Tuesday afternoon, several city of Memphis employees stood outside 2571 Broad Ave. in Binghamton, hard at work repairing a drainage collection box and pouring a new, wheelchair accessible curb.

"They're busting their butts, trying to get it done by Art Walk," said 45-year-old painter Larry Patton, who has turned the address -- formerly the site of a restaurant, and before that, a barber shop -- into his personal residence, studio, and gallery space.

Patton, a native of Van Nuys, Calif., moved to Memphis at 18. He graduated from Memphis College of Art in 1991 and purchased the 4,000-square-foot building soon after.

"I was priced out of South Main by the time I got financing," he said. "But I knew this neighborhood -- I used to live in the Dent Cleaners building (located just down the street, at Broad and Collins) and I saw the potential."

Seventeen years later, the possibilities Patton envisioned have become a reality. Broad is teeming with art-related businesses, ranging from Gerry Coulliard's pioneering Metal Works studio at 2537 Broad to newcomer Teresa White's Studio 1688, a glass-making facility, on North Hollywood.

Tonight, those businesses and more will open their doors for the third annual Broad Avenue Art Walk, which begins at 6.

"The Historic Broad Business Association really started gelling three or four years ago, when the city did a five- to 25-year plan of what the neighborhood could look like," said Patton. "When we sat down to do the laws and by-laws of the association, we thought what kind of destination did we want to be, and we picked the arts."

That decision was validated in July, when the UrbanArt Commission moved from Downtown to 2549 Broad, the location of a building owned by local arts supporters Pinkney Herbert and Jimmy Lewis.

According to Catherine Blackwell Pena, administrative assistant for UrbanArt, the relocation serves multiple purposes.

"It's cheaper and more approachable," she said. "Downtown, we shared space that had more of a corporate feel, but this space is ours, so we're able to dictate how the building is perceived."

Art Walk, she said, "is a chance to show off our space a little bit."

The kitchen crew at Broadway Pizza, in business since 1976, also hopes to show off on Friday night.

"We'll be serving plenty of pizza samples," said 38-year-old owner Dewana Ishee, who inherited the family business only to see the flow of diners staunched when through traffic from Interstate 40 was diverted by the 2002 extension of Sam Cooper Boulevard.

"When they changed the road everything died down, but closing was never an option," Ishee said. "But now, even though they say the economy is down, business is picking up."

"Other people are beginning to recognize what's going on here," said native Memphian Hamlett Dobbins, director of the Clough-Hanson Gallery at Rhodes College, who owns a two-story building at 2553 Broad. Dobbins purchased the property, at other times a dry goods store and a jewelry outlet, in 2004. He, his wife, Julie Meiman, and their two children live upstairs. At street level, Dobbins operates a gallery space called Material, where Quiet Pioneer, work by Carrie Pollack, is exhibited this month.

Dobbins, 38, described the day-to-day scene on Broad Avenue as "insular but exciting."

"Ninety percent of the people who come to Material for exhibitions are people who always go to art shows," he said, "but that community changes with an event like Art Walk."

Yet neither Dobbins nor Patton envision Broad Avenue becoming a bustling neighborhood on par with the South Main Historic District or Cooper-Young.

"We don't have a lot of foot traffic," Dobbins said. "We're kind of invisible. A lot of places on Broad look like abandoned buildings."

Even with the addition of Odessa, an alternative music space, and the Cove, a funky, mid-price oyster bar that took the place of a beleaguered nightspot called the Beer Joint, this stretch of concrete is unlikely to develop into a high-traffic destination.

"It's never gonna be like that," Dobbins said. "We have just a few blocks, coupled with hundreds of acres of grey warehouses. At its very best, Broad will be a place where people can see some art and get a beer."

Back at Patton's place, a trio of couches was perfectly positioned on refurbished hardwood floors, creating a comfortable conversation area.

Paintings and photographs by fellow MCA alumnus Richard Morrison, Amy Hutcheson and Carol Hyrne were hung in anticipation of the Arts Walk.

"Artists are moving (to Binghamton) because it's cheap and unique and it hasn't been gentrified," Patton said. "People see Broad Avenue as the lost horizon."

Then he shrugged.

"If success here makes it too expensive for artists to live, we'll find someplace else."

Art Walk

The Historic Broad Business Association's third annual Broad Avenue Art Walk is 6-8 tonight, on Broad between Hollywood and Collins.

At Studio 2571, work by Carol Hyrne, Richard Morrison and Amy Hutcheson will be exhibited.

Material, 2553 Broad, will present "Quiet Pioneer," new paintings by Carrie Pollack.

In Gallery 1, located inside West Memorials at 2481 Broad, there will be a show of recent work by David Nester.

Open studios on the walk include Dan Spector's Archicast at 2527 Broad; Jerry Couillard's Metal Works at 2537 Broad; and Adam Shaw's Studio at 2547 Broad.

The UrbanArt Commission will host an open house at 2549 Broad Avenue.

At 2613 Broad, Odessa will host an exhibition with work by Douglas Degges, Richard Gamble, Alexandra Carter and Ben Moss. There will be music by Kraubar and the Coach and Four.

At 2574 Sam Cooper (Sam Cooper and Bingham) McCarty Partners will have an open house and exhibition upstairs. Downstairs, there will be an open house and a group show at Splash Creative.