Presentation by Ben Jacobson of Batture Holdings to the members of the Upper Audubon Association. Lambeth House
Meeting conducted by Tre Roux, UAA president, who also asked the written questions that had been submitted in advance.
With a set of slides showing The Batture proposal on the Bisso Marine site, and with his associate Casey Burka seated near the front (but silent), Mr. Jacobson described the project.
Notes on his remarks follow. If not attributed to anyone else, these are from Mr. Jacobson.
This is a continuation of real estate development done Uptown by their firm Ben + Burka, under their Federated Historic Holdings starting 12 years ago. First project was on Freret, the conversion of Friar Tuck’s bar to the Origami restaurant. Other projects cited were converting a house on Dryades to be a French Truck Coffee location and converting a “Smashburger” to a Daily Beet health food restaurant.
They want to work with “beloved” local brands.
Cites a “dream” by the Bisso companies to bring New Orleanians the experience of enjoying being close to the river. This project is part of realizing that Bisso dream for the people here. [Slides show riverfront developments in other cities.]
After 5 years of effort by the developers, went public Oct. 23 2023 with this concept for a “neighborhood family park” within easy walking distance of Uptown neighborhoods. It would include establishments similar to what people enjoy on Magazine Street — “neighborhood” family restaurants — to bring together all the things we like about New Orleans. Project will take 2-3 years and will open in the winter of 2025. “Most” of the buildings will be 1-2 stories, with “at least’ a full city block separating these from the existing residential buildings on the other side of the levee.
[Two slides of the “conceptual site plan” show 9 buildings, counting 3 existing structures. 4 of the buildings are labelled “specialty restaurant,” 2 are labelled “restaurant,” 1 is a tavern and 1 is a “market.” A 10th two-part building is called “office.” Much empty space is colored pink for “buildable areas.” Parking is along the river side of the levee.]
Mr. Jacobson states the project expects no flooding even in this location on river side of levee because the land to be used does not experience flooding even when the water gets to 17-foot flood stage.
Lambeth House resident interrupts to express vocally his major concerns about what he expects will be a large volume of cars flowing down the levee leaving the Batture site, perhaps driven by inebriated drivers. They run the risk of running into railcars carrying hazardous materials and risking creating a dangerous spill. Jacobsen says the arms on the crossing gate at Walnut will become fully operational.
What permits have you applied for? 3-4 weeks ago submitted for an Army Corps permit. We applied. [This is apparently a reference to the Section 408 permit the Corps told us about later. See end.*
Earlier Jacobson referred to a new participant in the design/engineering team familiar with dealing with the Corps. [Couldn’t clearly catch the name, but apparently a reference to DDG, which started as Duplantis Engineering in Thibodaux and then changed to Duplantis Design Group with offices throughout in South Louisiana.]
What City Council members have you talked to? Giarrusso. And to the staffs of Moreno and Morrell; “they’re excited about it.” (No direct meeting with Morrell and Moreno.)
Did you talk to Audubon Park? Yes. They are “thrilled about” extending the Fly farther upriver.
[Mentions elsewhere that it might be possible to get access to Bisso properties via the Fly’s access road. (We don’t discuss this. But a thought: Wouldn’t this involve coming from the same direction onto the Batture as from Walnut Street? And the Fly Road has one-way traffic. Would that be a problem. Would Batture nighttime hours and conflict with the more limited Fly hours?)]
Declines to answer question about vehicle count per day. Can’t comment until traffic study is released in 30-60 days. [Earlier they told us about a traffic study that was apparently completed, but they have not responded to our request to see it.]. He states that outside of 10 days a year, we won’t make traffic worse. Traffic won’t change much with this project.
“We’re not going after any public funding.”
Expect 28,000 s.f. of building floorspace maximum. [Did I hear that right?]
Effect on existing properties? “Property values will go up.”
Tre Roux. Will your plan remain as presented tonight? (I.e., 8 or 9 restaurant structures and a tavern and parking.) [He never pins himself down on parking space quantity, while the site plan call s for 400.]
Tre Roux. So, you cannot commit to maintaining the plan as presented? Jacobson. “We think the plan will work.”
Tre Roux. The question is, can you say this is the plan and the only plan?
Jacobson declines to answer. “I can’t predict the future.”
UAA resident asks for comparison of this site to the failed Uptown Square shopping center.
Jacobson seems to welcome the opportunity to talk about that project. He says It had 10 acres (same area as Bisso Marine) and more parking (800 spaces) but it failed as a regional shopping center because of difficult access and distance from customers.
Having earlier said the (Maritime Industrial) zoning was “the highest intensity industrial use you could possibly have,” he says here that “other industrial companies now want to come here.” [Couldn’t tell if he was raising the possibility that the site could be once again industrial. But as with most of this, there was no opportunity for follow-up.
What are your hours of operation? That depends on what the businesses want.
Who decides what are the hours of operation? We haven’t decided.
What provisions will you have about safety and security, and to prevent crime?
The site is so “secluded” that it will be difficult to commit crimes. [This seems to conflict with earlier comments about the proximity of The Batture to nearby neighborhoods, so close that families can easily walk to the site for food and refreshment.]
Would you put the development behind gates for security purposes? We don’t know.
Would you accept a 2-story height limit for all the new buildings? Mr. Jacobson talks several sentences on the subject of building scale, but doesn’t answer yes or no.
Have you considered green space grants from nature groups? We have looked for conservation tax credits.
Did you explore other ways of getting into the site other than the ramp at Walnut? We looked at other possibilities.
How will you handle sewage? “We are going to be connecting to the city system.” Will have a pipe over the levee near Broadway. There are other similar pipes in humps over the levee elsewhere. *
A Park VII resident asks, can you have a covenant in your plans in which you promise no more than 2 stories. Mr. Jacobson talks a bit but doesn’t answer directly. “We can’t talk hypotheticals,” he finally says.
Tre Roux observes, “They will not commit to a height restriction.”
Jacobson, “All sorts of national developers” have approached us about coming in to the project.
Audubon Zoo has 1,300 parking spaces.
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*2 days later, on Feb. 1, a Corps official reported in an email more information about the permit that Mr. Jacobson said Batture had applied for:
“Batture Propco, LLC, submitted a 408-permission request on 1/10/24. The work is to install a 6” sewer force main, 16” water line, 4” gas line, and two empty 4” conduits for future utility service across the left descending Mississippi River levee, and to construct a parking area on the adjacent batture, vicinity of second order levee station 87+47, at New Orleans, Louisiana, in Orleans Parish.
“The application is considered incomplete at this time and the requestor will be notified via letter in the coming days. Part of that determination is because they would need to provide us a statement of No Objection from the Non-federal sponsor (SLFPA-East). Until such a time, we do not begin our technical review.”
The River Triangle Association will seek Corps records on this application, and will be in touch with SLFPA-East, the East Bank’s Levee Board, to discuss its position. We were also told the sewer pipes would go under the rail tracks.