Jazzland Park

06/03/2024

MegaZeph is on the chopping block folks. We've been saying it since they "won" the RFP. Bayou Phoenix's plan is to tear everything down. And notice that the article doesn't mention who will be paying to tear it down.

Once it comes down, then what? The soil conditions are horrible. There are plenty of photos out there of bulldozer and land moving equipment that sunk during the original construction. No legitimate hotel operator is going to pick that specific area of the site. The foundation alone would derail their plans. Think about it, what would make the park site specifically more attractive to a developer than nearby vacant land? Say you are a hotel developer interested in NOE. If it were going to cost an extra $5-10 million, or more, to build your hotel where Jocco's used to be versus on vacant land by Lowes/Target/old Plaza, what would be the attraction? WHY would you pick that site? Because there might be some baseball fields next to it someday? If that's the case, why aren't there hotels surrounding Joe Brown? Because the land is being offered cheap? Let's be honest, there's lots of cheap land available, and it's not so cheap that the added construction costs would be worth it.

The park itself is the only thing that will draw more development. Once that's gone, it will be vacant land for decades to come.

Once torn down, including the pilings, which will cost millions of dollars (taxpayer dollars), the only use it can viably be put to is baseball fields. So you will lose MegaZeph and gain a baseball field that brings in zero revenue and essentially zero jobs.

06/03/2024

05/14/2024

Has the Bayou Phoenix lease already been cancelled? With the City's financial troubles that have been in the press lately, NORA should NOT be paying for this:

https://www.noraworks.org/13-rfps/166-new-orleans-redevelopment-authority-nora-request-for-qualifications-rfq-professional-architectural-and-engineering-services-six-flags-site-assessment

"This" for those of you that don't want to click is an architectural and engineering assessment of the park property. They want to catalog what is usable and what is not, at least from their perspective.

Bayou Phoenix's $1/year lease clearly states that they accept the property in as is condition and that NORA and the City has no further financial responsibility. If BP can't afford to do this themselves, it is not a good indicator of their ability. This is also work that should have happened last October/November. Not work to be let out mere months before their first required milestone.

Bottom line is that this is either to fabricate an excuse to tear it down (at taxpayers expense) or to give BP an extension, to delay things for it to be yet another mayor's problem.

And yes, we're still here. Just waiting for the inevitable failure.

10/23/2023

We're still here, if you were wondering.

We hesitated as to what exactly to say about an event that will be happening this week. If we're honest, it may come off as sour grapes or sore loser. But considering we've been down this road several times already, and have been right every time as to the ultimate outcome, we hope you'll take it for what it is. just being honest.

Later this week Bayou Phoenix is scheduled to sign a lease for the property. There will apparently be a big splashy to-do. We only hope that the lease agreement itself has clauses that protects the city and community. Keep in mind that the Bayou Phoenix that is signing the lease is significantly different than the one that submitted to the original RFQ. Their original financing partner (the one that actually had money, that got them their 3rd place scoring, and wanted to build industrial warehouses) left a couple years ago.

Instead of NORA sticking to the requirement of Bayou Phoenix to show a financing plan (not actually financing mind you, but a viable PLAN to get it), the City chose to push to sign with an entity with no money to do the development, and who will be building nothing of their own. They want to be the landlord of city owned land, reaping any profits that they can get, and oh yeah, they want public dollars too.

For the community, we hope your expectations are realistic. Even IF Bayou Phoenix had money, the zoning and permit process to do what they have on their latest drawings would take YEARS to get approval. Their plan tears down everything, including the parking lot, most likely at taxpayers expense of at least $20 million (which would have to go before the state legislature this coming spring at the earliest), combines the two lakes (which may involve DEQ and/or EPA approval processes), and relies on finding tenants to actually build anything.

We know the residents have been promised and are expecting a water park. Bayou Phoenix has publicly stated on camera that they would need two years to put together a brochure that they could "shop around" to find a water park company willing to be a tenant. The one on the plans is about the size of Blue Bayou in Baton Rouge.

