RDC seeks private partner for Mud Island
To revitalize 33-year-old river park
Riverfront Development Corp. board members agreed Monday to explore a public-private partnership to revitalize the aging Mud Island River Park, but another major initiative of the group — a planned ice rink for Tom Lee Park — likely will be put on hold for a year.
The board approved a resolution for RDC to issue a “request for qualifications and concept project proposal” from prospective private partners interested in redeveloping the 33-year-old park on Mud Island. The request invites proposals to design, develop, finance, build and operate a project on the 50-acre facility owned by the city of Memphis.
In making the move, RDC officials and board members acknowledged that the park in front of Downtown is deteriorating and underused. An infusion of private capital is needed to rehabilitate it, they said.
“What we do know is, Mud Island River Park is old, we know it has a lot of deferred maintenance ...,” said RDC President Benny Lendermon.
The nonprofit RDC, which manages parks and amenities along the Mississippi River under a contract with the city, doesn’t have the capital needed to “fix it up like it should be,” said board member Paul Morris, who also is president of the Downtown Memphis Commission.
The park, which is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, April through October, features the Mississippi Riverwalk — a detailed model of the river, the Mississippi River Museum, a monorail, a 5,000-seat amphitheater and numerous other facilities. But in recent years, attendance has hovered between 175,000 to 200,000 annually, a major drop from the
approximately 1 million during its first year of operation.
Memphis businessman Andy Cates already has had exploratory talks with RDC about a possible project on the island. He told The Commercial Appeal this spring that RVC Camping Destinations, the luxury camping firm that he founded, could operate the park and enliven it with music, attractions that include a water park and zip lines and different types of lodging, such as cottages and yurts.
With the request for qualifications, RDC is seeking formal proposals from Cates or any other developers interested in helping revitalize the park. In response to a question from board member Kevin Kane, president of the Memphis Convention & Visitors Bureau, Lendermon said it’s unknown how many developers might show an interest in the public-private partnership.
The RDC for years has been looking for ways to upgrade the park and generate more uses for it. A 2010 land-use plan recommended enhanced access and more recreational attractions.
In another matter discussed at the board meeting, RDC officials said efforts to obtain sponsorships to help fund a seasonal ice-skating rink in Tom Lee Park have fallen well short of goals, meaning the facility probably won’t open until the winter of 2016-17.
So far, the agency has gotten commitments for only $10,000 — well shy of the $120,000 or so that RDC had hoped to secure. Board members said the fundraising drive needs more time and work to gain the needed momentum.