Memphis Art Museum tour ends with $6 million
By Samuel Hardiman – Reporter, Memphis Business Journal
April 14, 2026
On Tuesday morning, the Memphis City Council boarded a van and toured the construction site for the Memphis Art Museum.
They wore hard hats and safety vests (though several did not have closed-toe shoes) and saw inside the evolving construction site. They were shown the courtyard and some of the exhibit rooms and were allowed to gaze at the handsome wooden beams that support the ceiling.
During the brief tour, the council received a pitch for additional public funding for the $180 million museum.
Zoe Kahr, executive director of the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, which will become the Memphis Art Museum when it moves Downtown, said the museum is requesting $6 million in city funds for public infrastructure outside the Front Street museum.
The money will beautify parts of Monroe and Union avenues, as well as Front Street. There will also be traffic-calming devices intended to slow down vehicle traffic as people cross Front Street to enter the museum.
The funds the city allocated for the project, John Zeanah, director of development and infrastructure for the city, said are grant funds from the State of Tennessee and the harbor docks project. He said they are limited by state law for riverfront development and cannot go elsewhere.
About an hour after the tour, the City Council voted in committee to appropriate the funds. The council approved the appropriation during its full meeting on Tuesday with same-night minutes, meaning the item cannot be reconsidered.
Kahr said the museum would open in the first few weeks of December.