Sadly, this feels like a bad way to do nothing but waste taxpayer dollars, with the potential of destroying any future opportunity for New Orleans East to see that area developed.

Sure, this sounds like sour grapes. When the outlet mall was chosen with the first RFP, we said it would never be build. People at City Hall referred to the head of our company as "arrogant". But is there an outlet mall there now? After the second RFP, we said Mayor Landrieu's office would not find anyone. And they didn't. So now, while for the community's benefit we hope we are wrong, we do not believe anything will come out of this latest RFQ/RFP other than the benefit of a new owner of the property (NORA instead of IDB) that may actually be willing to do something once the current effort fails. Why do we think this? Simple. Their plans do not need this specific property. Their plans would cost $30+ million less to construct on the raw acreage that is available nearby. Savvy investors know this.

Until then, our posts will be few and far between. But we are still here and will remain here until we either have the property, or taxpayer dollars have been wasted destroying it.

08/16/2023

"Seeking $100M in public funding" Folks, you just can't make this stuff up.

As we said yesterday, we are still here, still funded, and most certainly NOT asking for $100M in public funding. We are also the only ones with a team experienced with this type of development, and the only ones actually planning a theme park.

A lease has already been negotiated in principle, but it’s not clear when it will be signed. NORA Executive Director Brenda Breaux said some things still need to be worked out, but “we are more than 80% there.”

08/15/2023

It is being reported that Bayou Phoenix's "master plan" has been approved by NORA, despite not having any financing. The next step is for them to negotiate a lease. For the community's sake, we hope that private financing is a required component, especially considering that they have already asked for private funds.

What does this mean for Jazzland? We still don't believe that they will ever build anything and that it is only a matter of time before we have yet another opportunity. As our team still works daily creating new attractions in the industry, we will keep doing what we're doing. We'll still be here when the time comes ...

05/18/2023

“There are developers that can do it,” Cantrell said. “The process that we put forward ended up with Bayou Phoenix being the developer that was selected. Now, whether or not they can do it? We’ll see. But that doesn’t mean a developer or another one can not fully redevelop Six Flags.”

Another one most certainly can ... Is this the beginning of the end so soon? Our finance partner is still in place, and patient. We are experienced, have an actual plan, and financially ABLE to move forward as soon as the opportunity happens.

https://www.fox8live.com/2023/05/17/mayor-cantrell-responds-councilmans-funding-request-six-flags-redevelopment/?fbclid=IwAR0bE96nZJDufhAKes_C6E_3QIODCGmvNxxBk1Ai6-HQhXNrtZKGmN-i8vg

New Orleans Mayor responds to funding request for Bayou Phoenix project, emphasizing the need for developer's financial commitments.

05/15/2023

Latest news isn't a surprise, other than the speed of it happening. Less than 2 months after getting a deal and access to $1 million of taxpayer money (that isn't being used for security), Bayou Phoenix is asking for another $10-15 million from the city. Reportedly, they will also be asking the state and feds for monies.

We've heard their argument being that "all big developments get public help" and that they supposedly have a billion dollar idea. Problem with both of those sentiments is the speed at which they are asking for money. It's not a good look at all.

We're still here and still ready to move forward with our own money. And an actual plan that we have been consistent and transparent with since the beginning.

https://www.wdsu.com/amp/article/new-orleans-six-flags-funding-request/43875673?fbclid=IwAR0MU4oXpy63WTBCOZK1HTY1cmt3Tf2RmsSjT3NCzvyrGDElUjdlBxHpT3E

Back in March, Bayou Phoenix and the city finalized a deal with the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority to re-develop the site.

03/28/2023

Last night, the remaining Bayou Phoenix team presented their plan to community residents. Hillwood, the money partner who wanted to build warehouses that essentially got BP their "win", is no longer included. Despite promises all last week of the plan to be "an amusement park and transportation hub", the newest master plan has neither. Instead, it has a small outdoor waterpark roughly the size of Baton Rouge's Blue Bayou (about half the size of our planned Baritone Beach Waterpark). That waterpark, however, is far down the line. The initial focus appears to be a movie studio complex. Who exactly is paying for all these ideas wasn't clear.

