National Jazz Center
The ambitious master plan calls for demolishing City Hall, Orleans Parish Civil District Court, the old Louisiana Supreme Court building and the adjacent state office building. These are the dated governmental buildings located across Poydras Street from the Hyatt. The Hyatt is scheduled to reopen in 2008 after a complete restoration. It is undergoing repairs. The Hyatt’s entranceway will be relocated to the Poydras Street side of the building, new ballroom space will be built, and a new rooftop restaurant will be added. The entire interior of the hotel will be made over and updated. The New Orleans Centre shopping mall will also be razed.
An open-air amphitheater would take the place of the Supreme Court and adjacent state building, and an outdoor jazz park would encompass the City Hall site.
The National Jazz Center, which would occupy the former Macy’s store that is to be torn down. This NJC will be an extension of the Hyatt. The National Jazz Center also would house a 20,000-square-foot dramatic jazz performance center seating more than 1,000 people, a 300-seat theater, a jazz museum, children’s theater, rehearsal studios available to musicians throughout the city, classrooms, a library and offices.
A bridge would connect the Superdome to the park, which would feature statues, fountains and interactive displays. Poydras Street traffic would travel through a tunnel beneath a grassy art park that would double as a tailgating area for the Arena and Superdome. The multilevel six-block park would include a 20,000-square-foot jazz performance center with seating for 1,000 people, a black-box theater with seating for 300 people, a 70,000-square-foot amphitheater with lawn seating, a 60,000-square-foot education center for children, rehearsal studios and an archive for jazz research.
Beneath the park would be two levels of underground parking and a 280,000-square-foot two-level retail center with a multiscreen theater, restaurants and shops selling things that people need for daily living, such as a major national grocery store, pet supplies shop and a bookstore.
The Canal Street streetcar would be extended down Loyola Avenue, connecting the park, sports facilities and public office complexes with the French Quarter and Convention Center. A bus transportation center would be located at the Hyatt, linking downtown New Orleans to the western suburbs.
The result will be a swath of green space leading from Tulane Avenue to the sports complexes of the Superdome and New Orleans Arena surrounded by modern buildings
City Hall would move to the Dominion Tower that faces Poydras next to the Superdome and in front of the Hyatt. A new Civil District Court would be built in the downtown area.
Grounbreaking on the project is expected within a year, starting with the Hyatt restoration. Once the project gets under way, it should be completed in 36 to 40 months.