New Orleans Condo Articles

CONDO COMFORT: Variety makes downtown plush

By Victor Andrews, Special Sections manager

October 04, 2009, 12:05PM

JAMES GAFFNEY/THE TIMES-PICAYUNE“Green Acres,” a late-’60s television show, featured high-powered attorney Oliver Wendell Douglas and socialite wife Lisa as they exchanged the glitz and glam of New York City for the pastoral existence of Hooterville.
Lisa, on the other hand, longed to stay in Manhattan, pleading “Dahling I love you but give me Park Avenue.”
For many people, Lisa had the right idea — stay with the stores, Times Square and avoid the hay allergy.
Folks looking to avoid the Hooterville experience can take that idea and transfer it south to the downtown area of New Orleans. Stores , theater, history, Lafayette Square, St. Charles Avenue and a vast array of condominiums are waiting in just about every configuration and price range available.

AND THE LIVING IS EASY
Downtown living has long had an appeal for many folks. Since the Renaissance of the Warehouse District after the World’s Fair of 1984, the dual areas Warehouse and Central Business have become fertile fields for condominium developments.
JAMES GAFFNEY/THE TIMES-PICAYUNEWith scads of variety and loads of price-ranges, the condominium market downtown has great appeal to many different types of buyers.
“A condo appeals to someone who is really busy, someone who has no time,” said Barbara Hallenbeck of COLWELL BANKER TEC Realtors. Or, “somebody who is going to be gone a lot.”
Indeed, the low maintenance lifestyle of condo living appeals to many. No yard to mow. Building maintenance is included. Off-street parking is available. Lisa Douglas would be delighted.
And there’s more. Most complexes have exercise facilities, rooftop terraces with great views of the city, entertaining spaces and many more amenities.
But there are other reasons why people might opt for the area.
“Most people wanted the security of downtown living,” said Douglas Gordon of RE/MAX Real Estate Partners. “This is their primary home. They decided that the Warehouse District is a good way to live in this world.”
With restaurants, galleries, fashion outlets and a wide variety of entertainment options, downtown bustles with a hum and energy that appeals to many people, both young and old.
Realtors point to empty-nesters headed for the condos as a way to downsize from the large family home now that the kids have flown the coop.
Those who work downtown also enjoy the advantage of living close to the “office.”
Not to be forgotten are buyers who are adding a second or third home, whether they live in the greater metropolitan area or in some other state.
Much like the area itself, the buyers are a diverse lot, looking at different configurations of rooms and different prices, for different reasons.
“It’s all over the board,” said Liz Stroebel of LATTER & BLUM, Inc., Realtors. “People that are from here, people who moved away and are moving back. It’s all sorts of people.”   

HOLDING STEADY
JAMES GAFFNEY/THE TIMES-PICAYUNERealtors report relatively steady prices and sales in the area, with condos on the upper end of the price scale spending less time on the market than some in lower price ranges.
Buyers in the upper prices often have fiscal profiles that allow them to take advantage of different types of lending.
“Those folks have the financial wherewithal where some of the stricter underwriting rules don’t apply” that come with more conventional loans, said Terry Roff of PRUDENTIAL GARDNER, Realtors.
Local Realtors and local lenders, however, understand the ins and outs of the local market and can provide assistance to buyers looking to get into a condo downtown.

WELCOME CHANGE
The change in weather could be signalling a change in activity. Realtors familiar with the area note an increase in interest since the cooler breezes of October have started.
Young professionals and second home buyers seem to be taking an interest, including  “singles that are coming in that don’t want to rent,” said Erin Stopak of Talbot Realty Group. “Medical students, especially the residents — young professionals for the most part.”

By Victor M. Andrews
Special Sections staff writer
Victor Andrews can be reached at vandrews@timespicayune.com

Condo-purchase deal-breakers

$100 million condo project planned for Central City

Developers want to build 600 units

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

By Greg ThomasReal 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....

New Orleans condo project is on hold while economy improves

Posted by AP April 22, 2009 4:35PM

One of the developers of the $60 million, 136-unit Tracage condominium development proposed for New Orleans' Warehouse District said the project is on hold until the economy improves.

Some aspects of the local real estate market are beginning to show signs of stress, experts say

Posted by Kate Moran, The Times-Picayune April 02, 2009 5:00PM

While the tide of recovery money flowing into New Orleans has helped cushion the region from recession, local real estate experts said Thursday that various segments of the market, including retail, office and multifamily apartments are showing a few fissures.

New Orleans real estate market not as bad as some others, experts say

Posted by Kate Moran, The Times-Picayune February 27, 2009 3:43PM

While the volume of home sales plunged across greater New Orleans in the past year, real estate here has not suffered the freefalling prices and rampant foreclosures that have chilled the economy in California, Florida, Arizona and other hothouse markets.

New Orleans home prices up in the city, down in the suburbs
by Kate Moran, The Times-Picayune
Saturday January 31, 2009, 7:42 PM

SCOTT THRELKELD / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE
Real estate signs dot the landscape Thursday, January 29, 2009, on Cross Creek Drive east of Slidell in a new development featuring high-end duplexes. Home prices dropped last year in the suburbs -- though not the free fall much of the nation experienced. In New Orleans, prices actually rose.
Resolute New Orleanians have stuck by their city in the face of poor schools, high crime and fearsome hurricanes, mortared here by the unique, soulful culture exemplified in its Carnival celebrations. That singular attachment to place appears to have buttressed the city's housing market during a time of widespread weakness.

MICHAEL DEMOCKER / The Times-Picayune
Signs indicate homes for sale on Nashville at South Johnson in uptown New Orleans Thursday, January 29, 2009.After holding aloft during the early months of the recession, home prices across the New Orleans area began a retreat in 2008 that will likely continue this year. The exception was the city itself, where single-family homes gained an average of 4.4 percent in value. All of the suburban parishes, meanwhile, registered modest, if not catastrophic, price declines.

Wade Ragas, a consultant and former professor who prepared the survey of price trends for the New Orleans Metropolitan Association of Realtors, thinks the tide of insurance and rebuilding grants that flowed into the city after Hurricane Katrina helped insulate it from falling home prices. The longer a parish has been recovered, he ventured, the more it resembles wilting markets in other parts of the country.

• House prices by square-foot and zip code

Yet Ragas sees another factor in play. New Orleans and its institutions have always inspired fierce loyalty from residents who in many cases can trace their roots back generations. He points out that the question of where a person attended high school, often exchanged when city residents first meet, evokes a host of familial and social connotations that might not translate in new-growth suburbs on the north shore.

"If you have great loyalty to a brand, you will put up with its little anomalies," Ragas said. "For residents who have chosen to move back to New Orleans, it is important to their view of themselves."

Ups, downs in Tammany

Ragas said St. Tammany Parish attracts executive types who want safe streets and good schools, but do not necessarily have an ancestral allegiance to the place. The metro area lost more than 85,000 jobs from the first quarter of 2005 to the same period in 2008, and Ragas said the north shore would have been particularly vulnerable to corporate relocations and consolidation in the oil and gas industry.

Still, total employment in St. Tammany Parish climbed by more than 7,000 jobs during that period.

Perhaps more than corporate relocations, the huge number of new homes that flew up in Tammany after the storm has contributed to the ebbing of home prices. Nearly 6,000 homes sold in the parish in the year after the storm, and builders responded with a crush of new construction. As single-family home sales dropped below 2,200 this past year, much of that inventory idled on the market.

"Some people who moved to the north shore after Katrina fixed their houses on the south shore and moved back. Some industries consolidated and moved people to other towns. The combination of corporate relocations and a little bit of overbuilding" has helped dampen prices, said Glenn Gardner, president of Prudential Gardner Realtors.

The slight drop in home prices should not trouble residents who have owned property on the north shore for a while, as they continue to enjoy the stunning equity gains they amassed after Katrina. Although prices fell 5 percent in Covington this past year, they remain 23 percent higher on average than they did before the storm.

It's more problematic for residents who bought during the 2006 bubble and now want to sell their home and return to the south shore. If they purchased a home with only a small down payment and values continue to tumble, they could be stuck with a mortgage worth more than the house itself: a microcosm of the bust that has afflicted states like Florida and California.

"St. Tammany has the preconditions that breed foreclosure activity," Ragas said.

