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A potential sale of the former Six Flags park in New Orleans East will undergo a formal review over the next month after the city Industrial Development Board got three offers to buy the decaying site – including a surprise bid from an attorney who stood up during the board’s meeting Tuesday (Feb. 14) to offer $5.5 million.

Three people made offers for the 224-acre property Tuesday – $3.26 million from a group proposing a return of a Jazzland amusement park, $4.55 million from a developer pitching an amusement park and “city within a city,” and $5.5 million from a developer’s representative who didn’t give details about his group’s plans.

David Wolf, the board’s attorney, said the board has only one legitimate offer for the property, the Jazzland $3.26 million bid, which was submitted in detailed and proper legal form. The board will also consider other written offers made in the correct way, he said.

The board agreed that its three-member executive committee will review any offers over the next month and make a recommendation at the board’s next meeting in March. The options include not accepting any bids.

By the end of the meeting, Frank Scurlock, who wants to build an amusement park and “city within a city” called Transformation Village on the site, said because the board didn’t accept his group’s $4.55 million cash offer Tuesday, he would withdraw his bid and explore developing an adventure zip line and water park in Jefferson Parish. Later Tuesday, Scurlock said he would submit a new written offer to the board in two weeks.

Scurlock, whose family invented the bounce house and is known for skywriting over Jazz Fest, declined to identify the location in Jefferson Parish. “We believe time is of the essence,” he said.

TPC-NOLA Inc. has long been pursuing the shuttered park with a vision for bringing back Jazzland – Six Flags’ predecessor – along with retail, movie production facilities and other uses in several phases. Tonya Pope, the group’s leader, urged the board Tuesday to consider her $3.26 million offer, which is just above a recent $3.2 million appraisal of the property.

“As everyone knows, that whole area was devastated last week,” Pope said, referring to a tornado that hit New Orleans East on Feb. 7. “I think it would really help the morale that this place that hasn’t been repaired in over 11 years, that the neighbors have to see on a daily basis, that there is some hope that something’s going to happen.”

Six Flags never reopened after Hurricane Katrina, and the city inherited the abandoned park. Then-Mayor Ray Nagin’s administration asked the Industrial Development Board – which typically focuses on doling out economic incentives to real estate projects rather than owning property – to take over title to the land.

As the board heard from the two groups making purchase offers as listed on the agenda, Henry Klein, an attorney who said he represents 30/90 Development, said his group wants to offer $5.5 million for the property, while giving no details who’s involved in the group or their plans for the Six Flags site. Klein left the meeting while it was still ongoing.

IDB member Justin Augustine said people jumping out of the audience to make an offer is “not a professional process” and urged the board to use a more professional method to receive offers. Board members noted that analysis of offers will go beyond the purchase price and include a look at what’s being proposed on the site and the financial capacity of the developers. 

“As a resident that lives right adjacent to that area, you can best believe – from this person sitting here – it’s got to be a deal that can be doable,” Augustine said. “It’s got to be a deal the community can accept.” He said the board will take that obligation seriously.

Board member Eugene Green agreed, adding that “just selling it alone is only a beginning.”

The board has wrestled with what to do with the sprawling park, which has become grounds for wild animals and overgrown weeds. A deal to develop an outlet mall at the site fell apart in 2013. The board issued another request for proposals in January 2014 and declined to move forward with Pope’s group and Scurlock’s group, citing concerns over a lack of financial backing. The board kept the request for proposals open in hopes of attracting other developers, but no new proposals came in. 

Meanwhile, Wolf said the Industrial Development Board – which wasn’t intended to serve as a landlord, can’t afford to maintain the Six Flags property indefinitely. According to a financial report, the board has $239,000 in the bank and expects to spend $210,000 on maintaining Six Flags, most of which is spent on 24-hour security. 

The proceeds of a sale would likely go back to the city, although that would need board approval, he said.

Danny Rogers, whose company Southern Star once pitched a Nickelodeon theme park during the city’s redevelopment efforts in 2009, joined Scurlock’s group to make a pitch Tuesday. “This Six Flags controversy has gone on and on and on,” Rogers said, adding that “I’d like the board to at least consider bringing this to an end.”http://www.nola.com/business/index.ssf/2017/02/six_flags_new_orleans_east_sal.html#incart_river_index