NEW ORLEANS — It's what the city in particular those in New Orleans East have been waiting for, the future of Six Flags unveiled.
The former Six Flags site is set to have a 30-acre outdoor sporting field, a water park, hotels and a family recreation center. Eyewitness News got a first look at what the abandoned site could look like.
New Orleans Six flags has sat abandoned since 2005, and now the 227-acre plot of land is being reimagined. Bayou Phoenix the developing company releasing the renderings for the first time.
An oasis, retail, and dining options, pools, indoor and outdoor sporting spaces, and even movie studios.
“For everyone to enjoy New Orleans like they should, not just for Mardi Gras, all year round,” Javona Andrews told Eyewitness News.
She and other New Orleanians who grew up in the East and who still live on the other side of the High Rise say, the East needs this development.
“When they had the Six Flags it was opening up a lot of jobs for the young people, now they don’t have an outlet,” Andrews said.
“We need this, because it's quiet back here, it's dead back here in the East and there’s going to be work for a lot of people,” Alvin Reed said.
He says the East was forgotten after Hurricane Katrina.
“We need everything, we lost a lot and we need to gain a lot so this is going to be the beginning of a lot of good things for New Orleans East,” Reed said.
And their Councilman hears them loud and clear. Councilman Oliver Thomas is fighting for his district. 19 million people visited New Orleans in 2019, Councilman Thomas says this redevelopment will put New Orleans East on the map.
“All we want to do is offer where we are from to save this City, if we had done it before we wouldn’t be fighting the one trick pony called tourism," he said.
Troy Henry from Bayou Phoenix says they've already completed the site’s feasibility tests and the project is set to be completed in 2026.
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