Loyalty to St. Bernard

Councilman George Cavignac of St. Bernard Parish said he has heard from constituents who want to return but feel trapped on the north shore because of their negative equity. Home prices waned by less than 2 percent last year in St. Bernard, which nonetheless held up better than St. Tammany, with its 6 percent decline, and Jefferson, with its 3 percent decline. Chalmette, where the largest number of sales took place, actually posted a 2 percent gain.

If Ragas' theory holds true, St. Bernard outshone other suburban parishes because it elicits the same sort of brand loyalty that New Orleans does. Cavignac said prices have also held steady because they were artificially low before the storm. Residents of the tight-knit parish historically bought real estate from relatives who gave a discounted price, but the high cost of construction after Katrina has pushed values to a more market-driven standard, he said.

Although New Orleans was alone in posting overall gains last year, home prices showed more motley results when examined at the neighborhood level. Historic areas such as Uptown and the Garden District boasted strong appreciation, with the average home price in the tony 70118 postal code topping $500,000.

Prices also climbed in recovering Lakeview, while dropping 11 percent in slower-to-rebound Gentilly. Eastern New Orleans registered some of the most formidable price gains, largely because middle-income buyers can get more square footage for their dollar there than they can in the city's historic center, real estate agents said.

"It's also a very prideful community, much like St. Bernard," said Arthur Sterbcow, president of Latter & Blum.

Encouraging signs

While several real-estate agents said 2008 was their dimmest year in recent memory, they pointed to some hopeful signs.

Although the volume of home sales plunged from 11,334 in 2007 to 8,126 in 2008 -- a decline of almost 30 percent -- prices fell by only 1.3 percent in the metro area as a whole. The region has also been spared the rampant foreclosures that continue to depress home prices in states like California, Florida and Nevada.

The nation's housing woes have nonetheless alighted on the New Orleans area in the form of more stringent lending standards. Sterbcow and others said the increased cost and difficulty of borrowing money has pushed some first-time buyers to the sidelines, gumming up the market for existing owners who want to sell their starter home and trade up to more affluent subdivisions in St. Tammany, for example.

After holding steady for the first half of 2008, prices dipped in Jefferson Parish in all but one postal code by the close of the year. Although the decline is partly tied to the lack of first-time homebuyers, Lynda Nugent Smith of Keller Williams said updated houses in Jefferson and other parishes continue to sell. Buyers, perhaps impatient with the idea of home repairs after Katrina, are turning away from fixer-uppers.

"There is nothing new about Jefferson Parish anymore," said Smith, the risk management broker at the company's East Jefferson office. "Most of the inventory I see sitting on the market has the 8-foot ceilings, paneling and shag carpet. That's not what people want today."

Although 2008 proved a difficult year for real-estate agents, Margie Inman, broker-owner of Coldwell Banker TEC, said she has started to see a thaw in recent weeks, perhaps because of falling interest rates and a renewed sense of confidence spawned by the transition in the White House. Sterbcow, of Latter & Blum, said traffic on his company's Web site has been strong.

If interest rates for borrowers with decent credit continue to hover around 4 percent in the coming year, Ragas said opportunities will abound for savvy homebuyers.

"There could be unbelievable buying opportunities with falling prices and low rates," Ragas said. "It could be an incredible lift for the housing market."

Kate Moran can be reached at kmoran@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3491.

Real estate: Condominum prices remain robust in the metro New Orleans market

Posted by Kate Moran, The Times-Picayune November 18, 2008 5:50PM

Condominium prices in greater New Orleans defied national trends with a robust performance in the third quarter of the year, rising 7.7 percent even as most major markets remained in the vise-grip of the real estate downturn.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. Kate Moran can be reached at kmoran@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3491.

Loft Life is easy in the Warehouse District

Posted by Renee Peck, InsideOut editor August 02, 2008 6:46AM

Categories: Personal Space

KATHY ANDERSON / THE TIMES-PICAYUNEThe view from the balcony of the Boettners' Warehouse District condo is not to be missed.

THE HOME: A fifth-floor penthouse in Mills Row in the Warehouse District

THE OWNERS: Eddie and Mary Boettner

THE SPACE: Their kitchen/living room

WHY THEY LOVE IT: 'I love the open kitchen, because I can socialize while I'm preparing something, with everyone in the same room, ' she says. 'I love all the natural light, ' he says.

FOOT TRAFFIC: When White Linen Night activities crowd Julia Street tonight, Eddie and Mary Boettner won't have to worry about downtown traffic, parking or getting home on time. With a single elevator ride and a short stroll, they'll be in the midst of all the action.

"I hate to drive, " Mary Boettner said. "I walk to the French Quarter almost every day, and all the cool new restaurants are right here at our doorstep.

"Everything we want to do is within walking distance, " her husband agreed.

The Boettners also have drop-dead-gorgeous city views from the twin balconies of their penthouse condo, one of two in the 31-unit, five-story Mills Condo on John Churchill Chase Street in the Warehouse District. 

KATHY ANDERSON / THE TIMES-PICAYUNEEddie and Mary Boettner love the openness of the kitchen, dining and living area of their condo in Mills Row in the Warehouse District. 'Everyone always wants to be in the kitchen,' Eddie Boettner said. 'Now they can all get their wish.'

"At night, when the city is all lit up and the sun is going down . . . wow, " Mary Boettner said. "It's a mini New Orleans tropical paradise.

"URBAN LEGENDS: Such appreciation for urban living is not surprising when you consider the Boettners' backgrounds. She learned to love the loft life while living in Manhattan for 17 years. His company, HRI Properties, has developed some of the area's most significant residential buildings, including the Federal Fibre Mills and Cotton Mill, both only a block or two away.

So when plans hit the drawing board for the Warehouse District's first new-construction residential building in a century, the couple saw a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

"Mary and I designed the space for ourselves, " Eddie Boettner said.

"We're minimalists, " his wife said. "We wanted to be able to walk around the condo without running into furniture. And we also like to entertain (friends have standing invitations for Monday red beans and rice), so the open space and kitchen makes a great focal point."

"Everyone always wants to be in the kitchen, " Eddie Boettner said. "Now they can all get their wish.

"PANEL PIONEERS: Back in October 2004, when Eddie Boettner and his group started building Mills Row, concrete panel construction was hardly the conversational buzzword it has become.

"We were just looking for a high-quality structure that could withstand anything and provide thermal, acoustical and insulative qualities, " Eddie Boettner said.

The precast-concrete panels, beams and columns were made in Baton Rouge and installed on-site. When Hurricane Katrina hit, the shell was up, the inside unfinished, and the builders seemed prescient: The structure had not one bit of damage from the storm.

"All the interior build-out had to be done after the storm, " Eddie Boettner said. In their condo, that included hardwood and travertine tile floors, coved ceilings and a unique octagonal entryway with light and dark woods inlaid around a single chunk of granite.

The two-bedroom, 2,200-squarefoot condo was finished in May 2007; Mary Boettner and a friend, Nancy Adams, set out to fill it with contemporary urban furnishings.

AN EYE FOR DECOR: "When my brother walked in and said, 'Who did the place?', I knew it was the best compliment I could ever receive, " Mary Boettner said. "I told him, Boettner and Adams, that's who.

"Nancy is detail-oriented -- she measures everything -- while I just pick out whatever I like. I'd say, 'That piece, make it fit.' And she would.

"The first piece Mary Boettner found was a lacquered wood armoire/bar, sleek and nutmeg-colored, that looks like it was custom-made to fit the slice of wall between two tall living-room windows.

Other local finds include a buttery caramel-colored angled sofa, abstract rugs scattered about to define cozy seating areas, steel stools with curved black backs and a lighted chrome-and-wood etagere that holds four pieces of exuberant art glass.

All of this inhabits a single giant room that serves as living room, dining room and kitchen.It's a space as spare and uncluttered as a modern-art museum, but with warm colors and rich textures that make it as homey as a grandmother's parlor.

"I love that I can walk around and not feel like I'm boxed in, " Mary Boettner said. "Most people want to put furniture and knickknacks everywhere, but not me. I'm definitely a less-is-more type.

"FORM AND FUNCTION: In this contemporary space, even appliances look like art. A polished steel range hood dropped in the center of the room makes a sculptural statement, as does the U-shaped granite counter that divides cooking area from lounging space. An interesting combination of curves and angles in furniture and accessories keeps things interesting as well.

