Unrealistic to expect local company assume cost increases of switch to BSL

With overnight riverboat companies out of business, our local Memphis Riverboats will be the only company using Beale Street Landing. Right now they pay to dock at the Cobblestone Landing, but plans for BSL call for ticketing and boarding of local tours to shift to the new boat dock.

Q: Is there a need for Beale Street Landing, or would the cobblestone landing we already have, with improvements that would cost less, suffice?

A. In an interview for the Daily News in 2006, the current owner of Memphis Riverboats Inc., Capt. William Lozier, said he thinks the cobblestones are a better investment. “We like where we’re at,” Lozier said. “Yeah, we’d like a new facility, but a new facility comes with new problems.”

BSL will come with serious debt (roughly $2M in annual interest alone) and new maintenance and operating expenses. What will those costs increases be? No one has said, but it’s unrealistic and unfair to expect our local company to assume them.