The Future
The Skyview Project
The future phase of RZ is entitled SKYVIEW because the property on which the new Opportunity Zone Center will sit is the former site of the Skyview Drive-in. Skyview Drive-ins opened for business across the country in July of 1949. As a prominent structure and gathering place for Memphis’s teenage population during the 50’s and 60’s, the “Bloomer Pink” entertainment center was off limits to most of the residents of Orange Mound due to racial segregation and discrimination.
Left abandoned and torn down somewhere in the early 70’s, the parcel of land on Park Avenue along the northern border of the new Melrose High School (which was built on part of the land) has lay fallow for more than 40 years having become a contributor to the blight in the community.
Part of our vision for the Opportunity Zone Center is to reclaim this vacant eyesore, redeeming it for the good of the community, therefore using it as part of the reformation and transformation process. In short, it is our goal to develop a “promise neighborhood” by erecting a multi-use community center designed to serve the greater Memphis community.