Like many of the collectors who will be browsing the galleries tonight, the Boettners have a favorite painter or two. Many of the bright abstract canvases in the condo were done by Dutch-born artist Arie Van Selm, a longtime family friend who lives in Dallas.

"My father commissioned a 30-painting Mardi Gras series from him years ago, " Eddie Boettner said. "We used to live on the lakefront, and Arie would spend months at our house painting.

"Favorite works include an oversized canvas, done in Van Selm's trademark thick-palette-knife style, inspired by a boat race on Lake Pontchartrain. A smaller work plays on the shape and colors of crawfish. A beach scene of crowded umbrella tops was a wedding gift from the artist to the couple.

Equally vibrant scenes can be glimpsed through the room's two walls of floor-to-ceiling windows.

"Having been involved in a lot of the rebirth of the Warehouse District, it's wonderful to be able to look out and see so much of the work we've done, " Eddie Boettner said. "This building represents infill construction, which, if done properly, is a tremendous addition to an old neighborhood. You'd never know, from the outside, that this is new construction."

-- RENEE PECK
_________________________
WHITE LINEN NIGHTWHAT,

WHEN AND WHERE: Art openings at galleries in the 300-600 blocks of Julia Street, with food, drinks and music by The Troi Bechet Trio and the Johnny Sansone Duo, Aug. 2, 6-9 p.m., followed by a post-party at the Contemporary Arts Center, 6 p.m.-midnight.

ADMISSION: Free to the gallery openings; $10 to the CAC party (free to members)

INFORMATION: www.cacno.org

National housing slump finally being felt in N.O. area

Posted by beggler August 09, 2008 22:37PM

Click here to view map of metro area housing prices by ZIP code

New Orleans, awash in insurance and federal rebuilding grants after Hurricane Katrina, for many months seemed to resist the relentless decline in real estate prices that afflicted once incandescent markets in California, Florida and Nevada. This year, however, the national malaise has finally started to dampen the local market.

 While the average price of an unflooded or repaired house remains a plush 15 percent higher than it was before the storm, the national economic downturn has choked consumer confidence, made credit more scarce and contributed to a slow erosion of the equity many households amassed after Katrina. Local real estate experts predict a continued softening through the end of the year. 

Michael DeMocker / The Times-PicayuneIn this file photo, a home on Vendome Place in New Orleans advertises the first year's insurance included, one of the inducements being used to lure buyers in an increasingly sluggish selling environment."We're now starting to behave like the rest of the country," said Wade Ragas, a consultant and former University of New Orleans professor who surveys home price trends for the New Orleans Metropolitan Association of Realtors.

The news, if overcast, is not entirely grim. While single-family home prices fell 0.4 percent across the region compared with last year, a few neighborhoods eked out modest price gains. New Orleans outshone its satellite parishes, with notable appreciation in historic areas like the French Quarter, Bywater and Uptown, which vaulted over Old Metairie to become the priciest local market.

St. Tammany, on the other hand, posted price declines in all but one ZIP code. Ragas and others said builders overestimated demand as storm victims rushed to the north shore after Katrina, and now they are left with a large inventory of unsold, newly constructed homes even as displaced families return to New Orleans and St. Bernard.

In a typical year, when no hurricane or recession upsets the real estate market, houses in greater New Orleans appreciate about 5 percent. No parish has approached that figure in the first six months of the year. Values waxed in New Orleans by 1 percent across all ZIP codes, while waning 4.1 percent in Tammany, 3.3 percent in St. Charles and 2 percent in St. Bernard. Prices in Jefferson remained flat.

Those declines appear humble when placed in context of the national real estate slowdown. New Orleans was never the real estate hothouse that California and Florida were, but it also never went bust when homebuyers began defaulting on exotic loans. Foreclosures here are barely a blip -- 1,900 statewide in the second quarter, compared with 202,000 in California.

"I know it's no consolation when we're in a sluggish market, but we're in much better shape than most of the rest of the country," said David Abner Smith, an agent with Dorian Bennett Sotheby's. "We need to look at the big picture that it's not doom and gloom like it is in other places, particularly in our historic neighborhoods."

Tight credit, fewer buyers

Still, the turmoil on Wall Street has scorched local buyers. It has become harder and more expensive in the past year for consumers to obtain a mortgage, especially if their credit history is less than sterling. Tighter credit means fewer buyers, and fewer buyers translates to slower home sales.

Real estate agents sold 4,177 homes across the metro area in the first half of the year, and if the current pace keeps up, they should sell between 8,000 and 8,500 homes for the year, according to Ragas. That compares with 11,334 homes sold last year and 16,322 sold in 2006, when Katrina pushed the housing market into overdrive.

Those figures include only Realtor-assisted sales, not foreclosures, tax sales or properties sold to the Road Home.

"We have too many houses on the market," Ragas said. "It's not that there's suddenly a large number of sellers. It's just that there's not enough buyers, partly because of Katrina, and partly because people all over the country are nervous about economic conditions and don't want to borrow $200,000."

Ivan Miestchovich, director of the Real Estate Market Data Center at the University of New Orleans, said the diminished sales volume was almost inevitable, given the population loss that came with the storm. While unemployment is low, he said the region has not experienced growth in high-wage jobs that would spur new demand for housing.

"Housing prices don't occur in a vacuum. They occur in relationship to employment growth and wage growth," he said. "The question I have is what effect the lingering hangover of inventory is likely to have on housing prices. Will it accelerate the decline?"

Bywater, Uptown shine

While the market as a whole sagged in the first half of the year, demand remains vigorous in most of the historic neighborhoods in New Orleans. Real estate agents use a metric called "month's supply" to gauge a home's likelihood of selling based on activity in the three previous months. A higher month's supply indicates a slower pace of sales.

Arthur Sterbcow, president of Latter & Blum, said a market with a healthy balance of buyers and sellers produces about a five month's supply of homes. While Mandeville currently has an 11 month's supply of homes, the Uptown section of New Orleans has only a 7.3 month's supply. Competition is even fiercer among buyers who want a house priced below $250,000 in the Uptown area.

"We're rocking and rolling Uptown," Sterbcow said, adding that the firm had seen "very solid sales" in eastern New Orleans, the lakefront area and Mid-City.

Uptown's desirability rests partly on the fact that it never flooded. But several agents also said buyers are attracted to the ease of getting around that part of the city.

"One factor is that the streetcar is up and running," said Eleanor Farnsworth, a Prudential Gardner agent. "It makes everything so accessible with the gas prices rising. You also can walk to restaurants and to the universities. You can get around so easily."

The demand for housing Uptown cuts across all price points. The average price per square foot in the tony 70118 ZIP code climbed above $200 during the first half of the year, the most expensive in the entire region. At the same time, Sterbcow said, young people who came to New Orleans to do civic-minded work after Katrina have decided to buy in that core part of the city.

Eric Jensen and Leah Berger both arrived before the storm, he through Teach for America and she to attend Tulane's School of Public Health. The young couple bought a double on Annunciation Street in May, a location that put them in walking distance of a grocery store, restaurants and live music at Tipitina's.

"We feel very invested in the city, and that's the overriding reason we decided to buy in this neighborhood," Jensen said. "We could have continued to rent, but we felt there was no better way to support the city than by buying a house here."

The other standout in New Orleans is the 70117 ZIP code, which encompasses Bywater, Holy Cross and the 9th Ward. The average sales price per square foot in that area climbed to $132 in the first half of the year, up 76 percent from the average value before Katrina. Ragas labeled the change "nothing short of staggering."

He ascribed some of the price gain to the philanthropic bounty that alighted on the area after the storm, when nonprofit groups such as the Make It Right Foundation undertook transformative rebuilding projects.

Helen Krieger, a former president of Bywater's neighborhood association and the owner of Urban Vision Properties, said the dramatic runup is also tied to where the sales are taking place. Before the storm, homes sold in roughly equal numbers on each side of St. Claude Avenue, which separates Bywater from St. Roch. Sales have been concentrated since the storm on the pricier and less damaged Bywater side.

As prices ticked up across New Orleans, they ebbed about 4 percent on the west bank of Jefferson Parish and remained stagnant on the east bank. Sterbcow said the price appreciation many homes on the east bank enjoyed after Katrina has perversely slowed down sales, as buyers search elsewhere for deals.

