New Orleans council approves $5M to clear Six Flags site for development
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New Orleans City Council members have agreed to spend $5 million on infrastructure work on the former Six Flags site in New Orleans East, as the Bayou Phoenix redevelopment team works to bring the site back into commerce.
Bayou Phoenix has already started demolition on the amusement rides and buildings at the former theme park site, abandoned since Hurricane Katrina. The site has faced many obstacles to redevelopment over the past two decades.
The deal, approved by the council in a unanimous vote on Thursday, is between the city and the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority, which owns the land. The city will issue $1 million to NORA this year and the remaining $4 million in 2026.
The money will be used to clear 20 years' worth of overgrown trees, weeds and grass on the site. NORA will reactivate storm water drainage, restore pumps, clear and restore catch basins and intake pump lines. It will also install solar lighting, repair and replace perimeter fencing and install subsurface drainage, District E Councilmember Oliver Thomas said at the meeting.
Thomas, who is running for mayor, said the approval marked progress in the city's long-overdue effort to mitigate blight on publicly owned land. The city’s efforts will make the site more desirable to investors, he said, as Bayou Phoenix aims to bring its vision of film studios, a youth athletic complex, two hotels and a water park to fruition.
"When you talk about the Six Flags site — a site that we control — even if you didn't have a developer, the city owns that property," Thomas said. "Why wasn't the city mitigating the blight there? Why weren't we investing in making sure the utilities were back intact, that you were clearing the site? ... The city needed to be more responsible about how it maintained property that it wanted developed."
The Bayou Phoenix team's plan for the 225-acre site could cost more than $500 million, and is still years away from completion.
"The role of this public-private partnership is for the city to assist with the stabilization of the property," said Troy Henry, the project's developer. "We're not asking them to be investors necessarily in a hotel or something like that, but assisting with the infrastructure necessary to get the site into a developable condition is really the primary role we envision for the city and NORA."
Henry said negotiations are underway with a possible partner to operate the site's youth athletic complex. He said he hopes to be able to announce the new partnership by the end of the year.
Brenda Breaux, executive director of NORA, said work still needs to be done at the site, but progress, which can be seen from Interstate 10 near the area, has been made in demolition.
"I know many of you all have driven the I-10 going east and you would see that some of the big pieces of equipment that were nuisances... are down," she said. "We just took a tour of the site... and the site has been clear, with the exception of a few buildings that will be retained on site."
The remaining buildings were saved at the request of composer Elvin Ross, the first tenant to sign a formal lease to build a film studio on the site, Breaux said. Ross' team plans to use the buildings as part of their plan to build out a studio, parking lot and event space, she added.
Jeff Schwartz, director of economic development for the city, said the approval will help bring about long-awaited development at the New Orleans East site.
"This lays the groundwork, hopefully, for the Bayou Phoenix team to continue to advance, but this is a worthy public investment in a publicly owned site," he said.
