Posted Nov 15, 2010, 11:09 AM
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TL;DR
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Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: the city o'wind
Posts: 16,501
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Quote:
Ray Nagin's role in trying to develop giant hobbled power plant is disputed
Sunday, November 14, 2010, 7:30 AM
The Market Street power plant has long been considered one of the city's choicest pieces of real estate.
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"The deal from Baltimore for acquisition is from the Cordish Group," it says. "The father, David Cordish, is flying to New Orleans next Thursday and wants to meet with Samuel, Fisher, Broadhurst, and the mayor. This is a meeting to ink a deal as approximately one year ago, Samuel, Mayor Nagin and Bill Broadhurst flew to Baltimore and structured a tentative joint venture. Time has passed and we now have a new mayor that will be introduced into the equation on Friday."
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It's easy to see why Market Street's developers might have wanted to woo Nagin. Redeveloping the power plant would require approvals from a maze of city and state agencies with authority over development, tax policies, traffic, historic buildings, the port, the river and the Public Belt Railroad.
Moving forward would also surely require a major environmental cleanup. The building once burned coal and is on the site of a former paint factory. It is believed to have lead and other toxic chemicals in the soil.
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The Market Street project, meanwhile, languished. On May 28, 2009, Samuel resigned as managing member of Market Street, and a group of disgruntled investors assumed control.
That group, called NOLA Development Partners, promises that something is finally going to happen at the site. They say they expect to announce a retail anchor for the project soon.
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Very, very convoluted history, with the usual side of shady deals. I'm so glad Ray Ray is gone. I'm also glad the Cordish deal didn't go through. Cordish's urban renewal projects are extremely tacky at best. They give to to other, sleepier cities what New Orleans already has in the form of the French Quarter. Their brand of festival marketplace would be another failure on the order of the Riverwalk. Can you imagine "New Orleans Live!" (exclamation mark included)? We have enough postmodern urban tackiness in New Orleans.
What we need instead is another Canal Place - not a place for tourists or entertainment, but just a classy, dynamic mixed-use neighborhood with a significant amount of major retail. It's my understanding that this is what NOLA Development Partners is seeking (Michael Ullian, the man mentioned in previous articles, is leading that group).
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la forme d'une ville change plus vite, hélas! que le coeur d'un mortel...
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