New Orleans Development Thread

[blackcoat]

I read a rumor somewhere that 3 Canal Place would be on hold for the next year or two due to the tight credit market, but I haven't seen any concrete reporting on the project.

In other news, the state moves closer toward buying the New Orleans Centre, including the Dominion Tower building. They have a 75 day inspection period, at the end of which they can walk away from the deal if they find the necessary repairs to be too costly.

Also, the city has secured money for creating a "Great Lawn" in City Park as part of the city's 300-year anniversary.

[djp4lsu]

Does anyone know about the status of the Bioinnovation center? I drove by today, and it looks like there's work going on there. I was surprised, since I thought it was on hold or something...

[NCB]

Does anyone know about the status of the Bioinnovation center? I drove by today, and it looks like there's work going on there. I was surprised, since I thought it was on hold or something...

From what I remember reading earlier in the year, the BioInnovation Center was supposed to break ground sometime in late summer/3rd quarter 2008, so that may well be what you're seeing. That would be great!

[NCB]

Here is a rendering of the City Park Great Lawn, and the layout for the entire project:

[djp4lsu]

From what I remember reading earlier in the year, the BioInnovation Center was supposed to break ground sometime in late summer/3rd quarter 2008, so that may well be what you're seeing. That would be great!

Thanks! They were definitely driving piles on the site. I'm glad to see it's finally getting going, and when they said they would!

[alon504]

Thanks! They were definitely driving piles on the site. I'm glad to see it's finally getting going, and when they said they would!

I drove by there the other day and they were driving piles. Construction is underway and I'm glad. That area of Canal is coming back a little slower, but, I think this project will speed things along.

[blackcoat]

The Times-Picayune has a lengthy piece about restoring the Lakefront Airport to its original art deco design. The restoration work will be paid for in part by FEMA.

[djp4lsu]

The T-P is running a story today on the mysterious 930 Poydras project. It doesn't sound like there's a lot that we didn't already know, but it is nice to see that the project is starting to get some coverage.

"The building will have 250 apartments, including 146 one-bedroom units, 99 two-bedroom units and five townhouses that will be built beside a pool and outdoor terrace. All of the units will rent at market rates, starting at $1,175 per month for the smallest apartments and running to $1,900 per month for the townhouses."

[NCB]

Good to see 930 Poydras getting more local attention. Hopefully an official rendering will pop up soon as well!

[JPKneworleans]

I apologize if I am asking an already-answered question: I noticed that piles are being driven right behind University Hospital. This is not the area where the cancer center will be built. The location is several blocks up Tulane Avenue and directly behind University Hospital. Does anyone know what's being built?

Edited July 31, 2008 by JPKneworleans

[NCB]

Some great news for the office market in the CBD, along with the office markets on the Westbank and in Metairie.

Healthy N.O.-area office market bucks national trend

New Orleans CityBusiness article

NEW ORLEANS - Even as a gloomy economy empties offices around the country, the market for commercial space in downtown New Orleans, Metairie and on the West Bank of Jefferson Parish remains strong, according to the latest quarterly occupancy report from Equity Office.

The Equity report shows that occupancy rates are in good standing across the region, with Class A office occupancy rates above 90 percent and rents steady at a regional average of $19.50 per square foot for the second quarter that ended June 30.

[NCB]

Here is how New Orleans compares to a some other cities when it comes to downtown occupany rates:

• New Orleans- 90.2%
  
• New York City- 94.2%
  
• Houston- 88.1%
  
• Dallas- 78.2%
  
• Austin- 85.3%
  
• San Antonio- 86.1%
  
• Detroit- 79.3%
  
• San Jose- 87.0%
  

So with a very healthy downtown and metro-wide office market, do you guys think we'll be seeing any new office towers anytime soon? The new national trend seems to be mixed-use office/residential/retail towers, something I'd love to see in the CBD. I also wouldn't be suprised so see a new mid-sized office tower (something like The Galleria) pop up in Metairie in the near future.

[blackcoat]

[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andres_Duany]Andr

[NCB]

Two local Macy's stores to open in October

Macy's will mark its return to the metro area with grand opening ceremonies at two stores on Oct. 25.

A renovated Macy's at The Esplanade in Kenner and a newly constructed Macy's at Lakeside Shopping Center in Metairie will be opened that day, marking the return of Macy's to the New Orleans area for the first time since Hurricane Katrina.

Times-Picayune

[NCB]

Scanning through New Orleans on Google Street View, I found a few of the major residential construction sites in the city. Here are some photos for those who haven't been able to catch up on some of the residential projects around the city. I haven't checked up on many of these projects in recent months, so I can't tell you how old these pictures are. Some neighborhoods in the city look like they were captured on Google Street View very recently, while others look like they were captured many months ago. But for those of you (like myself) who enjoy seeing great projects actually under construction in New Orleans, these should be better than nothing.

All of these images are courtesy of Google:

930 Poydras

I believe this is the site of 927 Poeyfarre. If not, there's another large project under construction in the Warehouse District that I don't know about.

