Brandon Dill
The main floor of the MidSouth Coliseum.
City officials say they will allow citizen groups to inspect the Mid-South Coliseum to evaluate its potential for future use.
Mayor Jim Strickland announced in a Friday news release that his administration will allow groups, presumably like the grassroots Coliseum Coalition, access to the building with qualified experts like architects, engineers, and specialized consultants.
The inspection period will run for five day from Monday, June 6 to Friday, June 10. Groups can sign up for two, four-hour blocks of time each day during the week for a total of 10 blocks. Requests for access must be made to city hall by Friday, May 27. The tours will be escorted by city officials.
The announcement is the first public move on any plan for the Coliseum since last year. Former Housing and Community Development director Robert Lipscomb had long planned to raze the building to make way for a youth sports complex at the MidSouth Fairgrounds.
All of those plans have seemingly been tabled since Lipscomb was fired from his position last year in the wake of a rape scandal.
For more information on the tours, contact Livia Carter in the Division of Housing and Community Development, at (901) 636-7341 or at livia.carter@memphistn.gov.
