UPDATE: Developer is promoting $1 billion project for Shreveport's Cross Bayou

A new player has emerged with a vision for developing downtown Shreveport's Cross Bayou, just five months after an earlier plan faltered.

The new vision — it's not clear how far planning has advanced — would require a public-private partnership in a 10-year, $1 billion development of Cross Bayou and Ledbetter Heights.

As with the plan that the Shreveport City Council blocked in September, the new group says it wants to attract a minor league affiliate of the New Orleans Pelicans professional basketball team.

Also in the vision, according to a news release distributed Wednesday:

A municipal complex with 1,000 to 2,000 permanent employees to replace the aging state building on Fairfield Avenue.

A technology-based charter school with 350 employees.

A 5,000-unit, mixed-use housing development with both single- and multi-family homes.

The sports complex with a Pelicans G-League team as anchor tenant that would "also be attractive to local, regional and national sporting events," according to the news release.

More: New Cross Bayou partners confident; approach is said to be different

The sports complex, based on the description, sounds identical to the idea promoted last year by Shreveport Mayor Ollie Tyler. She envisioned a sports complex, anchored by a Pelicans affiliate, with a 3,500-seat indoor arena and multiple outdoor fields. The city council rejected Tyler's proposal to borrow $30 million to build the complex, which sank the project.

The Tyler proposal for Cross Bayou envisioned a partnership with a private real estate investment company staking $100 million or more to build apartments or condos, office buildings and retail space. The city's ante was to be the sports complex.

The new project appears to be much broader in scope. On project cost alone, at $1 billion, it dwarfs the earlier proposal at $130 million or so.

It also apparently would cover more land, if it takes in Ledbetter Heights to the west of the previous Cross Bayou development. With 5,000 dwellings, it also envisions much more residential housing than was in the earlier plan.

Principals behind the idea are, according to the news release, Paul Pratt, director of government relations in the Shreveport area for Chesapeake Energy; the Rev. Theron Jackson, pastor of Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church in Shreveport and a former Shreveport City Council member; and Curtis Joseph, a lawyer.

They have formed a group called Gateway Downtown Consortium, according to the news release.

The local principals have partnered with AirRail, an infrastructure development firm, and Janus Property, a real estate developer. Both firms are based in New York City.

Pratt said in an interview that the people behind both AirRail and Janus Property have roots in or ties to Shreveport. The chairman of AirRail is Larry English, a lawyer with roots in Louisiana, including at Grambling State University. English is a Shreveport native.

“There have been decades of discussions and numerous plans to develop the Cross Bayou waterfront, but I always believed the initiative had to begin in the private-sector and would need to stand on its own without the bells and whistles, usually associated with attracting tourists,” Pratt says in the news release.

The development — called Cross Bayou Point — could succeed because it would bring density and density creates growth, the news release asserts. Cross Bayou runs west from the Red River just north of the Shreveport Convention Center.

"Economists call this phenomenon agglomeration," the release says. "Not only does geographical proximity reduce cost, but it also facilitates the exchange of knowledge and spurs innovation. It is a principle that holds true regardless of the industry."

But to be successful, the release says, "GDC must form a Public/Private Partnership with local and state government." The release doesn't specify what local government's share of the $1 billion development would be. Pratt, in the interview, declined to offer specifics.

Pratt said he met with state leaders, with Mayor Tyler and some members of city council, and with Caddo Parish Commissioner Steven Jackson.

“Mayor Ollie Tyler, while enthusiastic about the concept, has made clear that the city will require complete transparency, if it is to be involved," Pratt said.

He said Tyler expressed an interest in incorporating the sports complex and Pelicans into the development, and he hopes that the city would build it has part of its contribution. He said he has not communicated himself with the Pelicans.

A Pelicans spokesman could not be reached immediately for comment. A spokeswoman for the development group said the project is not contingent on attracting the Pelicans.

Pratt said his group is in talks with representatives of state government about moving state employees downtown.

About Steven Jackson, who opposed Tyler's Cross Bayou plan, Pratt said: "He'll be more supportive when he sees the details." Jackson is exploring whether to challenge Tyler in this year's mayoral election.

As for the charter school mentioned in the news release, Pratt said the Gateway Downtown Consortium has a letter of interest from a Los Angeles organization. He declined to identify it.

The Gateway Downtown Consortium wants next to negotiate a non-binding letter of intent with city government, "followed by formal negotiations to create a public/private partnership to move the project forward as soon as possible," according to the news release.

A spokeswoman for Tyler declined to comment. One of the criticisms leveled at Tyler last year during the run-up to the council vote rejecting her Cross Bayou plan was that she was too secretive.

Pratt also met with the board of the Downtown Development Authority to present his vision and to ask for a letter of support. He said Wednesday that he hasn't received a letter as yet but still hopes to.

Liz Swaine, the DDA's executive director, said Wednesday that the presentation included an artist's renderings.

"It was beautiful, but those are pictures," she said. "The devil is in the details." A publicist for the Gateway Downtown Consortium declined Wednesday to provide the renderings, saying it would be inappropriate at this time.

Swain said Pratt, in his role with Chesapeake Energy, has long been a good partner for the community, especially downtown.

Pratt said his involvement with the Cross Bayou development is independent of Chesapeake Energy.

"This group seems to understand why the DDA and downtown property owners and businesses had concerns about the Corporate Realty proposal and tried to address them," Swaine said. Corporate Realty, of Birmingham, Alabama, was the private partner in the Cross Bayou development that faltered in September.

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