Todd Fincher says the first downtown property he bought was the building on Howard Street that now houses Fincher's Antiques.
He has bought and sold other properties since then, but that one still holds a special place for him.
"It reminded me so much of all the property that we used to see in New Orleans when I lived down there," he said.
The Greenwood dentist still owns that building, which includes an upstairs apartment. He and Johnny Jennings also own the old Conerly's shoe store building, now rented by Le Tré Galleria.
He has sold his stake in some other properties in the last few months, including the Fountain building and the old Morris Office Supply building. The Fountain site, which houses Mississippi Gift Co. and The Sweet Pea, now is owned by Viking Range. The Morris property is still owned by some of his former investment partners.
Fincher said he found it was difficult to manage real estate while keeping up his dental practice.
"The properties that I got out of required more time and capital than I was willing to put into them," he said. "All of them are turning out to be wonderful investments for the investors who have stayed in."
Even small properties require sizable investments, and bigger ones cost even more, he said. Renovations also require meetings at least weekly and sometimes daily.
"You can only juggle so many things at once," Fincher said.
But he added that the properties he remains involved in "pretty much run themselves" and don't require much attention from him.
"I'm very happy with what I've got," he said. "I don't anticipate purchasing anything anytime soon."
These investments will pay dividends for that part of Greenwood, and anyone investing in property there is glad to have done it, he said.
Fincher was one of a number of people eyeing downtown property after Viking Range Corp. bought the Hotel Irving, which is now The Alluvian.
Mayor Harry Smith, Fred Carl Jr., Allan Hammons and others had attended meetings of the Mississippi Downtown Development Association.
At that time, the conventional wisdom was that the best way to improve downtown was by adding apartments or other housing, Fincher said. The thinking was that this would encourage people to eat and shop in that area.
However, Carl took the idea a step further after his company bought the hotel. People started to realize that downtown development would hinge on the hotel, because it would be open 24 hours a day and would bring people in from out of town to patronize downtown businesses, Fincher said.
"It was a little more progressive and efficient concept to me than just trying to redo one apartment at a time," Fincher said.
From there, he said, the focus shifted to buying property so it could be renovated and people could move in - and "once that happened, then the dominoes just started to tumble," he said.
Additions since then have included the Blue Parrot Cafe, more shops, new locations for Evelyn's and Fincher's, and other businesses.
Fincher said he initially bought into some of these buildings "to see where the properties were going to take us." Then he kept the ones that met his and Jennings' needs best and sold his interest in the others.
The Alluvian had a lot to do with the interest in downtown development, but Staplcotn's decision to stay in that area and renovate was just as significant, Fincher said. He added that it would have been a "huge loss" if Staplcotn had moved.
"I think one's just as big as the other - The Alluvian from an aspect of bringing people in to stay, but Staplcotn from the aspect of keeping people here who were already here," he said.
Also, in addition to those big employers that have spent millions, some smaller merchants have made a difference by redoing buildings, he said. As examples, he cited Larry and Candy Carver, Steve LaVere and Howard Smith.
Of Smith's business, Smith & Co., Fincher said, "There's nothing nicer from New Orleans to Memphis than that."
He added that Howard Street still has a lot of potential, including some buildings that would be good sites for upstairs apartments. He also hopes to see the expansion spread to Main, Washington and Fulton streets.
