Tom Lee Park to Break Ground
We are pleased to announce the groundbreaking of Tom Lee Park, our design with SCAPE for a 30-acre public space along the Mississippi Riverfront in Memphis. Attendees of the virtual event will have an opportunity to hear from park supporters and learn how they can be “all in” for Tom Lee Park, a spectacular new front door to Memphis, Shelby County and Tennessee.
Construction is set to begin at the Cutbank Bluff, the northern entrance to the park and a crucial connection to downtown Memphis, before moving into the park west of Riverside Drive next year and completing in 2023.
The new Tom Lee Park anchors Memphis’ ambitious riverfront transformation that is guided by the Memphis Riverfront Concept. “This is an important step toward the revitalization of the Mississippi Riverfront as a vibrant place for all Memphians,” said Jeanne Gang. “Our design for Tom Lee Park responds to the observations, ideas, and knowledge shared by Memphians since we began working to envision a new riverfront with them in 2016. The new park will celebrate the diversity and enthusiasm of these voices by creating flexible and resilient spaces for community life to flourish along the water’s edge.”
“The groundbreaking of Cutbank Bluff represents a major benchmark for public space in Memphis,” said Kate Orff, Founding Principal of SCAPE. “It’s fitting that the first area of Tom Lee Park to break ground is a gateway to downtown—the new design aims to improve connectivity and equitable access across the park for all Memphians, celebrating the environmental and cultural history of the Mississippi riverfront."
Details
December 9
3 p. m. CT
Public event, livestream on the Memphis River Parks Partnership Facebook page
Register now
To learn more about the park, please visit: https://www.tomleepark.org.
Related
Children and Nature Network — "New Tom Lee Park Will Be a Nature Game Changer for Memphis Neighborhood"
"Memphis is the nation’s second poorest large city, and its poorest zip code — 38126 — sits next to Tom Lee Park. Sixty-one percent of the people who live in that mostly-Black zip code are poor, and the median age is 24. In the other surrounding zip codes, 33 percent of the people who live there are poor.
In those neighborhoods, community centers and parks exist, but they tend to be places structured around sports and planned activities and not nature. Like most communities inhabited by people of color, green spaces are rare – and nature parks are rarer."
Memphis Flyer — "Riverfront Reboot: New leaders and New Plans for Memphis' Waterfront"
"To transform the flat, wide-open park...MRPP picked Studio Gang and SCAPE... to help the park 'reach its full civic potential.'"
Memphis Flyer — "Take Me to the River"
Tom Lee Park Engagement Center opens at Beale Street Landing to share Studio Gang design with Memphians.
Memphis Commercial Appeal — “Memphis Riverfront Redesign Effort Hits ‘Warp Speed’ as [Mississippi River] Park Nears Opening”
Studio Gang’s project for Memphis’s Tom Lee Park, first proposed in our Memphis Riverfront Concept, will begin construction in 2019.