As New Orleans officials consider the future of the empty World Trade Center building on the riverfront, they have been given an ambitious proposal for redeveloping a nearly mile-long stretch of the east bank riverfront stretching from the WTC site to vacant land at the upriver end of the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. The plan, backed...
As New Orleans officials consider the future of the empty World Trade Center building on the riverfront, they have been given an ambitious proposal for redeveloping a nearly mile-long stretch of the east bank riverfront stretching from the WTC site to vacant land at the upriver end of the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.
The plan, backed by Convention Center officials and other tourism leaders, envisions a nearly $500 million package of projects including a park and giant statue on the WTC site at the foot of Canal Street; a hotel, condos, stores and restaurants on 50 acres just upriver from the Convention Center; a new riverfront park at the center's upriver end; and a redesign of Convention Center Boulevard.
Many details of the plan were first reported in articles Thursday and Friday by The Lens.
Some parts of the new proposal are reminiscent of the "Reinventing the Crescent" plan for riverfront redevelopment created by the New Orleans Building Corp., a city agency, during former Mayor Ray Nagin's administration. That nearly $300 million plan envisioned creating a continuous walkway, and in many areas a linear park, along the riverfront, removing many of the barriers that prevent public access to the river, and creating what the planners called "great gathering places" and "inspirational new architecture" that would draw people to the river.
The only part of the plan that has come to fruition is a $30 million riverfront park in Bywater and Faubourg Marigny, once slated to open in late 2012 but now expected to be ready in 2014.
Other ideas in the latest proposal, such as creating an iconic riverfront sculpture or monument comparable to the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, or providing a "people mover" system along the entire length of the Convention Center, have been suggested by various tourism and civic leaders over the years.
A bill introduced by Rep. Walt Leger III, D-New Orleans, in the current legislative session would give the board that runs the Convention Center authority for the first time to spend money to develop lodging facilities, to enter into contracts to construct or operate hotels, and to issue tax-free bonds that would benefit private developments.
The bill, House Bill 516, also lays out details of what it describes as the Convention Center's Phase V Expansion Project, "a public/private project for the Convention Center to advance a tourism development plan including enhancements to the facility and installation of basic infrastructure to facilitate private development on acreage owned by" the center.
It says the expansion project would be developed and funded in four stages.
The first stage would comprise infrastructure improvements on Convention Center Boulevard from Poydras Street to Orange Street, including creation of a landscaped linear park and pedestrian mall, plus a "people mover" system; development of public infrastructure in the vacant area upriver of the exhibition hall, including the extension of Convention Center Boulevard from Henderson to Orange Street; and relocation of existing power lines along Convention Center Boulevard.
The second stage would include development of a five-acre riverfront "festival park" on existing wharves that would allow access to the river for recreational, commercial and residential uses.
The third stage would include renovation of the south or upriver end of the Convention Center by creating a new entrance, incorporating a new kitchen and restaurant facility, and developing an executive conference center to be integrated with a new, privately developed hotel.
The fourth stage would include demolition of the World Trade Center and site preparation to "facilitate the creation and development of a riverfront festival park."
Leger's bill has yet to be discussed by a House committee.
In its latest attempt to put one of the city's most valuable pieces of real estate back into commerce, New Orleans officials in January issued a request for proposals, or RFP, on how to redevelop the city-owned WTC site. The city said proposals could call for either demolishing or renovating and reusing the vacant 1960s office tower.
The RFP said the city wanted to "create a world-class civic space benefiting the community and making use of the site's important location," while developing "appropriate commercial uses for this highly valuable location" and providing revenue to the city "commensurate with the market value and proposed use of the property."
It said the city was "open to all types of proposals, imposes no limitations as to the type of redevelopment or use of the space, and encourages creative and innovative proposals." All the proposals should used private financing, the RFP said.
The city received three proposals by Wednesday's deadline, from Gatehouse Capital, McDonnel Construction Services and the Tercentennial Consortium, the group of tourism leaders backing the Convention Center proposal. Mayor Mitch Landrieu's office said Friday it will make the proposals available for public review Monday.
The state bought the large vacant tract at the upriver end of the Convention Center for the center's planned $450 million Phase IV expansion, but plans for it were scrapped in 2006 because of a downturn in convention business in the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks and Hurricane Katrina.
This is the second straight year that Convention Center and tourism leaders have put forth a major initiative to upgrade the city's tourism facilities and make it more attractive to visitors. In 2012 they proposed creating a New Orleans Hospitality and Entertainment District with the authority to impose new taxes. The new district would tentatively have included the French Quarter, Marigny Triangle, Treme, Central Business District and Warehouse District.
The initial purpose of the new district was to accept and spend a
$30 million donation from the Convention Center to be
used for improving infrastructure in the designated neighborhoods. The new agency would also have had the power
to levy new taxes within the district such as on hotel rooms, restaurant
and nightclub sales, and parking.
The plan eventually was dropped in the face of local opposition.