Since New Orleans is bursting with life again after Katrina and many projects for the city are being anounced, I believe the city deserves its own thread. Maybe this can become a sticky when we get many projects posted in this thread.

http://www.kailastower.com/

CBD condo. 25 floors.

http://www.vantagetower.com

70 floor condo/hotel to be built in the heart of the CBD. Will be tallest in the city when built.

http://www.trump.com/main.htm

Go to property portfolio...then future developments for a rendering.

Redevelopment of the abandoned Plaza Tower on the western edge of the CBD. Building was abandoned a few years ago due to asbestos. Currently...mitigation is going on...and presales are taking place.

Here is the website with a rendering.

http://www.crescentcitytowers.com/site.php

Two 27 floor condo towers to built along the lakeshore in Slidell near the Lakeshore Estates subdivision and I-10.

Here is a rendering.

http://www.lakeshore-estates.com/lakeshorelouisiana/vision.shtml

22 floor condo tower to built in Warehouse District of New Orleans.

http://www.tracageliving.com/index.html

Redevelopment of the old Krauss Department Store on Canal into condos.

http://www.1201canal.com/index.htm

And remember, there's Trump.

http://img476.imageshack.us/img476/7646/trumpinternationaltower7uf.jpg

:applause: Excellent thread. Nice to see New Orleans returning from a natural disaster with a nice collection of high-rise proposals. Good to know that investors did not take the easy way out but remained firm on their visions. Keep us posted.

:applause: Excellent thread. Nice to see New Orleans returning from a natural disaster with a nice collection of high-rise proposals. Good to know that investors did not take the easy way out but remained firm on their visions. Keep us posted.
Yeah, keep up the good work, Big Easy!!!!!! Great way to hang in there and persevere.

--
Bobby

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e63/Timothy8474/Condo1.jpg
$100 million condo project planned for Central City
Developers want to build 600 units
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
By Greg Thomas
Real estate writer
A team of developers has acquired land that was the subject of a bitter battle over a proposed Central City grocery and plans to build a condominium complex instead.

Elie Khoury and partners, doing business as the KFK Group, paid $7 million for about five acres near Felicity and Carondelet streets. The group plans to build about 600 units with a total value of $100 million. The units will sell for between $180,000 and $280,000.

The project, tentatively called Felicity Crossings, also will have 765 ground-floor townhouses and some service-oriented retail space for small businesses like neighborhood groceries.

The project will consist of three buildings:

-- A 4 1/2-story building of about 51,000 square feet will be constructed in the space bounded by Felicity, Carondelet and Polymnia streets. It will contain 37 units and retail space.

-- A five-story building stretching along Felicity between Baronne and Carondelet will consist of two-story townhouses on the bottom floor with single-story units on the upper floors.

-- The largest building -- at 361,000 square feet -- will be five stories and will be bounded by Felicity, Carondelet, Euterpe and Baronne. It will have townhouses and condominiums. A 12-story tower containing 10 condos will be built on the center of this building.

Parking in all three buildings will be under the structures and will be accessed through driveway entrances. The largest building will have two floors of parking, or more than 600 parking spaces.

In 1998, Albertsons grocery chain unveiled plans to develop a 66,000-square-foot store on the property. Preservationists upset about the size of the proposed grocery waged a long battle against the project. Albertsons pulled completely out of the New Orleans market in 2004, shuttering about a half dozen stores, and the Felicity store was never built.

New Orleans City Councilwoman Stacey Head, whose district includes the tract, said the new plans may be more palatable to the neighborhood and to preservationists.

Head was briefed on the project Monday by Khoury and said she was impressed, although she is reserving final judgment until the project enters the regulatory process. Zoning for the tract will have to be changed from commercial to multi-family to accommodate the project, Head said.

She said much of the controversy surrounding the Albertsons proposal involved the need to demolish and move numerous homes. Khoury's proposal involves no demolition.

Mathes Brierre Architects is the project architect.

Khoury expects the entire project to be conventionally financed. He has struck a partnership with Gary Leff and Tim Tucker, doing business as LT Development out of California for equity and ownership.

The KFK team is behind several residential projects under way in the city, including the conversions of the Krauss Department Store building on Canal Street and the Regency Apartment complex at 1205 St. Charles Ave. The Krauss building was slated to become condominiums, but Khoury said this week that building will instead be turned into apartments. The Regency Apartment complex is being converted into a condominium complex. Khoury and his partners also recently bought the Texaco building on Canal Street with plans to develop 108 condominiums.

. . . . . . .

Greg Thomas can be reached at gthomas@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3399

http://www.nola.com/business/t-p/index.ssf?/base/money-0/1149573718298360.xml&coll=1

My apologies, I'm not the best scanner, but, here it is...

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e63/Timothy8474/Condo1.jpg

$100 million condo project planned for Central City
Developers want to build 600 units
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
By Greg Thomas
Real estate writer
A team of developers has acquired land that was the subject of a bitter battle over a proposed Central City grocery and plans to build a condominium complex instead.

Elie Khoury and partners, doing business as the KFK Group, paid $7 million for about five acres near Felicity and Carondelet streets. The group plans to build about 600 units with a total value of $100 million. The units will sell for between $180,000 and $280,000.

The project, tentatively called Felicity Crossings, also will have 765 ground-floor townhouses and some service-oriented retail space for small businesses like neighborhood groceries.

The project will consist of three buildings:

-- A 4 1/2-story building of about 51,000 square feet will be constructed in the space bounded by Felicity, Carondelet and Polymnia streets. It will contain 37 units and retail space.

-- A five-story building stretching along Felicity between Baronne and Carondelet will consist of two-story townhouses on the bottom floor with single-story units on the upper floors.

-- The largest building -- at 361,000 square feet -- will be five stories and will be bounded by Felicity, Carondelet, Euterpe and Baronne. It will have townhouses and condominiums. A 12-story tower containing 10 condos will be built on the center of this building.

Parking in all three buildings will be under the structures and will be accessed through driveway entrances. The largest building will have two floors of parking, or more than 600 parking spaces.

In 1998, Albertsons grocery chain unveiled plans to develop a 66,000-square-foot store on the property. Preservationists upset about the size of the proposed grocery waged a long battle against the project. Albertsons pulled completely out of the New Orleans market in 2004, shuttering about a half dozen stores, and the Felicity store was never built.

New Orleans City Councilwoman Stacey Head, whose district includes the tract, said the new plans may be more palatable to the neighborhood and to preservationists.

Head was briefed on the project Monday by Khoury and said she was impressed, although she is reserving final judgment until the project enters the regulatory process. Zoning for the tract will have to be changed from commercial to multi-family to accommodate the project, Head said.

She said much of the controversy surrounding the Albertsons proposal involved the need to demolish and move numerous homes. Khoury's proposal involves no demolition.

Mathes Brierre Architects is the project architect.

Khoury expects the entire project to be conventionally financed. He has struck a partnership with Gary Leff and Tim Tucker, doing business as LT Development out of California for equity and ownership.

The KFK team is behind several residential projects under way in the city, including the conversions of the Krauss Department Store building on Canal Street and the Regency Apartment complex at 1205 St. Charles Ave. The Krauss building was slated to become condominiums, but Khoury said this week that building will instead be turned into apartments. The Regency Apartment complex is being converted into a condominium complex. Khoury and his partners also recently bought the Texaco building on Canal Street with plans to develop 108 condominiums.

. . . . . . .

Greg Thomas can be reached at gthomas@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3399

http://www.nola.com/business/t-p/index.ssf?/base/money-0/1149573718298360.xml&coll=1

yeah, i saw that yesterday on nola.com.

great news!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Nice!

Isn't that in a really bad part of town? How close is that to the garden district?

Isn't that in a really bad part of town? How close is that to the garden district?
You're a Very Smart Man!!...you're witnessing our bad neighborhoods turn good, just as we are. But, it's not deep into the neighborhood...just two blocks off of St.Charles Ave.

Looks like a wonderful project :okay: Congratulations on this major step forward. Glad to see the investors standing behind New Orleans during a time of need. Keep us posted as soon as the project breaks ground. Any recent photos of the area?

Yeah Central City is the highest crime area right now. These might be a tough sell.

Yeah Central City is the highest crime area right now. These might be a tough sell.
I differ...Central City crime is more centralized around LaSalle St. and Washington Ave. and in this vicinity. The area where this project is located, is more of a less populated area, that is the center of blight and many of these blighted properities are being refurbished by affluent individuals. They were being refurbished before Katrina. I think this is definitely a very viable project.

Yeah Sean I agree with you. I'm just wondering if the perception might hinder sales. I certainly wouldn't have a problem living there.

these are suppose to be mixed income as well right.... i think they are suppose to hold some of the units for lower income.

Wow! Nice and large building! Good read.

Hi. (to Sean in New Orleans) I was just wondering if that 900 foot tower you mentioned a while back is still going to be built, also another 700 foot tower you mentioned along the Mississippi. I was looking in the "New tallest for New Orleans" thread momments ago. I know the last reply for that thread was a like year ago, so I just wanted to know if these projects are dead or alive, you know, since the hurricane hit. Thanks.

I might live there if there are stores and bars within a short walk. I also will need something around $200k for a 2 bedroom. Everything going up in NOLA seems to be $300k+. I don't want to live anywhere old and dirty. It will be two years from now before I move there, though. Maybe prices will drop.

Hi. (to Sean in New Orleans) I was just wondering if that 900 foot tower you mentioned a while back is still going to be built, also another 700 foot tower you mentioned along the Mississippi. I was looking in the "New tallest for New Orleans" thread momments ago. I know the last reply for that thread was a like year ago, so I just wanted to know if these projects are dead or alive, you know, since the hurricane hit. Thanks.
The 900 foot tower isn't dead from what I've heard, however, this is going to be in conjunction with the Convention Center expansion. I believe we are a couple of years away from hearing anything on this tower, but, we'll see. We've got bigger, pressing issues to deal with first, and then we'll hear more on the Riverfront. But, development on the River is down the stretch. We need to continue to clean up first, though.

Dup post

these are suppose to be mixed income as well right.... i think they are suppose to hold some of the units for lower income.


This is not a mixed income project. However, Cannonized, I agree with your concern regarding Central City. Case in point....the Papillon Apartments, a lovely development that was erected about 20 years ago in that same vicinity. From what I understand, they languished forever. However, Tulane recently bought the entire complex and is using it for housing for grad students and their families.

With this project, I think what you're seeing is something I had hoped would happen: Land that did not flood is a precious comodity. If people want to live in the city and want housing that is not astronically priced, the only thing to do is to move in to areas that, prior to the storm, were less desirable.

This location is only two blocks off of St. Charles. If it's built, I believe it will succeed in a huge way and will be an impetus to landlords to either sell their properties or to upgrade them in a manner that it consistent with the city's much wealthier demographic.

This won't be the first time that "a bad area has gone good." Twenty years ago, who would have thought the lower garden district would have boomed. The same can be said of parts of Marigny and even Bywater.

When I was in college, I used to house-sit occasionally for a friend that lived in Bywater. The different between now and then is astronomical. Central City's rejuvination makes a good deal of sense. Eli Kourhy is a smart guy. This development could spur a renaissance of an area similar to the way the Fiber Mills spurred the development of the Warehouse District.

That being said, I wish the architecture were a bit nicer.

I have a friend that just moved into an apartment at 3rd and Carondelet after living in Picayune the last 6 months. He would have never thought of living in Central City pre K...but decided it was high ground...and it was time to move back. Picayune was nice...but he was not happy there. Plus...the hour and a half commute to Harahan was taking a toll on him.

