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Along the riverfront and beneath the feet of passing tourists is a solid concrete wall that marks the end of land and the beginning of the river. The Riverwalk / Hilton Riverside Hotel complex is the only significant development that is built over the line. As the developers begin to rebuild, some warn that it is time to move to higher ground.
15 years ago it was suggested that pavilions be built along the river from barges tied along the 1984 World Fair site. The port director, Edward Reed cited records showing oceangoing ships had smashed into wharves lining the fair site 22 times in the last 7 years. His concerns and those of river pilots has led to an informal practice of discouraging developments of pedestrian heavy attractions on the portion of wharf that extends beyond the riverbank. When he, Reed, retired in 1986, he wrote, "This appears to provide a realistic margin of protection."
After that guideline was established, one glaring exception was allowed, the Poydras Street Wharf, site of the Bright Field crash. In the aftermath of this disaster which destroyed Riverwalk retail shops, Hilton Riverside hotel rooms, and parking spaces for One River Place condo tower the discussion of locating public places beyond the river bank is being reopened.
"Beneath the wharfs and buildings on the riverfront is a concrete bulkhead that marks the line between land and water. All of the devastation caused by the Bright Field occurred in that part of the Riverwalk and Hilton that extends beyond that concrete wall. The ship ran aground on the bank well before it reached the wall, which runs beneath the central mall walkway and landside shops in the down river half of the shopping mall."
Other structures on the riverfront with the exception of Algiers Landing Restaurant stop at or shy of the bulkhead. Ron Brinson, president of the Port of New Orleans, is pushing Hilton executives for a risk assessment before rebuilding riverfront rooms. He points out that if the crash had occurred late at night when people were sleeping in those rooms the disaster could have been much worse.
"'Lester Kabacoff, the top executive of International Rivercenter Inc., which built the riverfront project was joined by Hilton Hotel General Manager, Paul Buckley in saying that the complex will be rebuilt, quickly and at the same site.'"
"'One major accident shouldn't jeopardize on the city's prime development spots', Kabacoff said."
Buckley who spent a harrowing couple of hours Saturday afternoon before establishing that his wife and children were not trapped in the rubble of their apartment was equally adamant. "'I'm rebuilding the building. I'm putting my home back over there and I'm moving in there with my family.' he said." "The complex that includes Buckley's apartment sits on wharf pilings directly over the river, well beyond the concrete bulkhead."
Stopping construction at the "bankline" increases safety because it forces the boat to actually dig into the soil bank before hitting a building. The combination of hitting a wharf and running aground would absorb the ships impact in most cases.
In the 1970's (before the World's Fair discussion) Kabacoff, developer of the Hilton Hotel, secured a 100-year lease of the Poydras wharf from the Dock Board. The lease permitted the building of the Hilton Hotel, the city's first riverfront hotel complex, and retailing space for the Rouse Co.'s Riverwalk mall. The development was largely fashioned out of "stout, decades-old wharf buildings."
Kabacoff said he was struck by the difference in the New Orleans' wharf covered riverfront and the dense residential and retail developments along riverbanks in other port cities. His complex came to within 20 feet of the wharf's edge, and reached 100 feet beyond the levee bulkhead that roughly coincides with Reed's "bankline" which was felt by some to be outer limit of safe construction.
As construction began in late 1981 river pilots began to voice their concerns. City Hall had no objections to the construction and the paper points out "the riverside development would still be legal under today's building codes."
One argument used to promote the construction was that it would use an existing structure (wharf) and would at least initially be still used for its maritime construction purpose as a cruise ship terminal was going to be included in the development. Kabacoff, now 83, doesn't recall anybody questioning the wisdom of building the hotel and shop space well out onto the wharf.
Another early 1980's deviation was the Algiers Landing 2 1/2 story restaurant built above the WOrld War II-era Bermuda Street Wharf. The restaurant has spectacular views of the downtown skyline and also of barges and freighters passing nearby. It was built by California-based Specialty Restaurants Corp just before the 1984 World's Fair under a 1974 Dock Board Lease. During the restaurant's development barges rammed the old wharf twice causing $300,000 in damages. Algiers Landing is currently closed awaiting renovation and a planned reopening in 1997. Executives had no comment on the implications of the Bright Field incident. Several agencies are looking into the danger posed to the restaurant by river traffic but no local or national regulations govern how close to a river public developments can be located.
Three graphics with the article have been scanned and are available:
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