Michael Stevens

Biography: ID# 215402 October 16, 2001 Michael G. Stevens Annotated Bio October 2001 Mr. Stevens has been involved in downtown and neighborhood redevelopment initiatives for the majority of his twenty-three year career. A 1979 graduate of Virginia Tech with a Masters Degree in Urban Planning and a concentration in Urban Design, he started his career in Dallas, TX where he worked for the city as a neighborhood planner and the City's historic preservation officer. While in Dallas, he also worked for private planning and architectural firms (RTKL, Sasaki) as project manager for a number of downtown redevelopment plans for cities such as Dallas, TX; Wichita, KS; Lubbock, TX; and Nashville, TN. Mr. Stevens continued his downtown redevelopment efforts in his hometown of Jackson, MS where he coordinated the Downtown Urban Design Plan and facilitated the establishment of the downtown management organization and its BID. As Director of the Office of City Planning, he supervised all neighborhood development initiatives and downtown economic development programs, and managed the preparation of the City's successful Urban Enterprise Community application. In 1996 Mr. Stevens became Director of Planning for the Center City Commission in Memphis, TN, a non-profit business improvement district (BID) responsible for office and retail retention and recruitment, economic development, planning, marketing, financial incentives, and the creation of public/private partnerships for development projects. He became Vice President of Development in 1997 and participated in or managed such projects as the Triple A AutoZone Ballpark, a 14,000 seat baseball park in the historic core of downtown Memphis; site selection and acquisition for the new downtown public elementary school; the development of hundreds of units of downtown market rate housing; the establishment of the South Main arts district; the creation of the Downtown Strategic Plan; the administration of tax abatements and development loans to small businesses; the creation of a downtown marketing and ad campaign; and the recruitment of retail and office projects. Mr. Stevens joined the Washington, DC Marketing Center on July 24, 2000 as president of the organization. The Center is a public/private partnership that functions much like a county economic development agency and promotes the District through marketing initiatives, business retention programs, business attraction efforts and the provision of information on demographics, sites and incentives. He is currently focusing on organizational issues such as articles of incorporation as a not-for-profit agency, bylaws for the advisory board, FY 2002 budget, a strategic plan with work programs, office policies and procedures, as well ongoing business retention and recruitment efforts. A native of Jackson, MS, he received a BA in Urban Sociology with a concentration in Political Science from Millsaps College in 1976. His community volunteer work in Dallas, Jackson and Memphis has included service on the following boards or commissions: · Mayor's Urban Design Task Force · Historic Landmark Designation Task Force · Dallas Historic Preservation League · Friends of the Dallas Arts District · Friends of Fair Park · West Jackson CDC · Friends of the Zoo · I. S. Sanders YMCA · Fogelman YMCA · Millsaps Arts & Lecture Series · Margo Jones Theater Restoration · Memphis Historic Preservation Plan Committee