Local leaders look for ways to plug the talent drain from Memphis

(MPACT Memphis member Darrell Cobbins tells Tuesday's town hall meeting that he wants to help local leaders understand what young professionals want, so the city can attract and keep those sought-after workers.)



By James Dowd
Posted August 24, 2010 at 5:06 p.m., updated August 24, 2010 at 9:32 p.m.

Alarmed by the city's ongoing hemorrhage of creative talent, local leaders gathered at the FedEx Institute of Technology Tuesday to discuss the plight and flight of the city's young professionals. The invitation-only town hall meeting attracted about three dozen business executives, community leaders and government officials. The event was sponsored by MPACT Memphis, a nonprofit organization founded in 2001 that targets young professionals.

Topping the agenda: Boosting Memphis mojo among 25-to-34-year-olds.
"Memphis needs more creative, innovative young leaders," said City Council member Edmund Ford Jr. "For the future of our community, we've got to encourage young people to get involved." The Bluff City has to do a better job of producing, attracting and retaining young professionals, participants said -- particularly if leaders hope to avoid the downward spiral of the Motor City to the north.
"Just look at Detroit. It's falling apart, but we're not far behind," said Gwyn Fisher, executive director of MPACT. "We're bleeding our middle class. If we don't create a city that young people want to live in, they'll high-tail it out of here as soon as they get a chance." Many already have.

According to an MPACT study, an average of five young professionals per day move out of the city, taking with them their intellectual capital and earning power. Nearly half the respondents said Memphis is not the city they most prefer to live in at this point in their careers, 77 percent say the city is not environmentally friendly and 85 percent said there aren't enough high-tech jobs here.

"We're moving into a knowledge-based economy that requires a vibrant community of young people to fill work force, but to attract those companies with jobs we need people to fill them," Fisher said. "We need to do a better job of growing and recruiting talent and convincing our young professionals to stay here after graduation."

Germantown Mayor Sharon Goldsworthy agreed.
"We have to work together to improve employee development," Goldsworthy said. "We need to leverage our assets and create an attractive environment for young professionals."

The MPACT survey generated a frank discussion of where the city is now, but also offered hope for the future, Fisher said. For example, among the MPACT findings, 68 percent of respondents described Memphis as a good place to raise a family, and 75 percent said they feel a strong connection to the city. Similarly, three-fourths are proud of the city. That's a good foundation to build on, said David Williams, president and CEO of Leadership Memphis.

"I believe we're at a crossroads and the mission is critical," Williams said. "It's going to take a united effort, but I believe we can move forward and prove that the city's best days are ahead of us."

-- James Dowd: 529-2737

MPACT Memphis
Founded: 2001
Address: 506 S. Main, #101
Phone: 528-8340
Leader: Gwyn Fisher, executive director
Members: 800
Community partners: 30
Events: More than 150 programs held each year
Online: mpactmemphis.org

Universal Commercial Joins Concordis Advisors Alliance

Universal Commercial Real Estate has joined the Concordis Advisors Alliance.
Concordis Real Estate Advisors, LLC (Concordis Advisors) is the largest national commercial real estate services company wholly owned and operated by minority professionals. Concordis Advisors offers an array of comprehensive real estate solutions including advisory, transaction, investment and development, valuation, corporate services and project management and facility planning.

In markets throughout the country, Concordis clients range from companies who are leaders in their respective industries to smaller organizations who are making an impact in their own distinctive way. Concordis Advisors combines a national service platform with a level of expertise that can adapt to any client need in delivering dynamic real estate solutions for business.

"We are proud to add this additional arrow to our quiver" said Darrell Cobbins, President/CEO of Universal Commercial Real Estate. "Joining a group of committed professionals, with such vast experience and depth as Concordis has comprised from across the U.S., allows Universal Commercial to compete at a higher level and serve our clients' real estate interests wherever they may be throughout the globe. This is a very valuable partnership."

To learn more visit:
www.universalcommercial.com
www.concordisadvisors.com

Get to Know the Chairman of the Board (Memphis Light Gas & Water)

Get to Know the Chairman of the Board

Darrell T. Cobbins, a member of the MLGW Board of Commissioners since March 2008, was recently named the new MLGW Board Chairman for 2010, replacing former Board Chair V. Lynn Evans.

Chairman Cobbins established Universal Commercial Real Estate, LLC in 2007, as Memphis’ first black-owned commercial real estate and community development services firm. He has served as Vice President at Commercial Advisors, LLC, a commercial real estate firm, as Senior Resource Development Officer for Memphis Regional Chamber of Commerce and as Unit Manager at Guardsmark, Inc. Cobbins is a graduate of Rhodes College and holds an MBA from the University of Memphis’ Fogelman College of Business and Economics.