We do feel confident that we will eventually get our opportunity. Even if BP is able to move forward, at least the first 3 phases do no impact us. In the meantime, we will be focusing on the daily work we do elsewhere in the themed entertainment industry.

We all have full time jobs designing attractions for and in operations at parks around the globe. In the past year we have worked with some of the most iconic IPs in the world, and have done work for the biggest names in the industry.

We won't be posting that often for the next few months, but we, and our finance partner, remain ready to move forward when the time comes. Rest assured, just because you don't hear from us does not mean we've given up.

03/22/2023

We thought it would be a little bit longer before we had any update or news. However, it appears that NORA decided yesterday, the same day that it was determined that the recall was not an issue, to issue an RFP for security services for the former Six Flags site. Surely the timing is a coincidence. It appears that NORA and the city's taxpayers, instead of the "developer", will be providing those services. The contract will be for a one (1) year term, renewable annually for an additional year for up to five (5) years according to the RFP document.

Does that sound like the "developer" plans on doing anything anytime soon? Or that the city expects them to??

03/08/2023

We are sure everyone has heard the latest buzz. Reportedly, everyone has come to terms. The Mayor signed a cooperative endeavor agreement with NORA a couple weeks ago. Coincidence that it was the same day the recall petitions were turned in? Yesterday NORA finally accepted the IDB's bribe, um, we mean "offer" of money and title to the property, and came to terms with Bayou Phoenix, with the Mayor sweetening the pot by giving the developer $1 million of taxpayer money that the developer's cousin, Councilman Thomas, put into the city budget earmarked for the Six Flags property. We can only hope that there are LOTS of strings attached to that money.

So what does all that mean? Probably not what everyone thinks. It certainly means yet another stall. However, Bayou Phoenix still does not have a plan (and no, they are not building a water park despite 2 years worth of promises). As recently as Monday an article about a new industrial warehouse development nearby mentioned that the Bayou Phoenix "might" include the same. They may or may not still have that warehouse tenant. As that was a sophisticated tenant, they probably realized long ago that this site is too costly to develop for warehouses. That's the reason the Kiernan/Brees group walked away. And other than the $1 million gift from the city, they still do not have the necessary funds to develop the property. From our understanding, most of the negotiating for the past year has been because they didn't have the money to provide the security, hence the reason for the IDB to pay NORA around a quarter of a million dollars.

In the end, transferring title to NORA could be a good thing. They will get tired of political charades much sooner than the IDB. Seriously, City Hall has been playing charades for over a dozen years while the IDB pretended to fuss while keeping up the ruse.

When NORA is ready to move on and get a real developer, we will still be here. It may happen sooner than you think.

01/04/2023

Happy New Year! May 2023 FINALLY be the year that we can get to work!

2022 ended as we expected. No deal from the latest RFQ/RFP round. The IDB said, again, that they wanted to be rid of the property. Time will tell if they actually mean it this time.

We are still here and still ready to move forward.

10/11/2022

One year ago today, the Mayor held a press conference crowning Bayou Phoenix as the "winner" of an RFP that was never publicly published, and that no other proposals was received for.

One year later, and the site still sits. The IDB, despite a (legal) bribe attempt to pass the property off to NORA, are still the owners of the property. Despite Jeffrey Schwartz's assurance at every meeting that an agreement was "imminent", "in the next week", "having a meeting this Friday", no agreement with Bayou Phoenix has materialized. Just a bunch of nothing.

Meanwhile, we sit and wait. The residents of the surrounding community sit and wait. EVENTUALLY, we feel certain that we will have the opportunity to purchase the land.

10/11/2022

LOL, this is a shock, a SHOCK. To be fair to the City, when it was primarily taxpayer money that was going to be involved, City Hall SHOULD have some say. Bayou Phoenix ALWAYS stated that their ideas was a public-private partnership. That means public dollars.

