Eight proposals submitted for redevelopment of the SFNO site

[Tron]

This has been stirring up some discussion over here in NOLA for the past week or so...

http://www.nola.com/business/index.ssf/2011/11/new_orleans_looks_at_8_proposa.html

Seems like most of the proposals include some form of ride park/water park/boardwalk shopping district/motion picture industry mix.
_________________
Tron
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SAVE THE MEGAZEPH!
2005: A sad year for both Houston and New Orleans
My favorite SFAW coasters (in no particular order):
Viper, Texas Cyclone, Greezed Lightning

[Mike Robinson]

I can not believe that some of the plans call for turning it back into a theme park. The park was a failure on all counts. None of the majors (Cedar Fair, Six Flags, etc) have any interest in the property which should tell you something.

Its a swamp, tear it down and let it be a swamp.

Best Idea would be to make Kieren Burke and Gary Story live there.

[bigboy]

The proposal calling for a rebirth of the Jazzland concept is from remnants of Southern Star minus Danny Rodgers. Which basically means there's no money behind it.

[Daffy]

[Mike Robinson]

Yeah but thinking about it that park never had the backing or management to be great. Between Alpha and Six Flags the park never had a chance. Didn't Herschend build the park and sell it before it even opened? Kind have have to wonder what that was about.

It would be nice to see someone with money and common sense to put the park back together and make it work.

[Mike Robinson]

We feel that the presentation went well. The city did ask for additional information and we have no problem providing it to them. Our next step will be to present in front of the general public. We would like to continue to get the public's input and any suggestions that the public feels important to our venture in bringing back a bigger and better amusement park. Thank you.

Article, Jan 6, 2012

Whether the former Six Flags theme park in eastern New Orleans is redeveloped into another amusement park or into an upscale outlet mall may come down to whether the committee tasked with deciding its fate feels more comfortable assigning the property to a proposer with little experience or one willing to put up little money. The five-member, city-selected committee on Friday listened to oral presentations from and asked questions of each of two finalists in its bid to find a developer for the abandoned 150-acre tract of land.

