Remember Six Flags New Orleans?

April 22, 2009, 10:25 AM · Well, the people in New Orleans do, because it is still standing there. Closed. The final piece in the former Premier Parks' over-expansion plan closed after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and remained closed as Six Flags opted not to invest the capital necessary to reopen the park.

Today, New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin is in New York to talk with Six Flags President Mark Shapiro about the future of the amusement park.

The former Jazzland was acquired by Six Flags in 2002 and operated as Six Flags New Orleans for three seasons before closing.

There's zilch chance that the park will reopen; the talks appear to be focused instead on some sort of financial settlement that would allow the city to bring in another developer to do something with the property. (The city owns the property and Six Flags has a long-term lease.)

Update: No deal. So New Orleans is going to sue Six Flags.

Replies (7)

April 22, 2009 at 4:50 PM · I think they should reopen though its not the economy for it! WHy not? They might be able to improve it!
April 22, 2009 at 4:56 PM · Wow, Six Flags is really having problem after problem. I wonder what will happen.
April 22, 2009 at 5:23 PM · Six Flags has been trying to get out of the lease for a while now. They've already begun relocating some rides to other parks. I just don't see them reopening this park anytime soon due to their financial situation and the state of the park itself. Wasn't the park insured though? It would seem that they would have collected and used the money to reopen the park...unless of course it went down the drain like so much of their money did.

I don't blame the city for wanting Six Flags to reopen SFNO, but SF has enough trouble operating the parks they do have opened, so I don't blame them for stalling either. If I were New Orleans, I wouldn't waste a lot of time in court. I would terminate the lease and start looking around for other suitable options to get the park reopened. Go for ownership of the assets (if they are worth anything) currently in the park as part of a "payment", and use them as a morsel to entice another company to reopen.

Talk to the guys behind Freestyle. If the Myrtle Beach venture is a success, then the former Jazzland could be the next project, and it too could be had for dirt cheap. New Orleans is a funky kind of city that Jazzland could derive much influence from....even more than it had before.

April 22, 2009 at 8:35 PM · I went to New Orleans in January 2006, just months after Katrina hit and drove past the park. It was an ugly sight then and now must be almost totally unusable. That area was under several feet of water after the levees broke/overtopped and I think every thing corresponding to a first floor level was ruined. Some rides may have been salvageable if removed the first year but not now. I guess the only thing still viable at the site are the lawsuits.
April 23, 2009 at 6:37 AM · Nagin and his city staff are idiots, plain and simple. Why the good citizens havent tossed these people out of office is another fine example of why NOLA is still having issues 3+ years post katrina. SF doesnt owe them a dime and they know it.
April 23, 2009 at 11:01 AM · Actually, Six Flags might owe them much more than a dime. There's a signed lease. That's the issue.
April 23, 2009 at 2:57 PM · I went to Nola.com to see what they had on this subject and there is a current story about it.

http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2009/04/six_flags_nagin_administration.html

There are links to Google Earth photos in the comments below the story. If anyone thinks all they need is a little oil and bolt tightening to get it working again, look at those photos.

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