It makes sense for Craig Beard to live in downtown Memphis. His law office is there and so are all the nightspots and restaurants he and his wife enjoy.

“We just like the lifestyle,” Beard, 41, says. Beard has lived downtown since 1991 in the Harbor Town development on Mud Island. “It’s very convenient to so many things we like to do.”

The Beards aren’t the only ones to appreciate the perks of downtown living.

It’s estimated that 8,500 people live in downtown, up from 2,830 in 1980, roughly the number of urban dwellers Nashville has now. In fact, Memphis now boasts more downtown dwellers than some larger metropolitan areas such as St. Louis, Phoenix and Cincinnati, according to Memphis Regional Chamber of Commerce research. In addition to well-known downtown neighborhoods—such as the Bluffs, Pembroke Square, South Main and Harbor Town—at least six new residential projects are in the works. When completed, the six buildings will represent $57.6 million of investment, add 360 apartments and 47,600 square feet of retail space and increase parking with a 430-space garage.

Of those who are downtown denizens, more than half call Mud Island home. The 15-year-old, 130-acre development known as Harbor Town is an award-winning beacon of New Urbanism—and home to about 4,000 residents. Million-dollar houses and more affordable homes, townhouses and apartments are all tucked into narrow streets, which wind around in wagon wheel fashion. The meticulously planned development is filled with pocket parks, restaurants, a town square with shops, an eclectic grocery store and deli, and even a Montessori school and foreign language immersion pre-school.

“The concept approaches a self-contained residential community,” says Memphis real estate agent Joe Spake.

The final phase of Harbor Town is under construction and will feature more homes along the water and a marina for boat rentals and storage. Also underway is the River Inn—an $8.8 million, 30-room hotel with two restaurants that is slated to open in the fall.

Developer Henry Turley envisioned the Harbor Town concept and made it a reality with the help of Jack Belz—a longtime Memphis developer and the man who resurrected the Peabody Hotel. The two purchased the Mud Island land in 1988. It was land that the FDIC had acquired following the collapse of the Butcher brothers banking empire in 1985.

“Harbor Town has provided a large scale opportunity to repopulate Memphis’ center city,” Turley says. “The residential/commercial balance can’t be achieved with only rehabilitation. Large scale new construction in significant new communities is necessary also.”

But it isn’t all beautiful river views and perfectly painted clapboard houses. Along the way, builders have faced obstacles, like the time a huge mound of fill dirt toppled into the river as site work was being done.

“There were many issues to overcome,” says Rusty Bloodworth, executive vice president of Boyle Investments, a Memphis-based real estate firm. “Issues I don’t ever want to find out about.”

But Bloodworth gives Harbor Town high praise, saying no other planned community has the “integrity of Harbor Town.”

“It’s one of the best like it in the country, and people come from all over to look at it,” Bloodworth says. “Turley did a super job.”

Memphis real estate agent Karen Soro, 44, lives in Harbor Town with her husband Tim, 41, who owns a machine shop. The Soros tried living in the suburbs, but didn’t find what they wanted.

“Living here is like being in a small town,” Soro says. “There’s a real sense of community,”