Executive Summary

In re-imagining the Six Flags/Jazzland Site we have designed a community that will be the catalyst for future investment in New Orleans East. Most importantly, it will create a new “city within a city.” Originally envisioned as a suburb within a city, The East was intended to be an escape from the urban landscape which gave birth to New Orleans culture. By taking a short commute, suburbanites could experience the culture without being a part of the lived experience that created it.

New Orleans is a unique place that is characterized by its distinct neighborhoods. In 1980 the City Planning Commission identified 73 distinct neighborhoods of those 18 have been labeled historic. For decades the effort, skill and industry of the City of New Orleans and its municipal subdivisions went into promoting and preserving those neighborhoods, while The East floundered due to a lack of investment. In re-imagining Six Flags/Jazzland we will embrace the cultural diversity of The East and extend the Metropolitan Core of New Orleans to include the sustainable, catalytic, mixed-use development described hereafter.

Situs Development Collective, LLC, has concepted the 162-acre main site to be a self-sustaining green community that provides uses and features that are not available in any other area of New Orleans. The allure of these programmed uses will draw visitors and patrons from the entire greater New Orleans Statistical

Metropolitan Area and from within a 2.5 hour drive time
radius. This development will be designed in a manner that evidences the City’s commitment to building with advanced methodologies that allow residents to
live in a wet environment using sustainable measures. Solar and geothermal power sources will be employed to keep operational cost to a minimum once completed.

Excavated materials from the formation of canals on site will be used to create new land for this development while enhancing exiting canals for viewing of developed areas. There will be a host of interconnected building platforms and bridges for use by the pedestrians who live, work and visit the development. The site will include grocers, retailers, restaurants, food & beverage,
museum(s), hospitality, education complex(s), passive and active recreational uses, entertainment venues, residential and office buildings. Market rate and affordable housing will be built using sustainable methods and proven flood resistant technologies.

This development will serve as the catalyst that entices locals and tourists alike to experience the unique culture in The East and the future of a sustainable New Orleans with its newly expanded Metropolitan Core.

Since Hurricane Katrina, the City of New Orleans has suffered several political administrations that have done little for the New Orleans East neighborhoods of our City. Fortunately, the current administration has been paying attention to one of the City’s most vital areas of potential growth and expansion. In this case, the City has control of the direction that will be taken for the 162- and 65-acre IDB sites with the issuance of the RFQ now being considered for selection.

Although there have been useful and informative studies of the Six Flags/Jazzland acreage for use and development, we must pay specific attention not only to what may be desired by the areas around Six Flags/Jazzland but also the need for good paying jobs. The long term success of this redevelopment will depend uses that encourage economic growth and provide opportunities for increased earning potential. There is little precedent and comparables to be found close to the development site, so the need to supplement private capital with public incentives in this 3P development is a must.

The subject site is a federally mandated Opportunity Zone and provides means for investors to minimize taxes on Capital Gains. SDC has assembled professionals from the various sectors of the financial spectrum to acquire the capital necessary to fund the redevelopment of Six Flags/Jazzland. McClain Financial Group,

The Hackett Group and CFP3 will bring to bear decades of
institutional knowledge that will be laser focused on funding.

The combination of public uses and private profit-making uses work together to make a complete mixed-use community. The concept intention is to create a destination for entertainment, shopping, and recreation while supporting small businesses. There will be on-site multifamily residential uses along with single family developments which will surround the current site. In summarizing the forgoing, we have concepted a 24-hour sustainable development that is a complete neighborhood. Our vision represents a diverse combination of uses and vibrant living environments within the site. This development brings together the highest and best uses by means of leading edge design and development concepts all born of the skill of our development team members.

Although we have begun the development concept process, the final design will be vetted by our development leadership and the design/engineering team in concert with the City and their stakeholders, and aligning with final funding commitments once feasibility work has been completed on the combination of
uses and costs.

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