That's why our plan was, and forever will be, privately funded.

This is really NOT unexpected. We said previously that we thought the current "efforts" would be abandoned by the end of this year.

We are still here waiting. The team is as busy as ever with projects elsewhere - in the U.S., S.E. Asia and the Middle East. But we fully expect to be back engaged in NOLA efforts by 2023. What that means, who knows. But we'll be here.

One year after Mayor LaToya Cantrell announced Bayou Phoenix had won the right develop the former Six Flags amusement park site in New Orleans East, lease negotiations appear to be

07/20/2022

We are still here! It has been a while since our last post, but there really hasn't been any new news. Back in March, City Hall claimed that the agreements with the land transfer from the IDB to NORA (another City department) would be completed by June and that all was proceeding smoothly. Yeah right. We didn't believe them either. As of yesterday's IDB meeting, the City says "shortly" all this will be done and asked the IDB for another extension to their Cooperative Endeavor Agreement. The IDB took a "vote" to extend it for 3 months.

We say "vote" because it legally was not a vote. State open meeting laws dictate that they MUST take public comment before any votes. One New Orleans East community member had her hand up wanting to say something, she was told that public comments was at the end of the agenda and they refused to let her speak until then. This has been their stance for the past year. They do not care what the public thinks. It is really ironic that one of the board members, and even the board attorney, insisted that the CEA "protected" the IDB from malfeasance (their word, not ours). Considering that they are hiding behind it via an invalid vote, it is a real achievement that they can claim that with a straight face.

At a previous meeting this year, we brought it to the board's attention that they were in violation of the State's Sunshine Laws. These violations affect more than just the park site, as citizens with concerns over other projects have likewise been ignored. Developers report on their projects and then leave before the public comments at the end of the meeting, keeping the citizens from being able to ask developers questions. While they don't always have to open the floor, the law is quite clear that they MUST before taking any action or votes.

What the IDB, thanks to their auditors, has is a $3 million asset and two choices. IF, and that's a really big IF, the City follows through and gets NORA to agree to a transfer, the IDB will have a net loss of over $3.5 million on the transfer. Alternatively, they could simply sell the property, for a net gain of $3 million. We, again, publicly offered to purchase the property at its appraised value. We are financially able and willing to make a cash purchase. If Bayou Phoenix is financially able to do the same, the IDB should auction it. Transferring it to NORA will only have it sit and remain undeveloped, with even less care than what the IDB has done. A transfer to NORA is NOT in the citizen's best interest.

For those that are local, urge your representatives that the property should be SOLD. Let it get back onto the property tax rolls and have a developer who is willing to "put skin in the game" actually develop it. The IDB is composed of members appointed by City Council, so your councilmember does have some voice in the matter. They may try to defer, but they DO have authority to tell their IDB representative to vote for a sale.

03/24/2022

Minor update - At last week's IDB meeting, City Hall indicated that it would probably be JUNE before any deal materialized with Bayou Phoenix. We are doubtful that one ever will. Even if it does, we are even more doubtful that anything will materialize from that effort as their ideas seem to still be in flux. A recent news article about Anthony Mackie's land purchase and plans for a film studio in the area included chatter that Bayou Phoenix was looking at including a studio in their plans as well.

It seems to us that they should be focusing on what they promised the community.

As far as our protest and legal options are concerned, our legal team believes that we would easily win a lawsuit. The denial response was so poorly done that we almost think that they WANT us to sue so that they can continue to drag their feet and put the blame on us. The consensus is that if we pressed our case in court, yes we would eventually win, but that the process would be dragged out, possibly until the next administration takes office in 4 years.

At this point, we believe the most expedient path is to wait and see how the next few months play out. We are NOT going anywhere. We have said before, while the foundations and infrastructure stand, a new theme park is feasible.

