Today developers are pitching their ideas to redevelop Six Flags New Orleans to the New Orleans Industrial Development Board, the group that recently voiced frustration over being the stewards of the abandoned theme park where development ideas go to die.
Even if it doesn't work out, this doozy of an idea is worth mentioning: One developer, whose dad literally invented the Space Walk (you may know it as a Moon Bounce or Bounce House), is pitching an "amusement park, resort hotel, international shopping center and Noah's ark replica" for the site.
Frank Scurlock's project, called "Festival Park, Spirit of Louisiana," would include "30 different rides themed by Louisiana's various festivals," "an international shopping center twice the size of the Superdome," "a resort hotel with a beach-like swimming pool," and finally, a Noah's ark replica that would "serve as a meditative space for people to go and think about life."
His dad may have invented the stalwart plaything of children's birthday parties, but Scurlock Jr. got his own fame by financing the much-Instagramed skywriting during Jazz Fest 2015.
You can see renderings of the ambitious park in a YouTube video. Ironically, the park looks a little like the one in Jurassic World, which was partially filmed at Six Flags.
The video says the development will also include "Transformation Village," a "new, sustainable and resiliant [sic] urban develompent [sic] with more than 10,000 new homes" and "Silicone [sic?] Bayou," a tech corridor, and the Fountainbleau Hotel, "America's only 7-star hotel."
In 2014, Scurlock unsuccessfully presented a similar plan for the park to the board; they turned it down due to "concerns over lack of financing."
• See one vision for former Six Flags property: "Festival Park Spirit of Louisiana" [NOLA.com]
• The Abandoned Six Flags New Orleans Could Be Sold or Auctioned Soon [Curbed NOLA]