I was shocked at the reasonable rent he got. 700/mo. for a 2 bed apartment. Not bad considering that rents have gone up considerably in most areas. If the rental rates in this area of Central City are comparable to what he is paying...I can see young professionals who want to live in the city moving into this area.

I Hope they build it, along with trump hotel & international, because New Orleans needs a boost after katrina destroyed almost everything.

I Hope they build it, along with trump hotel & international, because New Orleans needs a boost after katrina destroyed almost everything.

There's an article on the front page of today's money section regarding all of the large highrise projects on the drawing board.

The 900 foot tower isn't dead from what I've heard, however, this is going to be in conjunction with the Convention Center expansion. .

Speaking of which...what on earth happened to the expansion? I thought construction was supposed to have begun a few months ago!

New Orleans needs to be rebuilt more better than ever.

This current so-called president is wasting billions of dollars on this illegal and immortal war on the country that had nothing to do with 9/11, why don't he use that money to rebuild N.O.

Here is a summary of some of the recent residential high-rise projects announced. The only error I see is that Trump Tower is $400 million, not $200 million.

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e63/Timothy8474/BIGNOD.jpg

Construction of expansion to the National WWII Museum is expected to begin in the coming months:

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y161/alon504/DDAY.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e63/Timothy8474/scan0001.jpg

Developer floats hotel, condo plan
Project puts focus on water
Saturday, June 24, 2006
By Frank Donze
Staff writer
A company based in Nevada has proposed a hotel and condominium development for a waterfront tract on Orleans Levee Board property, a project costing more than $200 million that would represent the most significant post-Katrina investment in flood-ravaged eastern New Orleans.

Representatives of Atlantis Internet Group Corp. offered few details about their plans Friday to levee board commissioners, but promised to return next month with more information.

Donald Bailey, the firm's president, said the corporation has long-standing relationships with several deep-pocketed partners, some of whom he hopes to bring with him to the board's July meeting. A publicly traded corporation, Atlantis has interests in Internet gambling sites, gambling developments and commercial and residential real estate.

Bailey said that although his company wants to pursue all available tax incentives, it is prepared to use private money to build a 95-room hotel atop a barge inside the levee board's South Shore Harbor marina and 60 waterfront town homes and other amenities along the Lake Pontchartrain shoreline that fronts Hayne Boulevard.

Noting that the devastated area his company is targeting remains largely uninhabited nearly 10 months after the storm, Bailey, a former New Orleans resident, said the potential investors he has lined up believe the "tremendous challenge" is worth the risk.

"We believe we can overcome these hurdles," he said. "We are willing to take the lead in the redevelopment of New Orleans."

Until August, when Katrina laid waste to the marina, South Shore Harbor was home to the Belle of Orleans gambling boat. The casino, which was badly damaged by the storm, has been moved to Mobile, Ala., where it is undergoing repairs.

The casino's new owner, Kentucky hotel operator Columbia Sussex Corp., has ceased lease payments to the levee board, which has taken the company to court.

If the legal issues cannot be resolved and the Belle of Orleans does not return, Bailey said, his company would be interested in seeking state approval to take over the boat's gaming license and reopening its own casino as part of the proposed development.

Bailey said Atlantis Internet has three main divisions that specialize in electronic game development; slots development and distribution; and a casino development arm that concentrates on real estate.

The barge-based hotel Atlantis is proposing would sit inside the harbor, but Bailey said the bulk of the development would be built outside the marina, stretching three miles east along the lake to Bullard Avenue.

Bailey said he and other investors are "amazed that New Orleans lacks the waterfront development so many other waterside cities focus on."

He said his prospective partners include investors in a major Detroit hotel and casino, Motor City Casino in Detroit; the St. Regis Hotel in Detroit; and several residential communities.

If voters approve a proposal this fall to merge local levee boards into a regional authority, Bailey and other developers eyeing Lakefront property likely will deal directly with state government in the near term.

Under the merger initiative, the Orleans Levee Board's myriad assets that are unrelated to flood control, such as the Lakefront Airport and South Shore Harbor, would be moved to the state's Division of Administration while local and state officials decide what to do with them.

In the meantime, Levee Board President Michael McCrossen said, the agency will launch negotiations with Atlantis. McCrossen said Michael Olivier, the state's secretary of economic development, has been briefed on the proposal and will be involved in future discussions.

The ambitious proposal is Bailey's second attempt to do business with the levee board.

In 1993, Bailey's Atlantis Resorts International Inc. was granted an option to lease space at South Shore Harbor for a $25 million floating hotel similar to the one he is proposing.

That project, which never got off the ground, included plans for 100 upscale one-, two- and three-bedroom suites and 5,000 square feet of commercial space that could accommodate conventions, retail shops, a restaurant, a jazz supper club and a movie theater.

The plan that Bailey outlined at the time called for the five-story hotel to be built on a 330-foot by 95-foot barge that could be moved if threatened by a hurricane. He said then that the barge would be anchored by ballast and temporary pilings, similar to an offshore oil rig.

. . . . . . .

Frank Donze can be reached at fdonze@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3328. Business writer Greg Thomas contributed to this report.

Julia Street Cruise Ship Terminal...Nearing Completion:

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y161/alon504/CruiseTerminal.jpg

L'Ultimate Tower
Height: 22 storeys 225 feet
Status: Approved
Location: Lake Ponchartrain Lakefront-New Orleans
Use: Condo


http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y161/alon504/Lakecondo.gif

Vantage Tower Night:

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y161/alon504/vantagetowernightview9ru.jpg

Vantage Tower Day:

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y161/alon504/vantagetower8ea.png

Tracage Condominiums:

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y161/alon504/Tower.jpg

Another of Tracage:

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e63/Timothy8474/tracage.jpg

HRI Condominiums
Height: Tower 1- 5 storeys, 55 feet Tower 2- 12 storeys 125 feet
Location: The Warehouse District-New Orleans
Use: Condo's, Apartments

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e63/Timothy8474/CarrolltonCondos.jpg

Slidell Condominiums Coming:

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e63/Timothy8474/LakeshoreCondos.png

Great Thread

Phase II of St. Thomas Development in Warehouse District To Begin By End of Year:

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e63/Timothy8474/R1.jpg

$700 Million Jazz Park and Museum For Downtown:

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e63/Timothy8474/AAJ1.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e63/Timothy8474/AAJ2.jpg

Canal Street Presently Undergoing Multi-Million Conversion:

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e63/Timothy8474/AAAACANAL.gif

Delayed due to Katrina...multi-million mega phase IV expansion of New Orleans Convention Center to Begin in 2007:

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e63/Timothy8474/AAAACON1.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e63/Timothy8474/AAAACON2.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e63/Timothy8474/AAAACON3.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e63/Timothy8474/AAAACON4.jpg

Crescent City Residences:

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e63/Timothy8474/AACC2.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e63/Timothy8474/AACC1.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e63/Timothy8474/AACC4.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e63/Timothy8474/AACC3.jpg

Sean: Where'd you get the pics of Crescent City Residences/Towers?

Northshore Marina Tower Condominiums..Slidell:

http://www.nsmtc.com/

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e63/Timothy8474/AAAANORTH.jpg

Jackson Barracks will be restored
PROJECT TO BRING GUARD HOME, HELP REVITALIZE AREA
Thursday, July 06, 2006
By Greg Thomas
Gov. Kathleen Blanco will announce today a $200 million restoration of Jackson Barracks, a project that will spur redevelopment in the Lower 9th Ward and Arabi and will allow the Louisiana National Guard to return its state headquarters to the complex.

LRA Executive Director Andy Kopplin said he believes the project could become an anchor for redeveloping the area.

At the same time, the huge repair project, which will include new building materials and will be done in accordance with FEMA elevation guidelines, will demonstrate to property owners how to repair shattered homes and build new ones according to new hurricane codes, Blanco said. The first floors of the salvageable buildings at the base will be built of materials that both protect the architectural integrity of the homes and repel water.

"I hope this solid construction project will show the community that if we rethink how to rebuild, we can live in our world and do it effectively," Blanco said. "There's still a certain amount of skepticism in Congress if anything should be rebuilt in our region. We have to demonstrate how effective, smarter and safer" the area can be.

The 100-acre historic base, which straddles the Orleans-St. Bernard parish line and includes the largest grouping of antebellum homes in the United States, took on between four and eight feet of water after Hurricane Katrina. The flooding forced the Louisiana National Guard to temporarily move its state headquarters to Camp Beauregard, near Pineville.

In addition to restoring the barracks, Blanco wants to integrate community services on the compound. Those could include fire and police stations, a health center, a Veterans Administration outreach program and other services that could draw people back to what is one of the most heavily damaged areas in the city.

Kopplin pointed out that if enough residents return, a charter school similar to that at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Belle Chasse could be in the works.

Blanco will invest $3.7 million in Community Development Block Grant money in the repair of state structures at the base. FEMA, through a matching program with the state, will contribute $37 million. The Department of Defense will pick up the remaining $163 million.

The Jackson Barracks restoration includes the building of a $43 million home for the 141st Field Artillery Readiness Center, long known as the Washington Artillery, which can trace its history through the Civil War to the current battle in Iraq, Lt. Col. Doug Mouton said. Mouton has been the middleman in putting the project together.

Another major part of the Jackson Barracks reconstruction involves the replacement of the Joint Forces Headquarters at a cost of $39.1 million.

The project also calls for spending as much as $14 million restoring the base's antebellum homes, $20 million for infrastructure improvements and $25.4 million to build a new 61st Troop Command Multi-Readiness Center.

About $10 million will be spent on new gate houses and security measures.

The project involves top local architects including John C. Williams Architects, John T. Campo & Associates Inc., Sizeler Thompson Brown Architects, and W.G. Yates & Sons Construction Co.

All of the projects are already financed or are part of a state request for proposals.

Brig. Gen. Hunt Downer, a legislative aide to Blanco, said the governor lobbied hard to secure the Department of Defense money and was able to get it expedited. Further, the Defense Department is allowing it to be a design-build project, meaning that once the infrastructure or other items are designed, construction begins even as architects and planners are designing the next step. The design-build process cuts 30 percent to 40 percent off of building time, Mouton said.

In addition to the money to restore Jackson Barracks, Louisiana will get $250 million more from the Department of Defense to strengthen and repair all National Guard facilities in the state damaged by Hurricanes Rita and Katrina. The money will be used to repair an air facility for National Guard helicopters in Hammond and facilities in Alexandria and elsewhere.

While parts of the base date to the 18th century, most of it, including the antebellum homes, was built in the 1830s. The modern barracks were built the 1960s and 1970s. Those will be demolished and rebuilt.

While basic designs for Jackson Barracks are done, local real estate consultant Wade Ragas said the plan fits precisely what planners, architects and the LRA have been seeking: a project that is melded with the community, repairs infrastructure and attracts pre-Katrina homeowners and new households to the area.

Ragas said the project creates jobs, demonstrates what a large project will cost when it's constructed to meet flood elevation and wind load requirements, and provides community services.

The plan for Jackson Barracks will be announced at a press conference this morning.

. . . . . . .

Greg Thomas can be reached at gthomas@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3399

http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-6/1152169455119420.xml&coll=1&thispage=2

i think it's great that there are plans to build up around the lakefront. i think that's an area that could be very nicely developed and could bring some good money to the city.

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e63/Timothy8474/homepage_rendering.jpg

Sales have just begun on this grand project directly next door to the Ritz-Carleton, New Orleans.

http://www.auduboncondos.com/index.html

Awesome projects! My favorites are of course the Trump and L'Ultimate Towers.

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e63/Timothy8474/homepage_rendering.jpg

Sales have just begun on this grand project directly next door to the Ritz-Carleton, New Orleans.

http://www.auduboncondos.com/index.html
Grand Opening of what? The sales office?