The site of Tracage, cleared and ready to go. The building is currently held up in a lawsuit.

Work continues on apartments and townhouses between Annunciation and Tchoupitoulas Uptown

2600 Saint Charles apartments from early 2008

The Crescent Club on Tulane Ave. before construction was underway

The Preserve on Tulane Ave

Musicians' Village in the Upper 9, one of the city's greatest post-Katrina success stories

Those are the projects I could come up with off the top of my head. I didn't post the Meridian site in Mid-City because it's still shown as an overgrown vacant lot on Street View.

[richyb83]

Thanks for the development tour Nate Good to see all those projects going up! Please keep us posted on the Tracage.

[TSmith]

So with a very healthy downtown and metro-wide office market, do you guys think we'll be seeing any new office towers anytime soon? The new national trend seems to be mixed-use office/residential/retail towers, something I'd love to see in the CBD. I also wouldn't be suprised so see a new mid-sized office tower (something like The Galleria) pop up in Metairie in the near future.

I'm not sure. I do know that developers pay closer attention to lease rates than occupancy. I remember reading an article prior to the storm that mentioned this per square foot price threshold, but I don't remember what it was. If occupancy rates continue at this level, rates are sure to rise. But it won't be until an adequate number of leases expire and are re-negotiated at higher prices to justify the construction of a new tower. I think it could happen, but as we all know... there are still some vacant buildings downtown. Luckily, it appears that Dominion Tower might be filled with government offices. If this happens, I wouldn't be surprised to see a new tower in 5 years or so.

[djp4lsu]

Citybusiness says the Federal City deal has been finalized, and construction has to start before Sept. 30. Good to see some movement there.

[midcity]

Does anyone know about the status of the Bioinnovation center? I drove by today, and it looks like there's work going on there. I was surprised, since I thought it was on hold or something...

The Bioinnovation Center scheduled an official ground breaking for next week as posted on its website. Hopefully, that means it is really going to start construction after several announced start dates over the past four years.

Regarding the Google Street View of The Preserve on Tulane, I took a walk past it while attending an event at the Rock N' Bowl a few days ago. It has significantly progressed from just a cleared lot as viewed from Google. In fact, windows and stucco were installed on nearly half the four-story building. However, only framing was in progress on another section near the expressway from what I could tell unless that was another property. It was muddy so I couldn't walk around very well to see much. I would expect it to be finished before too long. It looks like Domain has also renovated a few houses in the immediate area, although there needs to be more homes and streets repaired for it to be really nice around it.

[SlidellWX]

I don't expect any new developments in the CBD for a while as far as pure office construction goes. I think the magic leasing price is around $25/sq. ft. We have a long way to go before that happens. Right now...225 Baronne, National American Bank, and the Saratoga Building are slated to become apartments. The UNO Tech building is being developed into offices for the medical district, the Texaco Building on Canal is supposed to become a hotel or apartments, and then you have the WTC, Plaza Tower, and the Rault Center sitting there empty for a long time awaiting redevelopment. All of these properties are basically off the office leasing rolls now. There are also several empty buildings that need repair from the hurricane. The Oil & Gas building and the Dominion Tower are 2 that come to mind. With Chevron moving to Covington, that is another large tower sitting empty.

However...it is not all doom and gloom. There are 80 or so highrise towers in the CBD of 12 floors or higher and the vast majority of them are occupied by offices, apartments, condos, and hotels. It will just be a while before we see any speculative building in the CBD for pure office construction.

[recoverydoc]

I don't know if this has been mentioned yet, but driving around the warehouse district I noticed another development. It's something called, "Constance Lofts" at 1053 Constance, which appears to be another warehouse apartment conversion. Sounds great to me, as this abandoned warehouse always looked like an eyesore around the Cotton Mill/Rusty Nail area. If Tracage ever gets built (despite all NIMBY efforts to the contrary) this area of the warehouse district will really start to get some density.

[JPKneworleans]

What's the deal with Tracage? Are the Lengsfeld Loft owners suing because of the view? The property was properly zoned, and Louisiana law makes it pretty clear that you don't have a right to a view when a building is being built next to another building.

[nola17]

Well, Tom Benson's Louisiana Media Co. has managed to lure an Atlanta film company to New Orleans.

Benson's Louisiana Media Co. formed a joint venture with Horizon, which will move into the WVUE-TV Fox 8 facilities at 1025 S. Jefferson Davis Parkway

Horizon is in the business of creating innovative film projects and original television programming

Horizon Entertainment will relocate nearly 20 full-time employees and hire another 25 full-time and 50 part-time employees once the move is complete. WVUE's facilities will feature a 5,000-square-foot sound stage for Horizon Entertainment to use in producing national television programs and movies. Horizon will have a separate facility entrance at the Fox 8 site

[sgray]

52 story 325,000 sf multi-residential building. What might this be? Trump?

bidclerk

[sgray]

Here's the mention of a 52 story building again on Bidclerk.

link