We may not have that many updates over the next few months, but we are still active, still here, and still fighting. Even more importantly, our finance partner is still active, still here, and still fighting with us. They also have ideas on how to move this along. Ideas that they are willing to put their money behind.

Keep fighting with us. Make sure your representatives know that you want to !

03/02/2022

Yesterday's Happy Mardi Gras picture was a still from a recent youtube video by the Proper People.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J28efg5V5ko

If you didn't recognize it, the picture was of the doors in the Jocco building.

Thanks to Bespoke Post for sponsoring a portion of this video!Head to http://bespokepost.com/proper20 and use code PROPER20 to learn more and get 20% off you...

03/01/2022

02/19/2022

Finally received response on protest:

"Protest is denied because TPC lacks standing and its claims are without merit"

We lack standing because we did not submit a response to the secret RFP that they never published.

Yes, we will be talking with our lawyers next week.

02/16/2022

Latest word, from February 7th, is that we were to have (finally) received a response on the protest by the end of last week. ... As of this afternoon, still no response. Perhaps instead of "by the end of the week", they meant "by the end of the month"? It has now been well over 90 days.

While we wait, the new councilmember for the district posted on twitter last week that he was at the park with his cousin, Troy Henry of Bayou Phoenix, looking around. Interesting timing.

As for the protest, we made very clear and valid arguments that that process, at a minimum, was flawed. Enough flaws that it should be either re-opened, or thrown out in its entirety. If our arguments are NOT valid, they could have easily dismissed the protest back in November, or December, or January. We are quite certain that the courtroom would agree with us, if it should come to that.

The community has asked again and again for the property to be returned to an entertainment use. We remain the only group with the plan, the resources, the experience and ability to do just that. The community has also consistently said that they do NOT want the property turned into warehouses and industrial uses. You KNOW that we will not do that.

Keep the faith, and stay with us to help .

01/24/2022

Just in case you were wondering, we are still here. We are still waiting on the City to respond to our protest. We did anticipate that it would be after all the elections were over. Based on comments made during the December IDB meeting, they may try to make us out as the scapegoat that "derailed" their attempt to turn the area into warehouses. We'll take that.

As it has been almost 3 months since the protest was filed, we obviously have a strong case. If there was no merit, they could have easily denied us within weeks of the filing. The bottom line is that they did not follow their own rules.

We really didn't mean to go silent for so long. Believe it or not, all members of the team work in the entertainment industry on a daily basis, and we unintentionally neglected posting since there wasn't any new news.

Several members of the team attended the IAAPA convention in November. IAAPA is the trade association for the theme, amusement and water park industry (zoos, museums, family entertainment centers, arcades, etc., also fall under the IAAPA trade umbrella). We met with vendors and suppliers for everything from new ride and attraction options, to lighting and sound systems, and to ticketing and "track my shuttle" app software (that one was pretty neat and useful since we plan to have shuttles between the resort to the downtown tourist areas).

We are still pushing forward with our New Orleans plans, we still want to buy or lease the park property, and we are still fighting to make the Jazzland Resort happen.

We aren't giving up. Keep standing with us to !

11/02/2021

Received word today that our protest is officially under review. We have it posted on our website for those with spare reading time (it is rather long). Link was in our Friday post, so just scroll down to access it.

Here are the highlights:

Biased and inequitable scoring -- We had this in our original protest, but there has been more evidence of the bias in the last 6 months that we were able to add.

"Cone of Silence" violations -- Both the Kiernan/Brees team and the Bayou Phoenix group had meetings with the Mayor's office during the process. Two members of the selection committee, Jeffrey Schwartz and Nicole Heyman, were aware of these meetings and knew they were a violation that should result in disqualification for the two groups. Considering how much Mr. Schwartz has used procurement rules as an excuse to keep the community out of the process, this one was a biggie.

