RIP Drive Shack. Latest victim of the pandemic? That's what these photos NOLA.com just published seemed to indicate. There's no accompanying story yet but the captions read as follows.
The Drive Shack golf-entertainment project that was to have gone up on the old Times-Picayune site on Howard Avenue appears to be dead. Drive Shack said in a recent filing that it doesn’t plan to continue with the project to build a venue there and is reviewing options, including disposing of the lease with land owner Joe Jaeger.
This lot was once the Times-Picayune building on Howard Avenue. It was sold to a group led by Joe Jaeger, Arnold Kirschman, and Barry Kern who proposed to re-develop it as a golf arcade tourist attraction. The city struck a sweetheart financing deal (commonly known as a Payment In Lieu of Taxes or PILOT) with them to make it happen.
Drive Shack customers will pay an additional 2% sales tax on money spent at the complex, part of an agreement reached between the company and the city, and approved by the New Orleans City Council in late 2018. The city will get a quarter of the new tax dollars in order to fund street improvements around the Drive Shack site. Drive Shack will get the remainder. Drive Shack also secured a 12-year freeze on its property taxes in lieu of paying the city nearly $260,000 annually.
The new tax will split 50-50 if the city is successful in connecting Howard Avenue to downtown, an improvement that would make it easier for tourists to access the site. The tax remains in place through 2039 or until Drive Shack is fully reimbursed for its construction costs.
Cantrell described the facility as a “tremendous investment” in the city, noting it would generate tax revenue in addition to bringing jobs.
“It is very important for the community to understand that we did create an economic development district right here, so that a portion of the revenue that’s generated is reinvested in this same community,” Cantrell said, adding the Broad Street corridor remains “ripe for this type of investment.”
It's important for us to understand that they did this. Ok. Anyway it never got built. Ultimately, the pandemic probably was the most important factor in the project's failure, but there were several complicated stops and starts along the way here. First, the Convention Center flirted with the idea of granting a rival golf arcade company access to its open riverfront property. That, understandably, pissed off Jaeger who responded by pulling out of a plan to develop a hotel in partnership with the Convention Center. Things only get more tangled from there. The riverfront property is now slated to (likely... probably... maybe) become a visually unappealing but nonetheless trendy planned development called "River District." That appears to feature no golf in any form. Which means neither golf scheme made it off the drawing board. Probably for the best.
Anyway, so there's this empty plot on Howard Avenue now...
Update: Okay the article is up now. It still gives the impression that the Drive Shack deal is dead. It's just not as definite about that yet.
Drive Shack declined to comment further. But Joe Jaeger, who led the consortium that bought the 3800 Howard Avenue site in 2016 for $3.5 million, said that he is scheduled to meet with Drive Shack representatives in the next few weeks to discuss possible alternatives to a Drive Shack venue.
Jaeger said the company continues to make payments on its lease but has not yet indicated what its preferred alternative might be.
Meanwhile the TopGolf project may not be as dead as we thought after all.
Michael Sawaya, president of the Convention Center, and others in the development team have said that they remain open to a deal with Topgolf as part of the entertainment district project.
Lou Lauricella, head of one of the two companies leading the project -- known as "The River District" -- declined to comment specifically on Topgolf. He said "the River District team has been in early stage leasing negotiations with a number of companies for the planned mixed use development. There are many exciting possibilities on the table, which we look forward to announcing soon."
many exciting possibilities
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