River Park project unveiled

• By CHAD CALDER
• Advocate business writer
• Published: May 14, 2008 - Page: 1A - UPDATED: 5:36 a.m.

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Developer John “Pete” Clements unveiled details Tuesday of River Park, his planned $600 million mixed-use development on 36 acres near Hollywood Casino on the north side of downtown.

Clements said River Park, first announced a little more than a year ago, will take between 10 and 15 years to fully develop and will ultimately include a 280-room, major flag hotel; a 220-room extended-stay hotel; 800 to 1,200 condominium units; 250,000 square feet of neighborhood and destination retail development; 640,000 square feet of office space; 6,000 parking spaces; and a 600-seat amphitheater along the riverfront.

Clements, who unveiled the details at the monthly meeting of the Downtown Development District, had Mayor-President Kip Holden introduce the project.

Holden said River Park will add the equivalent of a dozen new city blocks to downtown and create 200 to 300 construction jobs a year during the build-out and 600 to 800 full-time and 150 to 200 part-time jobs when completed.

Access to River Park would be provided by a four-lane underpass below the railroad tracks that parallel the Mississippi River.

Clements said the $8 million underpass, half of which will be paid for by Hollywood Casino, should begin in the third quarter of this year and be completed by the end of 2009.

He said plans will be filed with the Planning and Zoning Commission by Thursday. The site would have to be rezoned from M-2 Industrial to a Large Planned Unit Development.

He said there also will be some master planning and possibly some public meetings.

Clements said that while some elements of the development will be partially financed by River Park Development LLC, much of it will be sold to the developers of individual components.

Build-out for the commercial and residential components is expected to be $480 million, while the hotel complex and retail is pegged at $120 million.

While no agreements have been signed, Clements said he has had a lot of interest from hotel operators and a surprising amount of interest in retail space.

“We’ve had a lot of interest,” he said, citing the uniqueness of the development and its 1,500 feet of riverfront.

Clements said he has $17.5 million in a trust, and has spent $1.5 million so far.