Woolworth Tower on Canal Street (30 floors):

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e63/Timothy8474/woolwoothtowerni0.png

Woolworth Tower on Canal Street (30 floors):

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e63/Timothy8474/woolwoothtowerni0.png

That is a fabulous building. Who is the architect? It looks like something the Arquitectonica of Miami would design.

Rezoning sought for condo plan
900 units near Quarter proposed
Saturday, July 22, 2006
By Bruce Eggler

Apparently not content with the 28-story, 150-unit condominium tower he is hoping to build in the Warehouse District, New Orleans developer Tom Bauer is looking to build a far larger condo complex just outside the French Quarter.

The complex would occupy the site of a Winn-Dixie supermarket that Bauer built five years ago near the Municipal Auditorium but that has been vacant since Hurricane Katrina and is not expected to reopen. It would have as many as 900 condos, 2,500 parking spaces, space for several stores and businesses, and a museum or theater.

Bauer has asked the City Planning Commission to rezone a 15.7-acre tract stretching five blocks from Interstate 10 to Crozat Street, just across Basin Street from the auditorium. Bauer wants to change the zoning from LI, light-industrial, to C-2, general commercial, which would restrict the types of uses permitted but would allow new construction of unlimited height.

The commission will hold a public hearing on the request Tuesday and is likely to approve rezoning the land, although to more restrictive categories than Bauer has requested. The final decision will be up to the City Council. The site is in Councilman James Carter's district.

Because his request is only for a zoning change, not yet for construction, Bauer has not had to submit actual development plans to the Planning Commission. He did not return a call Friday seeking information on his plans.

But based on preliminary designs he has shown unofficially to the commission and to some nearby property owners and residents, Bauer is planning a 900-unit condo project, to be called either St. Louis Place or the Nouveau Carre, and featuring two or three towers as tall as 30 stories and 361 feet each. The address would be 1501 St. Louis St., across the street from the Iberville public housing development.

The project also would comprise one or more garages with 2,500 parking spaces, including 1,500 spaces for the condos; 240,000 square feet of commercial space for businesses such as a drugstore, restaurant, bakery or coffee shop, dress shop and dry cleaner's; and a 10,000-square-foot museum or theater that the city would be able to use to promote the French Quarter and other attractions.

Bauer, whose previous projects include the 12-story luxury condo building at 625 St. Charles Ave., reportedly has told some neighbors the entire project would cost about $150 million. The condos, as many as 14 to a floor in each tower, would sell for $220,000 to $600,000.

Bauer has told neighbors the development would help revitalize North Rampart Street, a longtime goal of many city planners and officials.

Some nearby residents have expressed enthusiasm about the project but concern about the height of the proposed buildings. "Mr. Bauer's willingness to invest millions to develop this site is gratifying to French Quarter residents in my organization," said Carol Greve, president of French Quarter Citizens Inc. "We do think, however, that heights should be limited."

Opposition also could come from community activists who fear Bauer's project would threaten the future of the Iberville housing complex, which has reopened partially since Katrina but which activists fear various developers want to demolish.

Besides the closed Winn-Dixie, the site Bauer wants to rezone also includes a recreational vehicle park next to the interstate and a fish-processing plant on the upriver side of St. Louis Street. The site once was part of a Norfolk Southern railroad corridor. Most of it was used as a parking lot for the casino that operated at the Municipal Auditorium for seven months in 1995.

Instead of the C-2 zoning Bauer is seeking, the Planning Commission staff is recommending that the third of the site closest to the French Quarter should be rezoned to C-1A, the same as along lower St. Charles Avenue and parts of Canal Street, which would provide greater control over the height and mass of any new buildings. The rear two-thirds of the site would be rezoned C-1, which is less restrictive than C-1A but more restrictive than C-2.

In general, the staff's analysis says, "the staff generally believes that height can be accommodated on this site" but "is concerned with the potential for unlimited height on the entire site, given the proximity to such sensitive areas as the Vieux Carre and Treme." Its recommendations are designed to "balance the request of the applicant with the potential concerns of the adjacent neighborhoods."


Note I think it's hilarious that residents of a housing project feel "threatened" by a condo development.

City Planning Commission Approves One and Defers One
From The Times Picayune 7/27/06

The New Orleans City Planning Commission gave its endorsement Tuesday to developer Elie Khoury's plans for a 530-unit condominium development in Central City. But it postponed for a month a decision on a zoning change that developer Tom Bauer is seeking so he can build an even larger high-rise condo developmentnear the French Quarter.


The final decisions are up to the City Council. Khoury's project is in Councilwoman Stacy Head's district. Bauer's is in James Carter's district.

Bauer's project would encompass 900 condos, as many as 2,500 parking spaces, several stores and space for a museum he would lease to the city. The commission deferred a vote on the zoning change he needs until Aug. 22 and suggested he meet with more residents in Treme and the French Quarter to get their comments on his plans.

Khoury's $100 million project, expected to be known as Felicity Place or the Residences on Felicity, involves a 4.8-acre site on which Albertson's planned to build a supermarket until that grocery chain abandoned the New Orleans market a few years ago.

The site includes most of the block bounded by Felicity, Baronne, Euterpe and Carondelet streets and large parts of two adjoining blocks, including the back side of the block containing the former Houston's restaurant. The entire site is vacant because all the buildings that once stood on it were demolished or moved in anticipation of the Albertson's construction.

Khoury, who also is converting the Krauss Department Store building on Canal Street to condominiums, said he expects the one- and two-bedroom Felicity Place condos, averaging 948 square feet, to sell for "mid-range" prices of $170,000 to $270,000.

The project would include buildings ranging from six to 12 stories, plus 632 parking spaces. Most of the units would ring the perimeter of each block, with the parking spaces hidden behind them. The 12-story building would be in the middle of the largest block.

The Planning Commission unanimously approved Khoury's requests to change the site's zoning from C-1A, general commercial, to RM-4, multiple-family residential, and to approve a conditional-use permit with a "residential planned community overlay." It agreed to waive almost 200 of the 817 off-street parking spaces required by the zoning law and to approve several other waivers.

No one spoke against Khoury's project at the commission's meeting. Architect Lawrence Adams of the Mathes Brierre firm said the developers had met with several community groups and found "a lot of enthusiasm" for the project.

By contrast, several people spoke against Bauer's proposal, although his actual construction plans were not before the commission, only his request to rezone a 15.7-acre tract stretching five blocks from Interstate 10 to Crozat Street, just across Basin Street from the Municipal Auditorium. The site includes a Winn-Dixie supermarket that Bauer built five years ago but that has been closed since Hurricane Katrina and is not expected to reopen, plus a large parking lot.

Bauer was seeking to change the site's zoning from LI, light-industrial, to C-2, general commercial, which would restrict the types of uses permitted but would allow new construction of unlimited height.

The Planning Commission's staff said C-2 would not provide enough control over what could be built and suggested changing the front part of the site, closest to the French Quarter, to C-1A, which would limit commercial buildings to 100 feet in height and residential buildings to 125 feet, and the rear portion to C-1, which has no height limit but sets other limits, such as on a building's floor-area ratio, or mass.

Bauer said he was ready to accept the staff's recommendation, and his architects and attorney said they looked forward to meeting with neighbors as Bauer develops more specific plans.

He has shown some neighbors preliminary conceptual plans that call for a $150 million development featuring two or three residential towers as tall as 361 feet, with condos selling for $220,000 to $600,000, but he has not submitted definite plans to the commission.

But some speakers said they oppose high-rise buildings in historic neighborhoods, others said they would prefer to see a grocery reopen at the site, and still others said they needed more information on Bauer's plans before they could take a position for or against them.

*****

Check out the new website for the Plaza Tower's conversion to Cresent City Towers. Very nice.http://www.crescentcitytowers.com/

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e63/Timothy8474/scan0002.jpg

High-rise lakefront condos proposed

Development would have hotel, water park, 1,500 residences

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

By Greg Thomas

Real estate writer

A $200 million proposal involving 1,500 condo units in four to five high-rises on the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain will be presented to the Orleans Parish Levee Board today by a California construction company and a local entrepreneur.

The mixed-use development proposal also includes entertainment venues, an indoor-outdoor water park, a 350-room hotel, and more than 100,000 square feet of commercial space. The condos would sell for between $150,000 and $300,000 each and the condo towers could climb as high as 40 stories.

The 14- to 20-acre site is roughly bounded by Lakefront Drive and Leroy Johnson Drive and is generally located behind the FBI Headquarters on the Lakefront. All of the land is owned by the Orleans Levee Board and would be leased from the board.

The project also calls for a large beach improvement and the creation of a landscaped public space along the lakefront.

The development group, doing business as NOLATOWN, is headed by Rickey Spearman of New Orleans. Spearman, who is temporarily living in Atlanta because of Hurricane Katrina, is serving as chief executive and president of the group. He is joined by partners Glenn Broom and Demic Smothers. The three are partnering with California-based International Professional Packaging Co. Inc., or IPPC. Representing IPPC today at the meeting will be Carey Smith, IPPC's chief executive officer, and Samuel Banks, the firm's vice president of new business.

Spearman said they hope to obtain a lease within 30 days, complete due diligence within 90 days, close the deal and break ground at the end of the year or early 2007.

Smith said they have strong relationships with major lenders and will not require government subsidies. IPPC is just closing on a massive 3,000-acre project in the Dominican Republic that involves 8.5 miles of beachfront and, according to Smith, more than a dozen luxury hotels along with residences.

This is the second $200 million proposal for land owned by the Orleans Levee Board since June.

Atlantis Internet Group Corp. in July also proposed developing a hotel and gambling complex at the agency's dormant South Shore Harbor marina. The Atlantis project involves a 95-room floating luxury hotel, an outdoor amphitheater and 60 waterfront town homes. Long-term, the Atlantis project, which would stretch along Hayne Boulevard facing the lake, would involve the construction of hundreds of new town homes and entertainment venues.

Donald Bailey of the Atlantis Group said that while his company wants to pursue all available tax incentives, it is prepared to use private money to build the development.

Because both the Atlantis project and the NOLATOWN project are situated on land owned by the Levee Board, both projects could be impacted by pending legislation to combine the state's levee boards into one system. Such a legislative move would end the local board's sole control over the land. The Governor's Division of Administration would instead be responsible for any land owned by the boards.

NOLATOWN's Spearman said he wants to get a lease fast-tracked before such a change is made.

"Politically, we'd rather deal with Orleans Parish than a state board," Spearman said.

Both the NOLATOWN and Atlantis projects involve the use of what is commonly called the seven-acre peninsula near the waterfront. That piece of land is the only area where the two proposals overlap, Spearman said.

Banks of IPPC said that the project is exactly what eastern New Orleans needs.

"There isn't anything really in the area now," Black said. "You can't buy a pack of gum. This is the first time (a group) can bring residential, commercial, entertainment and retail to the area . . . This is an opportunity to build what is missing there" in eastern New Orleans.

Due diligence will be critical for the project as engineers would have to conduct testing to determine if the soils could support high-rise construction, which would be the first on the lakefront outside the area near the Jefferson-Orleans parish line.

The major portion of the NOLATOWN proposal is a series of towers, the exact number undetermined, that could rise as high as 40 stories. In total, 1,500 condos would be built.

This possible design could be used to build condos and a portion of the 100,000 square feet of commercial space proposed. All of the land is owned by the Orleans Levee Board and would be leased from the board.

The proposal calls for a 350-room hotel. An indoor-outdoor water park is also part of the $200 million project.

