From Jazzland to an outlet mall, several suggestions have been floated over the past 10 years to revive the abandoned Six Flags in New Orleans East. Now a recent study shows a new proposal for the old amusement park.

The report, commissioned by the New Orleans Business Alliance and conducted by Texas-based TIP Strategies and Chicago-based Perkins+Will, recommends the 162-acre site be redeveloped as an “education destination” centered on the story and science of resiliency and climate change. It would provide research, education, entertainment and exploration opportunities around nearby Bayou Sauvage, the nation’s second-largest urban national wildlife refuge.

According to the study, the project’s education and research element would include a consortium of higher education, private industry, the public sector and foundations that study topics related to resiliency and climate change. The site could become a research center and demonstration project for living with water, with additional space for classrooms that would offer courses related to these topics, the study says.

The entertainment and tourism element would comprise attractions, lodging, tours, event space and amenities that provide educational experiences on coastal science and climate change. This would generate revenue that could support the education and research element, the study says.

The buildings’ footprints would be limited to the areas of the site that have already been developed. The project would have three zones – the trailhead, an excursion zone and a connections area that would link the project with other amenities in New Orleans East such as Joe Brown Park and the Audubon Nature Center.

The trailhead portion would be located at the former Six Flags site and function as the gateway to the excursion zone and Bayou Sauvage. Potential buildings in this area could include an educational and research center, staging area for tours and outdoor excursions, a resort hotel and conference center, an amphitheater and dining and retail options, the study says.

Activities in the excursion zone could offer hiking, boating, fishing, freshwater marsh tours and surge barrier tours such as the nearly two-mile Lake Borgne Storm Surge Barrier. A ropes course, zip line tours and archaeological tours of sites associated with some of the early settlers in the area could also be in play.

The six-month-long study concluded that this redevelopment could create a maximum of 570 direct and indirect jobs, generate a yearly revenue of $3 million and inject between $45 million to $110 million into the New Orleans economy if the number of visitors is between 180,000 and 440,000, with each spending an average of $250. A Tax Increment Finance (TIF) District could be established and help reinvigorate the commercial corridors in New Orleans East through the collection of a portion of the tax revenue generated at the redevelopment site.

The Industrial Development Board took control of the defunct park in 2009 on behalf of the city and was tasked with finding a group willing to take on redevelopment of the site. Multiple ideas have been floated about what to do with the sprawling property from a Jazzland Theme Park, similar to the one that was at the site prior to Six Flags, to an outlet mall.

In 2018, the IDB agreed to give control of potential redevelopment to former Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s administration, but nothing panned out. Mayor LaToya Cantrell in May said numbers were being crunched to determine a demolition cost, but added that an assessment was being done to determine the best use for the site.

A 2016 analysis estimated it would cost about $1.3 million to demolish the rides and other infrastructure at the park.

The McEnery Company of New Orleans, an appraisal group selected by the IDB in 2016, pegged the value of the former amusement park at $3 million. An additional 65 acres of undeveloped land that comes with the property is valued at $260,000.

Commercial broker Robert Hand, president of Louisiana Commercial Realty, has done much of his work in New Orleans East during the past 10 years and said he doubts anything that sets up shop on the property will be able to stay in business because there is not enough population in the area. He said there are properties that are 10 acres or more that could be viable for a new business along Read and Crowder Boulevards.

“The market has already shown that something at that location will not work,” he said. “If this was any other city, they would’ve torn it down, sold off the assets and took what money they could long ago.”

A meeting is scheduled for residents to voice their opinions on what should be done with the property on Sept. 5 at Franklin Avenue Baptist Church at 6 p.m.