In The News › Economic Development

Even before Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc on New Orleans, activists and businesses charged that the city had an opaque and cronyism-ridden system for awarding building and contracting deals — a major hurdle for local firms. The Bureau of Governmental Research, a private, independent research organization released a major report entitled “Contracting with Confidence” to call attention to the matter and make recommendations in March.

“That you would end up with a major blight problem was absolutely predictable,” said Janet R. Howard, executive director of the Bureau of Governmental Research, a nonprofit advisory group here. “You come to a point where you have to get beyond the political question to the actual question.”

But officials with the New Orleans-based Bureau of Governmental Research, a watchdog group, take a dim view of TIFs. Janet Howard, BGR’s president, didn’t speak to Kenner’s plan specifically but said part of the concern with TIFs is that they could be a “zero-sum gain from a regional point of view,” meaning that the revenue is just moving from one area to another. TIFs sometimes are unnecessary subsidies for big businesses and could hurt smaller businesses, she said.

The trade group has asked for a $6.2 million payment to terminate its lease of the building: $5 million that it was supposed to receive from the most recent failed redevelopment efforts, plus the $1.2 million lease termination payment that the Bureau of Government Research had suggested in a report last year.

Clarkson and others, including the nonprofit Bureau of Governmental Research, believe the city should rid itself of largely vacant skyscraper by selling it.

“We don’t believe that giving out grants to individual businesses is wise. It leaves you very exposed to the risk of patronage,” says BGR’s Janet Howard.

The Industrial Development Board of New Orleans is expected to get an earful today at a public hearing about a property tax break given to the developers of the Hyatt hotel last month even though the board’s own advisers say it was excessive.

The litigation involving the latest failed bid to redevelop the World Trade Center building has been settled, raising questions about whether the city and trade club will continue with the same approach that they’ve been trying since 1998 to redevelop the building, which remains largely empty.

As the commercial real estate market continues its downward plunge, its recovery may not be the robust, v-shaped surge in activity that many economists had been hoping for.

It’s a tool that could help bring new businesses to Terrebonne. But it also could mean higher taxes for shoppers and business owners.

Discussing strategies that St. Tammany Parish can use to harness and maximize growth, University of New Orleans economic development expert Ivan Miestchovich Jr. had admittedly little to offer in the way of advice to leaders of the steadily growing parish Friday.

Despite a few recession-induced hiccups, St. Tammany Parish is poised for horizontal growth along Interstates 10 and 12.

After more than two hours of debate that divided longtime allies and created some of the strangest political bedfellows in memory, the New Orleans City Council voted 6-1 Thursday to authorize millions of dollars in tax breaks for a team of businessmen hoping to redevelop the mostly empty site of the former Lake Forest Plaza mall in eastern New Orleans.

A controversial tax break to fund the redevelopment of an eastern New Orleans mall won approval from the New Orleans City Council today, even thought the council member in whose district the mall resides voted against it.

After hours of apparently tense closed-door negotiations, the leader of an effort to redevelop the site of the former Lake Forest Plaza mall in eastern New Orleans said late today that he expects the New Orleans City Council to vote Thursday to approve a significant tax break for the project.

The council will once again take up the issue of a high-profile tax break. It would help a developer who says his vision will dramatically transform what used to be the Lake Forest Plaza.

Before New Orleans City Councilwoman Cynthia Willard-Lewis supports a tax break for the former Lake Forest Plaza mall, developers and the city are going to have to answer some questions — quickly.

Councilwoman Cynthia Willard-Lewis, a major supporter of efforts in her district to redevelop the defunct Lake Forest Plaza into a modern lifestyle mall, has asked Mayor Ray Nagin to get more detailed information on the proposal and more assurances that the project will move forward as pitched.

Before New Orleans City Councilwoman Cynthia Willard-Lewis supports a tax break for Lake Forest Plaza mall, the developers and the city are going to have to answer some questions.

Over the objections of developer Cesar Burgos, the City Council deferred action Thursday on a tax break that Burgos has said he needs to redevelop the mostly vacant site of the former Lake Forest Plaza mall in eastern New Orleans.

The rebuilding of eastern New Orleans is vital to the city’s ongoing recovery, and city officials are right to look for ways to spark economic development there. But the deal being proposed by developers who want to use a portion of sales tax revenues to remake Lake Forest Plaza isn’t a smart way to achieve that goal.

A formal report by the Bureau of Governmental Research says that the proposed Lake Forest Plaza tax increment financing district that will be considered by the City Council Thursday is “fraught with problems.”

On Wednesday, the Bureau of Governmental Research released a report blasting the subsidy, saying tax dollars would be used to “pay for private problems.”

A plan to use taxpayer money to develop a new mall at the site of the old Lake Forest Plaza, while touted as an effort to benefit New Orleans East residents, is actually a plan to benefit the property owners, according to the non-partisan Bureau of Governmental Research.

If the defunct Lake Forest Plaza shopping mall is transformed into a modern lifestyle center, it will have a positive effect on sales and property tax collections in the city as it recaptures retail spending from other parishes, according to an economic impact study commissioned by the developers.

When the developers of Lake Forest Plaza mall go before the New Orleans City Council this week to request a subsidy to refurbish the shuttered site, they have a new economic impact study to support their request.

Developers who plan to overhaul Lake Forest Plaza mall, an 81-acre eastern New Orleans shopping venue that has been shuttered since Hurricane Katrina, envision a sparkling new mall complete with big-box retail, restaurants, a police substation and an amphitheater.

On Thursday, the New Orleans City Council is expected to consider a proposal to use future tax revenue to help transform the site of the defunct Lake Forest Plaza mall into a modern shopping center called the New Orleans East Marketplace.

Unveiling the most detailed plans yet for their proposed redevelopment of the mostly vacant site of the former Lake Forest Plaza mall in eastern New Orleans, developers Cesar Burgos and Ashton Ryan appeared to win several City Council members’ endorsement Tuesday for a tax break needed to let them move forward.

After three years of study and discussion, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said Friday that he has issued an executive order establishing a city policy on use of tax increment financing.

Lake Forest Plaza moved a stop closer to revival on Friday, when a public agency agreed to use sales tax collections to help redevelop the eastern New Orleans shopping center, located in an area largely bereft of retail since Hurricane Katrina.

New Orleans City Councilwoman Stacy Head wants to tweak a city program that gives property tax breaks to developers upgrading outdated properties, but a key development official says more significant changes are needed to make the incentive worthwhile.

With the board’s blessing, BGR began surveying what practices economic development boards in other cities have adopted for awarding tax breaks to housing developments, retail centers and other projects. Some of these practices will be a model for New Orleans.

It always makes me feel good when BGR gets my back.

A government watchdog group wants the City Council to change the law dealing with the way money from an economic development fund is allocated.

On Feb. 3, BGR sent a letter to Councilman Arnold Fielkow, Chairman of City Council’s Special Projects and Economic Development Committee, on the use and operation of the city’s Economic Development Fund.