The Atlantis Internet Group in July revealed plans for a hotel and gambling complex at the dormant South Shore Harbor marina. The Atlantis project includes a 95-room floating luxury hotel, an outdoor amphitheater and 60 waterfront town homes. It was the first of two large multi-use developments proposed this summer for the New Orleans lakefront.

Greg Thomas can be reached at gthomas@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3399.

What are the odds that the Lakefront project will get off the ground? I give it less than 50/50.

New condo development for Jefferson Parish, on Jeff. Hwy, right by the MS River. Construction to begin in April, 2007:

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e63/Timothy8474/JeffersonParishCondo.jpg

http://www.thestraymond.com/

What is the latest with the Vantage Tower and L'Ultimate? Also, the Tracage? I know the L'Ultimate and Tracage had the land cleared, but anything going on yet?

What is the latest with the Vantage Tower and L'Ultimate? Also, the Tracage? I know the L'Ultimate and Tracage had the land cleared, but anything going on yet?

Tracage is expected to begin construction in the next couple of months, from all I've heard. The site is already blocked off....

Is the Plaza Tower reno underway ?

Is the Plaza Tower reno underway ?

I haven't seen anything done to the building yet.

I haven't seen anything done to the building yet.

Okay, thanks.

To update...Plaza Tower deal is dead. The deal fell apart between the two parties, and the bank now owns the building through public auction.

Now for some good news...

A new cancer research center has broken ground. It will be 10 floors and could employ up to 300 people.

A rendering is on this site under the research section. Click on Louisiana Cancer Center. http://www.hillier.com/portfolio/

http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-8/118561859046670.xml&coll=1

New Orleans cancer center set to open 2010
Posted by The Times-Picayune July 27, 2007 9:17PM
By John Pope
Staff writer

After years of talking, planning and dreaming, the first steps have been taken toward building a cancer center that is designed to be nothing less than a scientific and economic mainstay of New Orleans' post-Katrina economy.

"Test piles are going. Great things are happening," said Steven Moye, president of the organization behind the Louisiana Cancer Research Center at Tulane and South Claiborne avenues.

The health sciences centers of Louisiana State and Tulane universities, as well as Xavier University, are partners in the project, which is envisioned as a center for treatment, teaching and research as well as an economic engine for the city's renaissance.

"We're extremely excited," said Dr. Alan Miller, Tulane's interim senior vice president for health sciences.

The 10-story building will have about 175,000 square feet of work space, Moye said, and about 300 people are expected to be employed there when the center opens in 2010.


The first test piles were driven two weeks ago, he said, and groundbreaking is expected to occur Oct. 1.

The Legislature this year approved enough money to cover the construction cost, which is expected to be about $94 million, Moye said.

"It's a great opportunity for New Orleans," said Dr. Larry Hollier, chancellor of LSU's Health Sciences Center. "This is part of the redevelopment of the downtown business-biomedical district. It's a positive thing, any way you look at it."

Preliminary planning was under way three years ago, but Hurricane Katrina put everything on hold, said Steve McDaniel, the principal in charge of the project for RMJM Hillier of Philadelphia, the building's architect.

That firm's local partner is Lyons & Hudson.

The center will rise on a tract bounded by Tulane and South Claiborne avenues and Gravier and South Derbigny streets. The LSU Board of Supervisors will be asked to approve leasing the land, but that is expected to be a formality, Hollier said.

That part of New Orleans flooded after the levees broke. Given that experience, the plans were retooled to raise all of the building's electrical equipment off the ground to protect it from high water, McDaniel said.

Although their medical centers are side by side, Tulane and LSU had separately explored the idea of developing a comprehensive cancer center for nearly a decade.

In 2002, the universities decided to work together. The result was the Louisiana Cancer Research Consortium, which is building the center.

Xavier, which is celebrated for its College of Pharmacy and its success in preparing scientists for medical careers, became a partner in the project in May, Moye said.

The center's immediate goals are to stimulate the economy and provide a top-flight research, training and treatment center that will compete with renowned facilities in Birmingham, Ala., and Houston for patients and cancer specialists.

Its eventual goal is designation by the National Cancer Institute as a comprehensive cancer center. This accolade, which has been bestowed on 61 centers, signifies that the institution is among the best in the country for cancer research, treatment and education.

In addition to prestige, the title helps institutions get grants, recruit faculty and attract patients.

For now, the pile-driving at the site represents "the first sign of true hope" in big-scale construction since Katrina, Moye said.

"It shows the regrowth that is taking place in New Orleans," he said, "and it shows hope in terms of where cancer research is going in New Orleans."

John Pope can be reached at jpope@timespicayune.com or (504)¤826-33

The Times-Picayune

Canal Place hotel proposed

Saturday, August 11, 2007
By Greg Thomas
Real estate writer

Rendering of the proposed hotel: http://darrylberger.com/retail.htm

A $210 million luxury hotel and condominium building could be added to Canal Place with the help of generous tax-exempt bonds and other tax breaks awaiting approval by the New Orleans City Council and other government agencies.

The 340-foot, 242-room tower would be built on the river side of the Wyndham Hotel, the existing hotel at Canal Place, which also has retail and office space.

Lead developers Darryl Berger and Roger Ogden, doing business as CP3 Associates LLC, have received preliminary approval for a $190 million tax-exempt bond issue from the State Bond Commission and the Industrial Development Board of New Orleans. The board will weigh the project more fully after a cost-benefit analysis is completed.

Additionally, the City Council voted 7-0 on July 26 to designate the site of the proposed hotel-condo complex as an "economic development district" whose sales tax revenue could be used to secure bonds to provide funds for construction of the project.

The ordinance creating the economic development district was introduced by Councilman James Carter, whose district includes the site, at the request of Mayor Ray Nagin's administration.

Another ordinance, also introduced by Carter at the administration's request, is awaiting council action and could be voted on Sept. 6. It would authorize Nagin to sign a cooperative endeavor agreement with the developers that the ordinance says would "make it economically feasible" for the Industrial Development Board to issue bonds.

Neither the city nor the developers have disclosed the terms of the proposed agreement. However, Richard Cortizas, an attorney for the developers, told the council they are seeking a tax-sharing arrangement, meaning that at least some of the sales tax and hotel tax revenue from the hotel and condos would be used to help pay off the bonds.

The tax-exempt bonds would be offered under the Gulf Opportunity Zone legislation. The developers are also asking the Industrial Development Board for approval for a payment in lieu of taxes, commonly called a PILOT, for the hotel.

If approved, the hotel would be the most ambitious Central Business District project to receive approval for GO Zone bonds or a PILOT since Hurricane Katrina.

Under a PILOT, property taxes are frozen for a period of time, often five to 15 years, at the pre-development value -- in this case whatever the empty lot is worth -- and no taxes have to be paid on the buildings.

Darryl Berger Jr., representing the development team, wouldn't give details of the project, but he said it needs the PILOT. "It won't work without it," he said.

The application to the Industrial Development Board said the developers could request a restoration tax abatement, another type of tax break, if the PILOT is not approved.

The Canal Place proposal was pulled from the agenda of last month's IDB meeting and is not scheduled to come up at the board's next meeting on Tuesday. IDB administrative consultant Sharon Martin said the cost-benefit analysis for the project has not been completed.

Until it is presented to the board, it is unclear how much the PILOT would cost the city and other taxing bodies in lost revenue.

The application, however, says the project could create 1,000 construction jobs and about 550 permanent jobs, with a goal of having 90 percent of the jobs go to New Orleans residents and 40 percent to minorities.

The cost-benefit analysis, being performed by third-party contractor MetroSource LLC, is intended to determine whether the jobs and other economic benefits the project would theoretically generate would outweigh the loss of taxes.

Berger said the developers are unsure how many of the 242 units in the tower would be residential but said they probably would occupy floors 14 through 20. He refused to identify the hotel's potential flag, or operator.

The IDB application breaks down the costs for the project this way: $134.5 million for the hotel, $26.7 million for the residential units, $14.8 million for a retail component and $3.7 million for a 550-space parking garage. The price of the project has since jumped to $210 million because of increased costs for labor and materials, a member of the partnership said.

Since the Gulf Opportunity Zone Act was passed, the IDB has received 41 major applications for projects and is busy processing them, IDB President Jimmie Thorns said.

After the board was criticized by the Bureau of Governmental Research on the grounds that the PILOTs it was approving were not generating enough economic benefits to outweigh their loss of tax dollars, the board has been re-examining its procedures and placing more emphasis on its cost-benefit analyses.

The World Trade Center New Orleans is to be converted to a 900-room hotel in the future.

Trump project on hold.
From Property Wire news:




Developers put New Orleans Trump Tower on hold
Friday, 20 February 2009

New Orleans Trump Tower put on hold.
Property tycoon Donald Trump has suffered another blow from the global economic downturn with another project put on hold.

The $400 million Trump International Hotel & Tower in New Orleans is on hold until the real estate markets recover from the recession, an attorney for the developers said.

Stephen Dwyer, who represents Poydras LLC, said developers have not secured all their funding but still hope to move ahead with the luxury condominium and hotel project by the end of the year.

He said it's not a matter of whether the project will go forward but how big it will be when it does.

'Everything's there except the credit markets. The credit markets aren't back in a way to allow the financing to move forward,' he explained and said the developers are committed to the project.

The Trump International Hotel & Tower in Dubai has also been put on hold because of the credit crisis and in Chicago there is a court hearing pending regarding a construction loan relating to the Trump International Hotel & Tower in the city.

In New Orleans the project, when completed it will be the tallest building in the city, rising rising 716 feet with a 126-foot spire and include retail and parking space, 435 guest rooms and suites, and roughly 290 residential units, including studios and larger units and a handful of five-bedroom penthouses.

Since this forum is practically never used, does anyone know what the best site out there is for a consistent, up-to-date discussion of New Orleans developments?

nola.com (http://www.nola.com/business/index.ssf/2011/03/poydras_high-rise_is_put_on_ma.html)


Poydras high-rise is put on market

Published: Friday, March 18, 2011

http://www.oneshellsquare.com/images/elegance/homepage/home3.gif

Louisiana's tallest and largest skyscraper, One Shell Square, is up for sale, as its longtime owner, Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., seeks to cash in on a wave of commercial real estate activity that's expected to spread from major financial centers to smaller cities this year.

The 51-story, 697-foot white Italian limestone building is the original skyscraper on Poydras Street, paving the way for the corridor to become the modern commercial avenue of New Orleans. Named for its primary tenant, Shell Oil Co., the building also represented New Orleans' aspirations to become an energy capital.

When it was completed in 1972, One Shell Square was the tallest building in the southeastern United States, sprouting past the Wachovia Bank of Georgia building in Atlanta. The international-style building held the title of tallest building in the region until 1976, when the Westin Peachtree Plaza in Atlanta surpassed it.

MetLife has been involved since One Shell Square's inception, financing the project as it was developed by Gerald D. Hines Interests. MetLife tried to sell the building in 2008, but it was thwarted by the global financial crash.

"We ran into October 2008. Our process went well, but our timing was a little off, " said Evan Stone, managing director in the capital markets group of Jones Lang LaSalle, the real estate firm hired to sell the property.

This time, MetLife's timing appears more promising.

Dan Fasulo, managing director of Real Capital Analytics in New York, said the market for office towers has rebounded tremendously in the past 12 months, with bidding wars erupting in major cities for prime properties. As values have rebounded in places like New York and Washington, D.C., investors have begun to seek out trophy properties in other cities to get better deals.

"Now that markets are getting pricey, investors are looking for better returns in other parts of the country, " Fasulo said. "We're just at the beginning of that wave of capital flowing to secondary markets. I think it's going to be the story of this year."

For top-quality towers, there's plenty of money from banks, hedge funds and insurance companies to finance purchases.

