Tipitina’s Owner Negotiating For Lakefront Water Park & Concert Venue
A pair of developers, headed by the owner of Tipitina's, is negotiating a land deal for a proposed lakefront water park and outdoor festival/concert venue.
The development would be in Eastern New Orleans where the old Bally's riverboat casino landing once sat.
The current owners of the land, the Orleans Parish Non-Flood Protection Asset Management Board, are working on lease terms with Studio Network-Lakefront LLC, a company formed by Tipitina's owner Roland von Kurnatowski and his business partner, Dr. Eric George, a prominent New Orleans orthopedic surgeon.
The duo's proposal for the lakefront, dubbed Tipitina's Festival Park, would include:
- An outdoor amphitheater with a 5,000 capacity.
- A lazy river and splash park.
- Water slides and zip lines.
- A two-story, covered boardwalk with shops.
- The conversion of the old riverboat terminal into an open-air market.
Hurricane Katrina caused so much damage to Bally's that they abandoned their contract, and the landing has since gone unused.
While this is the early stages of such and exciting venture, both sides seem cautiously optimistic about it.