This is part 1 of a 5 part interview my coworker conducted with him. See the rest here: http://www.youtube.com/mlgwwaystosave?aia=true

Universal President/CEO Profiled for Civic Service

From the Commercial Appeal:

The person in line to be the youngest board chair of Memphis Light, Gas & Water Division learned years ago how to relate to his elders.

Darrell Cobbins, founder and owner of Universal Commercial Real Estate, will be the youngest chairman of the board of Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division when he assumes the post in January. After graduating from Rhodes College, Darrell Cobbins began work at Guardsmark, a company that employs security officers.
Still in his early 20s, Cobbins had to learn to politic quickly at his new job managing people twice his age throughout the Mississippi Delta. "It was a good experience that matured me fast," Dobbins, now 37, says.

Cobbins was born in Memphis and has lived here his whole life.
Raised by his divorced mother, he and his older brother grew up in Whitehaven.
After Rhodes, Cobbins later earned his MBA from the University of Memphis.
Cobbins also worked in fundraising for the Greater Memphis Chamber.
"I learned a lot about economic development, what it takes to make a company relocate or stay, or how to bring 'x' number of jobs to the region," he says.

In 2001, Cobbins began working for the Commercial Advisors Real Estate Company, where he represented companies in real estate transactions. Cobbins' family has a long history of leadership in the Memphis real estate community.
His grandfather developed Lakeview Gardens. One of the first neighborhoods designed for middle-class black families, the development won numerous national awards.
His mother likewise pioneered as a black woman working in real estate, having had her license for 37 consecutive years.
Now, Cobbins owns his own company, Universal Commercial Real Estate, which he founded two years ago.

The company is the first and only commercial real estate firm in Memphis owned by an African-American. Its name honors Universal Life Insurance Company.
"For years, that was the premier black business in this region," Cobbins says. "They financed mortgages when people couldn't get loans and were a big, positive force in Memphis. I thought, 'Let me try and make that name mean something again through my company.'"
Community involvement is the cornerstone of Cobbins' work.
"When I was younger, my mother took us touring all around town. Over time, this exposure gave me a big sense of civic duty," he says.
"Professional and civic contributions go hand in hand. I have an inability to say 'no' to certain opportunities; if I see a way I can help out, I help out."

Cobbins was recently named to the transition team formed by new Memphis Mayor A C Wharton. "We'll be taking a look at key functional areas in city government that he wants to articulate his position on. We'll be identifying young talent to bring new ideas into City Hall," Cobbins says. "It's a very exciting time for Memphis."

Cobbins describes himself as a "serial social entrepreneur."
Having graduated from Leadership Memphis, The Leadership Academy and having helped found MPact Memphis, Cobbins is also a member of the Memphis Urban League of Young Professionals, New Path and Nexus.
He serves on the board of The Leadership Academy and the Shelby County Crime Commission.

Memphis Center City Commission offers Incentive to Downtown Office Tenants

The 2009-2010 Commercial Office Tenant Improvement Program for Office Employee Recruitment and Retention in Downtown Memphis is designed to help stabilize and strengthen the Downtown office market by increasing or retaining the number of full-time employees/equivalents within the area. This will be done by offering eligible tenants a grant that can be applied towards tenant improvement costs.

Basic Eligibility Requirements
• The property or lease space must be located within the Central Business Improvement
District (hereinafter “CBID”) ;
• The Tenant must be classified as and determined as being an office tenant with an office
use and with employees who work within the leased premises or within the CBID;
• The Tenant must employ at least three (3) full-time employees/equivalents (FTEs) at the
eligible location;
• The Tenant must apply prior to entering into a lease;
• The Tenant’s current lease (if applicable) must be due to expire within 12 months of the
application date; and,
• The Tenant must sign a lease that includes a term of at least five (5) years.

Retail tenants are ineligible for the Program.

Grant Disbursement Requirements
The grant amount disbursed shall be the lesser of a) the base grant (including any eligible multiplier);
or, b) the actual costs of the TIS.
Approved grants will be disbursed when the following items are provided:
• A lease signed by Tenant and landlord, with a term of at least five (5) years;
• Contractor cost certification list for TIS;
• Certificate of Occupancy (if applicable);
• Verification of number of full-time employees/equivalents (FTEs);
Downtown Office Occupancy Incentive Program
• Photographs of the completed TIS;
• The office is fully occupied and Tenant is conducting its business in the space; and,
• Documentation of compliance with the Equal Business Opportunity Program.

Once a grant is approved, the applicant has three (3) months after the lease is signed to meet
the grant disbursement requirements. If the applicant does not meet the grant disbursement
requirements within three (3) months of the date on which the lease is signed, the reserved
funds will be returned to the grant pool, and the application fee will be deemed as nonrefundable
and shall be forfeited.

Learn more: http://www.downtownmemphis.com/downtownmemphis/documents/2009OfficeGrant.pdf