RFP 1479 - Where to begin? Everything about this RFP is problematic. It was never publicly published. The text states that they will only accept proposals from the two finalists from RFQ 961, without specifying who those two finalists are. The State AG office has consistently, for several decades so this isn't dependent on who holds the office, ruled that public bid law prohibits limiting RFQ/RFPs to "prequalified" bidders. The kicker being that the "Bayou Phoenix" group that responded, and that they accepted, wasn't the same as the original group that responded to the RFQ, so they weren't technically a finalist. The current Bayou Phoenix was close, but not the same, and we aren't playing horseshoes. The questions that were to be responded to were tailored specifically to Bayou Phoenix ... as if they've known since June that Kiernan had moved on to a different property.

And finally, May 11, 2021 was the last public meeting for RFQ 961. The October 11th meeting calendar entry and agenda make no mention of the RFQ. Therefore, despite the various press releases and announcements, there can be no RFQ "winner".

10/29/2021

Updated formal protest has been filed.

http://www.jazzlandpark.com/RFQ/RFQRFP_Protest.pdf

The community deserves more than warehouses. They deserve a fair and equitable process that they are included in. They deserve a system and process that creates public confidence in the outcome.

We continue to fight, because YOU are worth fighting for.

10/22/2021

Just a reminder, we are still here. Still fighting.

We just received documents from a public records request that definitely thickens the plot. We are updating our formal protest accordingly and will have it submitted no later than Monday. Short version is that RFQ/RFP rules were clearly broken.

Why are we still here? The community has consistently asked for an amusement park, water park, shopping, and restaurants. Unfortunately, they aren't getting any of that as things stand now.

We are also still here for the same reason we've been here for 11 years. Demolishing the property for any other purpose will cost at least $20 million. It does not make sense for a developer to pay for this when other suitable land is available. That's why Kiernan walked away. They realized this. The other alternative is for the developer to expect the City to pay for it. While the City may have monies available, this is not a prudent way for them to spend it. Especially when it goes against the wishes of the community.

What if Bayou Phoenix builds their warehouse on the smaller parcel and keeps the park site? Then the park, if one would actually happen, would be a small local park that struggles to get by.

A destination quality park is by definition a component of a destination. That's specifically why our resort includes a destination water park (NOT a bunch of colorful slides like Blue Bayou), hotels, shopping, restaurants, and other entertainment venues. This creates a 2-3 day experience and creates an actual destination.

That's also why our master site plan was specific to the land the City owned. While we have future plans, all compatible uses for a larger resort, for nearby parcels, are plans were never contingent on that additional land. We focused only on the land the City wants developed.

When we say we are building a new theme park, new water park, shopping and dining, just like the community has been asking for, you can trust us that THAT is what we are building.

No excuses.

So why are we still here fighting? Because the community is worth fighting for.

10/18/2021

WE ARE STILL IN IT. First things first, we received a notice late Friday afternoon regarding our formal protest we filed in April. The non-responsive letter said that they had not reviewed it yet because it was premature. Now that a selection has been made, we can resubmit the original protest, or submit a new one, and it will FINALLY be reviewed.

We will be submitting an updated protest. We aren't done fighting.

Meanwhile, Bayou Phoenix has already begun crawfished on elements of their "plan". In an interview with WWL last week they indicated that their amusement park and retail areas, both phase 4 to begin with, probably wouldn't happen because they "lost" 100 acres in the area to the Kiernan-Brees project. https://www.wwltv.com/article/news/local/orleans/developers-begin-phase-1-for-former-six-flags/289-21f9684c-ad3e-45ce-95d4-34a6fe72e907

Based on Troy Henry's description on WWL, we have identified only one possible site that Kiernan is looking at for his warehouse. We've identified it on the attached. It would appear that the folks in the area get to look forward to two warehouses in their neighborhood.

Despite promises, this will not generate the restaurants, shopping, and entertainment the community has asked for time and time again. This will make Michoud look like Chef Menteur. Has NASA or Folgers, both with more employees than either warehouse will produce, created an abundance of dining and shoppings opportunities in their areas?

We believe you deserve a developer that will follow thru without any bait-and-switch. No empty promises. No excuses.