Developers of a riverfront mixed-use project in New Orleans that includes a golf entertainment facility and driving range are suing the company behind a rival golf project three miles away, alleging an orchestrated scheme to sink the riverfront facility.
River District Neighborhood Investors (RDNI), which is developing more than 40 acres of unused riverfront land in the city, filed the lawsuit in late January in New Orleans Civil Court against Five O Fore Golf and its backers. The lawsuit argues that Five O Fore Golf tried to mislead state transportation officials about RDNI’s plan to realign streets in the development area to create the new Topgolf driving range.
“The River District Neighborhood Investors … filed suit to expose a group of individuals trying to restrict business for their own self-serving purpose,” RDNI said in an email to the Louisiana Record. “The parties named in this petition conspired to coordinate a series of deceitful attacks, misleading the public and public officials, and creating a hostile public environment towards the project by financially supporting public discord and other illegal activities.”
RDNI equated Five O Fore Golf’s alleged communications with the state Department of Transportation and Development to unfair trade practices. The two golf projects, which are now under construction, would be competitors for New Orleans golf enthusiasts.
Five O Fore Golf did not respond to a request for comment.
The RDNI project, which the developer said would provide 450 affordable housing units, thousands of new construction jobs and permanent jobs, and millions of dollars in new tax revenues, has sparked the filing of another lawsuit over other aspects of the development plans.
An environmental nonprofit, the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, filed suit against RDNI in late January, challenging the city’s approval process and a decision to provide Shell Oil Co., which plans to locate its regional headquarter on the development site, with millions of dollars in property tax breaks. The development proposal would also raise sales taxes in the development area by 2%, according to the brigade’s lawsuit.
“Shell has ravaged our coast and polluted communities throughout Louisiana,” Anne Rolfes, director of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, said in a prepared statement. “Meanwhile, our schools are vastly underfunded. … There is no way we should give a behemoth like Shell a tax break at the expense of a city in such dire need. As one of the most destructive petrochemical companies in our state, we cannot give Shell another handout at the expense of Louisianans.”
In addition to the golf project, the RDNI development would create several blocks of residential buildings, offices and commercial venues. The Shell tax break is estimated at $21.6 million, according to the brigade’s lawsuit.
“The Bucket Brigade is not opposed to the River District project generally,” the complaint states. “But the Bucket Brigade is opposed to giving tens of millions of dollars of taxpayer revenue to a multibillion-dollar oil and gas company on false pretenses and under a rushed and law-violating approval process.”
An open letter written by RDNI in late January emphasized that development’s investors had designed a project characterized by equity, public participation and diversity.
“Since our selection as master developer, our team has participated in over 67 community, general outreach, stakeholder and public meetings with residents, minority and women-owned businesses, and community and business groups over the past three years for regulatory approvals, direct requests, as well as general information sessions,” the letter states.