Extreme makeover: Graceland updating visitor center
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A new entertainment complex being built across the street from Graceland — Elvis Presley’s former home-turned-museum — will include a large soundstage for live performances and movie screenings, and an exhibit honoring influential music producer Sam Phillips, officials said Monday.
A large artist’s rendering of the planned 200,000 square- foot entertainment center was unveiled by Joel Weinshanker and Jack Soden, two executives of Elvis Presley Enterprises.
The $45 million complex is set to open next spring, replacing the aging visitor center across the street from the Graceland home where the rock and roll singer and film star spent 20 years before his death on Aug. 16, 1977.
Construction has begun on the complex, part of a $137 million expansion that will also include a $92 million, 450-room hotel, The Guest House at Graceland, which is set to open Oct. 27. Graceland received a tax incentive package for the expansion project.
“It’s the fruition of a long-held dream,” Soden said.
For about three decades, Graceland’s visitors have been flowing through aging, gray, flat-roofed buildings to see exhibits highlighting Presley’s career, a car museum, souvenir shops and restaurants. Most of those buildings will be torn down to make way for the new complex.
The car museum will be moved to the new campus, but the attraction featuring Presley’s two airplanes will remain in its current location, also across the street from the house.
The cornerstone of the new complex will be a 20,000 square-foot museum featuring hundreds of Presley-related artifacts. The complex will also have a diner, a barbecue restaurant, an ice cream shop, retail stores full of Presleyrelated merchandise and the Graceland Soundstage, which will have seating for 2,000 people.
An exhibit honoring Phillips, the producer and label owner who recorded Presley’s early music at Sun Studio and was an important influence in Presley’s career, will include rare artifacts, photos, videos and documents from the Phillips family archives. Phillips also recorded Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins and others before his death in 2003.
On Aug. 16, thousands of Elvis Presley fans made their annual pilgrimage to Graceland for a candlelight vigil marking the 39th anniversary of the singer’s death in Memphis.
Despite pouring rain, Presley fans from around the world are holding candles and walking slowly through the gravesite of the rock ‘n’ roll icon, who died on Aug. 16, 1977. Since his death, devotees have come to pay their respects at Presley’s grave, which is located on the grounds of his former home- turned-museum.
An evening vigil on Aug. 15 capped off Elvis Week, the annual celebration of his life and career. Also Monday, officials announced details of a new 200,000 square-foot entertainment complex being built across the street from the Graceland house.
Police presence was heightened due to a nearby protest by activists supporting the Black Lives Matter movement.