Mayor Cantrell responds to councilman’s funding request for Six Flags redevelopment

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell on Wednesday (May 17) responded to a letter she received from Councilman Oliver Thomas, requesting an additional $10-15 million in funding to ensure the development of the Bayou Phoenix projects on the abandoned Six Flags site.

The project, spearheaded by Troy Henry, aims to transform the dilapidated site into a resort-like hub in New Orleans East for families and kids.

As part of the public-private partnership, the city has already allocated $1 million to the Bayou Phoenix project, and the land is now under the ownership of the city, granting Henry access to the site for development purposes.

“So this has now shifted to them,” Mayor Cantrell said in her routine press conference. “Show us who your partners are. Show us financial commitments that you may have. I don’t believe that the city of New Orleans has to show or put more money on the table when we have yet to see the developer themselves put resources on the table.”

Efforts were made to obtain a comment from Henry regarding the mayor’s remarks, but Henry responded by stating, “We will brief the mayor and her team directly and not via FOX 8.”

Related: New Orleans councilman seeks additional funding for Bayou Phoenix project, raising concerns of conflict of interest

Cantrell expressed her eagerness to see financial commitments from the developer before moving forward.

“I want to make sure that any additional dollars that we put forth, is again, leveraged against real commitments that the developer has the responsibility to bring to the table and what they actually talked about with selling it to the community,” Cantrell said.

Councilman Thomas said in a statement he believed the project’s master plan demonstrates its viability. He said his last meeting with the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority (NORA) was positive.

“Looking forward to a resolution one way or the other, but the residents of District E deserve the development of this very important piece of property,” Thomas’ statement read.

Cantrell said she is committed to revitalizing New Orleans East and developing the abandoned site.

“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.”

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