Indeed, in New Orleans, the building on the opposite corner of St. Charles and Poydras, the Pan American Life Center, was sold in December for $60.9 million.

Wade Ragas, president of Real Property Associates in Metairie, said it's not a bad sign that MetLife wants to sell One Shell Square. MetLife has probably chosen to put this property on the market because New Orleans is stable, has solid downtown occupancy, and would represent good value for a would-be purchaser. And if interest rates are poised to rise, it could be better to sell now rather than later. "If you've got to prune something out of a portfolio, you'd pick something that you can sell pretty quickly, " Ragas said. "It's a stable market, and buyers can secure relatively inexpensive financing."

Stone said Jones Lang LaSalle is actively marketing the property to qualified investors around the world. His company is touting the building's location, strong occupancy and the fact that MetLife recently completed a $40 million renovation.

Commercial buildings don't have a list price the way homes do, said Bruce Sossaman, director of leasing at Equity Office in Metairie. Real estate firms put together a package of information about the building and so that prospective buyers can analyze the condition of the building, the net operating income of the building, the creditworthiness of the tenants, and the duration of their leases, and then bidders make offers.

Sossaman, who compiles a quarterly report on office leasing, said the occupancy at One Shell Square is about 89 percent to 90 percent. That's down from the building's recent high of 94 percent occupancy in 2008, but better than the average Class A occupancy of 87.9 percent in downtown New Orleans at the end of last year.

Jones Lang LaSalle says the building is 91 percent leased.

---

http://www.nola.com/business/index.ssf/2010/12/developer_plans_new_complex_of.html

Apartments, stores planned on Loyola Avenue near Superdome

Four 8-14 story buildings planned next to new streetcar line and emerging Rouse's grocery store in the old Sewell building.

Further update on the transformation of Loyola Ave.

http://www.nola.com/business/index.ssf/2010/12/the_promise_of_a_streetcar_has.html

Lou Talebloo has owned the Industries Building at 234 Loyola Ave. since 2004, and he's decided that it's time to remove the 1950s facade from the elegant 1908 office building and turn it into apartments and streetside shops.

A plan by Domain Cos. to develop apartments and retail spaces in the Loyola Avenue corridor is one of several projects spurred by the coming extension of the streetcar line.
And while he's at it, in 2012, he'll turn the neighboring Rault Center, the long-vacant site of the 1972 fire that killed six people, into condominiums.

As far as Talebloo is concerned, this is the time.

With well over a half-billion dollars of new investment flowing into the area, as the Hyatt Regency New Orleans reopens with a $243 million renovation, the Benson family works toward a $100 million office-sports-entertainment district alongside the Superdome, and the Regional Transit Authority builds a new streetcar line along Loyola Avenue, the area around his properties is springing to life...

http://media.nola.com/business_impact/photo/9112964-large.jpg

http://media.nola.com/tpphotos/photo/9104881-standard.jpg

http://media.nola.com/tpphotos/photo/9104880-standard.jpg

http://media.nola.com/tpphotos/photo/9104879-standard.jpg

I bet the street scape at night is beautiful.

Updates? We got 'em!



http://aedf.biz/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/042210ft_res_hq_800.jpg

http://www.woodwarddesignbuild.com/images/sized/images/groups/slides/WEG-fedcity3-600x0.jpg

http://www.woodwarddesignbuild.com/images/sized/images/groups/slides/WEG-fedcity2-600x0.jpg

Work on the 400,000 sq. ft. Marine Corps Supply facility progresses...

neworleansdowntown.com (http://www.neworleansdowntown.com/site.php?pageID=61&newsID=382)



Downtown Central Business District Booming with Residential Options

Downtown is poised for another residential boom, with construction of two major residential properties nearing completion and several other projects in the works. The Maritime, located at the corner of Carondelet and Common streets, one block off of Canal Street, and the Saratoga, located in the heart of Downtown's Medical District, will add an additional 260 residential units to the neighborhood within the coming months. They will join other new residential properties like 200 Carondelet and 930 Poydras, both of which opened last year. Since Hurricane Katrina, Downtown has added a total of 1,000 new residential units and another 440 are currently under construction.


But that's not all... two local development groups are hoping to transform 313 Carondelet, the former Hibernia building, into mixed-income residences with two floors of Class A office space, which would add another 176 residential units to the neighborhood and bring new life to the street level.

"The population of Downtown has doubled over the past ten years to over 5,000 residents," says Henry Charlot, DDD Director of Economic Development. "With the redevelopment of some of our major properties like the Saratoga, Maritime, and 313 Carondelet into residential properties, we expect that number to double again within the next ten years."

New neighborhood amenities like Rouses grocery store opening on Baronne Street later this fall, new restaurants and retail & entertainment options will continue to make Downtown even more attractive to new residents.

The New Orleans Bioinnovation Center is nearing completion

http://www.neworleansbio.com/pages/images/NOLABioInv-Building.jpg

http://www.oxblue.com/archive/4bad74fddf2c253138cb4681d075d1d2/current.jpg

source: http://www.officenewswire.com/11168


20 May 11 the news wire for office professionals

May 20, 2011

http://media.officenewswire.com/images/full/2011/2011.0328.projects.skanska-mapp.UMC.rendering.top.jpg

Skanska/MAPP selected for the $1.2 Billion University Medical Center Project in New Orleans

3.23.11 | New Orleans | Skanska USA Building, a leading provider of construction management, preconstruction, and design-build services, and MAPP Construction, LLC, a Louisiana-based contractor, have secured the preconstruction assignment for a new hospital campus in downtown New Orleans for the State of Louisiana.

The University Medical Center will be a new, state-of-the-art Medical Care Campus. Major project components include:

~A 560,000-square-foot, 424-bed hospital
~An adjoining 746,982-square-foot diagnostic and treatment center
~An adjacent 254,765-square-foot ambulatory care building
~An adjacent 546,413-square-foot, 1,346-car parking structure

Work is scheduled to begin in June. The architect for the project is NBBJ.

Skanska MAPP held several networking events earlier this year, attracting nearly 100 local subcontractors and minority- and women-owned businesses interested in the project.

“Skanska MAPP understands the importance of creating diverse partnerships by hiring local and minority-and women-owned subcontractors who know the community and want to make it better through the construction of new facilities such as the University Medical Center,” said Fred Hames, Senior Vice President at Skanska. “It is important that we reinvest in the community through our hiring practices.”

“We know it will take more than just brick and mortar to make this a successful project,” said Michael Polito, owners and CEO of MAPP Construction, LLC. “It will take a team of individuals who understand the importance of this project for the State of Louisiana and the local community. Skanska MAPP is dedicated to this community.”

http://biodistrictneworleans.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/umc1.jpg

930 Poydras Wins AIA Best Housing Award (http://www.aia.org/)

http://www.hermanmiller.com/discover/wp-content/uploads/930-Poydras2.jpg http://www.gibbsconstruction.com/blog/wp-content/gallery/930-poydras-street/930-poydras_street_forweb.jpg

http://www.architecturelist.com/wp-content/uploads/930Poydras_05_C_Hursley.jpg

1. I wish the new University Medical center had its design changed so it wouldn't ruin the street grid.

2. There is a proposal to demolish the Claiborne Expressway and replace it with an at-grade boulevard. This means that the freeway is eliminated altogether. Instead of eliminating the Claiborne Expressway altogether, why don't we just turn the expressway into a cut-and-cover tunnel? You know, so the freeway can be buried underground?

Nola.com (http://www.nola.com/business/index.ssf/2011/06/preservation_board_tackles_hig.html)


Woolworth's site high-rise concerns addressed by preservation board
Published: Wednesday, June 01, 2011, 11:15 PM
By Bruce Eggler, The Times-Picayune The Times-Picayune


In what amounted to a dress rehearsal for likely future presentations before the City Planning Commission and City Council, supporters and opponents of a proposed $70 million high-rise building on Canal Street made their cases Wednesday to a city preservation board.

http://media.nola.com/business_impact/photo/high-rise-canal-rampart-woolworth-sitejpg-0cb8b560ecab83f8.jpg
This rendering shows the design of the high-rise proposed for the old Woolworth site at Canal and Rampart streets in New Orleans.

Neither side went away happy, though, because the Central Business District panel of the Historic District Landmarks Commission failed to reach a legal majority either for or against developer Praveen Kailas' proposal, meaning he might have to go back before the commission next month in search of an extra vote.

Kailas wants to build a 189-foot-high building on the site of a long-vacant Woolworth's store at Canal and North Rampart streets. The building would have 40,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space, 500 parking spaces and 300 market-rate apartments on its upper floors. At least 200 of the parking spaces would be available in the daytime for shoppers and in the evening for patrons of the Saenger and other nearby theaters, he said.

He said he hopes to attract a high-end retailer to create "an upscale shopping experience" in "a modern-day landmark."

Kailas first presented his plans late last year, at that time proposing a 213-foot building. After hearing from French Quarter residents who said the building would be too tall and massive for the edge of the historic district, the City Planning Commission voted 5-4 in December against the plans.

http://media.nola.com/business_impact/photo/9655415-large.jpg
The Woolworth's store at the corner of Canal and Rampart in New Orleans was photographed in 1954.

---

Nola.com (http://www.nola.com/health/index.ssf/2011/06/consultant_will_deliver_univer.html)



Consultant will deliver University Medical Center report today
Published: Thursday, June 02, 2011, 7:00 AM
By Bill Barrow, The Times-Picayune NOLA.com

http://biodistrictneworleans.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/umc1.jpg

A financial consulting firm is expected today to release its highly anticipated — and closely held — study of the planned University Medical Center that will succeed Charity Hospital.

http://media.nola.com/tpphotos/photo/2011/05/9587717-large.jpg
Homes and businesses are swept away in the footprint of the new University Medical Center in Mid-City.

The billion-dollar question: What will Kaufman Hall & Associates say about what kind of services and physical plant, including the number of beds, UMC should offer to be a financially viable operation? The report is a key variable as the UMC Hospital Corp. governing board contemplates the final business plan, design and financing scheme for the complex, which is projected to open in Mid-City in early 2015.

UMC Chairman Bobby Yarborough said the Illinois firm, which was selected by the board and is paid by the state Division of Administration, has not shared its conclusions with him or anyone else connected to the project. The first look for the public and the board, Yarborough said, will be the UMC board meeting scheduled for today at 1 p.m. at the LSU Health Sciences Center Lions Clinic Building, Cohn Learning Center on the sixth floor.

The New Orleans City Council, meanwhile, is scheduled to consider the state’s request to close the streets in the Mid-City footprint for the hospital. Mayor Mitch Landrieu had held up the request amid negotiations with the state over concerns about the UMC design, particularly the amount of surface parking. While mostly procedural, the approval is a necessary step in the planning and construction process. It also represents the city’s only real leverage over a project driven from the beginning by the state and LSU.

Kaufman Hall’s initial analysis, obtained by The Times-Picayune in April, offered a skeptical view of plans for a 424-bed, $1.2 billion facility that state and Louisiana State University System officials have long said would be fueled by attracting more insured patients than the old Charity and Interim LSU Public Hospital that now operates in its place.

“UMC, as currently envisioned, is materially larger than is supportable” in the existing New Orleans health care market, “an environment that promises to intensify in the future,” the analysts wrote in that draft. The report called for a smaller facility and ratcheted up the projected state general fund appropriations that will be necessary to support the enterprise.

Critics of the project, most notably Republican U.S. Sen. David Vitter, hammered Gov. Bobby Jindal and the state for proceeding with a ground-breaking ceremony with questions about the operating model and still several hundred million dollars short of the project budget. The state has $735 million in place for the project.

