Beale Street Landing - FOR RENT

WMC TV reports a change at Beale Street Landing. It now joins River Terrace and Harbor Landing as the 3rd troubled riverfront restaurant to become a private banquet and party facility.

All three riverfront restaurants were built primarily with City money, are owned by the City, and are operated by the Riverfront Development Corporation.  Any income from the three goes to the RDC, not back to the City.

In addition, the City pays the RDC a management fee - for next year the Administration proposes to pay them $3M, which the City Council Budget Subcommittee voted to approve.

'Unexpected high demand' for RDC restaurant space - Action News 5 - Memphis, Tennessee Action News 5 - Memphis, Tennessee

MORE Problems, MORE $ @ Beale Street Landing

Tom Charlier reports for the Commercial Appeal,

Already years behind schedule and millions of dollars over cost projections, the Beale Street Landing project is mired in new troubles that will force modifications to its intricate, internationally touted design.

Click HERE for the article. Photo by Jim Weber/Commercial Appeal.

Beale Street Landing "fiasco" - July Memphis Magazine

The Great Mississippi River Flood of 2011, unfortunately, did not wash away Beale Street Landing at Tom Lee Park. If it had, Memphians would have been spared several million dollars and the biggest downtown fiasco since The Pyramid.

If you missed the article in "Memphis Magazine's" July issue, it's now online. Click HERE.

Steamboat Deal - a smart investment for Memphis?

On short notice, the Council learned about a "relocation opportunity" and approved a resolution to loan the Great American Steamboat Co. $9M to relocate and operate the American Queen out of Memphis. Tied to the resolution, but described as not crucial to the deal, was the addition of $9.75M to the City budget for the pods and walkways at Beale Street Landing.
(Click to enlarge photo of American Queen docked at Mud Island in 2005.)

The City's role in the deal? The Council was asked to approve a $9M loan of federal money going from the City to the boat company in hopes that it will create jobs and be able to repay the loan from docking fees and sales taxes.

Yes, it would be wonderful to once again have an overnight steamboat on the MS River and a new company bringing new jobs to Memphis. Is it a good business venture for the City? Here are some pros and cons. Read more »

City Council Adds $9.75M More for Beale Street Landing to Budget

So far taxpayers have paid $31.5M (plus $1M in private money) to complete Beale Street Landing's boat dock, helical loading ramp, grass-roofed restaurant/gift shop, and new parking lot.

Now, City Council has added $9.75M more to the budget to pay landscaping costs for the "pods" and zigzagged concrete sidewalks at Beale Street Landing. That brings the total taxpayer cost for Beale Street Landing to around $41.25M. (Click on illustration to enlarge.)

Don't be confused like we were until Tom Charlier's article in the Commercial Appeal straightened it out. This $9.75M is NOT the $9M loan to the Great American Steamboat Co. approved the same day (May 17) in the same resolution by City Council. Click HERE for the Commercial Appeal article.

And don't forget there are options. Last year Benny Lendermon told the RDC Board

Lendermon [click for audio]:
I mean, you could go in there with maybe, you know, a million dollars and fix everything and make it green and make the connections to Beale Street, and all...

For more information or to weigh-in on the budget, steamboat deal or additional $9.75M to landscape Beale Street Landing, e-mail the Council and Mayor:

Mayor@memphistn.gov,
Bill.Morrison@memphistn.gov,
Bill.Boyd@memphistn.gov,
Wanda.Halbert@memphistn.gov,
Harold.Collins@memphistn.gov,
Jim.Strickland@memphistn.gov,
Edmund.Fordjr@memphistn.gov,
Joe.Brown@memphistn.gov,
Janis.Fullilove@memphistn.gov,
Myron.Lowery@memphistn.gov,
Kemp.Conrad@memphistn.gov,
Shea.Flinn@memphistn.gov,
Reid.Hedgepeth@memphistn.gov

Park Becomes Parking Lot

Strange as it seems, in Memphis parking for cars still beats out parks for people on our waterfront.

The levelled, football field-size area in Tom Lee Park is not a skate park, playground, or outdoor terrace under construction. It's a chunk of park on its way to becoming a new parking lot for Beale Street Landing.











Except for a tenth of a mile, the west side of Riverside Drive will be lined with parking lots.















Two City-owned parking garages, built in the 1950s, stand on and block our riverbluff promenade. Now we're repeating the mistake in Tom Lee Park. Even with public parking and trolley stops nearby, a waterfront park for people is beoming a parking lot for cars, not something normally associated with a project billed as "world class."

$10.5M More for Beale Street Landing - Council approves in 8-3 Vote

No one in the room seemed quite clear on the details, in fact not even on what the $10.5M would pay for, whether the federal funds had been used yet, or what the requirements were to meet federal and state guidelines. But in the end, the Council approved $10.5M for phase 4a of Beale Street Landing.

