New Orleans Development Thread

[nola17]

OMG, last night I was wathing fox 8 and they broke ground on the Falstaff Brewery Project yesterday before the weather went to crap. If you dnt remeber their turning it into a residential and retail project.

[nola17]

Does anyone know of a website for the North Park

[nola17]

Guys I was browsing the web and found this development company. The city should really look into these people for a project to revitalize retail cooridors

[UptownNewOrleans]

Reading the company's overview, they take pride in their work. It would be foolish for the city to disregard these people.

[sgray]

Decision on steel mill to come this coming Friday. This seems to be a close call. Hope it goes our way.

[richyb83]

We have been posting this HUGE development in the Southeast La. thread too I hope it comes to St.James Parish; Alabama won't give up w/o a fight. It should be very interesting. Hopefully the $price of steel will go down around the central gulf coast and building high-rises won't be such a problem.

[tennis1400]

Yes, lets all hope for the best. It will be a huge boon for this area to have the steel mill. Mix that with other projects out there like Marathon Oils enormous expansion. This is alot of direct jobs and many more indirect jobs, as well as a nice tax base. Lets hope Alabamas backwards populous sends the Germans this way!!

[eastover neworleans]

Guys I was browsing the web and found this development company. The city should really look into these people for a project to revitalize retail cooridors

This company would just be right New Orleans East Town Square.

[nola17]

One of the Mid City shopping centers is getting redevloped

[NCB]

Plans for new mall growing in Lake Forest

Article from the Times-Picayune

A mall that looks like a small town may rise from the rubble of what was the aging, flood-damaged, 80-acre Lake Forest Plaza.

A preliminary sketch from a prominent planning firm offers the first peek at the project in eastern New Orleans: the Renaissance Town Center.

[eastover neworleans]

Plans for new mall growing in Lake Forest

Article from the Times-Picayune

I am all for this project, but what seems to amaze me is that something that can be an economic engine for the city you have people denoucing it . Just read all of the comments on the nola forum some which are very racist. I realize why it's taking so long for the city to come back,because we have alot of dumb a$$ racist, but I'm not going to go there. Anyway I hope that this project gets built and we all come together as a city.

[UptownNewOrleans]

what seems to amaze me is that something that can be an economic engine for the city you have people denoucing it . Just read all of the comments on the nola forum some which are very racist. I realize why it's taking so long for the city to come back,because we have alot of dumb a$$ racist, but I'm not going to go there.

That's how it is with any project. People complain about the project but they're the same ones that want to benefit from it. Relax & Take Notes, the same people complaining are the same ones that are gonna be in the Renaissance Center 24-7. Lake Forest Plaza an aging mall The mall was 34 years old, about the same age if not younger than Lakeside & New Orleans Centre malls.

The fact of the matter is...the amount of money blacks spend on clothes FAR surpasses what whites spend. So it's not a money issue. If the owners stop trying to be like Lakeside and Esplanade...and put stores out there that black people would shop at...then there would be no deterioration.

The most intelligent thing I've read on that blog. No offense to people who wear Abercrombie & Gap but most black people don't rock that.

[SlidellWX]

The East definitely needs some retail. I can't wait to see this come to fruition.

[nola17]

The most intelligent thing I've read on that blog. No offense to people who wear Abercrombie & Gap but most black people don't rock that.

Im black and i wear gap, hollister, polo, soutpole, american eagle. When it comes to clothes i dont discriminate. ( I hope i spelled that right) If it looks good I'll wear it.

Bac to the subject, I live out in Kenner and Im planning on going all the way out to the East to go shop there.

If they don't put a Walmart or those trashy urban wear stores it will look great.

Also the East is not just another trashy place in the city. There are plenty of high quality homes in the East. If they could get rid of all the low income apartment complexes which hug I-10 and bring more high quality jobs out there, then the East would be a fantastic place to live.

Oh, does anyone know about that other project that was suppose to take place on the Lakefront of the East by Lincoln Beach

[JPKneworleans]

Everything in New Orleans is either racist or parochial. After the storm, the news was dominated by stories that the poor were being kept out in an effort to "gentrify" the city. THe odd thing about the entire line of stories was the fact that the people on the side of the poor acted as if gentification was a four letter word.

Gentrification=higher paying jobs=better quality of life=increased tax base. The increase in taxes could, in many ways, help improve the lives of the poor. A few examples come to mind: increase in service jobs, nicer public housing, public housing that does not place people in high density locations, more police protection, drug rehab programs, and the list can go on. Just look at Atlanta. It wasn't too long ago that Atlanta had a lot of the same problems that New Orleans currently has.

As for Lincoln Beach, I suppose we have to ask Councilwoman Willard Lewis, who was so offended that she was not the FIRST to know about what is being planned in HER realm.