Within days, LSU administrators issued a rebuttal that questioned Kaufman Hall’s methodology and assumptions. The Jindal administration held to its previous position, defending a larger hospital as necessary to sustain an academic medical center. The administration touts several options for financing: sell high-yield revenue bonds on the private market, sell low-rate bonds backed by coveted mortgage insurance issued by the federal government, or secure third-party investors to build part of the complex and lease facilities back to UMC Corp.

---

Further update on the transformation of Loyola Ave.

http://www.nola.com/business/index.ssf/2010/12/the_promise_of_a_streetcar_has.html

<Images removed>



Of which, a groundbreaking ceremony was held today:-

Seven years after streetcars returned to Canal Street following a four-decade absence, New Orleans officials staged a ceremonial groundbreaking Tuesday for a 1.5-mile line along Loyola Avenue -- the first of what they hope will be multiple new rail projects.

Construction on the federally financed streetcar line that will connect the Union Passenger Terminal to Canal Street is not expected to begin until July.

Further reading can be found Here (http://www.nola.com/traffic/index.ssf/2011/06/loyola_avenue_streetcar_projec.html)

nola.com (http://www.nola.com/business/index.ssf/2011/06/states_deal_for_benson_office.html)


New Orleans Business News > Breaking News

State's deal for Benson office space may be at the expense of rival landlords

Published: Sunday, June 26, 2011, 8:15 AM

By Rebecca Mowbray, The Times-Picayune

http://blog.nola.com/news_impact/2009/04/medium_dominion%20tower.jpg
The 31-story 1010 Common Street office tower has an inviting lobby with lively murals adorning the walls. But upstairs, things are not so bright.

State offices have left or are in the process of relocating to the newly renovated and renamed Benson Tower building next to the Superdome as part of the state's new incentive deal to keep the Saints.

A sign in an empty suite on the sixth floor instructs anyone looking for the Department of Health and Hospitals fiscal office to visit the new location at 1450 Poydras St. The nameplate by the elevator on the vacant fourth floor has been stripped of all signs of previous occupants.

Occupancy at Central Business District office towers has fallen with the reopening of two downtown buildings -- Benson Tower and Exchange Centre, the former Chevron building -- at a time when lingering nationwide economic doldrums have made it difficult to find new tenants.

Occupancy of Class A office towers, which are considered the best and most desirable, has fallen to a 12-year low of 86 percent in the downtown market, down from a high of 92 percent in 2009. The situation at Class B office towers downtown such as 1010 Common is even worse, falling from 82 percent in 2010 to 63 percent in 2011.

Bruce Sossaman, who compiles a quarterly report of office leasing statistics through his work as leasing director at Equity Office in Metairie, expects the situation to worsen. He predicts that Class A office rentals will fall to 84 percent by the end of the second quarter of 2012, and Class B occupancy to fall to 55 percent by the end of this quarter, which is next week.

Much frustration with the situation is directed at the state over Benson Tower. As part of a deal with the Saints negotiated in 2009, the family of Saints owner Tom Benson, through their company, Zelia LLC, purchased what was then called Dominion Tower, which had been idle since Hurricane Katrina. The state pledged to consolidate all of its offices in the area as tenants, giving the building an instant 75 percent occupancy at robust rates when it opened this year.

But moving the state offices into the renamed Benson Tower meant breaking leases at other buildings in New Orleans and Jefferson Parish, which in some cases, according to a spreadsheet from the state, had been scheduled to last until 2015.

Lee Giorgio, president and chief executive of the Metairie real estate company Select Properties Ltd. and chairman of the Jefferson Business Council, said the new deal with the Saints shifts the cost burden of incentives for the Saints from all taxpayers in Louisiana to a handful of private business owners in the New Orleans area.

"We've all supported and love our Saints. But in this particular situation, it's been an unfair burden on this community. Before, the Saints incentive expense was statewide. Now, it's these individual property owners who are bearing the brunt of it," Giorgio said. "In the Metairie market, we've been hit substantially with some move-outs because of the Benson Tower situation."

In New Orleans, 1010 Common Street took the biggest hit. Sossaman said the state is vacating 100,000 square feet of space in the building, about one-fifth of the rentable space, pushing occupancy below 50 percent.

Continental Common Inc., the owner of the 1010 Common building, did not return phone calls seeking comment.

In Jefferson Parish, the Rault Office Building at 2400 Veterans Blvd. in Kenner has lost the State Police as a tenant, which took up about 10,000 square feet, according to the state spreadsheet. Jennifer Amedee, leasing director for the Rault Resources Group, declined to talk about the situation. "We have a claim against the state and have no comment," she said.

Giorgio said the situation is particularly hard because it came about so suddenly that building managers couldn't plan for it, and in a down economy, it's hard to find replacements. Earlier this year, he met with Gov. Bobby Jindal and Economic Development Secretary Stephen Moret to see about getting some compensation for jilted landlords, but so far, the effort hasn't gone anywhere.

Leases don't hold state

Greg Riera, leasing director for the real estate company Jones, Lang LaSalle in New Orleans, which manages the 1515 and 1555 Poydras buildings and lost the Louisiana Department of Revenue as a tenant to Benson Tower, said building managers probably shouldn't hold their breath waiting. State leases usually have great flexibility for the government to make a move after a certain period of time. "The way the state leases work, they have the ability to make that move if they are going to a state-owned property or master-leased building," Riera said.

Michael DiResto, spokesman for the state Division of Administration, said in an email that 47 state agencies have already moved into Benson Tower, and five more are slated to move. DiResto said that previous leases gave the state the ability to cancel with 60-day notice, as long as the agencies moved into state-owned space or space leased by the Office Facilities Corp., which was the case in this situation.

One building owner filed a complaint over the move-outs, DiResto said, and it was denied.

DiResto said the state had been considering building a new $90 million office tower in New Orleans to consolidate agency services, meaning that state agencies would have been likely to move anyway, and Benson Tower provided a cheaper alternative. While some agencies are paying more in rent at Benson Tower than they were in their previous locations, the state is still saving money overall in the context of the new deal with the Saints, DiResto said.

Giorgio said he thinks the state's argument is specious, because a new state tower never would have come to pass because of the cost difference between new construction and renting space at existing buildings. "The state's position is that they were going to build a new state building anyway," Giorgio said. "I don't think economically it would have made much sense, since you can rent space more cheaply than new construction."

A boon for CBD

But looked at in other ways, the state office consolidation has positives for downtown New Orleans. Workers moving in from elsewhere in the metro area mean more bodies to support downtown lunch spots, and the deal wiped away a prominent pocket of blight in the city.

Mike Siegel, president of Corporate Realty, which was hired by Zelia LLC to handle leasing at Benson Tower, said the Benson family went further than they had to in replacing mechanical systems and upgrading the energy efficiency of the high-rise and building out the state office space.

Siegel believes that putting the Benson Tower into use has been the catalyst for redevelopment in the area. "Do you think the Hyatt would have gotten financing if Benson Tower were still sitting there empty? It became the catalyst for the redevelopment of that corner of the city," he said.

Elsewhere in the CBD, Siegel said demand for office space in New Orleans probably won't pick up until the national economy does and national companies need to expand. "When big companies are looking at their operations, they tend to consolidate into their major market, and not their secondary and tertiary offices," he said.

Lots of start-ups in CBD

Bryan Burns, senior vice president and director of Louisiana operations for Transwestern, which manages the skyscrapers at 400, 650 and 909 Poydras and the new Exchange Centre, said that he's not worried about the downtown office market because the change has been in the amount of supply, not in the demand for space. Demand has remained "relatively constant" for the past year or two, and rental rates have not really declined.

"The reason the occupancy level is going down is on the supply side," he said.

The bright spot for the business community in New Orleans, Burns said, is all the entrepreneurial activity. More people are starting companies than in the past, and fledgling firms have better access to capital in New Orleans than they once did, so they're able to grow. And the types of people who are starting companies want to be downtown, not Uptown or on the north shore, which bodes well for the Central Business District.

The Exchange Centre, for example, has leased 80,000 square feet of space in the first six months, with only 20,000 square feet of that going to the namesake Receivables Exchange.

"We are a small-tenant market, but the most dynamic thing I'm seeing going on in this market is all the entrepreneurial activity," Burns said.

Law firms are also continuing to expand. It's not just because of litigation over the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster or Katrina, Burns said, but because there's more transaction work from increased business activity.

Stronger in Metairie

Meanwhile, the Metairie office market is stronger than in New Orleans. Class A buildings in Metairie are about 91 percent occupied, while Class B buildings are 87 percent leased, down from a high of 92 percent in 2008.

Rental rates are also higher in the suburbs. While Class A office space in New Orleans rents for about $17.82 per square foot, similar space in Metairie commands $22.31 per square foot in rent.

New Orleans has 9.2 million square feet of Class A office space, while Metairie has 2 million square feet of Class A space

---



A 14% vacancy rate for Class A is bad but not catastrophic. Generally, developers will build at 7% or less vacancy when landlords regain pricing power. In N.O., that might require just over half a million sq. ft. in new leasing. Tough, but not insurmountable...

I really wish Chevron would have stayed in the CBD instead of moving out to the suburbs after Katrina. They built a 300,000 square foot building and it's already filled to capacity. They are leasing another 40,000 square feet in surrounding office buildings. The good news is that if someone is looking for office space, they have plenty of options with 2 renovated towers now open.

nola.com (http://www.nola.com/tulane/index.ssf/2011/07/tulane_athletic_director_rick_4.html)


Tulane Athletic Director Rick Dickson determined to get on-campus football stadium built

Published: Saturday, July 16, 2011, 9:00 AM

By Tammy Nunez, The Times-Picayune

Rick Dickson has played traveling salesman the past several months, complete with ties, briefcases, pointers and display boards.

It has been 16 consecutive weeks on the road armed with visions of what could be the apex of his 11-year tenure as Tulane athletic director and the crown jewel of the uptown campus: a $60 million, 25,000 to 30,000-seat football stadium.

“It’s about the journey and the process anyway. If it was easy, hell, I’d be down in South America fly fishing right now,” Dickson said. “The fact that it hadn’t been done in two lifetimes or more, it ain’t going to happen overnight. It ain’t going to be easy. I know that. But I’m absolutely compelled that it will happen.”

In Dickson’s thinking, too much money has been raised so far for this to be a fruitless endeavor. The initial goal is to get to $35 million — the threshold for green-lighting the project. Getting the naming rights gift of $20 million will get Tulane there, Dickson said.

It’s the only thing keeping him from announcing the project that could bring the football experience back to campus for the first time since the 1970s -- Tulane played its final game in Tulane Stadium on November 30, 1974.

“Has somebody stepped up and named it today? No, that hasn’t happened,” Dickson said. “But again, after this entire spring going right up until last week of presenting it out there, I feel much better.”

The concept of an on-campus football stadium has been the hot-button issue of the past 30 years for Tulane athletics. Many concluded that the demolition of the condemned Tulane Stadium in 1980 was a grave mistake. Since leaving Tulane Stadium, the Green Wave football team has played sparingly at Tad Gormley Stadium in City Park and mostly at the Superdome, a cavernous facility that even in the glory days of the program Tulane fans struggled to fill a third of its approximately 73,000 seats.


[...]

Times Picayune (http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2011/07/canal_street_high-rise_develop.html)


Canal Street high-rise developer strikes out again with preservation panel

Published: Wednesday, July 13, 2011
By Bruce Eggler, The Times-Picayune

For the second straight month, developer Praveen Kailas failed Wednesday to win a city preservation agency's approval for the design of a proposed high-rise apartment building in the Canal Street business district.

http://media.nola.com/politics/photo/rampart-canal-apartments-kailasjpg-0fd5f924c6466302.jpg
Harry Baker Smith Architects
This rendering shows plans for apartments at the corner of Canal and Rampart streets.

