is a global payment network, it allows us to expand our community of supporters and accept donations from anywhere in the world,” says Julia DiGeronimo, a St. Jude public relations specialist. Supporters donate at stjude.org/crypto where funds are converted through a leading cryptocurrency exchange into U.S. dollars. St. Jude’s cryptocurrency donations are increasing, though these donations still account for a small percentage of total donations.

Sardor organized Blockchain901 in Memphis, a group that encourages dialogue about distributed ledger technologies within the business and legal communities. “What I hope,” he says, “is for people to learn more about the technology that can have a tremendous impact on their lives.” With a Rainbow wallet app, visitors to the mural can scan an RFID sticker on the building’s south side to receive a Proof of Attendance Protocol token, a digital “I was there!” souvenir.

Editor's Note: Go here to see a time lapse video by Chris Reyes of “Birdcap” painting the mural.