As for Mid-City, who knows if that retail project will take off. The neighborhood association is outraged, which of course, makes Councilwoman Midura outraged. I hope she does not overcompensate for Jay Batt's stupidity by completely blocking development. I think she's too smart for that.

I drove through Mid-City today. From Mercy Hospital to Carrollton, the land is dominated by old warehouses. How would retail do anything but improve the character of the area? Big-Boxes a la Wal-Mart and Target are not what's needed, but an urban town center such as the one proposed in NO East, with smaller department stores would be perfect. The development could also include apartments on upper floors, etc.

People keep blaming the mis-named Road Home program for the recovery's problems. New Orleans' old ways are a close second in terms of impediments to success.

UGH! (Sorry....just needed to get out some frustration.)

Edited May 21, 2007 by JPKneworleans

[NCB]

My father once told me that "people with nothing to say like to yell alot." In my 22 years, I have never found someone to fit that statement more than Cynthia Willard-Lewis. She yells and yells trying to get her point across, but 99.9% of the time, she has no point! It's usually just "hey, look at me! I'm important!"

[JPKneworleans]

My father once told me that "people with nothing to say like to yell alot." In my 22 years, I have never found someone to fit that statement more than Cynthia Willard-Lewis. She yells and yells trying to get her point across, but 99.9% of the time, she has no point! It's usually just "hey, look at me! I'm important!"

YOU SAID IT! She is such an angry lady.

[UptownNewOrleans]

Atlanta destroyed their projects because they got the '96 Olympics bid. That set the tone for all future Atlanta development.

[NCB]

Some good news about the Tracage condo tower...

Construction on Tracage to start soon

More info

[NCB]

Tracage will be 24 floors and 288 feet tall:

http://www.tracageliving.com/

[NCB]

A good read from WWLTV about high-rise plans in the city. Also some good news about Trump Tower...

High-rise plans on hold as recovery crawls

Article

At least one big plan -- a $400 million proposal by Donald Trump to construct the city's tallest building -- is going ahead

[richyb83]

Thanks for the article Nate, good read. And some good news the Tracage is still going to happen, I was hoping so; it sure is a very nice looking sleek condo tower in the warehouse district. The Trump Tower being built will send a major statement to the rest of the world!! That's great to see! And re-claiming the Gulf South's Tallest between Houston and Miami.

Still keeping my fingers crossed with the Jazz District too.

New Orleans Metro deserves the best levees; I am afraid there are still some faulty spots(amongst the improvements) here and there making some wary of ever returning.

[eastover neworleans]

Thanks for the article Nate, good read. And some good news the Tracage is still going to happen, I was hoping so; it sure is a very nice looking sleek condo tower in the warehouse district. The Trump Tower being built will send a major statement to the rest of the world!! That's great to see! And re-claiming the Gulf South's Tallest between Houston and Miami.

Still keeping my fingers crossed with the Jazz District too.

New Orleans Metro deserves the best levees; I am afraid there are still some faulty spots(amongst the improvements) here and there making some wary of ever returning.

The Jazz Park would have been broken ground if it wasn't for the owners of the Dominion Tower playing dumb a** games with the city. If the jazz park can get built ,and the superdome gets refurbised (in&out) New Orleans would be looking at a Suberbowl in 2012. Also, I believe once Trump starts building you'll see developers putting their money on anything that they can get it on.

Edited May 30, 2007 by eastover neworleans

[sgray]

Has anyone heard any more on this project? I thought favorable financing was in place and construction would start soon yet no renderings have ever been released.

930 Poydras is a proposed 37-story new construction apartment building near the LL &E Building. The

complex will contain 251 market-rate apartments, along with 509 parking spaces and 6000 square feet of

ground-floor retail space. The project will utilize a number of financing incentives including GO Zone

bonds and New Market Tax Credits. Capital One Bank has agreed to buy the credits and sell the bonds,

contingent on December 2006 approval of the project for the GO Zone bonds. If everything goes

according to plan, construction should start in May 2007 and last for 18 months.

Project Name 930 Poydras

Address 930 Poydras Street

Development Apartments

Development Specifics:

37 Stories

251 apartments

135 1BR units (3 different floorplans)

116 2BR units (4 floorplans)

Avg. Sq. Footage: 814

Average Rent: $1.84/SqFt

509 parking spaces

6000 SqFt ground-floor retail

Project cost: $64 million

Financing: $55 million GO Zone Bonds

New Market Tax Credits

Loan commitment from bank

Timing: Construction 5/07-12/08

[SlidellWX]

I havent' heard anything about that project for a while. Maybe they are waiting to see how the development of the First American Bank building goes. Citybusiness had an article today saying that mixed-use development is moving foward.