Uptown Bike Racks Project in Memphis, TN
REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS
Release Date: April 14, 2014
Budget: $13,600 for four bike racks at $3,400 each
Deadline: May 12, 2014, 5pm
Eligibility: Artists currently living in greater Memphis
Project Description
Habitat for Humanity and Uptown Memphis in partnership with the UrbanArt Commission invite
artists living in greater Memphis to submit designs and qualifications for three murals in the
Uptown neighborhood of Memphis. The Uptown Bike Racks Project will lead to the installation
of four neighborhood bike racks. Funding for the project is generously provided through an
UrbanLIFT grant from Wells Fargo. The UrbanArt Commission is facilitating the Project.
Located just north of Downtown, Uptown was established in the 1850s as Memphis’ first
suburb. Uptown’s residential neighborhood is located north of A.W. Willis Avenue, while the
area south of the Avenue is home to the world-renowned St. Jude Children’s Research
Hospital and the Pyramid Arena, which is being converted to a flagship Bass Pro Shop and
Entertainment Center. The public art initiative is sited in Uptown’s residential area.
The goal of the public art project is to foster neighborhood identity and to enhance the built
environment through public art. The bike racks are intended to feature welcoming, original
designs and to provide safe spaces for bicyclists to lock their bikes. Parallel to the bike racks,
three murals will be will be painted on the sidewalls of the following Uptown businesses: The
Bakery at Uptown, Brian’s Grocery and Roxie’s. At a March 24 neighborhood charrette held at
the Greenlaw community center, residents and artists developed the following goals and
themes for the public art initiative:
• Family and youth
• Nature and trees
• Neighborhood narratives (for inspiration see the attached Uptown Timeline History)
• Opportunity for Uptown branding (“Uptown swings”, “U”)
• Potential for continuation of narratives in the murals
Sites
Four preliminary sites have been designated for the bike racks and alternate sites have been
proposed at neighborhood businesses, including Brian’s Grocery, Roxie’s and The Café at
Uptown. Final bike rack sites will be confirmed. Currently, the following sites are proposed:
Uptown Park at the corner of Greenlaw Avenue and Greenlaw Place
Southeast corner of the intersection of North Main and Mill
Southwest corner of the intersection of North Second and Mill
Southeast corner of the intersection of North Seventh and Mill
The bike racks should be sculptural and original in form. Artists are invited to submit several
designs that could form a series. Site photos are included in the attachment and can be
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downloaded at http://www.urbanartcommission.org/open-projects/
Budget
$13,600 for four bike racks at $3,400 each, all inclusive. Please include the cost of pouring a
concrete foundation in your proposal.
Projected Timeline
Monday, April 14, 2014
Monday, May 12, 2014
By Tuesday, May 27, 2014
June 2014
July-September 2014
October 2014
RFP released
RFP deadline
Commissioned artists announced
Community process and design revisions
Bike rack fabrication
Installation
Artist Selection Process & Criteria
The Artist Selection Committee will select the bike racks based on the originality of the designs
submitted; professional qualifications; ability to work within a budget and meet deadlines; and
successful completion of other public art projects.
Selection Committee
The Art Selection Committee is comprised of representatives of Habitat for Humanity and
Uptown Memphis, as well as three community members who were elected at a community
charrette on March 24, 2014.
Guidelines
Please review the UrbanArt Artist’s Handbook, for detailed instructions for applying to UrbanArt
projects and how the selection process works. A copy may be downloaded from the ‘Artists’
Toolkit’ section of the UrbanArt website – www.urbanartcommission.org/artists
Please submit the following materials online by following the “Uptown Bike Racks” link
at www.urbanartcommission.org/open-projects:
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Include a typed letter explaining your interest in the project and your general
approach/concept to its design and production. NOTE: this should take the form of an
official design proposal, including a description of your methods for producing a design and
finished project if selected.
Images of your design proposal, specifications, drawings and other documents and models
as necessary to present a meaningful representation of the concept and design proposal.
The proposal shall also specify materials, general dimensions, and preliminary
maintenance recommendations.
Preliminary project budget.
Résumé, not to exceed 2 pages.
List of three professional references, including current phone and email.
Complete applicant’s materials should be uploaded via the UrbanArt website only.
Hardcopy packets, digital files, and CD-Rs will not be accepted.
For more information please contact:
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Siphne Sylve, Director of Public Art
(901) 454-0474 x101 / [email protected]
This RFP and support materials may be downloaded at www.urbanartcommission.org/open-projects
Disclaimers
Applicants will be notified as to the status of their application. Commissioning of artists by UrbanArt and
the pursuit of all UrbanArt activities are implemented without preference to racial or ethnic origins,
gender, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, disability or age.
UrbanArt reserves the right to modify this solicitation and to request additional information from
participating artists.
UrbanArt reserves the right to accept or reject, at any time prior to the commissioning of a work, any or
all proposals when the acceptance, rejection, waiver or advertisement would be in the best interest of
the project. In addition,
The staff of UrbanArt will be responsible for all correspondence and communication by and between
applicants and members of selection panels. Discussion regarding these projects by and between any
applicant and any member of a selection panel outside of regularly scheduled meetings during the
selection process may be grounds for the disqualification of the applicant. Such determination shall be
in the discretion of UrbanArt.
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UPTOWN TIMELINE HISTORY
Getting to know Uptown History: Uptown embodies one of Memphis’ oldest neighborhoods.
