Todd Richardson
Revitalizing a historic corridor in Memphis into a thriving hub.
As the son of a hospital chaplain in rural Mississippi, Todd Richardson learned that illness and tragedy can happen to anyone, and that community is what carries people through. While studying for his Ph.D. at the Universiteit Leiden in the Netherlands, he again experienced community in a transformative way, falling in love with Leiden’s density and diversity, with its active streets and public spaces, and with its noticeable sense of civic pride.
On track for a career in academia at the University of Memphis, in 2010, Richardson made the decision to change course and apply these lessons in his own Memphis community. He partnered with the owner of an abandoned Sears distribution center to bring together the team that created Crosstown Concourse, a 1.5 million-square-foot vertical urban village. Home to a contemporary arts center, a high school, healthcare clinics, and a YMCA—in addition to offices, restaurants, retail, and mixed-income housing—it is the world’s largest LEED Platinum-certified historic redevelopment project, where people of all backgrounds connect in meaningful ways.
Crosstown Concourse is more than Todd Richardson’s workplace—his family lives on the 10th floor and his daughter attends the school on the fourth. But beyond the building’s walls, the surrounding neighborhood remains neglected. Once a thriving corridor, Memphis’ Cleveland Street has suffered decades of decline since the Sears distribution center closed, leaving more than 60 acres of vacant or underutilized land in the surrounding area.
As an Emerson Collective Fellow, Richardson will kick off a community-driven redevelopment initiative to reimagine Cleveland Street as a bustling corridor once again. Partnering with residents and local stakeholders, he will organize meetings, public events, and storytelling projects to highlight the neighborhood’s rich multi-cultural history and build excitement for renewal. This work will culminate in a new vision for a lively and sustainable Cleveland Street that honors the area’s unique character.