"There is no real weakness turning up in East Jefferson except that the appreciation has stopped," Ragas said.

Tammany weakens

St. Tammany's market meanwhile showed considerable softening. The number of monthly sales on the north shore is roughly comparable with sales volumes in Orleans and Jefferson parishes, but agents said prices are deflating because they reached unsustainable heights after the storm, when many displaced south shore residents were willing to pay a premium for an undamaged house.

"People got so spoiled after Katrina because we had a huge influx we would not normally have seen," said Candy Modeen, a broker with RE/MAX Northlake Associates in Covington. "Everybody had the mindset those prices were going to continue. A lot of builders opened up and started building, and all of a sudden the supply overtook the demand."

As builders churned out new homes, some newcomers to St. Tammany began planning a move back to renovated houses on the south shore. Ragas said storm victims who moved across the lake experienced culture shock on multiple fronts, from the predominance of national chains after the boutique shopping of New Orleans, to the long commute across the Causeway.

Slidell faces its own challenges. Ragas said it traditionally attracted buyers who worked in eastern New Orleans, where the employment base -- from health care jobs at Methodist Hospital to maritime businesses along the Industrial Canal -- was decimated after the storm. He said one bright spot for Slidell is the recent job growth at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, which could help revive prices.

Phoebe Whealdon, an agent at Coldwell Banker TEC in Mandeville, said it could take a while before the St. Tammany market reaches equilibrium. She expects only a small boost from Chevron's recent high-profile move to the north shore because many of its executives already live there.

"There is just an oversubscription of homes on the market," Whealdon said. "We're getting phone calls and seeing buyers, but not enough to equal out what we have on the market."

Although G.O. Zone bonds meant to boost investment after the 2005 storms have had a tough time in N.O., some deals have succeeded

Sunday, June 29, 2008

By Kate Moran

Business writer

For the most part, Gulf Opportunity Zone bonds have proven a powerful means of seeding private sector investment in the parishes ransacked by Hurricanes Katrina or Rita. They have had limited impact in only one place: New Orleans.

More than 40 developers with housing, hotel or retail projects in New Orleans have applied for a bond allocation in the past two years. Seven of those have managed to place the bonds in the private market and close their deals. That means a vast amount of borrowing capacity remains unused in the city that arguably needs it the most.

Some of the developers who let their bond allocation lapse simply decided to tap another public incentive, such as historic tax credits. Others grew fed up with some of the rules the state imposed on companies that wanted the bonds. In still other cases, developers had to forfeit their allocation because their projects did not pass muster with Wall Street investors waiting out the turbulence in the credit markets.

"There is just so much turmoil in the credit markets, that even if you have what may be a good project, a lot of investors in these types of securities are sitting on the sidelines," said Scott Willis, a local real estate and commercial finance lawyer.

Marc Robert, owner of the local grocery chain Robert's Fresh Market, is among the handful of New Orleans businessmen to have used the bonds successfully. He said the benefit was powerful -- he borrowed at lower interest rates and for a longer period of time than he could have expected from the private market -- but he said the process of securing the bonds and other public incentives was convoluted.

"Complication is one thing," Robert said. "We had four different sets of attorneys, which translates into a lot of increased costs. When people are looking at a cost-benefit analysis, they see all these layers of costs and question whether it is worth all the effort."

--- Projects in city struggle ---

Congress passed the Gulf Opportunity Zone Act to help spur private business investment across the region after the monstrous 2005 storm season. Among other benefits, the act allows companies in Louisiana to issue bonds with interest exempt from state and federal income taxes, as well as the federal alternative minimum tax.

The state has managed to allocate most of the bonding capacity Congress granted, except for a $1.2 billion pool set aside for New Orleans. The State Bond Commission estimates that $662 million of that reserve remains untapped, a figure that will likely move higher because several major projects recently had their bond allocation expire.

The state must use the borrowing capacity by 2011 or lose it, but the city faces a more imminent deadline. If it cannot allocate the remaining benefits by the end of 2009, those incentives will cycle back into the general pool where developers from across the state can compete for them.

Stephen Moret, the state's economic development secretary, said developers in New Orleans have struggled to use the GO Zone benefit because many of their projects -- hotels, apartment buildings, offices -- are pure real estate investments that have proven susceptible to the national downturn. By contrast, bond allocations in other parishes have often supported manufacturing or industrial projects.

What is more, developers in New Orleans seem to have a tougher time obtaining bond insurance for their projects. Several said the city continues to battle a perception on Wall Street that New Orleans is a risky place to invest, although three years have passed since the hurricane.

The State Bond Commission recognized that some developers might not be able to place their allotment of GO Zone benefits with a private investor, and it took several steps in April to ensure that the benefits granted by Congress did not go to waste. For one, the commission extended the time developers have to close their deals from 120 to 240 days.

At the same time, the commission did not want developers to hoard a benefit they might never be able to use. To force deals that appeared untenable, the state began requiring in April that developers put down a deposit to secure an extension of time to use their bond allocation.

"You don't want somebody with a deal that is not going forward to sit on an allocation and then have it be lost to the state. The balancing issue is that, if I've got a $250 million project, I'm not going to be able to close it in 120 days," said Gary Elkins, a local real estate lawyer. "The normal development timeline for major projects is in conflict with the state's interest in closing these transactions and funding the allocations on an accelerated basis."

--- Smaller projects succeed ---

Only a handful of developers have managed to use the bonds in New Orleans thus far, and it seems no accident that all but one of them requested an allocation of less than $10 million. Most developers requested far more than that but eventually had to withdraw their applications or let them expire.

The city's recovery office hopes to direct more of the bond allocations to small businesses in coming weeks. While developers drive the application for a GO Zone allocation themselves, they must receive a letter of support from the city before the State Bond Commission will agree to their request.

Jeff Thomas, a special assistant to Recovery Director Ed Blakely, said the city hopes to steer at least $100 million of the remaining borrowing capacity to companies seeking $12 million or less. Most developers have asked for at least $50 million, and Thomas said the city is trying to spread the benefits around. It has also noticed that smaller projects have a pattern of success.

"Bigger projects are having a harder time placing their bonds because of the perceived financial risk," he said.

Bud Wyckoff, a New Jersey developer preparing to renovate a building on Tulane Avenue, recently let his bond allocation expire. He found the state's requirement that he post a deposit excessive, and he also lost the letter of support the city gave him in the fall. He is seeking $50 million in bonds, well above the city's new threshold.

"The effort to engage all of these recovery authorities are so far out of the realm of normal business practice that we all find it frustrating to the point of resigning from the effort," Wyckoff said, adding that the renovation of 2000 Tulane Ave. was nonetheless moving forward.

. . . . . . .

Fairmont to reopen as Roosevelt

Hilton is restoring CBD landmark

Saturday, June 07, 2008

By Jaquetta White

Business writer

When the storied Fairmont New Orleans hotel reopens next year, it will go by a familiar name: The Roosevelt.

Hilton Hotels Corporation announced this week that the hotel will open in spring 2009, bearing the name it held from 1923 to 1965. The hotel, which has been closed since Hurricane Katrina, will be operated by the Hilton company as part of its Waldorf-Astoria Hotel collection.

"For decades The Roosevelt was known as the pride of the South, and as such we intend to see that the pride of the South shall rise again complete with opulent style and the classic venues that made the hotel a favorite for generations of New Orleans residents as well as visitors to the city," said Joseph Berger, an area president for Hilton Hotels Corp., in a statement.

The hotel, still shuttered after being heavily damaged by flooding in its basement, is undergoing a more than $100 million renovation. The Roosevelt will be a 500-room hotel, slightly smaller than its predecessor, with 110 suites. Plans also call for restoring the hotel's Blue Room, which as a nightclub had hosted famous musicians.

The Central Business District hotel has undergone several name changes. It opened as The Grunewald in 1893, was renamed The Roosevelt in 1923 in honor of President Theodore Roosevelt and became the Fairmont Hotel in 1965.

. . . . . . .

Riverfront plan meeting called success

But backers, critics differ in accounts

Tuesday, June 03, 2008

By Bruce Eggler

Staff writer

Both supporters and critics of the "Reinventing the Crescent" plan for riverfront development being pushed by the New Orleans Building Corp. and its chief executive, Sean Cummings, are hailing the results of a meeting that leaders of several neighborhoods held with two City Council members and a state representative.