Greenlaw was the first planned “suburban” community in Memphis. Many years down the road,
Uptown was considered to be the first public-private revitalization project among master
downtown developers, Jack Belz and Henry Turley and the City of Memphis, known as the
Uptown Partnership, a Belz-Turley Community Development Company. The foundations of this
development included the progressive and nationally acclaimed trend of building
neighborhoods that were walkable with ‘mixed income’ families and offered a diverse range of
housing that was intended to reduce urban sprawl and traffic. Chic and modern energyefficient designs for rental and homeownership opportunities combined with colorful features
were introduced to families as economical and ecologically smart. The social and cultural
introductions of the Uptown development include new public infrastructure such as parks and
streetscape; property improvement programs for current residents and businesses; community
support services; public safety education; and transportation programs. This neighborhood has
a vibrant pulse, bubbling with assets and cultural and historic vibrations.
Timeline History
Pinch District: Settled by Irish immigrants in the mid-1800s. Mr. Craven Peyton dubbed the
area “Pinchgut” due to the residents’ gaunt appearance after fleeing the great potato famine in
Ireland. The area was known for very humble housing. After the Civil War, the Pinch district
was mostly an African-American neighborhood.
1840s: Established by the Greenlaw Brothers, and partners Robert Looney, John and Isaac
Saffarans and E.T. Keel. Streets were paved with cobblestone, had granite curbs, and were
lined with sycamore trees. Prominent Memphis families built large stately homes in the area.
The neighborhood was an area of growth and prosperity as the first subdivision outside the
original city limits.
1860s: Bluecollar workers began to build smaller homes alongside existing homes, creating an
economically diverse community. Ethnic diversity was the norm. Immigrants from Germany
and Ireland moved into the area, as did Jewish immigrants from Europe. Because of this, the
area now known as Greenlaw attracted mostly Northeastern and Mid-Western families, giving
the area its own distinctive culture.
1870: Greenlaw and Chelsea annexed into Memphis.
1880s: Prominent Memphis politicians and businessmen called the area home. George C.
Love lived in the neighborhood and served as mayor during a period when E.H. Crump was
having legal difficulties. Love’s house still stands, and is now a neighborhood center owned by
the city.
April 1912: A major Mississippi River flood brought high water to downtown Memphis. The
lights of Memphis were put out by the flood after the Mississippi River submerged the gas
plant. The flood stopped construction of big homes for the affluent in the neighborhood.
1920s: Political power players began to move out. Greenlaw began to lose political muscle.
Older mansions were bulldozed by the government and empty lots were left.
1940s: Philip Belz began industrial development in North Memphis. The neighborhood
attracted more bluecollar workers and African Americans. Bars, liquor stores and juke joints
become less attractive for starter families
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1950s: During this period, Memphis was named the country’s quietest, cleanest and safest city
on several occasions. In an effort to attract more affluent residents to Greenlaw, MHA built an
all white housing development called Hurt Village.
Elvis in Uptown (1949 to 1953): Elvis Presley’s family moved from Tupelo, Mississippi to
Lauderdale Courts public housing development. Elvis took up the guitar at 11 and practiced in
the basement laundry room at Lauderdale Courts. He played gigs in the malls and courtyards
of the Courts with other musicians who lived there. Elvis attended Humes High School, which
is now Humes Middle School. Lauderdale Courts has been restored and is now Uptown
Square. The Presley apartment is open to tourists.
April 14, 1968: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel while in
Memphis to support the Sanitation Workers’ strike. In a speech given days before, known
widely as the "Mountain Top Speech", Dr. King foretold of his own death. King let it be known
that he was not going out of life backwards and that he was grateful to God for allowing him a
vision of the future of his people. An enormous outpouring of grief spread across the country,
as well as violent outrage in cities including Memphis, Detroit and Chicago.
1960s: Federal court decisions ended segregation in the city’s public libraries, schools, parks
and recreation facilities. Racial tensions were at a high due to the sanitation strike and
assassination of MLK. Most whites who lived in Hurt Village left the area. Most businesses
closed as well as industries. Poverty, crime and lack of development sent the area into a
downward spiral of decay.
2000: Greenlaw was a blighted area just north of downtown. Five decades of neglect, crime
and poverty had taken a toll on the area, sending it into a depression. The neighborhood was
plagued with poverty, dilapidated housing, crime and homelessness.
2002: Developers Jack Belz and Henry Turley teamed up with the city of Memphis. Hope VI
(Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere) was to replace the deteriorated Hurt Village
housing projects in the Greenlaw-Manassas neighborhood with mixed income housing. The
developers chose not to tear everything down and start from scratch. Choosing instead to infill
vacant lots while leaving habitable homes and apartments in place and bettering them.
2008: After more than $35 million in federal funds, a public/private partnership, and 5,000 new
residents, Uptown is a national model for urban revitalization as well as eco-friendly and
mixed-income communities. Just five years after the redevelopment project began, property
values in Uptown are the fastest growing in Memphis.
2010-2014: Habitat for Humanity of Greater Memphis launches the Neighborhood
Revitalization Initiative and provides 50+ senior repairs and purchases 100 vacant lots
intended for new construction for first time homeowners.
2014: Habitat for Humanity of Greater Memphis, Uptown LLC and the UrbanArt Commission
partner to create three murals on Uptown businesses and install three artistic bike racks.
Sources:
http://www.uptownmemphis.org/summary.htm
http://uptownswings.com/history.html
http://ucamemphis.org/
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Four Uptown Bike Rack Sites
Uptown Park at the corner of Greenlaw Avenue and Greenlaw Place
Southeast corner of the intersection of North Main and Mill
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Southwest corner of the intersection of North Second and Mill
Southeast corner of the intersection of North Seventh and Mill
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