TOM LEE PARK RECEIVES 12th AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE AND INNOVATION

The redesigned Tom Lee Park along Memphis’ riverfront has been awarded one dozen major awards, most recently on the global stage as recipient of the Large Urban Park Award for North America by World Urban Parks. Announced in Istanbul, Turkey at the World Urban Parks Symposium, the award celebrates excellence in urban parks and green spaces worldwide. Tom Lee Park is one of just three North American large urban parks to be honored by the international parks organization.

“Tom Lee Park is the product of aiming high, thinking more boldly and insisting that equity, opportunity, and joy are driving park design principles, as directed and now heralded by World Urban Parks’ mission,” said Paul Chandler, President & CEO of Memphis River Parks Partnership. “We are honored to share this international award with the city of Memphis.”

Tom Lee Park’s 31 acres on the Memphis riverfront were transformed and reintroduced in 2023 as one of the country’s most innovative and welcoming waterfront parks. Since its re-opening, Tom Lee Park has recorded over two million visitors representing over 5,000 zip codes. Designed by Studio Gang and SCAPE, Tom Lee Park features a Mississippi River-inspired landscape with undulating hills, native plantings, and restored bluff ecosystems. The park now includes a large destination playground, pickleball and basketball courts under the Sunset Canopy, water features, outdoor classrooms, meditative spaces, and public art, including the Monument to Listening by Theaster Gates and unique sculptures representing the lives that Tom Lee saved. The park serves as a national model for inclusive, restorative urban design that connects Memphis to its riverfront.

The final piece of Tom Lee Park’s redesign plan, the Memphis Flyway, is a one-of-a-kind riverfront experience slated to open in Spring 2026. The only free and ADA-accessible observation deck on the Mississippi River, Memphis Flyway will conserve and welcome a wide variety of species, including the at-risk Monarch butterfly, and offer view of the more than 100 species of birds that fly past the Memphis riverfront annually.

Tom Lee Park is the recipient of twelve major awards to date, including the Fast Company World Changing Ideas Award in 2024 and Urban Land Institute Americas Awards for Excellence in 2025.