Leaders of both sides claim they emerged victorious from Friday's closed-door session, but their accounts of what was decided don't entirely agree.

Some neighborhood leaders in Bywater, Faubourg Marigny and the French Quarter have long been critical of parts of the nearly $300 million plan to redevelop several miles of east bank wharves.

The plan calls for creating a park along most of the riverfront, removing many of the barriers that prevent public access to the river and creating attractions that would draw people to the water's edge. The Building Corp., a city agency, recently chose a team of architects to design the project's $157 million first phase.

City Councilwoman Jackie Clarkson, Councilman James Carter and state Rep. Juan LaFonta, D-New Orleans, met for about two hours at City Hall with Cummings, Port of New Orleans officials and neighborhood leaders.

According to several participants, all those present agreed that they favor the idea of increasing public access to the riverfront and support many specific elements of the plan, particularly linear parks with open green space. However, participants said, it was agreed that several proposals that have drawn sharp criticism, especially from Bywater and Marigny residents, will be either "tabled" or "taken off the table."

There was disagreement about just what those terms mean, however, and Cummings said he did not promise to abandon any of the proposals permanently. In fact, despite claims by his critics that the meeting rejected all of the plan's most controversial elements, Cummings said the session produced "a remarkable consensus" and an "invaluable" show of support that will allow city leaders to "lobby together with one cogent voice" for state money to help carry out the plan.

He said the only real changes to the plan involve areas that the city, through the Building Corp., does not actually control under the terms of a 2006 agreement between the city and the port spelling out how idle wharves could be put to public uses.

Although the area under the city's control consists only of the space from the floodwall to the river's edge on most of the wharves from Jackson Avenue to Poland Avenue, the planners made suggestions for several adjacent areas.

Those include the 25-acre site between Poland Avenue and the Industrial Canal that is home to the Naval Support Activity-East Bank until 2011, plus the adjoining section of Bywater riverfront and much of the Holy Cross riverfront.

As outlined by neighborhood leaders at the meeting, the agreed-upon items included:

-- There will be no further discussion of residential towers that the planners had suggested would be appropriate for the Naval Support Activity site. LaFonta said talk of them has been "scaring the hell" out of some Bywater residents.

-- A band shell or amphitheater proposed for Bywater Point, a piece of land at the foot of the Industrial Canal that the city does not control, will be dropped from the plan. That project was to be part of the third phase of the riverfront project, targeted for 2013-16, and Cummings said he does not consider the idea dead.

-- Plans to turn the Mandeville Street Wharf into a covered but open-air space suitable for concerts, art shows, fairs and other events will be put on hold pending an agreement with Marigny residents on what types of events to allow there. Marigny leaders fear that large gatherings would cause parking, noise and traffic problems.

-- The fate of a small nondenominational "sanctuary" proposed for a riverfront park at the foot of Piety Street will depend on a recommendation this week by the Bywater Neighborhood Association, a group split in recent years into pro- and anti-development factions.

-- Plans for Portage Plaza, an opening to be cut through the warehouse on the Esplanade Wharf to provide views to the river from Esplanade and Elysian Fields avenues, will be dropped because the city does not control that wharf.

Neighborhood leaders in Marigny and the Quarter said the meeting also agreed that all projects should be reviewed by the City Planning Commission and City Council.

. . . . . . .

Riverfront Plan in Good Hands

Sunday, June 01, 2008 Editorial

Scott Hourcade

New Orleans

Re: "Storm brews for city agency chief," Money, May 28.

 As an active member of the Bywater Neighborhood Association, I read with disbelief the assertion that residents of Bywater and Marigny are against Reinventing the Crescent. This couldn't be further from the truth.

 If a poll were to be taken, I'm confident that a vast majority of us welcome this positive and necessary improvement to our riverfront. 

The article, as well as Rep. Juan LaFonta, failed to mention that the so-called opposition to the riverfront redevelopment is led by a small handful of radical extremists who like to think they speak for the majority of people in this neighborhood.  

The plans for the project are sound, the architects are well-qualified, and Sean Cummings has the experience necessary to pull it off right. All one has to do is open one's eyes to see what a wonderful addition Woldenberg Park has been to the French Quarter. Reinventing the Crescent will exist harmoniously with our 19th-century neighborhood and enhance the quality of life for all New Orleanians.  

We have allowed our city to lag behind in every category for decades. Shall we, for once, do something magnificent and positive instead of allowing a few naysayers to derail what will be a first-class a

Ruth's Chris Steak House opens its CBD location

Posted by Anna Whitlow

May 20, 2008 4:34PM

Ruth's Chris Steak House, Inc., the largest fine-dining company in the U.S., today announced the opening of its New Orleans location, bringing the total number of restaurants to 122 worldwide.

"This opening is especially important to us, and we are excited to open Ruth's Chris Steak House in this great location in the heart of the tourism and business district of New Orleans," said Pete Montecino, Ruth's Chris Steak House New Orleans General Manager. "We are thrilled to partner with Harrah's and to make this investment in the revitalization of this great city.

"The New Orleans Ruth's Chris restaurant is centrally located in downtown New Orleans adjacent to the Harrah's New Orleans hotel at 525 Fulton Street. The restaurant features seating for more than 150 guests, including two bar areas and patio seating along Fulton Street. The opening of the New Orleans restaurant has brought more than 110 new jobs to New Orleans, and Ruth's Chris has provided relocation assistance to several employees formerly based in New Orleans, giving them the opportunity to return to the city after being displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

As a celebration of its opening in New Orleans, Ruth's Chris supported St. Augustine High School's "Marching 100" and the New Orleans Hospitality Foundation through charitable pre-opening dinners held at the restaurant. Additionally, Ruth's Chris is holding an opening celebration on the Fulton Street corridor on May 16, with proceeds from admissions directly benefiting the New Orleans Hospitality Foundation.

Guests at Ruth's Chris New Orleans can enjoy New Orleans-inspired appetizers, aged USDA Prime steaks, fresh seafood, signature side dishes and homemade desserts, all complemented by an award-winning wine list and served with a Southern hospitality style service in an elegant yet comfortable atmosphere. For reservations, call 504-587-7099. The restaurant is open for breakfast Monday - Friday 7:00 a.m.-10:00 a.m., lunch Monday-Friday 11:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. and dinner Monday -Sunday 5:00 p.m.-10:30 p.m. Additionally, this location is open for Jazz Brunch on Saturday and Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Car-friendly design drives apartment project

Apartments planned at Carondelet site

Sunday, May 18, 2008

By Kate Moran

In a vacant and boarded up parking garage on Carondelet Street that has lately served as a canvas for graffiti artists, architect Marcel Wisznia sees the makings of an apartment building uniquely suited to accommodate the car.

The former Stephens garage sits on the fringes of the Warehouse District, one of the city's truly walkable neighborhoods, yet Wisznia envisions the building as providing the convenience of suburban, garden-style apartments in which residents typically can pull their cars right up to front door.

He plans to situate the apartments around the perimeter of the building, leaving an interior cavity on each floor where residents can park their cars outside the front door of their apartments. A vehicle elevator, outfitted with a flat-screen television, will carry cars up each of the five stories.

Daniel Weiner, one of the project's architects, said the unique design would allow residents to keep groceries or other items in the trunk without having to haul them by hand up an elevator or stairwell, all without the sprawling asphalt moats that typically surround a suburban apartment development.

The former Stephens garage rises four stories high, but Wisznia Associates plans to add a fifth story that will be slightly set back to preserve the building's original appearance. Built in 1951 as a Buick dealership, the garage has a mostly industrial look, but for a distinctive, scalloped canopy on the first floor.

Wisznia intends to reserve the first floor of the garage, 14,500 square feet in all, for retail, and his firm has spoken with several gourmet groceries about occupying the space. The remaining stories will each include 17 apartments and 20 parking spaces.

The apartments themselves will range in size from 750 square feet for a one-bedroom to 1,150 square feet for the largest two-bedrooms, though they are designed to feel much larger. Most of the walls inside each unit will not be walls at all, but moveable parts that can be raised, lowered or slid from side to side to create varying levels of privacy and openness.

