Tom Lee Park: What’s Next
With yesterday’s announcement, Memphians can start looking forward to the new, signature Tom Lee Park. The transformed park will be the best park on the Mississippi and will become an iconic image of Memphis, Shelby County and Tennessee. With so much excitement, it’s important to understand what happens next.
The design team will re-convene and revisit the concept design released in February. The concept design was built on feedback from thousands of Memphians about what they wanted to see in the park. After a record-breaking summer of activity on the riverfront, and the new design specifications produced by mediation, the design team has even more data to consider.
The award-winning design team of Studio Gang and SCAPE will be guided by regular meetings with the building committee of Memphis River Parks Partnership. A revised design, maintaining all the features that Memphians were excited for in the first concept, will be released in Spring 2020. We expect the next concept to be even more spectacular than the initial release — which just this week won an honorary mention in the Architect’s Newspaper.
The city’s riverfront steering committee will review the design for compliance with the mediation agreement and permitting. Plans will be submitted to the US Army Corps of Engineers at the appropriate time.
We’ve been planning for the riverfront for more than 100 years. The time is finally right for us to build something remarkable, together.
