At the Shreveport City Council meeting Tuesday, Shreveport Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Tom Dark advised the Council that Millennium Studios (studios) has a continuing flooding problem.
The studios were leased to Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson in April of last year. The lease has requirements for filming at this location that have not been satisfied.
Later in the Council meeting Councilman James Green, in his inimitable style, said that only a crackhead would put filming equipment at this location with the flooding issue.
CAO Dark advised engineering studios were being conducted to resolve the issue. Dark said the studios are located within a "bowl" that was conducive to flooding during heavy, sudden rainfalls much like yesterday's in the early afternoon. Dark said that the Grand Bayou apartments were not part of the current problems.
Hmm.... no flooding was reported when the filming was conducted at the studios. Of course that was before Grand Bayou was constructed. Why the studios have become flood prone since the lease to Jackson is an unanswered question. But at least the public now knows that Jackson has a legitimate reason not to be filming at this location.
The big issue now is when and how will flooding be resolved,- and at what cost.
The City purchased the studios in Feb. 2022 during the Adrian Perkins Administration at what was declared to be a bargain price. The economic development justification for the purchase was to revitalize the local film industry and support workforce development. No major steps were taken to achieve that goal until last year's lease to Jackson. Until the flooding is resolved, the City has another vacant/unused building that is not contributing to the local economy.
Hopefully the Administration pushes this problem to the top of the engineering problem resolution list and keeps the Council fully informed. The creation of the new downtown economic district designed to encourage investment by Jackson certainly merits a top priority status for resolution of studio flooding.