Grant to help build ‘Fourth Bluff’ link
$5M for riverfront, Downtown connection
901-268-5074
An underused stretch of public land in the heart of Downtown Memphis could get new life thanks in part to a private grant announced by the city Thursday.
Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland and grants administrator Maria Fuhrmann were in Philadelphia to accept a $5 million grant that will help launch a project to connect the city’s riverfront to the rest of Downtown.
Over the next three years, a public-private partnership will revitalize and better connect the public spaces in a small but highly visible area they call the “Fourth Bluff” — referring to the Chickasaw Bluffs that overlook the Mississippi River in West Tennessee — bordered by the riverfront, Monroe, Jefferson and Court Square, and including the Cossitt Library and University of Memphis law school.
“That’s a great opportunity for us to connect the riverfront with the rest of Downtown,” said Downtown Memphis Commission President Terence Patterson.
The city, private sources and nonprofits will match the $5 million grant administered by Innovate Memphis, a privately funded group that partners with the city. Innovate Memphis will work with University of Memphis law school, Riverfront Development Corp. and Downtown Memphis Commission, among others, on the project.
The grant is one of three awarded by a partnership of The JPB Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, The Kresge Foundation and The Rockefeller Foundation as part of a program called Reimagining the Civic Commons. Other cities to receive grants were Chicago, Detroit and Akron, Ohio.
A big piece of the project will be attracting residents from across Memphis’ neighborhoods and economic circumstances to foster new and creative ideas for the city, Strickland said in a statement Thursday.
New signage and public events at the Cossitt Library — which is in use but partially vacant — and Memphis Park — a blufftop collection of monuments formerly known as Confederate Park — began popping up in April.
Megan Higgins, Innovate Memphis project manager, said the programming that will accompany the revitalization hasn’t been decided yet, but will be “free or affordable,” and family friendly, like the freeto-enter pop-up beer garden event Fourth Bluff Fridays, happening again at 4:30 p.m. Friday in Memphis Park.
Some of the ideas that could be implemented are grilling stations, a playground and an outdoor recreation area at Mississippi River Park; reading gardens, a cafe, public art, and workforce and social service stations at Cossitt Library; more outdoor furniture and public art on the Promenade and at Memphis Park; and art and retail along a redesigned path between Memphis Park and Court Square.
Memphis hasn’t capitalized on its riverfronts the way other cities have, but when it has — like at Tom Lee Park — the economic development swiftly followed, said Riverfront Development Corp. President Benny Lendermon.
Especially on the northern end of Downtown, the riverfront is cut off from the central business district by rows of old, often unattractive buildings, many of which are parking garages. But that could change after the Fourth Bluff project, he said.
“It’s no longer a black hole,” Lendermon said, envisioning the finished project. “Now, it’s a peopleattractor.”