The discussion was never about whether it was a good idea to spend $10.5M to build a restaurant, ticket sales/gift area, and parking lot in Tom Lee Park or about any possible alternatives, but rather about the City being able to collect federal dollars. Benny Lendermon, RDC president, said that it was a City project, not an RDC project, and that the City was in charge of the funding.


Here's a rough estimate of the overall cost: $20M already spent, $10.5M now approved, $1M from private sources, proposed $1M switch to BSL from Housing and Community Development, and $6.8M for landscaping "pods", which at this time is not included in future City budgets.

The vote was 8-3 with one abstention. Voting against the funding were Councilmen Shea Flinn, Reid Hedgepeth, and Kemp Conrad. Councilwoman Wanda Halbert abstained.

Click for Commercial Appeal coverage and editorial and Daily News coverage.

Q: Should the City spend $11.5M to build a 3rd riverfront restaurant?

A restaurant on the riverfront – sounds like a great idea.
But as the City Council votes whether to build one with public money at Beale Street Landing (BSL), here are a few facts to consider:

1) Joe’s Crab Shack is closed and being demolished.
2) The Pier closed a couple of months ago.
3) The 2 city-owned restaurants on Mud Island that the RDC runs, River Terrace and Harbor Landing, are closed except for private rentals.

The estimated construction cost is $12.5M for the 60-seat restaurant, small ticket/gift shop section, and parking lot that will take up the northern 20% of what is now Tom Lee Park. No plans for operation and maintenance have been presented.

The RDC will ask the City Council for the construction money Tues. (5/25).

What about a less expensive and easier to maintain option? A suggestion for street food on the riverfront. Click HERE.

Beale Street Landing Pushed even as Money Problems Loomed

When money problems arose for Beale Street Landing in Feb. 2009, the Riverfront Development Corporation (RDC) aggressively pushed the project while keeping Interim-Mayor Myron Lowery and City Councilmembers in the dark.

Questions Haunt Beale Street Landing Project
BILL DRIES The Daily News

The president of the Riverfront Development Corp. said earlier this week the organization may have been too aggressive in pursuing the Beale Street Landing project, even when federal stimulus funding dried up.

Benny Lendermon said perhaps RDC officials should have then scaled back the project.

But they didn’t.

Lendermon’s post mortem on a critical stage of the project comes as the Memphis City Council prepares to vote later this month on $10.5 million in city funding for a construction contract on the project's next to last phase.

Click HERE for the full article.

Beale St Landing Funding Voted Down

Beale St Landing (BSL) failed today, Tuesday, May 11th. After a previous postponement, the City Council budget committee voted against more money for BSL. $10.5 million had been requested plus $1M found in the Housing and Community Development budget.

During questioning by Councilman Shea Flinn, Councilmembers learned that completing the project would require that $11.5M plus at least $6.6M for landscaping with no completion date in sight.

The Committee also learned that as far back as Feb. 2009, BSL was in trouble financially and that neither the City Council nor Interim Mayor Lowery was informed.

Click HERE to hear RDC President Lendermon's statement.

Three months later, in May 2009, the Council was not told the bad news, and, in Aug. 2009, the RDC signed a construction contract committing the City to spend $9.6 million to build a boat dock. At that time, the overnight boats for which the dock was designed had been out of business almost a year.

The budget will go to the full City Council in the near future.

Click
HERE for Commercial Appeal coverage by Amos Maki
HERE for transcript of ABC/24 coverage by Jeni DiPrizio.
More comments at MemphisCobblestones.com and SpeaktoPower.org

Beale Street Landing - "Frozen" Now Online

… A barge crane stands like a giant sentinel at the mouth of the harbor just off the north end of Tom Lee Park. A partially completed iron dam and two red columns jut out of the water. The tip of the park is gouged and cluttered with supplies and equipment. This is the construction site of Beale Street Landing, a boat dock, restaurant, and public space scheduled to open in the summer of 2011.

The controversial project, frozen like the mighty river in January, is faced with escalating costs, pushed back timelines, and once hoped for federal funds unavailable.
Memphis Magazine's article about the project, "Frozen," is now online. Click HERE.

Beale Street Landing Pictures - Where it started, Where it is now.

Here's the location:

Here's what was there:

Here's what 2002 RDC MasterPlan called for:

Here's the design from RTN in Argentina:

Here's a model:

Here's what we're building:



















































Tall buildings in background are One Beale, a private hotel/condo project on hold because of the economy.

Take a virtual tour HERE.

Here's where we are now:

Photo taken 2/10/2010. Near completion of Phase 2 with Phases 3, 4A, and 4B ahead.

• The cost has gone from $10.3M to somewhere around $37M.

• The overnight riverboats it was designed to serve have gone out of business.

• We currently have 2 commercial boat landings:

#1 Cobblestone Landing - serves our local riverboat excursion company


#2 Boat landing at Mud Island River Park - closed.

Do we need/can we afford a 3rd?

Beale Street Landing Cost Unclear - Number$ in Disarray

Time to call a "time-out", get independent audit and analysis!

