A Shelby County chancellor has denied a request for a preliminary injunction filed in an attempt to halt construction of the new Memphis Brooks Museum of Art along Front Street in downtown Memphis.
Chancellor Melanie Taylor Jefferson’s decision comes months after a group of Memphians whose ancestry traces back to the founders of Memphis and Friends for Our Riverfront filed a lawsuit to stop the Brooks from building a new museum.
The group suing the city and the Brooks Museum alleges that 200 years of previous legal precedents were misinterpreted and that the city did not have the authority to build the structure on specific land.
This piece of land is known as “the Boardwalk” and has historically been managed by the City of Memphis through an easement. According to descendants of Memphis’ founders, called “heirs” in legal documents, the city should not build on the property because it belongs to the citizens. Doing so, they argued, violates residents’ property rights.
Jefferson, in a decision dated August 30, 2023, granted a temporary injunction against the construction of the museum, momentarily halting the works. That request came with a $1 million bond, which the “heirs” and Friends for Our Riverfront have not posted as of yet.
Business executive Carl Person, chairman of the board of the Memphis Art Museum (and founder of the consulting firm Customized Solutions), said the decision helps ensure that Memphis will soon be home to “one of the greatest cultural institutions in the country.”
“Today,” Person said, “we are closer than ever to making that dream a reality. This part of our riverfront will soon be home to not only a world-class art museum, but also acres of new, open, filled space. of art and accessible public space for all to enjoy.”
In September, the “heirs” and Friends for Our Riverfront requested that the precautionary measure be turned into an injunction. Jefferson, in his written decision Friday morning, said that because the plaintiffs had not posted bond, “this court has no choice but to DENY petitioners’ request to convert the (restraining order) temporary) in a temporary injunction”.
The “heirs” at the September hearing requested a bail reduction. The city of Memphis and the Brooks Museum requested that a bond be set at approximately $5 million, citing the damages they believed they would incur if they were forced to halt construction. Jefferson ultimately considered this too great a cost.
The museum was founded in 1916 in Overton Park, where it will remain until the Downtown facility opens. Current exhibits include a show dedicated to Maryland-born designer Christian Siriano, which includes dresses worn by celebrities such as Taylor Swift, Michelle Obama, Oprah and Zendaya.
Lucas Finton is a criminal justice reporter for The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Lucas.Finton@commercialappeal.com, or (901)208-3922, and followed on X, formerly known as Twitter, @LucasFinton.
This article originally appeared on the Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis Brooks Museum Downtown Construction Can Continue Under Judge’s Rules