Once again, though, the agency's board did not reject the design, failing for the second time to reach a legal majority for either position.

The failure presents problems for City Councilwoman Kristin Gisleson Palmer, who wanted the agency to pass official judgment on the project's design before the council votes on whether to allow its construction. The site is in her district.

Kailas wants to tear down the long-vacant Woolworth's store at Canal and North Rampart streets and build a 500,000-square-foot building containing 312 market-rate apartments, 500 parking spaces and 38,500 square feet of retail space, perhaps including a restaurant.

The project has come under criticism from leaders of several preservation groups and French Quarter residential organizations, who say the building would be too tall and massive for the edge of the city's most historic neighborhood, even though the site is one block outside the Vieux Carre as defined by city law.

Other critics object not to the building's size, but to its design. Some take issue with its contemporary appearance. Others say it would be out of harmony with its neighbors, including the Saenger Theatre across the street.

The $70 million project is backed by many Canal Street business owners and some French Quarter residents and merchants, and it apparently also has the support of city economic development leaders and Mayor Mitch Landrieu's administration, though the administration has not issued a public endorsement.

Supporters say the project would revitalize an economically distressed and visually uninviting section of Canal Street and would provide badly needed parking for the Saenger and other nearby theaters as well as for retailers. About 200 of the 500 spaces would be available for shoppers and theater patrons.

Kailas first proposed a 213-foot-tall building, three times the limit allowed by the site's zoning. In the latest design, most of the building would be 193 feet tall, with a penthouse rising 12 feet above that. At 205 feet, the penthouse would be the same height as the Ritz-Carlton Hotel a block away. The section of the building facing Canal would be 136 feet, the same as the Audubon Building next to the Ritz-Carlton.

The Central Business District panel of the Historic District Landmarks Commission voted 5-2 last month to approve the design of the building, then at 189 feet, but that was one vote short of the six needed for the 10-member commission to make an official recommendation to the council.

Trying again Wednesday, Kailas lost ground, with the commission splitting 4-4 on his latest design. One member, Chairman James Amdal, changed his vote from favorable to negative. All three of the members absent last month were present Wednesday, with two giving their assent, but two of the members who voted in favor in June were absent this time.

Kailas can take some comfort from the fact that, counting both votes, he received the support of seven of the 10 members at least once.

Like the June vote, Wednesday's action does not amount to an official statement of position by the commission, because once again neither side could get six votes.

Palmer said she wanted such a statement when she asked Kailas several months ago not to push for a council vote after the City Planning Commission voted 5-4 against the project.

The landmarks panel's Architecture Review Committee recommended against the latest proposed design, saying it looks like "multiple building facades that don't tie together" and "is still too much building, especially along Iberville Street." The building would fill the entire block along North Rampart from Canal to Iberville, the official border of the Vieux Carre.

The architects committee suggested reducing the overall height to 120 or 130 feet, but Kailas said that is not economically feasible because it would eliminate up to a third of the apartments.

From the beginning, Palmer has appeared to be willing to approve a high-rise building at the site, but she wanted to make sure its design was appropriate. Despite Wednesday's second inconclusive vote, it appears unlikely she will ask Kailas to try a third time. Instead, he is expected to ask the City Planning Commission again to approve a conditional use permit that would allow the building's height and mass to exceed the limits in the zoning code. The final decision on that request is up to the council.

[...]

H&M Looking At Old Borders As Sites For New Stores (http://www.nola.com/fashion/index.ssf/2011/07/hm_may_be_looking_at_old_borde.html)



H&M, the Swedish fast-fashion company, reportedly is eyeing former Borders bookstore locations for future stores. H&M doesn't have any stores in Louisiana, and a move into this market would make young, budget-conscious fashionistas fall over with joy.

The Baton Rouge Business Report, quoting real estate consultants, reported this week that H&M and Best Buy are among companies looking at former Borders locations around the country. An email to H&M’s public relations team, asking if the company is considering the old Borders locations in Metairie or New Orleans, hasn’t been answered yet this morning.

Here’s the Business Report’s story:

Interest in the soon-to-be former Borders site at the Mall of Louisiana is high, the firms involved in its sale say. Tim Gilmore, leasing agent with DJM Realty, which is handling the sale of all the Borders stores, did not divulge which or how many retailers have expressed interest in the 25,000-square-foot property, but he did say "some good businesses" were among them. "A lot of folks are looking at it," Gilmore says.

The Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Borders Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Feb. 16. DJM, a New York-based firm, is tasked with disposing all remaining Borders locations. Representatives for DJM confirmed that interest is high overall but also declined to disclose specific names. According to national reports, Books-A-Million was looking at buying 30 to 35 Borders locations, but the deal fell through. The Baton Rouge location was not listed as a property Books-A-Million was interested in. Books-A-Million has two locations in the Capital Region, including a store in Siegen Marketplace, one Interstate 10 exit east of the Mall of Louisiana.

Real estate consultants say discount fashion retailer H&M and Best Buy are also among those eyeing some of the Borders locations. While Best Buy is already at the Mall of Louisiana, H&M doesn't have any stores between St. Louis and Tucson, Ariz.

DJM’s liquidation brochure lists the Mall of Louisiana location as a 25,000-square-foot property with a current rent rate of $13.45 per square foot. It’s the site of the only remaining Borders in the state."
---

nola.com (http://www.nola.com/business/index.ssf/2011/07/plans_for_building_trump_tower.html)


Plans for building Trump Tower in New Orleans are officially dead

Published: Thursday, July 28, 2011

The Trump International Hotel & Tower, the excessively hyped 70-story, $400-million condominium project announced the day before Hurricane Katrina turned toward New Orleans, is officially dead.

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e173/fla_tiger/NO-CBD1/trumpinternationaltower7uf.jpg
An artist's rendering of the proposed Trump Tower. The site where the skyscraper was to be built was sold last week at auction to a company that operates a parking lot there.

The Poydras Street parcel where the Trump Tower was to be located was sold at a sheriff's foreclosure auction last Thursday to the operator of the surface parking lot at the site.

While there have been no signs of motion for several years on the project that would have created the tallest building in the city, and a mural of the project painted on a brick building abutting the site has long since been removed, the Florida developers who worked with New York real estate magnate Donald Trump on the project remained silent about its fate, even as other swanky high-rise condo projects fell apart.

Stephen Dwyer, the local attorney for developer Poydras LLC, said that twin hurdles of the storm and the financial crisis were just too great to overcome. "The economy just did not justify going forward," Dwyer said. "The developer still hopes to bring the project online at some point. He has not given up on building a project in New Orleans."

Developers David Brannen and Cliff Mowe did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Jim Huger, the chief executive of Premium Parking Service LLC, a fast-growing parking company that launched shortly before Katrina, outbid the lender at the auction and bought the two parcels of land where he currently operates a parking lot for $5.44 million.

Huger, who bought the property along Poydras between Magazine and Camp streets through the entity Orcutt LLC, said he'll hold the land until new opportunities arise. "Like any long-term buyer, we're interested in any development opportunities. When the city is ready for something, we'll be there," he said.

Now that he owns the property, Huger plans to repave the lot and improve the site. "We haven't been able to invest in it up until this point," he said.

http://blog.nola.com/tpmoney/2009/02/TRUMP021809.jpg

Premium Parking operates 35 parking locations in New Orleans and has just expanded to Houston. The company has 100 employees.

Jim Garner, an attorney for Fred Levin, a Pensacola lawyer who previously owned the site and provided financing for the developers,said that Levin foreclosed on Poydras LLC in the spring after the company stopped making payments on its lease-purchase agreement for the site.

Garner said Levin bid on the project to make sure that he was made whole on the money he lent. Garner said that the property is worth more than what Huger paid for it.

The failure of the Trump Tower project also marks the end of spate of new-construction luxury condominium projects that were announced around the time of the storm when the national real estate market was hot and money was flowing.

Vantage Tower, a 25-story condominium project announced in January 2006 at Girod Street and O'Keefe Avenue downtown, was cancelled in February 2007 as rising construction costs made units too expensive for buyers.

The 24-story Tracage proposed in February 2006 at 1100 Annunciation Street in the Warehouse District was put on hold in April 2009 because of the economy. Although a banner remained in place for ages at the site, it was sold at a tax sale last November for $19,023.75 to a company in Minnesota called Lakeview Holding LLC, according to conveyance records.

But even as these projects crumbled, the Trump Tower developers insisted they were moving forward, and opened a sales office in the neighboring Pan American Life Center in January 2008 as the nation was in recession.

In May, the New York Times reported that real estate tycoon and television personality Donald Trump essentially rented his name to developers to make condo projects more valuable, even though he had little to do with them.

The Times-Picayune archiveThe Poydras Street site between Camp and Magazine streets, once slated to become a Donald Trump-branded highrise, was sold at foreclosure auction last week.

Kurt Weigle, president and chief executive of the Downtown Development District, said it's no surprise that Trump Tower and the other luxury condominium projects ran into trouble. The national finance market is tough, many people are more interested in renting rather than buying right now, and while downtown New Orleans is moving in a great direction, new construction is expensive and the per-square foot sales prices are still too low to make the numbers work.

Weigle is unconcerned by the failure of Trump Tower. What's more important, he said, is the redevelopment of many smaller buildings downtown into apartments that has allowed the residential population downtown to double over the past decade.

People in New Orleans are looking for apartments rather than condos, Weigle said, and that's well-matched to the type of financing tools that are available to developers. The easiest way to finance a project right now is through state and federal tax historic credits, which lend themselves to apartment construction, because the federal credits prevent developers from selling the units for five years.

With some 5,100 people living downtown and demand for the new apartment units strong, Weigle said downtown sales prices will eventually rise, which will make new construction condominium projects feasible.

"We don't despair because this one project isn't moving forward," Weigle said. "What we continue to herald are all the smaller projects that are adding up to big number gains in residents downtown."

----

^^ First Museum Tower in Louisville, now Trump Tower in N.O. :ohno:

^^ First Museum Tower in Louisville, now Trump Tower in N.O. :ohno:

Yeah, it's been a bad week but you can't really call the bottom in real estate until all the bodies wash ashore! ;)

Yeah, it's been a bad week but you can't really call the bottom in real estate until all the bodies wash ashore! ;)

So what does this comment suppose to mean?

I'm not surprised about Trump Tower being cancelled. That project had trouble getting off the ground since Katrina.

New Orleans City Council's 'yes' vote essentially defers action on Woolworth site

Published: Thursday, August 04, 2011, 3:45 PM

The New Orleans City Council voted this afternoon to approve developer Praveen Kailas' plans for a high-rise apartment building at Canal and North Rampart streets. Sort of. The approval was essentially meaningless: The motion did not grant most of the waivers the project needs, meaning the motion has little practical effect.

Kailas wants to build a structure that would be about three times taller than the 70 feet allowed by the site's zoning.

The project is due to come before the Planning Commission on Tuesday.

After that, it will likely come back before the City Council in a month or so, when a meaningful vote is more likely.

Today's vote came a month after the Central Business District panel of the Historic District Landmarks Commission split 4-4 on Kailas' plans. That was the second straight month Kailas failed to win the six votes needed for the commission to make an official recommendation to the council, and he appealed the commission's failure to approve his project to the council.

Councilwoman Kristin Gisleson Palmer had asked the preservation agency to pass judgment on the project's design before the council votes on whether to allow its construction. The site is in her district.

