There are 2.25 miles of the downtown Mississippi Riverfront from Moon Walk to Crescent Park that will be redeveloped. The $30 million project will offer a linear park of contiguous green space with a pedestrian walkway along the entire stretch of riverfront, with playgrounds and open lawns along the way. There will also be covered sheds along Esplanade Avenue and Governor Nicholls Street that can be used a marketplaces, pop up events, live music spaces or public gathering spaces.
“The Mississippi should be the front porch of the city, and this is an opportunity to make the riverfront the front porch of the city,” said Mark Ripple, Audubon Institute’s architect. “This is the final piece of the riverfront puzzle.”
So far the vision includes a riverfront promenade that will connect the Moon Walk all the way to Crescent Park. The area where the existing warehouse is located will be turned into the Esplanade Shed and from there upriver, there will be an open lawn. The open lawn will be the same size as the open lawn at Woldenberg Park.
“When completed, this will be one of the longest continuous riverfronts in the United States,” Ripple said.
Residents are concerned that the area will become a large commercial attraction but this is not the case according to Audubon President and CEO Ron Forman. “We are not doing major festivals. There will not be a Voodoo Festival and we cannot put permanent buildings so there is no restaurant, no shopping center,” he said. “Yes, we have to generate money. There are ways to do that.”
