The Civic Operating System for Memphis.
turning Bluff City talent, capital & grit into real projects.
build_memphis is anchored at the Exchange Building, expanding across NoMa, and run on Building OS — one city, one operating system, one growing local and visitor economy.
Part of the Build Cities network · sister chapters in Nevada and beyond.
- city
- Memphis (901)
- hubs
- Exchange Building · NoMa
- os
- Building OS
- network
- build_cities
- mission
- local + visitor economy
one ecosystem · building Memphis together
Teach Memphis to build —
and let Memphis own what it builds.
In the age of AI, the barrier to building real software has collapsed — a motivated young Memphian can ship something live in an afternoon. What's scarce now isn't talent or syntax; it's opportunity, mentorship, space, and capital. build_memphis equips underestimated, talented Memphis youth and entrepreneurs to build real-world applications — and to own a stake in what they create.
Opportunity over pedigree
We back the kid with the idea — not the credential or the zip code.
Ownership over extraction
Builders hold a stake in what they make; AI's gains stay with residents.
Real things for real Memphis
The work is shipping production apps for actual local businesses.
“We build tools to make our lives better.”
How it all ties together
Build Cities models every city with Hubs, Projects, and Networks. Here's how Memphis maps onto it — with partners who already run the place.
The Exchange Building
A 1910 Cotton Exchange landmark with 200+ residences, coworking, and event space downtown — the flagship hub. Mixed-use realty as a civic anchor: from cotton exchange to code.
NoMa
The North Main corridor — a cluster of hubs and projects becoming downtown's next district, where new builders find space, capital, and neighbors.
Building OS
The Memphis-built software that actually runs the hubs — operations, stays, and the local economy. The operating system underneath the chapter.
Local + visitor economy
The mission and the work: jobs, Main Street businesses, tourism, and events — economic development, declared as projects anyone can join.
city = Memphis · hub = Exchange Building / NoMa · os = Building OS · projects = the visitor & local economy — the same vocabulary build_cities uses for every city, instantiated for the 901.
A place to build real things
The Exchange Building is the hive mind — talent inside the walls building applications with global impact. Three rooms, one pipeline.
VibeCode Hub
AI-native “vibe coding”: describe what you want and build real, deployable apps with AI agents + the Building OS toolkit — skipping the years-long syntax ramp. Downstream of CodeCrew's K-12 pipeline.
The AI Studio
An incubator at the top of the Exchange Building where youth and founders turn builds into ventures — mentorship, agents, and a launchpad.
The MakerSpace
3D printers, tools, large-format printing, and a downtown drone-delivery testing origin — where software meets hardware for real pilot projects.
A self-sustaining local economy
Each turn funds the next. AI collapses time-to-build, so opportunity and ownership become the engine — and the value compounds at home.
Equip
VibeCode Hub + AI Studio + MakerSpace teach you to build with AI.
Build
Ship real apps for Memphis businesses; prototype hardware; start ventures.
Host
On-site housing + a communal kitchen meet the base of the pyramid so you can focus.
Circulate
A universal loyalty layer keeps dollars in a locally-owned vendor ecosystem.
Fund
A community development fund reinvests the returns into the next cohort.
Compound
Graduates mentor, hire, and scale; the corridor grows; talent comes home.
Meet the base of the pyramid first
You can't build the future on an empty stomach. Shelter, food, and safety — the base of Maslow's hierarchy — come before mastery. So we secure them: participant housing in the building, and a communal kitchen where cooking in bulk drops the cost per serving dramatically and feeds many, well — healthier food for less, against an era of inflation and cheap calories.
It's also where culture lives. Uzbek plov — one cauldron that feeds a whole gathering — anchors the table. That's P-LOVE: love through food, the most human on-ramp we have, with the Uzbek American Civic Alliance.
Everyone who makes a city
One table for the people who build, fund, host, and grow downtown — and the visitors who come for it.
Builders & founders
Start something in Memphis — a company, a project, a space.
Investors & capital
Deploy into real downtown projects and the operators behind them.
Space & hub owners
List your building as a hub — coworking, events, mixed-use realty.
Visitor-economy operators
Hospitality, short-term rentals, events — grow Memphis tourism.
Civic & econ-dev partners
Bring challenges and resources; turn them into projects.
Residents & neighbors
Lend your skills to what's being built around you.
Grind City Meet
Ten years running. 400+ photographers, models, videographers — and curious, creative, good-vibes people — gather every year at the Exchange Building. It's build_memphis energy already in motion: the people, the place, the projects.
The Exchange Building
Built in 1910 as the Memphis Merchants' & Cotton Exchange, fortunes were won and lost on its mosaic tile floors — the trading floor that served the commercial veins of the Mid-South through the early 1900s. A century later, the same riverfront landmark is the hive mind of build_memphis: housing, the VibeCode Hub, the AI Studio, the MakerSpace, and the communal table.
under construction · 1910
From the archives — Olsen-Lesh Construction Co. · R.M. Woods, Jr., Architect · 8 Aug 1910.
Join the founding cohort of build_memphis.
Be one of the first builders, investors, and operators on the Memphis chapter. Tell us what you want to build — we'll plug you into the network, the capital, and the space to do it.
- First access to projects at the Exchange Building and across NoMa
- The founding-member channel and early network
- Capital, collaborators, and space — matched to what you're building
- Free to join — a chapter of Build Cities, run on Building OS
Answered
What is build_memphis?+
build_memphis is a Downtown Memphis civic initiative of the Umarov Family Foundation: it teaches underestimated, talented Memphis youth and entrepreneurs to build — and own — real-world AI applications, anchored at the Exchange Building. It is also the Memphis chapter of Build Cities, powered by Building OS, in the NoMa corridor.
Who is it for?+
Underestimated, talented Memphis youth and emerging entrepreneurs — plus the mentors, investors, space and hub owners, vendors, and partners who back them. You don't need to know how to code; the VibeCode Hub teaches you to build with AI.
What is the VibeCode Hub?+
An AI-native build program at the Exchange Building where you describe what you want and build real, deployable applications with AI agents — paired with an AI Studio incubator (19th floor) and a hands-on MakerSpace (3D printers, tools, large-format printing, and downtown drone-delivery testing).
How does this connect to Build Cities?+
Build Cities (build_cities) is the national network: every city is a base unit with Projects, Hubs, and Networks under it. build_memphis instantiates that model for the 901, in partnership with the Build Cities team.
What's Building OS's role?+
Building OS is the Memphis-built software that runs the hubs — operations, stays, and the local economy. It's the operating system underneath the chapter, starting with the Exchange Building, and the app suite participants learn to build on.
Do I need to live in Memphis?+
No. Builders, investors, and operators anywhere can join — as long as you want to build, fund, or grow something in Memphis. Participant housing and a communal kitchen at the Exchange make it possible to come build in person.
Is it free, and what happens after I join?+
Joining the founding cohort is free. We follow up with first access, the founding-member channel, and the first projects and programs at the Exchange Building and across NoMa.