Neighbors raise concerns after fire damaged Burger King turns into homeless encampment

UPDATE: The city said code enforcement officers cleaned up the property Wednesday morning.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Nearly a year after a fire closed a Berclair Burger King, neighbors say the property has been taken over by the homeless and turned into an eyesore.

The Burger King in the 4400 block of Summer Avenue is boarded up, but there is graffiti on the building and trash, clothing, and other personal belongings all over the parking lot.

The items included blankets, pillows, several shopping carts and bicycles, and two toilets. WREG also discovered individuals and a dog were living inside a dumpster behind the restaurant.

Tony Myers is in a nearby neighborhood and noticed people living on the property a few months ago.

“It’s terrible,” Myers said. “I just live right around the corner and call the police and say I see them doing drug deals and bringing in stolen goods, and they’ll tell me we’ll go over and see, but there is nothing we can do about it.”

The Burger King sits between an Autozone and an animal hospital. The owner of Summer Avenue Animal Hospital said several clients have complained about the situation next door and had even contacted the city.

“They filed complaints on Memphis 311. I feel sorry for the people. They sometimes hang out under the awning at the hospital,” Dr. Bill Conley said. “I don’t know what the franchise plans to do with the building. I would have thought they would have reopened it by now.”

On October 27, 2023, Memphis Firefighters responded to a fire at the Berclair Burger King about an hour after the business had closed for the night. It’s unclear what started the fire or the extent of the damage.

Myers said the property in its current state is bringing down the neighborhood.

“It just looks so bad,” said Myers. “You see cars pull around the back, and they do their deals. It just brings in crime.”

Myers said he had contacted code enforcement several times in recent months.

Tuesday, a city spokesperson said they received at least three complaints about the Burger King this month and that code enforcement had sent a notice of violation to the property owner.

The city said code enforcement plans to remove everything from the parking lot and bill the property owner.

“That sounds good. That’s very good,” Myers said. “I’ve been here 25 years, and I’ve been doing everything I can to get the neighborhood straightened out.”

The city could not say when the property would be cleared. The Shelby County Assessor’s office shows that Burger King is owned by a company out of Syracuse, New York.

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