To separate the bedroom from the living room, Weiner designed a translucent partition that rolls up and down like a garage door. A series of sliding doors can open the bathroom completely into the bedroom or seal it off for seclusion. In yet another utilitarian feature, cabinets will comprise one wall of the bedroom.

Other than the demising walls, which separate apartment from apartment, nearly every internal divider will be prefabricated and trucked onto the site. Weiner described the apartments as a "kit of parts" that would produce much less construction waste than building on site would.

"It's going to be about efficiency," Weiner said. "It's very green and very environmental. We're trying to build apartments that have a flexible future."

On the roof of the building, Wisznia plans to install solar collectors that could produce enough energy to eliminate utility bills for his tenants. While residents might have to rely on traditional energy sources in cloudy weather, on other days the building could produce more power than it needs, resulting in what Wisznia called "net zero" energy usage.

Several of the parking spaces on each floor will come with plugs for recharging electric cars.

The Stephens building, situated at 848 Carondelet, had its last life as a parking garage, but it has been closed since Hurricane Katrina. Wisznia bought it in July for $4.9 million, and he plans to begin work on it late this year. The renovation has the potential to transform a relatively quiet block, as the Stephens garage is one of its largest buildings.

Wisznia said he would pour about $36 million into the building, with offsets from historic, new market and renewable energy tax credits. The apartments will rent at market rates.

. . . . . . .

Kate Moran can be reached at kmoran@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3491.

Ethics panel says N.O. developer can run city agency

by Jen DeGregorio

Thursday May 08, 2008, 9:16 PM

The Louisiana Board of Ethics said Thursday that Sean Cummings, a private developer who also leads a city agency called the New Orleans Building Corp., can continue to steer two public developments because he does not have a "substantial" financial interest in the projects.

Cummings owns more than a dozen properties in New Orleans, many of them near a 4.5-mile stretch of the Mississippi River he has pushed to redevelop as chief executive of the building corporation.

The Ethics Board voted unanimously Thursday to allow Cummings to continue to lead the development projects. However, the board asked Cummings to return for a review if his agency altered plans for redeveloping the riverfront or if NOBC's planned conversion of the World Trade Center into a hotel, apartments and cultural museum will affect his properties. Cummings must also return to the board if he amasses other real estate near the riverfront or the downtown high-rise.

Gary Elkins, one of Cummings' personal real estate attorneys and a contractual attorney for NOBC, defended Cummings' private development work, saying his client would not receive a "unique benefit" above other landowners near the riverfront. "There's nothing about the development of any of my properties that is contingent in my mind on this plan" to redevelop the riverfront, Cummings told the board. The board's ruling comes after three years of debate about whether Cummings' commercial real estate activities conflict with his position on the NOBC, which Mayor Ray Nagin tapped him to lead in 2003.

The Ethics Board first took a look at Cummings in 2005, after the City Planning Commission raised a question about properties he owns on Frenchmen Street, in the Warehouse District and in the 2900 and 3000 blocks of Chartres Street. Staff made recommendation The board initially ruled that Cummings' possessions did constitute a conflict.

However, the board reversed course when Cummings appealed, asking him to return for another opinion when NOBC finalized its riverfront plans. With the Reinventing the Crescent plan in hand, Cummings asked the board in February for another opinion.

The board heard his case at an April 10 meeting but deferred a decision until Thursday. A staff report for the April hearing recommended that board members bar Cummings "from participating in transactions involving the development of the Mandeville Street Wharf," a decrepit dock the NOBC plans to convert into a performance venue, and that stands just blocks from the Marigny warehouse at 501 Elysian Fields Ave. that Cummings recently purchased.

The staff report also said Cummings should recuse himself on matters involving the wharf and seek advice from the Ethics Board as the riverfront project unfolds. Staff changed the recommendation after meeting with Cummings in recent weeks and reviewing additional information, said Kathleen Allen, an attorney for the board.

Staff documents for Thursday's meeting said that Cummings' holdings did not represent a "substantial economic interest" in Reinventing the Crescent or the NOBC lease of the World Trade Center to a New York developer. Judge John Greene, vice chairman of the Ethics Board, said the board based its opinion on recommendations from the staff, which had access to information board members did not.

Another speed bump The board ruling came as good news to City Council President Arnie Fielkow, who said "it would have been a big loss" if the board asked Cummings to step down. "The riverfront project remains one of the most exciting projects this city has seen and is one which can energize an entire community for generations to come," said Fielkow, who also sits on the board of the NOBC.

If one Louisiana lawmaker gets his way, however, Cummings still may be asked to move aside. Rep. Juan LaFonta, D-New Orleans, has filed a bill that would prohibit boards and commissions in New Orleans from employing property owners whose holdings could become more valuable as a result of actions by that board or commission. LaFonta filed House Bill 82 in March in response to constituents' concerns about Reinventing the Crescent.

Although LaFonta claimed the bill did not specifically target Cummings, the developer has been virtually synonymous with the project for several years, and residents of the Bywater and other riverfront neighborhoods have expressed concern about his dual roles.

Jen DeGregorio can be reached at (504) 826-3495 or jdegregorio@timespicayune.com.

RECLAIMING THE RIVER:

An ambitious plan calls for opening the riverfront, but the port and some neighbors have other ideas

Posted by btheveno April 05, 2008 22:16PM

Just steps from New Orleans' famous open-air French Market, two working cargo docks stand between patrons and a view of the Mississippi River.

Sean Cummings, executive director of the New Orleans Building Corp., wants to tear down those barriers stretching roughly 2,000 feet near the foot of Esplanade Avenue. To Cummings, they are roadblocks to his goal of creating a riverside promenade where one can travel freely between the Jackson Avenue ferry and the Industrial Canal.

"You can imagine an extraordinary plaza .¤.¤. perhaps like Chelsea Pier in Manhattan," said Cummings, whose agency is overseeing Reinventing the Crescent, the plan to redevelop 4.5 miles of riverfront between Jackson and Poland avenues.

But Cummings is not the only one with his sights set on the French Quarter docks. The Port of New Orleans, which has agreed to sacrifice multiple other wharves to the Building Corp., has identified the property as a new headquarters for one of its most important tenants.

New Orleans Cold Storage, a poultry exporter now housed on the Industrial Canal, has had serious trouble since Hurricane Katrina. The storm blocked the main shipping channel to the canal, the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet, forcing the firm to truck its frozen chicken to ships docked on the river.

Business shipping out?

Without the new headquarters, port officials say the company may leave New Orleans. The loss would be acutely felt in a city that has lost a crop of maritime businesses since the 2005 hurricane.

"Our primary thrust is creating jobs," said Gary P. LaGrange, the port's president and CEO.

Jobs or no jobs, the wharves stand smack in the middle of the tract of riverfront the Building Corp. seeks to transform with Reinventing the Crescent. Just a stone's throw from one of the city's most famous landmarks, they represent prime real estate Cummings thinks should be used as open space for the enjoyment of tourists and locals.

"It's the most extraordinary view in the city," Cummings said of the docks, which offer a panoramic vision of the river and downtown skyline.

The fate of the French Quarter wharves has been a sore point since the Building Corp. and city began negotiating terms of the riverfront project with the Port of New Orleans.

The issue appeared to be resolved in late 2006, when Mayor Ray Nagin signed a contract with the port that allowed the city to develop nonmaritime uses at Piety, Louisa, Press, Mandeville, Market, Orange, Celeste and St. Andrew streets. Many of those docks date to the early 20th century and have fallen into varying states of disrepair.

The port made sure to hang on to active properties or those with promise. Temporary cargo space at Poland Avenue, for example, is slated to become a new cruise terminal and will remain under port control. The docks at Pauline, Congress, Desire and Erato streets will also stay under port authority.

The wharves near the French Market, called the Esplanade and Gov. Nicholls Street wharves, were given hybrid status. While the agreement says the wharves should remain active cargo sites, it also gives the Building Corp. a chance to pay the port to move.

Lobbying Legislature

Cummings hopes to invoke that clause as the Building Corp. prepares for the riverfront redevelopment. His agency is already lobbying the Legislature for money to help pay for the project, and Cummings said he hopes lawmakers this year will provide $30 million to build a home for New Orleans Cold Storage away from the French Quarter.

"It is less than an ideal location," he said.

