Who is Tonya Pope's secret partner this time?

Tonya Pope is appealing (well, at least making  a public appeal through the media) the city's decision to exclude her from the list of finalists in the latest Six Flags redevelopment sweepstakes. 

TPC-NOLA Inc., which has long sought to revive the former Jazzland theme park at the Six Flags site, said in a formal protest Friday that the selection committee used "inconsistent, subjective and biased scoring" when judging six proposals for the abandoned property.

"Inconsistent, subjective, biased," maybe! That doesn't necessarily have to mean gender bias, specifically, although Pope does claim that too.  But, again, maybe. There certainly seemed to be some degree of favoritism involved when the finalists were announced.  And, besides, Pope knows more about this process than just about anybody by now.  Her company has been one of the very very many who have put together multiple proposals over the course of very very many attempts by the city to snag a developer for this cursed property.  

In the most recent round prior to this one, her plan involved... some kind of wax museum or something? Maybe that sounds wacky, but it's hardly the craziest thing that's been proposed so far. Nor is it any stranger than what the current front-runners have on the table. What's intriguing, though, about Pope's current bid is that the city says she was docked points in the evaluation process for not disclosing an important financial backer.

TPC-NOLA received 328 points. Committee member Nicole Heyman criticized that group for failing to identify its partner company, while committee member Jeff Schwartz rapped it for failing to prove it had obtained financing to build its proposal.  

Pope, the company president, said Friday that while her group did not want to out its partner at the public selection meeting, it is willing to provide that information to committee members privately.

Well who wouldn't be reassured by that?   It's not like Pope's partners in previous bids could have raised any questions.  The wax museum project was supposed to involve former Governor Edwin Edwards.  And in 2014, her proposal was backed by a certain financial outfit of note. 

Paidia's bid calls for a $50 million initial phase that would reconstruct the heart of the Jazzland park by next spring. Much of the money would come from a $25 million construction loan financed by First NBC Bank and federal tax credits for revitalization projects in impoverished neighborhoods. Paidia is also counting on another $10 million in private financing for equipment, $8 million in state tax incentives and $2 million in corporate sponsorships, according to its proposal.

 Really, in hindsight, it's remarkable that one didn't get done.  

Anyway, let's hope the committee takes Pope's complaint seriously enough to giver her another chance. If only so we can find out who the heck she's got on the team this time. 

Ah they brought in a ringer

For those who were curious about what sort of gimmick could possibly breathe new life into the many-failures-over Six Flags redevelopment saga, well, here you go. 

Mayor LaToya Cantrell's administration announced that a partnership that included Brees was among the three finalists chosen to redevelop the derelict Six Flags site in New Orleans East, advancing a highly-anticipated effort to breathe life into the 227-acre park that has been abandoned for almost 16 years. 

After a selection committee scored six proposals based on developers' qualifications, financial resources and other factors, the highest scoring contender was a partnership between Kiernan West LLC of Colorado and S.H.I.E.L.D., a foundation launched by Brees, Saints linebacker Demario Davis and Buffalo Bills cornerback Joshua Norman.

That group wants to turn the park into multiple facilities, including an agriculture innovation center that helps young people learn about urban farming.

The actual developer is Kiernan-West which is a corporate real estate firm that has dotted the US map with logistics centers so we can logically conclude that is at least one of the "multiple facilities" in the proposal, if not the main one.  The rest of it is just branding.  And by that we mean they just grabbed a bunch of progressive-sounding twee business buzzwords and mashed them all into one thing for the professional athletes to pitch.

The nonprofit portion, managed by the SHIELD group, would include a facility for urban farming and aquaponics; a “discovery lab” that would provide science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics programming for New Orleans students; a natural healing center, and a food cultural center that would serve as a lecture hall for culinary arts education. The site would also feature a restaurant. 

Future development phases could include a ghost kitchen that would deliver meals to people in need, and a food truck park.

There are so many half-baked ideas going on there it literally reads as though it were being made up as it was dictated. Either that or they were just trying to make sure they hit whatever sweet spot the consultant's report laid out for them. 

A firm the city hired to study the best use for the park said in 2019 that it would work best as a transportation and distribution hub, though that team ended up recommending an “education destination” that could focus on themes such as resiliency and climate change, after talking with residents.

I'm glad they clarified which consultant's report we're working from here because there have been several.  This is the 2019 report by  TIP Strategies and Perkins & Will.  The purpose of glossy papers like this is always to give the developers a paint-by-number scheme for making their project appear to fit the needs of whatever community they are taking advantage of.   I'm disappointed to see that Brees's group did not throw a zipline in with their proposal as the consultants suggested.  But we got the healing center and that always seems to be the key. 

Anyway, between the pro athletes involvement and the jamming in of all the shiny objects, this seems like the proposal that is going to be selected.  And Brees sure does know how to spit out the jargon. 

“I am excited about the ability to present this transformational proposal to the city,” Brees said in a statement about the plan. “It is a vision that we have been working on for more than a year, actively looking for the right site and the right public/private Partnership to launch our non-profit concept. I believe this is it.”

If this means he and this giant real estate firm he's shilling for are going to get their hands on one cent of the city's stimulus allocation for any of this, then it's all the same to us if the whole site just sinks back into the swamp. 

On the other hand,  we do see Troy Henry involved with one of the competing groups so maybe let's wait and see. They're expecting to decide within in the next two or three months.

How big is the Six Flags site?

Over the years I've seen it reported differently a few times. Is it 140 acres or 220 acres or 227 acres or 224 acres or 150 acres?  Today the city's latest RFQ lists it as separate parcels of 162 and 65 acres.  Is that right?  What is happening? 

Under the latest request for qualifications, developers have from this Wednesday, Dec. 16, through to Feb. 9, 2021 to demonstrate their interest and ability to revitalize the area.

Schwartz said the city then hopes to winnow those bidders down to a short-list of potential master developers who will be asked to submit fully-fledged proposals.

He said the city is aiming to choose an exclusive developer, which can be a joint venture, and to have worked out a redevelopment plan by the end of June.

"We're going to do everything we can to stick to that with no more delays," he said.

The city is asking for proposals that include both the 162-acre main site where the abandoned amusement park is located as well as a nearly-adjacent 65-acre site located to the northeast, closer to Bayou Sauvage, between Interstate 10 and Michoud Boulevard and abutting two residential areas that contain several hundred houses.

Guess we'll find out soon enough.  This reclamation project has attracted some truly remarkable ideas from some fascinating people over the years.  Can't wait to see what is in the next exciting batch of presentations.