Memphis Commercial Appeal — “Memphis Riverfront Redesign Effort Hits ‘Warp Speed’ as [Mississippi River] Park Nears Opening”
September 13, 2018
“The [Mississippi River Park], which opens newly renovated in November, is just one small piece of a comprehensive plan to overhaul the Memphis riverfront. …
‘You need to make a riverfront as majestic as the river,’ said Carol Coletta, who leads the Memphis River Parks Partnership. …
The River Parks Partnership is about to embark on fundraising for … the $55 million redesign of Tom Lee Park [a project proposed in Studio Gang’s Memphis Riverfront Concept]. …
Construction will begin in 2019 after Memphis in May, lasting roughly 18 months until December 2020.
‘We’re going to move at warp speed so that the people of Memphis and Shelby County can love this, enjoy this new park, especially as the city enters its third century,’ Coletta said. ‘Our plan is for this project to telegraph the city’s ambitions … We’re doing something special.’ …
Currently a flat, largely barren landscape, Tom Lee Park will be transformed into a series of small ‘rooms’ or lawns, broken up by groves of trees. There will be both all-weather and outdoor pavilions. Coletta hopes that the redesign will draw people to live near the park. …
‘It’s absolutely going to help catalyze [development].’ …
Gia Biagi of Studio Gang, the architecture and urban design firm that crafted the Memphis Riverfront Concept, said she wants Memphians to feel the riverfront is a reflection of their diverse identities.
‘I think Memphis has one of the great waterfronts in the United States,’ Biagi said. ‘I think part of what’s so exciting about the riverfront is that it’s able to connect these spaces that can be very different as a set of rooms. It’s six miles of waterfront and there’s such great power in how you stitch those together.’ …
‘I want people to look at our riverfront and say if we can do that, we can do anything,’ Coletta said. … ‘Let’s do it here in Memphis for Memphis with Memphis.’”
