The agency that runs Mud Island River Park is looking for a private partner to bring new life to the Downtown attraction.
The Riverfront Development Corporation on Wednesday will release a request for “creative and innovative” proposals from developers who have fresh ideas for the aging, city-owned park — and who might be in a position to attract private dollars to help make it happen.
RDC’s board approved issuing the request in July, and RDC president Benny Lendermon said both the city’s current and incoming mayors were on board with moving ahead.
“We’re in the go-mode,” Lendermon said Monday. “We’re happy to get to this day.”
The 50-acre park on Mud Island’s south end opened in 1982 to about 1 million visitors annually, but attendance has averaged 165,000 a year over the past five years. While it occupies one of the most visible spots on the riverfront, the request notes that many of the park’s features — which include an amphitheater, monorail, museum, event spaces and scale-model Mississippi River walk — are outdated or obsolete.
It costs RDC more than $1 million annually to maintain Mud Island River Park, Lendermon said, and the city dollars to support a new “mega-project” are running dry. But Bass Pro Shops and Beale Street Landing nearby are creating energy and opportunity on the riverfront.
“Mud Island’s sort of at its point in its life that you need to evaluate all options,” Lendermon said. “It certainly needs new capital dollars to help invigorate it.”
Earlier this year, businessman Andy Cates proposed a partnership to make Mud Island an outdoors destination, with a water park, zip lines and other attractions. Lendermon said the agency hopes to receive at least a couple more proposals from potential developers.
The deadline for responses is Jan. 15. After that, Lendermon said, there is no set timetable for the RDC to evaluate the proposals and no guarantee the agency will move ahead with any of them.
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