Reopened after being vacant for over 10 years, the iconic Memphis Pyramid, at 32 stories high on the banks of the Mississippi River, debuted with a wilderness-inspired hotel, Big Cypress Lodge, and a 535,000-square-foot lifestyle, entertainment, dining and outdoors retail experience, Bass Pro Shops at the Pyramid. This one-of-a-kind venue offers groups both meeting spaces for large events and intimate gatherings. The re-imagined Memphis Pyramid is the project of Johnny Morris, the founder of Bass Pro Shops. The Pyramid is the first Bass Pro Shops location to include a world-class hotel within its nature-themed environment.
The 103-room Big Cypress Lodge offers a variety of accommodations, including rustic-elegant cabins, duck cabins, treehouses and suites inspired by vintage duck hunting camps with either interior Cypress Swamp or exterior Memphis views. Most rooms offer French doors that open to private screened-in porches with rocking chairs that overlook the ground level. The almost 2,000-square-foot Governor’s Suite sleeps six to eight and offers a fully equipped kitchen, a boardroom with a dining/meeting table for 10-12, and a comfortable living area.
The new Bass Pro Shops at the Pyramid offers a wide variety of activities for groups, from Uncle Buck’s Fishbowl & Grill, an ocean-themed bowling alley and nautical-themed restaurant, to archery and pistol ranges, to the Ducks Unlimited Waterfowling Heritage Center, an interactive wetlands education museum that showcases the history of waterfowling and wetlands conservation and is part of a partnership with Memphis-based Ducks Unlimited. Groups can take the U.S.’s tallest free-standing elevator to The Lookout, a Southern-inspired restaurant and bar at the top of the Pyramid that features a glass-floored observation deck with 360-degree views of the Mississippi River and Memphis skyline. Back on the ground level, the Cypress Swamp is home to 100-foot cypress trees, an alligator habitat and underwater ecosystems that include aquariums with more than 1,800 fish.