Now is the time for citizens to put the pressure on Willie Herenton. Now or Never Memphians!!!

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/200...ud-island/

By David Williams (Contact)
Originally published 03:59 p.m., December 12, 2007
Updated 03:59 p.m., December 12, 2007

A $250 million, privately financed plan to transform the riverfront with hotels, a shopping mall, a 15,000-seat Mud Island amphitheater and a thrill-ride-filled Pyramid theme park was proposed Wednesday by Memphian Greg Ericson.

“We have the funding secured,” said Ericson, an entertainment and marketing executive, during a presentation to the County Commission’s economic development and tourism committee.

Ericson was flanked at the meeting by representatives of his out-of-town project partners — Prosperity International and Essex Investment Partners.

The proposal drew raves from several commissioners, but the Ericson plan faces a hurdle — Bass Pro Shops has a non-binding letter of intent with the city and county for a Pyramid outdoors mega-store, with a target date of Jan. 31 for the Springfield, Mo.-based outdoors retailers to complete its due diligence and reach a binding lease agreement.

The Pyramid re-use process is led by the city, which previously has declined to consider the Ericson Pyramid plan while the Bass Pro letter of intent is in place.

Attempts to reach Robert Lipscomb, the city’s project manager for Pyramid re-use, were unsuccessful Wednesday.

Although the city leads the re-use process, commissioner Steve Mulroy pushed for the county administration to investigate the financial aspects of the Ericson plan. Grace Hutchinson, deputy director of the division of administration and finance, said that study would take place with a goal of producing a report by early January.

“This deal seems so superior,” said Mulroy, contending that the city and county need not wait for the Bass Pro letter of intent process to play out to its expected Jan. 31 conclusion.

“All we have with Bass Pro is a non-binding, non-exclusive letter of intent. There is no legal obligation for us to keep blinders on ... We are legally allowed to consider alternatives.”

Commissioner James Harvey said, “I think this is an excellent project. When you look at this project, you almost wish that the other deal doesn’t come through, in reality.”

Bass Pro announced its Pyramid plan in February 2006, but the company is on at least its third non-binding letter of intent without committing to the project. However, on Oct. 11, Bass Pro technical staff descended on the vacant arena for due diligence work and president Jim Hagale said the company would “absolutely” hit the Jan. 31 target date.

Ericson has been pitching his Pyramid theme park plan for about three years. But the plan he unveiled Wednesday greatly expanded on proposal.

His plans include:

transforming Mud Island River Park into Harbor Island with a 400-room hotel, a 15,000-seat amphitheater and a floating maritime museum. The current Mud Island amphitheater would be refurbished.

a 350-room upscale Pyramid Park Hotel that connects with the Pyramid and the Memphis Cook Convention Center.

Pyramid Park Plaza, a shopping mall on Front Street and connecting to The Pyramid, with more than 50 stores, and full-service restaurants.

Pyramid Adventure, an indoor theme park for the arena, with rollercoasters and other thrill rides, a 300-foot rotating glass elevator to the observation deck and other attractions

no brainer IF the financing is really already in place. toss the guy the keys and get out of the way.

tigerjeb Wrote:no brainer IF the financing is really already in place. toss the guy the keys and get out of the way.

and if there requests from the city and county for tax freezes/refunds/abatements/etc isn't too high.

but the project as proposed is a world better than transforming one useless building into a BPS superstore.

(I'm thinking Mike Rose and Henry Turley aren't liking the county commission right now)

It sounds too good to be true. Schlenkeresque.

JMSTiger, you have to believe.

JMSTiger Wrote:It sounds too good to be true. Schlenkeresque.

that's exactly who came to mind when I read the first sentence. my second thought: what is it going to cost us?

Who is this Greg Ericson guy and what projects have he done in Memphis?

Hell yeah, I have absolutely no interest in going to a store to buy a bunch of camo crap for hiding from wild animals...the theme park would be much cooler, especially since it's on the edge of downtown and all. Libertyland kind of sucked because nothing was near it. I just hope this new place is not like a mega sized "Chuck E. Cheeses".....

There was no reason to bring Mr. Cheese into this......

I'm liking this! No doubt it's the best option the city could go with that would guarantee a revenue impact. Bass Pro is a failure waiting to happen and would cost the residents more than the company when it does fail. This new park plan and tie-in with Mud Island could be exactly what Memphis as a city needs to bounce back financially and become an attractive city for tourism other than just Elvis and Graceland. Speakin' of Graceland, their new boss is spending close to $300 million on Graceland renovations alone (including a 500-room hotel, convention center, hi-tech museums, retail and shopping). All private funded!! If an outsider can get that type of approval then so should a local. If King Willie f*cks this up, he needs to be removed ASAP.

DRose23 Wrote:I'm liking this! No doubt it's the best option the city could go with that would guarantee a revenue impact. Bass Pro is a failure waiting to happena nd would cost the residents more than the company when it does fail. This new park plan and tie0in with Mud Island could be exactly what Memphis as a city needs to bounce back financially and become an attractive city for tourism other than just Elvis and Graceland. Speakin' of Graceland, their new boss is spending close to $300 million on Graceland renovations alone (including a 500-room hotel, convention center, hi-tech museums, retail and shopping). All private funded!! If an outsider can get that type of approval then so should a local. If King Willie f*cks this up, he needs to be removed ASAP.