Separate development proposals call for converting the former Six Flags site into either an outlet mall or another amusement park.
Proposals to build a Crescent City Amusement Park and a Jazzland Outlet Mall beat out six others in November for an opportunity to move forward in the process that could land one of them the opportunity to redevelop the theme park.
Friday's meeting revealed that neither proposal is perfect. The RCS Entertainment team, which proposed the amusement park, is led by a group with no track record of building such parks. Meanwhile, the outlet mall project, proposed by a joint venture of Provident Realty Advisors and DAG Development, would require a significant contribution from the city that may include a tax increment financing, or TIF, agreement and other incentives.
After listening to the presentations, the committee asked both groups to provide answers to a variety of new questions. Those are due at the end of the month, at which time the team will decide whether to move forward with one, both or neither of the projects to a community meeting.
The city of New Orleans has controlled the shuttered property since December 2009, when a Delaware court presiding over the bankruptcy of Six Flags Inc. agreed to allow the theme park operator to terminate its lease in exchange for cash payments to the city. Six Flags did not reopen the storm-marred park after Hurricane Katrina.
Following a call for proposals in November to redevelop the site, the city narrowed a group of eight responses to two.
As proposed, Crescent City Amusement Park would be a theme park along the lines of Busch Gardens or Cedar Fair. A water park would be included in the first phase of development, said Michael Sidener, RCS president and chief executive officer. Sidener also mentioned a hotel and shopping mall as part of the plan, but was vague on when those projects would happen in relation to the first phase, which would be built within 18 months of RCS securing the property, Sidener said.
RCS had proposed using many of the theme park's existing rides and attractions, but after making its first visit to the property Thursday determined that "only a handful" could be reused.
Asked why the company decided that a theme park was the best use of the space, Sidener wasn't able to provide hard data demonstrating market demand or potential theme park success, but he said a theme park would "give back to the community."
"People need an escape," Sidener said. "They need somewhere to take their families."
RCS is suggesting that it pay the city $1 million a year for 50 years to operate at the site, as well as $1 per ticket sold. The company would ask for no investment, grant or tax reduction from the city, Sidener said.
Joseph Mori, who owns Globalco Central, a company partnering with RCS on the project, said it has $20 million in cash on hand for the plan and $600 million in bank guarantees from Credit Suisse Group and Deutsche Bank to fund construction of the theme park and some unrelated projects.
Sidener estimates that the project would deliver $17.8 million in tax revenue and create 1,000 permanent full and part-time jobs. The average hourly wage would be $7-$8, Sidener said, with management positions paying $45,000 to $55,000.
But RCS lacks experience. In its written proposal, the company pointed to a current project developing an amusement park in the Houston area as proof that it could handle the job in New Orleans. But Sidener revealed Friday that the Houston project has been put on hold because of "financing issues" and said the New Orleans job would be its first. Sidener also said Friday that although he has worked for amusement park vendors, he had no experience actually building or operating a theme park. When pressed for more detail into its experience, the group basically punted, saying that it had lined up a group of "partners" to cover areas where it was lacking.
Committee member Justin Augustine said he had been impressed with the financial plan presented in the company's written proposal, but was unimpressed with their level of experience following the presentation.
"I need more depth," Augustine said. "I need to know who the go-to guy is. It's difficult for me to know what I'm buying."
Also, in a twist that was not included in its written proposal to the committee, the amusement park team unveiled a convoluted, underlying business plan that involves an arrangement whereby Mori's Globalco Central, the financial linchpin for the project, would attempt to attain an agreement with the city to install fiber optic lines around town as part of the theme park deal. The city would collect a franchise tax for the service, which residents would pay for. Although the two were presented as one plan, Sidener said the theme park is not contingent on the fiber optic deal moving forward.
"What the park allows for Globalco Central is it gives us a base of operations inside the park, so it streamlines the cost." Mori said.
Globalco is the company that secured financing for the deal.
The committee asked the company to provide, by the end of the month, a detailed list of its partners, more information on the project timeline and phases as well as greater detail on its sources of committed funding to help with its decision.
The second of the two proposals is for a 400,000-square foot, $40 million outlet mall and boardwalk entertainment district to include some adapted use of the theme park elements already in place. Future phases of that plan propose a big-box retailer, amphitheater, sports field, water park and hotel at the site.
David A. Garcia, principal of DAG Development, said the idea for an outlet mall stems from the success of similar retail shops across the country, as compared with traditional retail outlets.
"The New Orleans market is one of the few remaining markets lacking a large-scale outlet mall," Garcia said.
Garcia also took a shot at its competition for the development opportunity, saying that he believed a "one-dimensional, high-risk theme park," ultimately would fail at the site.
"We do not believe a theme park or entertainment district would be feasible on a standalone basis," Garcia said.
The eastern New Orleans site is attractive for outlet retail , in part because of its size and interstate accessibility, he said. DAG Development and its partner Provident Realty would plan to lure retailers like Gap Outlet, Saks Off Fifth and Williams Sonoma to the site. Provident Realty Development Partner Kim Wise said they have held only preliminary conversations with about eight to 10 retailers about their desire to open in New Orleans, without revealing to them the exact potential development site.
Unlike RCS, Provident Realty has experience putting together such outfits. The company has developed several retail outlets throughout Texas and is responsible for the Marquis Apartments in New Orleans. New Orleans-based DAG Development, a start-up, is acting as Dallas-based Provident's local arm for the project.
But, while experience wasn't a concern for the mall project, financing was.
Deputy Mayor of Facilities, Infrastructure and Community Development Cedric Grant asked the bidders bluntly: "Where's your money?"
"The answer is: We don't know yet," Wise said. How much money the joint venture raises will depend on the results of a possibly year-long due diligence process, Wise said.
"I don't mean to sound vague," Wise said. "It's not just us going out and plopping down. There's too much out here that we've got to look at first."
As for now, to make it work, Provident and DAG say they would have to ask the city to put up an as-yet-undetermined amount of money in the form of incentives like tax increment financing. Wise also raised the suggestion that the city turn over the land to the developers.
"If we could start out with a piece of land...that would help," Wise said.
Choosing the Provident team also means the city could also put itself on the hook for providing transportation from the downtown tourist center to the eastern New Orleans mall.
Wise said one stumbling block will be to convince retailers that the city's millions of tourists would travel to eastern New Orleans to keep the mall in business.
"The major (issue) we're going to have is to convince them that we can get these tourists back and forth," Wise said. "We're going to need some kind of transit system."
Also, if the city decides to move forward with Provident it would basically be agreeing to allow the company to conduct due diligence for a period of six months to one year. Although the joint venture would pick up the tab for any pre-construction work done in that period, the city would lose the opportunity to allow anyone else to develop the site in that time, at the conclusion of which Provident and DAG could walk away if they determine that an outlet mall would not work on the site.


So I am walking away with the following. RCS itself has no real experience but want the city to install Fiber in the area....