Every once in awhile, I think about the corned beef sandwiches from Dexter Esquire. The old sandwich shop that used to be on Dexter Avenue in Russell Woods, next to the Arbor Drugs that eventually became a CVS, is no more.

As a matter of fact, there’s a lot of things on Dexter that are no more. I grew up in Russell Woods, and I remember Na’im -- his last name escapes me -- owning a lot of property on the Ave. (He also fixed my grandmother’s car a number of times.) Those businesses are gone. Stores have come and gone. Gas stations change branding overnight. That old “dexter/davison” pillar at the corner of, well, Dexter and Davison, just keeps fading away day after day.

There have been stops and starts -- a health-foods store with alkaline water as its marquee item was advertised as coming soon to the old Dexter Esquire spot, but never materialized -- along Dexter, and along this corridor, residents need more starts. Could it finally happen? If Pleasant Heights Economic Development Corporation has a say so, it could.

Technically, there is no Pleasant Heights in Detroit. Aesthetically, the area the EDC serves is not pleasant, being that it’s not rural or surrounded by large green spaces, tall trees, or whatever acts of nature a developer might deem as being pleasant. Geographically, the area isn’t the height of anything; it’s central Detroit.

Ishmail Terry, the founder of PHEDC, isn’t shy about using Pleasant Heights solely as a marketing term. “Pleasant Heights is an accumulation, or consolidation, of neighborhoods with dense population.”

But to be clear, Terry is not about to pull a Core City/West Corktown switcheroo by outright renaming the Dexter/Davison/Linwood area. It is designed to serve Russell Woods, Nardin Park (a recent addition to the coalition, Terry says), Dexter-Linwood, Petoskey-Otsego, Jamison and Wildemere Park -- all neighborhoods that Dexter Avenue touches, but none of which anyone wants to rename.

“As we talk to investors and other Michigan-based businesses, we gave it Pleasant Heights because it gave a better feel to it,” Terry says.

Trying to spark development interest along the Dexter and Linwood corridors is admittedly a challenge. But Terry has big dreams. A few of the names he’s floated around: Flagstar, Comerica, Aldi. An Aldi on Dexter? “When we put an Aldi here, our goal is to make sure that (nearby grocery stores) have that competitiveness,” Terry says.

To understand Terry’s vision, we have to visit its origins. He grew up nearby closer to Henry Ford Hospital, having stays on Hazelwood Street and Euclid Avenue. He went to Northwestern High School and on to Eastern Michigan University.

For a time, he lived in Ypsilanti, where he established community-focused programs there, including a basketball camp in Ypsi’s West Willow. Now he’s back in Russell Woods, where he operates All Four One, a nonprofit serving youth in the area.

“To me, it’s not a business thing, it’s a personal thing,” Terry says. “Here was an opportunity to do something for 69,000 residents by incorporating or infusing stakeholders. Now if you’re a stakeholder, you have more investment in this.”