NEW ORLEANS – Mayor Ray Nagin and the city’s inspector general are at odds over a plan to renovate and revitalize Municipal Auditorium into a $75 million entertainment and cultural complex.
Inspector General Ed Quatrevaux took issued with how the developer was chosen, saying in a letter to Nagin, “The method used to procure the project as a professional services contract is inappropriate.”
Monday, Nagin announced Ritz-Carlton Hotel owner Stewart Juneau wanted to turn the old auditorium into a center for entertainment and the creative industry, such as music performance and production, while using half of the auditorium as a 1,000 theater.
Quatrevaux said the mayor doesn’t have the authority to award the project. “The City of New Orleans Redevelopment Authority (NORA) has responsibility for development projects and has procedures which outline proper methods for procuring development projects."
This type of project is normally undertaken by NORA because they have expertise in evaluating development proposals.”
Quatrevuax said that resulted in only one proposal – from Juneau’s group, which won the contract -- and requested a copy of the proposal to vet it for liability to the city. “We recommend that you postpone signing any contracts relating to this project until we have had the opportunity to conduct our review of this complex financial agreement,” said Quartrevaux.
Nagin disagreed with Quatrevaux, saying in an e-mail that NORA deals primarily with blighted properties since Hurricane Katrina and “as well as redevelop properties, residential and commercial, in the city’s recovery target zones.”
NORA, according to Nagin, doesn’t revitalize city-owned properties like Municipal Auditorium.
“This is not a normal development that NORA would manage for the city,” said Nagin. “This is (a) City owned property for which the Office of the Mayor is vested with the authority to issue any solicitation for services, to, for and on said property.”
“Most importantly, this facility is the ‘adaptive reuse of an existing municipal building’ that is primarily funded by FEMA,” said Nagin.
And Nagin said his office did have the authority to grant the contract, citing similar recovery projects like the Mahalia Jackson Theatre and the Saenger Auditorium.