Kailas wants to tear down a long-vacant Woolworth's store and build a 500,000-square-foot building containing 312 market-rate apartments, 500 parking spaces and 38,500 square feet of retail space.


http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2011/08/new_orleans_city_council_essen.html

Huge news for the CBD as Gameloft officially opens up a design studio in the city. Plans are to expand to 150 employees in the next decade.

Gameloft will develop software in New Orleans
Published: Monday, August 15, 2011, 2:02 PM
By Jaquetta White, The Times-Picayune The Times-Picayune

Mobile and online video game developer Gameloft is expanding into New Orleans with the opening of a software development studio in the Crescent City, Gov. Bobby Jindal announced Monday.

Gameloft, which is based in France, is expected to employ about 20 people in its first year in New Orleans and grow to a staff of 146 in 10 years, said David Hague, studio manager for the New Orleans office.

"Gameloft is our biggest digital media win, yet." Jindal said. "Companies like Gameloft are going to keep our young people right here in Louisiana."

The company creates games designed to be played on mobile devices including the iPhone, Android and other portable gadgets. Software developers will earn an average salary of $69,000 plus benefits. The company is now hiring employees...

http://www.nola.com/business/index.ssf/2011/08/gameloft_will_develop_software.html

Downtown Grocers See Growth Opportunity (http://southmarketdistrict.com/getNews.php?id=5)

http://media.nola.com/business_impact/images/RousesGroceryStore061110.jpg

Rouses is supposed to build a supermarket in the Warehouse District on the site of the Sewell Cadillac dealership.

We may also be getting a Costco...which is awesome. Going into the old Carrollton Shopping Center site. The Iberville redevelopment is also going forward. This will be huge for the Treme' neighborhood.

We may also be getting a Costco...which is awesome. Going into the old Carrollton Shopping Center site. The Iberville redevelopment is also going forward. This will be huge for the Treme' neighborhood.

Sweet. :cheers:

It always did strike me as odd that Louisiana does not have a single Costco store in the state while they have a presence in the surrounding region.

TheRealDeal (http://therealdeal.com/newyork/articles/national-market-report-trump-s-plans-thwarted-in-new-orleans)


National market report: Trump's plans thwarted in New Orleans
September 06, 2011

The Poydras Street parcel where developer Donald Trump once planned to construct the state's tallest building sold at a sheriff's foreclosure auction last month for $5.44 million, the Times Picayune reported. The property was purchased by the operator of the surface parking lot at the site, Premium Parking Service. Jim Huger, CEO of Premium Parking, said he intends to retain the land until new opportunities arise. "Like any long-term buyer, we're interested in any development opportunities," he said. "When the city is ready for something, we'll be there." Trump's plan for a high-rise condominium project had been in the works since 2005. "The economy just did not justify going forward," Stephen Dwyer, an attorney for developer Poydras Properties, which worked with Trump on the project, said. He added that Poydras "has not given up on building a project in New Orleans."

----

Hardly news around here but if Poydras continues to look for opportunities to build a tower, there could be good news sometime in the future. :cheers:

Costco

http://designbuildsource.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/costco.jpg

LOL, Costco is actually planning a store in N.O.! Spammer should have used a local article for this post! :lol:

I am going to New Orleans in 3 weeks,

how safe is French quarter?
is it safe to walk from Harrahs to french quarter with my girlfriend?

any ideas will be appreciated

You will be fine in the French Quarter. Harrah's is across Canal St. from the French Quarter in what is basically the heart of the tourist district of New Orleans. It's the equivalent of walking around in Times Square or on the Vegas Strip, imo. You two are going to have a great time while visiting. If you are really unsure...I'd recommend staying in the more touristy areas on Bourbon, Royal, Chartres, and Decatur St. from Canal upriver to Esplanade.

You will be fine in the French Quarter. Harrah's is across Canal St. from the French Quarter in what is basically the heart of the tourist district of New Orleans. It's the equivalent of walking around in Times Square or on the Vegas Strip, imo. You two are going to have a great time while visiting. If you are really unsure...I'd recommend staying in the more touristy areas on Bourbon, Royal, Chartres, and Decatur St. from Canal upriver to Esplanade.

Ok thank you.

so it is safe to walk from Harrah to bourbon street an have fun and then head to back to harrah at 3 am

The Hyatt Regency Finally Reopens (http://www.nola.com/business/index.ssf/2011/10/hyatt_regency_to_reopen_for_fi.html)

6 years and $275 million in renovations after Katrina, the Hyatt returns with 1,200 rooms, 50,000 sq. ft. of new meeting space and new restaurants to help rev up the New Orleans economy.

http://media.nola.com/business_impact/photo/10120582-large.jpg

http://www.baynews9.com/images/apimages/Hyatt_Rebirth.sff-36de651e-b40e-4aea-9b1d-4b9cbe0c6091.jpg

Yes...you will be fine on that walk at 3 AM. You'll be amazed at the number of people on the street at that hour of the night in that part of town. It's a 24 hour city.

The Hyatt is a huge deal for the tourism industry here. Great to see it reopened. The next big boost will be the research hospital opening up. The neighborhood has been completely leveled except for a school and the Claiborne Towers. The school may be moved or demolished (it's historic so the city is trying to preserve it) and the Claiborne Towers will be imploded on November 20th. I plan on going to see the implosion, if I'm off work that day.

Make sure you are upwind upwind. The dust cloud is a toxic stew of respirable silica, asbestos, heavy metals and Aspergillus.

Will definitely keep that in mind.

I have read the air monitoring reports following implosions. It ain't pretty especially the Aspergillus. The counts are 30 fold what they were prior to the implosion. Thats why I cringe every time I see people bringing their kids to one.

As an additional defense from storm surge, New Orleans is planning to revitalize and restore wetlands near the Lower 9th Ward.


http://media.nola.com/environment/photo/map-beinvenue-111111jpg-cd3f88928fdb580a.jpg

Cypress swamp near Lower 9th Ward will be restored as hurricane defense

Published: Thursday, November 10, 2011, 9:00 PM Updated: Thursday, November 10, 2011, 9:05 PM
By Mark Schleifstein, The Times-Picayune
http://www.nola.com/environment/index.ssf/2011/11/cypress_swamp_near_lower_9th_w.html

Local leaders announced Thursday the beginning of a project to restore a key area of cypress swampland near the Lower 9th Ward, an effort they called essential to protecting the metro area in the event of another major hurricane.

Swinging shovels full of dirt, New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu and St. Bernard Parish President Craig Taffaro said the eventual restoration of the 30,000-acre triangle of the once-vibrant Central Wetlands will be part of the several lines of defense that will keep the area safe from storm surge.

The first phase, which will restore 2,300 acres, will cost $10 million and will be paid for by the federal Coastal Impact Assistance Program, which is financed by offshore oil revenue. Another $30 million will be made available to expand the effort in the next few years.

“This is one of those bright spots where governments join together, crossing parish lines in Louisiana, and do something good for the public, good for the future of all of our communities,” Taffaro said.

“It really sends a message to the rest of America that its critically important that we rebuild all of Louisiana, all of New Orleans, all of St. Bernard because we all have common threats,” Landrieu said.

In 1956, before the completion of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, the Central Wetlands contained about 8,000 acres of swamp, 7,600 acres of freshwater marsh, 4,000 acres of brackish and salt marsh, and more than 1,000 acres of forest. The MR-GO cut through several natural ridges in St. Bernard Parish, funneling salt water into the area, where it killed cypress and freshwater marshes. By 1978, only 28 acres of forest remained.

The project’s first phase involves raising the soil level in two patches of the sunken triangle so that bald cypress trees and freshwater wetland plants can survive. The triangle is formed by the 40-Arpent Levee and the levee adjacent to the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet and Gulf Intracoastal Waterway that follows the historic path of Bayou Bienvenue.

..........

Mammoth ship's arrival helps revitalize New Orleans cruise industry (http://www.nola.com/travel/index.ssf/2011/11/mammoth_ships_arrival_helps_re.html)

Mammoth ship's arrival helps revitalize New Orleans cruise industry (http://www.nola.com/travel/index.ssf/2011/11/mammoth_ships_arrival_helps_re.html)

The head of Carnival was on CNBC the other day saying that bringing ships to within driving distance of most Americans is where the industry is headed. No more fly-cruise packages with a crappy hotel overnight!

The Rouses in the CBD had it's grand opening today. It's a really beautiful facility. Nicer than the Whole Foods on Magazine in my opinion. Also, HRI closed on financing today for the conversion of the old Hibernia Bank Building into apartments and office space. Construction will begin in the next couple of months. The implosion of the old Claiborne Towers has been pushed back to December 18th, so I guess my Sunday plans have changed. Trent Reznor's old recording studio Uptown may also be redeveloped into apartments and retail. It still has to be approved by the planning commission due to parking space waivers. It's been empty since he moved out of town in 2004.

HRI, Woodward close on financing for Hibernia Building redevelopment
by CityBusiness staff reports
November 15th, 2011 · No Comments · Blog

HRI Properties and Woodward Interest have closed on the full $57.3 million financing to convert the Hibernia Bank Building downtown into a mixed-used space, allowing the work to move past interior demolition and into redevelopment.

The 175 apartments are scheduled to be available for rent by late next summer, and HRI plans to move its corporate headquarters into the building in the fourth quarter of 2012, said Josh Collen, HRI vice president of development.

The construction and conversion of the building’s upper floors to residential space will create an estimated 300 jobs locally.

http://neworleanscitybusiness.com/thenewsroom/2011/11/15/hri-woodward-close-on-financing-for-hibernia-building-redevelopment/

Not to sound like a downer dan or anything but the proposals of high rises that were going to be supposedly built don't fit the city at all. It looks more like South Florida. Im sure it's silly to say something now and im sure the city was like "well take whatever you got" kind of attitude after the storm but still it doesn't seem to fit the traditional NOLA style highrise architecture very much.

Texaco Building on Canal Street renovation financing approved (http://www.nola.com/business/index.ssf/2012/01/texaco_building_on_canal_stree.html)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3199/2348793928_4183365342.jpg
http://www.regional-modernism.com/2008/08/texaco-building.html


New life might soon be coming to a tired, dilapidated Canal Street building. The State Bond Commission has approved the issuance of up to $22 million in bonds to retool the dilapidated Texaco Building at 1501 Canal St. into housing for older people.

The renovations are expected to begin in April and take about 15 months to complete, said Joshua Collen, vice president of development of HRI Properties, the firm handling the renovation.

The bond issue will cover about two-thirds of the $33.2 million cost of the project, which will also receive federal and state historic tax credits and loans.

The 17-story building, constructed in the early 1950s, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, symbolic of the style of architecture that was used on commercial structures 60 years ago.

Plaza Tower in New Orleans sold for $650,000 (http://www.nola.com/business/index.ssf/2011/12/plaza_tower_in_new_orleans_sol.html)

http://www.pbase.com/mancusoj/image/37542676.jpg
http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/haif/topic/1658-plaza-tower/


The Plaza Tower, the long-vacant 45-story skyscraper, was sold for $650,000 Wednesday to a local commercial real estate manager who plans to turn it into a mix of condominiums, offices and shops. Bryan Burns, senior vice president of Transwestern, which manages several office towers in New Orleans, bought the city's third largest skyscraper at private auction through his company, Plaza Tower Development Co. LLC.

"We're very excited about it," Burns said. "It's always been a really interesting asset."

Burns, managing principal in the firm, declined to name other investors. But Burns said that Plaza Tower Development does not include Judah Hertz, the Los Angeles real estate mogul who owns several local properties that Transwestern manages.

The sale could potentially restore the historic but long-troubled Plaza Tower, which now finds itself at the end of the burgeoning Loyola Avenue corridor, to commerce, but the building always has proven challenging to developers.