Memphis cleared to expand Downtown tourism zone
Memphis won state approval Tuesday to expand its Downtown tourism development zone for a $125 million redevelopment of Mud Island to include an aquarium.
The State Building Commission approved the city’s request for a modification to its TDZ, adding Mud Island and Weather High 88° Low 70° Some sun. Forecast, the riverfront as “qualified public uses” — meaning the city can pay for improvements in those areas with the state sales taxes captured by the zone.
“Today’s approval is a major step forward in our momentum and in building a world-class riverfront — one that both Memphians and visitors to our city will enjoy,” Mayor Jim Strickland said in a statement.
In addition to the aquarium, the city hopes to bring the Brooks Museum to a new Riverfront Cultural Center at Riverside and Monroe, and connect the cen- Daily
ter to the island via a pedestrian bridge. The initial total price estimate was $225 million.
Carol Coletta, president of the Memphis River Parks Partnership, formerly known as the Riverfront Development Corp., said the Building Commission’s decision was a “big win” for the city against “tough odds,” a reference to state lawmakers animosity against the city following its sale of two parks that led to the removal of their Confederate statues.
“This has not been a year when Memphis was popular in the state House and with state officials,” she said.
The expansion of the TDZ is an opportunity to make the most of the riverfront — something the city hasn’t done in the past, she said. Tying together the riverfront with other Downtown green spaces has “tremendous economic and development power.”
“I think the burden is now on us to make really good choices about how the money is invested,” she said.
Memphis City Council chairman Berlin Boyd announced the news during the council executive committee meeting. “That’s great news,” he added.
The Brooks Museum already has begun raising funds for their move, with construction beginning two to four years later, city Chief Operations Officer Doug McGowen said. He said the city also hopes to finish the aquarium in 2023, roughly speaking.
Council member Worth Morgan said he liked the plan presented to the council last year and hopes it doesn’t “sit on a shelf,” like some of the other, preceding riverfront plans.
The project is part of a broader re-imagining of the Interstate 40 gateway into Downtown known as the Bicentennial Gateway Project.
The project seeks to improve the connections between St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, which is undergoing a $1 billion capital expansion, and other Downtown amenities like Bass Pro Shops and the soon-to-be-renovated Memphis Cook Convention Center.
McGowen said the city will immediately use TDZ money to make up the difference needed to match a $5 million grant from The Kresge Foundation to connect the riverfront to the rest of Downtown.
The city should submit its application for a TDZ for the planned $160 million redevelopment of the old Mid-South Fairgrounds before the end of 2018, said city spokeswoman Ursula Madden.
Reach Ryan Poe at poe@commercial appeal.com and on Twitter at @ryanpoe.