Tom Lee Park

Named for Tom Lee, a heroic Black river worker who saved 32 people from a capsizing steamboat, the park celebrates Lee's legacy of generosity while confronting the harder truths of justice and belonging. Located between downtown Memphis and some of Tennessee's poorest zip codes, SCAPE reimagined Tom Lee Park as an inclusive destination for Memphians across all demographics. Thousands of residents shaped the process, ensuring the park would serve as common ground for all.

A $61 million public-private investment, Tom Lee Park drew hundreds of Memphians to the riverfront on the opening weekend. The celebration was a full expression of Memphis's Black culture with brass bands, gospel choirs, and an outpouring of civic pride. Residents paraded down the newly accessible waterfront walk. Politicians and local businesses joined in a shared sense of achievement.

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Extending 31 acres along the Mississippi, Tom Lee Park is organized into programmatic zones that mirror the river's own hydrology, weaving circulation and topography into spaces that pulse with the energy of riparian ecosystems.

The energetic rush of playgrounds and basketball courts gives way to moments of pause at concert spaces and art installations. Beneath the surface, a restored soil system supports a new climate-adaptive framework of trees, shrubs, grasses, and perennials, including hundreds of native oaks selected to sustain bird and insect life in a wetter, hotter future.

At the park's northern end, a new ADA-accessible entrance at Cutbank Bluff connects to public transit and key civic spaces, knitting the park into the surrounding neighborhood.

The investment in Black culture and remembrance is a city choosing to face its history with honesty and its future with generosity. It asks something of everyone who visits, to show up, to make room, and to believe that what we build together can outlast us. Tom Lee Park is a clear message to all Memphians: you belong here, as do all generations to come.