The Mid-South Fairgrounds — the catchall name for a site that holds the Liberty Bowl, the Memphis Children’s Museum,  Tiger Lane and once held Liberty Land amusement park — will now be placed by a new name: Liberty Park. 

The city of Memphis has rebranded the site as it readies plans for a new, 120-room hotel, a 227,000 square foot youth sports facility, a yet-undisclosed family entertainment venue and multifamily residential. Together, with the Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium and the other existing assets, the park could create a sense of place and destination the city wants the former Fairgrounds to be. 

“We thought that having a new name would really kind of help set the stage for what we’re trying to do going forward,” Mary Claire Borys, director of strategic initiatives for the city of Memphis division of Housing and Community Development.  “And then the reason we picked liberty is because of the association between that word and the site that that has existed for so long — Liberty Land, Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium.”

The 120-room hotel will be developed by Capstone Development, which is run by former Marriott executive Norman Jenkins. Capstone has signed a letter of intent with the city of Memphis and could also develop a second hotel depending on market demand. 

“We’re thrilled to death to have a company like Capstone execute [a letter of intent] with the city for a hotel in the middle of a pandemic, where it’s just the worst hospitality market anyone’s ever seen,” Borys said. “We think that says a lot about the project and and where everyone believes that the site can be come 2022 when we’re ready to start opening.”

The youth sports facility — which is the centerpiece of the project — will break ground in early 2021, Borys and Housing and Development Director Paul Young said in separate interviews. 

The hotel is aimed at the type of clientele who would travel to Memphis for a basketball or volleyball tournament — the type of event the youth sports facility is planning to attract. 

The city is continuing to negotiate with potential entertainment venue operators and could make an announcement in the coming weeks, Borys said. It had hoped to lure a concept such as Texas-based Cinergy — an bowling, theater and restaurant venue. However, Borys said the company has narrowed its scope of expansion plans and won’t be coming to the Bluff City. 

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The public money on the line for the project is $66 million worth of bonds the city plans to issue next spring, Borys said. The revenue intended to pay off that debt is Tourism Development Zone funding — sales tax captured in a three-square-mile zone in and around the Fairgrounds. 

Borys acknowledged that the city is embarking on a tourism investment at a time when tourism can’t really happen. 

“What we’re banking on is that the world could return to some level of normalcy by the fall of 2022. And, you know, this year everyone’s wondering if there will be football season or basketball season, but we feel pretty confident that in two years from now we’re not having that conversation and everybody is having basketball, and volleyball tournament,” Borys said. 

Samuel Hardiman covers Memphis city government and politics for The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached by email at samuel.hardiman@commercialappeal.com. 

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