Graceland offers more room to rock
Though he’s been gone 40 MEMPHIS years, the life and legacy of Elvis Presley added another chapter on Thursday morning, as Graceland officials formally opened a new entertainment complex dedicated to the singer. Public ceremonies marked the start of a four- day grand opening celebration for “Elvis Presley’s Memphis” a 200,000- square- foot, $ 45 million project across from Presley’s mansion in Memphis’ Whitehaven neighborhood.
Graceland finally has museum- quality space to display the best of its 1.5 million- item archive. Elvis the Entertainer and Presley Motors exhibits anchor the complex, styled after a lifestyle retail center, and give fans expanded access to Elvis’ cars, motorcycles — even a ski boat named Gladys after his mother.
Director of archives Angie Marchese estimated the amount of Graceland’s collection on display has gone from 10% to 25%.
Several hundred fans and a throng of media gathered at the freshly completed plaza grounds west of Elvis Presley Boulevard to watch Graceland executives, including Jack Soden, Elvis Pres- ley Enterprises president, and Graceland Holdings managing partner Joel Weinshanker, along with Presley’s former wife, Priscilla, speak and cut the ribbon dedicating the complex.
“It’s the beginning of a new era at Graceland,” Weinshanker said.
“Elvis Presley has hundreds of millions of fans and he treated each fan as a friend. We thought: What would Elvis do for his fans ... and what he would do is ( let them) walk in his footsteps. With the opening of this complex you’re walking in Elvis’ footsteps.”
Elvis Presley’s Memphis flows like a lifestyle retail center, with the publicfacing exhibit areas facing to the interior and the complex resembling the back of a shopping mall from outside.
Anchoring the complex are Presley Motors, the updated, expanded automobile museum; Elvis the Entertainer, which looks at the singer’s career; and Graceland Soundstage, a venue for movies and live performances.
Gift shops and restaurants fill in the spaces between exhibits.