Memphis' $9 Billion Downtown Expansion!!!

[Mark Hart]

The City of Memphis is planning to transform its Downtown and Medical District assets to complement a $9 billion investment by ALSAC/St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in the Pinch District.

During the executive session of the Memphis City Council today (Jan. 17), Paul Young, director of the City of Memphis Division of Housing and Community Development, presented the city's plans to fund a "new sense of arrival" over Tennessee's most traveled highway, I-40.

Ideas to liven up the scenery included additions to Mud Island, including zip lines soaring above water and fire features — yes, fire. Images of Parakeet Pete's Waterfront Zipline at Branson Landing in Branson, Missouri, were offered as an example.

The larger project is being touted as the "Bicentennial Gateway Project" by various stakeholders, including St. Jude, ALSAC, the Downtown Memphis Commission, the Medical District Collaborative, Memphis Convention & Visitors Bureau, the Economic Development Growth Engine for Memphis and Shelby County, and Uptown, among others.

The project is a culmination of investment and revitalization efforts taking place along the riverfront, including the up to $9 billion investment and expansion by St. Jude, the accompanying revitalization of the Pinch District, the renovation of the Memphis Cook Convention Center, the Fourth Bluff revitalization projectand the redevelopment of Mud Island.

Rick Shadyac, CEO of ALSAC, and Sarah Hall, ALSAC chief legal officer, attended the council session as a step toward applying for an expansion of the existing tax increment financing (TIF) district east to I-40 and bounded by Jackson Avenue and Poplar Avenue to include parts of the Medical District, and an amendment to add Mud Island and the riverfront to the Tourism Development Zone (TDZ), all to help fund the Bicentennial Gateway Project.

For details, check out the city's Bicentennial Gateway Project presentation.

City Council's potential next step would be to authorize Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland to submit an amended TDZ application to the state.

The application for TIF expansion will be considered by the Shelby County Community Redevelopment Agency board.

Memphis celebrates its bicentennial in 2019.

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