For starters, Cummings thinks the exporting operation could create a traffic nightmare in the historic neighborhood known for its narrow streets. New Orleans Cold Storage relies on trucks to bring in chicken, which is later blast-frozen and shipped overseas. Trucks would flow in and out of the wharf complex through an opening near Elysian Fields Avenue.

Cummings also thinks the facility could create a "biohazard." After Katrina, 50 million pounds of chicken were left festering at the exporter's Industrial Canal warehouses, requiring a hazardous materials cleanup.

Neighbors who would like to see the docks remain in active commerce are skeptical of Cummings' concern, said Nathan Chapman, president of the Vieux Carre Property Owners Residents and Associates. A commercial developer, Cummings owns multiple properties in the city and some near the waterfront.

Cummings says his motives are pure. In fact he has requested an opinion from the state Board of Ethics, which is expected to issue an opinion on the matter this month.

"We are actively working with the port to find a more optimal location for their tenant," Cummings said.

Port not giving up

Port officials say they do not plan to hand over the wharves any time soon.

"We are not giving up Gov. Nicholls Street," LaGrange said. "Give us $80 million and we'll move it somewhere else."

The port has a few facilities farther upriver that could potentially accommodate New Orleans Cold Storage. But port officials contend the French Quarter wharves are in top shape and would be far less expensive to retrofit for the exporter than the port's other holdings.

The port already has money for New Orleans Cold Storage in the bag, in addition to whatever Cummings might secure to move the company out of the Quarter. The Legislature agreed in 2006 to give the port $30.5 million to build the company a new blast-freezer and other equipment to run its business at the French Quarter wharves. The port has already hired an engineer to begin designing the facility, which it hopes to complete in about two years.

But Cummings calls those plans "unacceptable," arguing that the cold storage facility would create a hiccup in an otherwise uninterrupted riverfront path.

"There is no way to go over it, around it or otherwise," Cummings said.

Indeed, pedestrians walking downriver along the Moonwalk hit a dead end at the Gov. Nicholls Street wharf, where waterfront access abruptly gives way to active docks, then miles of decrepit industrial space, overgrown grass and trash.

The Building Corp. has plans for the other side of the wharves reserved for New Orleans Cold Storage, beginning with the conversion of the burned-out Mandeville Street wharf into an outdoor performance venue. But Cummings does not think the commercial docks should stand between the developments on either side.

It's not that Cummings does not appreciate the Port of New Orleans. In fact, he likes the "authentic" nautical vibe from the passing ships and barges.

"I think it makes for a visually interesting experience to see these ships coming in," Cummings said. "New Orleans is about this rich legacy of a port city. We want the mix."

But port officials say the ships are good for more than aesthetic value, such as thousands of jobs and millions of tax dollars. They are also modern-day manifestations of the city's history.

"The port developed, and the people came to work at the port, and the city developed," LaGrange said. "It was part of the neighborhood."

But times have changed, and LaGrange is the first to admit that strategies once helpful to the port no longer work. As technology put cargo aboard ever-larger ships, the narrow, wooden wharves near the French Quarter became obsolete. One by one, active cargo docks turned over to other uses.

During the 1984 world's fair, once-bustling facilities at the foot of Julia and Poydras streets became exhibition space and are now stomping grounds for cruise ships carrying tourists. The Riverwalk mall, another outgrowth of the fair, became a permanent fixture on the waterfront.

As the downtown wharves became obsolete, the port turned more of its attention Uptown.

Port officials spent $100 million to develop a terminal at the foot of Napoleon Avenue to process containerized cargo, the long metal boxes used to transport everything from paper to clothing. The facility opened in 2004, and officials are now attempting to triple its capacity with a two-phase, $500 million expansion.

Despite the heightened importance of the Uptown cargo facility, port officials expect the French Quarter docks to play an important role in the future.

The port's footprint shrank dramatically after Katrina, leaving fewer options for cargo operations. The storm deposited silt along the Industrial Canal, rendering it too shallow to handle many of the ships that once called at the 5.5-mile waterway.

Entering the canal from the river is also difficult, due to an antiquated lock system that is too small to fit large, modern ships. With the canal blocked at both ends, maritime businesses have trickled out of city. The port has frantically tried to stanch the loss by making room for canal tenants on the river.

Residents of the French Quarter, Faubourg Marigny and Bywater neighborhoods have formed an action group called the Riverfront Alliance to lobby for a voice in the riverside development. According to leaders of the organization, neighbors would not mind losing some waterfront access for the sake of commerce.

"We would rather see real maritime activity continue on," said Chapman, with the Vieux Carre association. "It's really great to look at the end of the street and see ships there. It reminds you that you are in a river town."

Jen DeGregorio can be reached at jdegregorio@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3495.

NO BOOM, NO BUST

Foreclosure rates in Louisiana dwarfed by other markets

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

By Kate Moran

Louisiana never experienced the giddy highs that for a time made real estate investors rich in California, Florida and Nevada. It also never suffered the comedown that caused thousands of people in those states to lose their houses to foreclosure.

New data from a California research firm shows Louisiana had one of the lowest foreclosure rates in the country in January. Only 720 filings went on the books that month, compared to 57,150 in California, 30,170 in Florida and 14,700 in Texas, according to RealtyTrac.

Mortgage lenders and others say the numbers are a rare instance when Louisiana seems to have benefited from having a stable, even stagnant economy. While home prices in the state made steady, if unglamorous, advances of 5 percent to 8 percent a year, home values in California and other markets soared to unimaginable heights.

Some homeowners borrowed against the skyrocketing value of their houses. Now that home values are dropping, some owe the bank more money than their house is worth.

"In our state, we didn't have rapid appreciation of house prices. We never fell into the activity of pulling equity out of houses for purposes that were not sound," said Michael Nolan, chairman and president of Fifth District Savings Bank.

"Said another way, our economy here does not boom, and it rarely busts," Nolan added. "We just don't go through those economically advanced cycles, but we don't see many of the depressed cycles either."

Houses in Louisiana have generally retained their value as the national real estate market has chilled, said Sal Bernadas, president of the Louisiana Mortgage Lenders Association. That means owners have little incentive to walk away from a mortgage; they can usually just sell the house.

"In some areas houses are worth only 70 percent of what people paid for them, so they are turning in their keys and walking away. There is no reason for that in Louisiana," Bernadas said.

Others say Hurricane Katrina insulated Louisiana from the foreclosure crisis that has beset so many other states. The tide of insurance money and federal grants that poured in after the storm helped rescue owners who might have fallen behind on monthly mortgage payments.

"If there was any benefit at all to Katrina, it was the fact that the flood triggered the payment of benefits under the flood insurance policies that many people had, and that allowed them to pay off their mortgages," said Civil Sheriff Paul Valteau, who handles foreclosure sales in Orleans Parish.

Rick Sharga, vice president of marketing at RealtyTrac, said the lending industry placed a self-imposed moratorium on foreclosures in the New Orleans area for about a year after Katrina to give owners time to collect insurance money and grants.

While lenders have started to tighten the vise in recent months, Graham Arceneaux, a New Orleans attorney who works with local and national lenders, said many are still willing to work with struggling homeowners, especially if they show evidence that a Road Home grant is in the offing.

"If people apply for the Road Home, a lot of lenders put the foreclosures on hold," Arceneaux said. "If you can show them in any way, shape or form that you are making a conscious effort to resolve this, they're going to work with you. Some people just don't return any type of phone call or mailing."

The RealtyTrac data includes notices of defaults, notices of foreclosure sales and bank repossessions -- in other words, property in all stages of the foreclosure process. Not all of the 720 foreclosure filings that went on the books in January will end up as bank repossessions.

Arthur Sterbcow, president of Latter & Blum, said only 1,160 properties in Orleans, Jefferson and St. Tammany parishes were sold in foreclosures last year. Only 307 properties in those parishes were sold in foreclosures in 2006, when many banks were giving homeowners time to collect insurance money.

During the oil bust years of 1988 and 1989, there were about 5,000 foreclosure sales per year in Orleans, Jefferson and St. Tammany parishes.

"The majority of the states that had the big mortgage meltdown were overpriced, overvalued markets built on speculation," Sterbcow said.

"They came up with all these goofy loan programs to help support those artificial prices. They had no idea those loans were not supported by real users. We did not have the wild, crazy, nutty condo market or real estate market."

. . . . . . .

Kate Moran can be reached at kmoran@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3491.