Maybe they can put a big wax museum at the top of the Pyramid too. What do ya think, TigerJayWhatever!?!?

Watauga9 Wrote:There was no reason to bring Mr. Cheese into this......

TIME TO CUT THE CHEESE a break.

OneShiningMoment Wrote:Who is this Greg Ericson guy and what projects have he done in Memphis?

Check out his website and here's his bio.
http://www.ericsongroup.com/pyramid/main.htm

Greg Ericson – Memphis, Tennessee

Greg Ericson has spent over 25 years in the marketing and live entertainment business, and over eight years at the president and CEO of Ericson Group Inc (EGI), a full-service entertainment, marketing and consulting company headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee.

During the past two decades Greg Ericson has produced over 1500 live shows for theme parks, family entertainment companies, casinos and other corporate customers. Ericson’s clients include Horseshoe Casino, Gibson Music, SBC Communications, Harrah’s Entertainment, Lucite Inc, Clear Channel Entertainment and Levy Restaurants.
Most recently Ericson Group has booked over 375 headline acts for Horseshoe Casino which include; Don Henley, Bill Cosby, Loretta Lynn, Jay Leno, Martina McBride, Rick Springfield, Jeff Foxworthy, Peter Frampton and George Jones.

As a consultant, he assisted with the opening of the $100 million Circus Circus Casino, located in Tunica, Mississippi, where he helped develop and implement a successful $3 million pre and post opening marketing campaign. Ericson has also assisted with the layout and design for casino projects throughout the country including Mandalay Resort Group, Horseshoe Entertainment, Belterra Casino and Silver Star Casino.

In 1993, Ericson began working as a direct factory representative in the Point of Purchase, Premiums and Sales Promotions business. Each year Ericson Group produces thousands of different items at factories throughout the United States and around the world.

In 1990, Greg founded Ericson & Associates, an entertainment, marketing and consulting firm in central and south Florida. Ericson moved to Memphis, Tennessee in 1991 and spent a year acting jointly as the General Manager of the Mud Island Amphitheatre and Director of Marketing for Mud Island Theme Park. Greg was responsible for producing all events on the Island throughout the season, including 22 shows in the 5,400 seat Amphitheatre, which included Don Henley, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Chicago and Jimmy Buffett. The 'Star Spangled Celebration' on the 4th of July brought over 20,000 Mid-Southerners to the Island to see music on five stages culminating with Al Green & Mark Cohn and the city's biggest fireworks display. Additionally, the 1991 Mud Island season ended as the most financially successful in its ten-year history.

After leaving Mud Island, Ericson worked with PACE Concerts to promote the first Rock-N-Roll show, Van Halen, in Memphis’ new Pyramid Arena, selling out over 19,000 tickets.

Previously, for five years Ericson served as Regional Marketing Director for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows, where his responsibilities included developing, coordinating and implementing the marketing programs for the Circus and for Walt Disney Ice Show engagements throughout the United States.

Ericson began his career in the entertainment business in 1978 with the Busch Entertainment Corporation at Busch Gardens theme park and Adventure Island water park, both in Tampa, Florida. He worked in all areas of both parks including Operations, Merchandising, Tours, Special Events and Marketing. During his time in the operations department Ericson worked on and opened numerous new rides and attractions including the multi-million dollar Congo River Rapids, and the million dollar plus Games Area. When the Busch parks started producing their own concerts, he had the opportunity to work with acts such as Bryan Adams, Charlie Daniels and the Atlanta Rhythm Section.

i like it much better than BPS. He's actually following recommendations and going beyond them. Let's give this a shot!! We have to dream bigger than a single tenant use.

ChattTiger Wrote:

JMSTiger Wrote:It sounds too good to be true. Schlenkeresque.

that's exactly who came to mind when I read the first sentence. my second thought: what is it going to cost us?

Also, I don't see any way in the world all these things come in for only $250 million. $600 million minimum.

The cost will escalate if the city does not act quickly and sign the deal.

Its time to cutt bait with Bass Pro. They have played us long enough. Now it is time for us to play them. Take the deal.

Read the resume. This guy takes payments. He does not create revenue. Wrong guy for this. It's his dream, but he hasn't got the experience to do it. This will be a financial disaster.

Agree. Sydney Schlenker has made his way back to town.

Claw Wrote:Read the resume. This guy takes payments. He does not create revenue. Wrong guy for this. It's his dream, but he hasn't got the experience to do it. This will be a financial disaster.

No you're wrong, Turnin' the pyramid into a big fish pond would be the worst disaster possible. And it will be a disaster if that's what it becomes. It won;t generate anymore jobs on the riverfront than is there now. The new Pyramid Park plans would. Investers would wanna buuild hotels,condos and upscale restaurants nearby. It would give Memphians a reason to venture down to that part of town again. Besides, Erricson said it's only a mininmum of $250 million. That indicates it would be much more than that once the deal would be finalized. But the bigger picture is NO TAX DOLLARS INCLUDED!! He also plans to put in $5 million per year just for marketing and advertising both the project and the city together. Ain't that what the city wants?