$43 million Beale Street Landing opens to waves of visitors

Beale Street Landing, the riverboat dock and playground that to many was seen as a boondoggle of a project, has opened to the public. What took the Riverfront Development Corp. a decade to complete, and with a price tag that would ultimately reach $43 million, has been covered in the past weeks with tourists and locals alike coming to see what all of the fuss has been about.
 
Finished by Zellner Construction, the 6-acre landing site sits at the foot of Beale Street, at the northern boundary of Tom Lee Park and adjacent to the new bicycle and pedestrian pilot project along Riverside Drive. Riverboats such as the daily excursion Memphis Queen and overnight American Queen dock at a pier that allows guests easier access to Downtown Memphis than the uneven and scattershot cobblestones of old.
 
From the vantage point of Tom Lee Park, the landing structure looks like little more than a grassy knoll, but beneath it are a gift shop, restrooms and restaurant. Visitors climbing to the top of the structure, where sits a colorful cap not unlike a brick of Legos, are afforded commanding views of the Downtown skyline, the river and bridges, and Arkansas to the west.
 
The Island Play playground with "sprayground" water feature is the only such amenity available Downtown and gives children something to do while parents take advantage of the photo ops. Another, similar area will accommodate live music, and both have been designed to look like the prow of a ship from certain angles.