Once North Memphis’ Humes Middle School is renovated, area middle and high schoolers can learn all the artistic and technical elements of theater production at Elvis Presley’s alma mater.
Leaders of the new school recently closed on the building at 659 N. Manassas St., about a year after Memphis-Shelby County Schools agreed to sell the 100-year-old historic facility for $257,000.
The building will become Memphis Middle and High School for the Arts and Technology, or MEMArtsTech for short.
Burying sensitive utility infrastructure is already underway on the East Bank.
Hundreds of millions of dollars are being funneled into new connections on Nashville’s East Bank, and the city, state and developers aren’t waiting to cross that bridge.
“Bridges are our way to connect pieces of Nashville that would be islands to each other. Having those connections east to west are vital to tying our neighborhoods together,” Ben York, CEO of the East Bank Development Authority, told the Business Journal. “The only way to do that is to do that early. Because if we wait until there’s critical mass of development, we’ve missed the boat, and we’re really impacting more people’s lives.”
Several bridge projects are in store for the 550-acre riverfront area that are necessary to unlock the East Bank’s full potential.
Oracle Corp. has two connectors in the works, with plans to tie its River North campus to Germantown and East Nashville. The John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge is getting several upgrades that will allow it to connect to Tennessee Performing Arts Center’s future home and The Fallon Co.’s East Bank development. James Robertson Parkway is getting lowered so nearby developers can get moving.
“There’s going to be a lot happening over the next five years,” York said. “It’s accelerating development and allowing Oracle, the Titans, Eastpoint [Fallon’s project], RMR Group, a lot of these developments, to start to churn and their pre-development practices to move a lot faster knowing that they will have dedicated access to their parcels, through their parcels and around their parcels so that people can move east to west and north to south.”
It won’t be a painless process. Roadblocks and detours are sure to pop up more around the East Bank, but the development authority wants to ensure that the area is still accessible.
“A shorter duration of a painful mobility may be more beneficial to some than a longer, more drawn-out process. We’re trying to keep a functional life on the East Bank, still maintaining access for all mobility options, still keeping the water and the sewer and the lights on and doing that in a way that is facilitating over the next five years to 10 years, a $10-plus billion private investment in the East Bank.”
Here’s where four East Bank bridge projects stand and when you should expect to see work start.
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This rendering depicts the view while using the pedestrian bridge Oracle Corp. plans to build over the Cumberland River — as if proceeding towards its campus on the East Bank.
Oracle Corp
The work: Oracle Corp. is planning an almost 870-foot pedestrian bridge that will connect the company’s River North campus to Germantown, landing on Taylor Street at the Neuhoff mixed-use development.
The latest: New renderings were revealed for Oracle’s bridge in May, and the company says it has identified a targeted August start date. Oracle has applied for a required U.S. Coast Guard permit and has obtained one of two permits needed from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, according to a spokesman for the latter federal agency. It will take two years to finish the bridge.
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A conceptual rendering of a new ramp planned for the John Seigenthaler pedestrian bridge
East Bank Development Authority
The work: Several multimillion-dollar updates are in store for Nashville’s century-plus-old pedestrian bridge. First on the list is a new $25 million ramp off the East Bank side of the John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge that will connect it to Wasioto Park. The Titans are leading design and construction of the ramp, which is being funded by the Sports Authority’s Eligible Projects fund. A larger extension of the bridge, a project called “Music City Mile,” is the next phase in store. This extension of the bridge will connect to and activate the upper levels of Tennessee Performing Arts Center’s future home, as well as The Fallon Co.’s East Bank developments.
The latest: The Titans are in the design phase for the new ramp. The procurement of the construction team for the project will start this summer, with an expected completion in fall 2027. As for the larger Music City Mile extension, York says that is still in the “putty phase.” He continued, “We’re still manipulating the clay on the Music City Mile and the timelines, the durations, who’s doing what and the intergovernmental agreements between both private and public parties and things of that nature.”
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James Robertson Parkway, seen from South 2nd Street, needs to be lowered on the East Bank.
Metro Government
The work: The lowering of James Robertson Parkway is a critical component to East Bank plans. The project entails the lowering of the major road by 25 feet, down to ground level. Doing that will clear an obstacle to Metro’s plans for a central East Bank Boulevard thoroughfare running 2 to 3 miles up and down the East Bank and help unlock multiple mixed-use developments planned in the area.
The latest: TDOT selected Wright Brothers Civil Construction to lead the James Robertson Parkway project in April. Field work is complete, and construction is anticipated to begin in late 2026, with an estimated completion in November 2028, according to a TDOT spokesperson. “Details regarding traffic and detour management are still being developed with the contractor and key stakeholders. This information will likely become available in July,” the spokesperson told the Business Journal.
The work: The state has committed to creating a connection between Oracle’s River North campus and East Nashville, extending Marine Drive across Cowan Street and the downtown interstate loop. TDOT described Marine Drive extending “under a new I-24 overpass” and said the project will involve a replacement of the I-24 bridge over the new Marine Drive.
The latest: A spokesperson for TDOT told the Business Journal they anticipate getting a team under contract for the project in the second quarter of 2027.
Grizz fan here looking for a local place to cheer against the Knicks. Recs?
This is cool... but why list each member and not mention the name of the band? Is there some legal reason why NBC Universal can't say "The Rolling Stones" in promos like this?