Sports fans all know that a time-out is a good thing - a chance to see what's working, what's not working, and make adjustments. Memphis definitely needs one on the riverfront.

The numbers are in disarray. They keep changing and the city's share keeps going up. No one is clear what's been spent, what the earmarks are actually for, or what contracts have actually been signed. And no answers have been given to the important questions about paying for future maintenance and operation of the boat dock.


May 2009 Hand-out to City Council during budget hearings showed:

Total estimated cost of BSL - $33M
City’s share: $22.3M
Breakdown:
$ 7.4M City money spent
$ 3.6M State money spent
$14.9M City money, not yet spent
$7.9M Federal money, not yet spent
(Click image at right to enlarge hand-out)

Dec. 13, 2009 Commercial Appeal reported:
$8.9M additional funding request to City as a result of $8.2M in cost over-runs and $1.4M reduction in federal funds.

Based on those numbers, it looks like the design and construction cost of BSL is now around $41.3M, with the City’s share at $31.2M. And that doesn't include what we'll have to pay to operate and maintain the boat dock if it's built.

Vibrant Riverfront for Less

A letter-to-the editor at the Commercial Appeal had
5 good suggestions for how to reduce the cost of BSL and get more bang for the buck on the riverfront.
Check them out HERE and share your ideas. Several comments so far: make it a deck not a dock; get rid of the “pods/islets” and put a playground at the N. end of Tom Lee Park; convert it to a skate park; make it a plaza with food vendors.

You can add your comments at MemphisCobblestones.com or e-mail your suggestions to us at info@friendsforourriverfront.com

Unrealistic to expect local company assume cost increases of switch to BSL

With overnight riverboat companies out of business, our local Memphis Riverboats will be the only company using Beale Street Landing. Right now they pay to dock at the Cobblestone Landing, but plans for BSL call for ticketing and boarding of local tours to shift to the new boat dock.

Q: Is there a need for Beale Street Landing, or would the cobblestone landing we already have, with improvements that would cost less, suffice?

A. In an interview for the Daily News in 2006, the current owner of Memphis Riverboats Inc., Capt. William Lozier, said he thinks the cobblestones are a better investment. “We like where we’re at,” Lozier said. “Yeah, we’d like a new facility, but a new facility comes with new problems.”

BSL will come with serious debt (roughly $2M in annual interest alone) and new maintenance and operating expenses. What will those costs increases be? No one has said, but it’s unrealistic and unfair to expect our local company to assume them.

Memphisshelbyinform.com Looks at B$L

Calls for Change on Riverfront

New citizens' group, led by Memphis watchdog Joe Saino, looks at Beale Street Landing, RDC finances, and says WHOA-Beale Street Landing? $$$$

The Riverfront work is only about 20% complete and now is the time to put it on hold, call for an audit of money spent and committed and form a citizen RIVERFRONT CONSERVANCY group to make a plan that has broad public support, contains no self interested parties and with the objectives of a lower cost, lower maintenance, historically accurate and publically usable and accessible riverfront. The present plan keeps growing in cost and now is the time to put it on hold and come up with a plan that makes sense and that is not so costly and controversial.

Memphisshelbyinform.com's goal is to monitor and investigate government activities, conflicts of interest, waste and abuse, ordinances, and regulations “in the hope that a better-informed electorate will lead to better government."

Is it too late to rethink B$L?

With project costs up, overnight riverboats out of business, the city budget stretched, and a tax increase under consideration, the answer is NO. It's time to pause, get accurate information and do a cost benefit analysis of the project before approving any more money or signing any more contracts.

MemphisCobblestones.com looks at "How far is too far to turn back?"

Memphis is not alone in the dilemma of how to deal with expensive projects in this down-economy.

The economic downturn has reined in a lot of ... big dreams and has also led to questions about whether ambitious building projects from Buffalo to Berkeley ever made sense to begin with

according to a New York Times article.

B$L - The Inconvenient Truths

John Branston exposes fiscal incompetency on the riverfront and reveals why we are where we are:

• Recipe for Screwing Up a $35M Boat Dock

• Beale Street Landing Not on Time; Not Within Budget.

Read more »

B$L - City asked for $9M More to Cover Cost Overruns

The cost of Beale Street Landing was up - to $33M, the City Council was told in May. Memphis's share would be $22M.

Now, 6 months later, the cost has gone up again. The Commercial Appeal reports that the federal share is down, cost is up, and the City is being asked for another $9M to pay for Beale Street Landing.

Letters-to-editor raise questions; point out more problems; and urge City to investigate and get answers before committing any more money.
Read more »

What's all the dirt about?

It's your tax dollars at work

Beale Street Landing under construction. $7.4M of city money has been spent so far. $14.9M is requested in the City's CIP budget. The total estimated public cost is now at $33M.

Click below for John Branston's May 15th "Flyer" article that takes a look at the project and cost overruns and for the RDC hand-out to City Council.
Read more »