Hyatt Regency set to Undergo Renovations

Posted by kquillen February 19, 2008 20:30PM

A developer plans to renovate the Hyatt Regency, the enormous, empty downtown hotel that struggled before Katrina because of its relative distance from the French Quarter and convention center, and brand it as a venue for small conferences.

The Hyatt was supposed to be the centerpiece of a jazz district that its former owner, a Chicago firm run by Laurence Geller, proposed to great fanfare after the storm. Geller never got the commitments he sought from city and state leaders, who would have had to move City Hall and other public buildings, and he finally unloaded the hotel in late December.

One of the investors who bought the hotel, Christopher Robertson, said his partnership plans to add 50,000 square feet of exhibit space and double the amount of ballroom space at the hotel, already the fourth largest in the downtown area. He said the additions would support two conventions at the same time, each with 600 guests.

"We feel like the city is very much in need of this additional hotel space to support the existing hospitality market," Robertson said. "We think we will add capacity that the city doesn't currently have for groups and small conventions."

Robertson approached a city board on Tuesday seeking a incentive that would freeze property taxes on the hotel at their current level, $837,000 a year, for 10 years and provide a lesser abatement for 10 years after that. He also requested the issuance of $165 million in tax-exempt Gulf Opportunity Zone bonds to support the renovation.

The Industrial Development Board granted preliminary approval to both proposals, but Robertson will have to pay for a cost-benefit analysis before the board takes additional action. One member, Raley Alford III, cautioned that other hotels have taken umbrage in the past when a potential competitor sought tax breaks.

"It's not a fair proposition for you to have an advantage given by the city that other businesses also trying to make it here do not have," Alford said. "We'd like to see who your competitors are and what they're paying in taxes."

The Hyatt sustained heavy wind and rain damage during Katrina, which blew out most of the windows in the north tower. Geller's firm, Strategic Hotels & Resorts, performed significant renovations in anticipation of launching a jazz museum next to the hotel, but the project never took wing.

Geller and company sold the hotel to Robertson's group, Poydras Properties Hotel Holdings, for $32 million late last year. Robertson said the partnership already has poured an additional $5 million into the building.

Robertson also owns the two office buildings on either side of the Hyatt -- 1250 Poydras and the Entergy building at 639 Loyola Ave. He has a business address in Little Rock, Ark.

He said Poydras Properties plans to open the hotel next year with 1,184 rooms, the same number it had before Katrina. The partnership also intends to move the hotel's entrance onto Loyola Avenue, where it will be more visible and accessible to guests.

"This has the potential to significantly assist in the recovery of the Central Business District," said Darrel Saizan Jr., a member of the Industrial Development Board. "The one problem the Hyatt always had is that it was in an obscure location and did not front on a major street."

The Hyatt is not the only major project that could help transform that section of downtown. On Thursday, the Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District plans to consider a proposal to hire a design consultant for the area between the Superdome and the New Orleans Centre -- a series of Poydras Street buildings that figured in Geller's aborted concept for the jazz district.

Back in October, the district voted to put down a refundable deposit to option the New Orleans Centre, which consists of three separate structures -- a 36-story office building formerly called Dominion Tower, a shopping mall, and a 3,000-car parking garage. Its members discussed several possible uses for the buildings, including state and city office space, entertainment, parking, housing and retail.

In other matters, the Industrial Development Board granted preliminary approval on Tuesday to a developer seeking a bond issuance and tax abatement to rehabilitate the former Sewell Cadillac building at 701 and 727 Baronne St.

Developer Angela O'Byrne said she planned to open up 40,000 square feet of retail space on the first floor that she hoped to lease to a grocery store. She would also open office space on the second floor for a few tenants who used to have space in the World Trade Center and offer parking on the third and fourth floors.

The building, near the intersection with Girod Street, is not even 50 years old, but O'Byrne said she plans to seek historic rehabilitation tax credits to help finance the renovation.

In additional matters, the board agreed Tuesday to negotiate tax abatements with Brian Gibbs, a developer seeking to build an apartment building at 930 Poydras, and with the development team behind New Savoy Place, one phase of the renovation of the Desire public housing development in the Ninth Ward.

Kate Moran can be reached at kmoran@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3491.

OPENING THE DOORS

Poydras St. office soon to start selling spots in Trump tower

Friday, January 25, 2008

By Kate Moran

Business writer

In the latest sign that the Trump International Hotel and Tower planned for downtown New Orleans may be moving forward, the son of real estate magnate Donald Trump paid a visit to New Orleans on Thursday and said his company would launch a national push for buyers in the second quarter of the year.

When it is eventually built, on top of what is now a parking lot, the 70-story tower will be the tallest building in the city and only the second residential building on Poydras Street. It will include 290 condos and 435 condominium-hotel units that owners can rent to visitors when they are out of town.

Trump announced his involvement in the project days before Hurricane Katrina, and his son, Donald Trump Jr., said during a visit to town Thursday that a sales office would open in two weeks inside the Pan American building at 601 Poydras, next door to the planned condominium tower at 555 Poydras.

Construction will begin when half the units in the building are sold.

Donald Trump Jr. said the condo-hotel units should appeal to executives from the energy sector who visit New Orleans regularly and want to keep a pied-a-terre in the city. With the dollar weak and interest rates low, Trump also expected investors from Europe and Latin America to buy inside the building.

He said well-heeled locals, especially those with grown children, might also consider moving downtown. Condos and condo-hotel units will start at $400,000 for a studio and top out at several million dollars for a penthouse.

"There is a natural cycle we have seen in the market where baby boomers no longer want a home where they have to worry about leaky pipes and mowing the lawn," Trump said. "They are migrating to condominiums in urban areas."

Cliff Mowe, one of the tower's developers, said Thursday that the building would include retail space on the ground floor, followed by 15 floors of parking and a sky lobby on the 17th floor. The condominium-hotel units will occupy the next 15 floors, followed by traditional condos on the uppermost stories.

The $400 million building will have two rooftop pools, one for all occupants and one for condominium owners only. Mowe said there will be separate entrances and elevators for hotel guests to ensure the privacy and security of full-time residents.

. . . . . . .

Kate Moran can be reached at kmoran@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3491.

Developers begin sales at Trump tower

Posted by The Times-Picayune January 24, 2008 4:17PM

Categories: Breaking News

By Kate Moran
Business writer

The development team behind Trump International Hotel and Tower, the first high-rise planned for Poydras Street in decades, will begin selling condominiums in about two weeks before launching a national push for buyers in the second quarter of 2008.

When it is eventually built, on top of what is now a parking lot, the 70-story tower will be the tallest building in the city and only the second residential building on Poydras Street. It will include 290 condos and 435 condominium-hotel units that owners can rent to visitors when they are out of town.

Real estate magnate Donald Trump announced his involvement in the project days before Hurricane Katrina, and his son said during a visit to town Thursday that a sales office would open in two weeks inside the Pan American building at 601 Poydras, next door to the planned condominium tower at 555 Poydras.

Construction will begin once half the units in the building are sold.

Donald Trump Jr. said the condotels should appeal to executives from the energy sector who visit New Orleans regularly and want to keep a pied-a-terre in the city. With the dollar weak and interest rates low, Trump also expected investors from Europe and Latin America to buy inside the building.

He said well-heeled locals, especially those with grown children, might also consider moving downtown. Condos and condotel units will start at $400,000 for a studio and top out at several million dollars for a penthouse.

"There is a natural cycle we have seen in the market where baby boomers no longer want a home where they have to worry about leaky pipes and mowing the lawn," Trump said. "They are migrating to condominiums in urban areas."

Cliff Mowe, one of the tower's developers, said Thursday that the building would include retail space on the ground floor, followed by 15 floors of parking and a sky lobby on the 17th floor. The condominium-hotel units will occupy the next 15 floors, followed by traditional condos on the uppermost stories.

The $400 million building will have two rooftop pools, one for all occupants and one for condominium owners only. Mowe said there will be separate entrances and elevators for hotel guests to ensure the privacy and security of full-time residents.

Kate Moran can be reached at kmoran@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3491.

PATIO MAKES A PERFECT PARTY PLACE

Saturday, January 05, 2008

JEWEL BUSH

THE HOME: A 1,500-square-foot condominium downtown in the Cotton Mill

THE OWNERS: Karen and Andy Sepko

THE SPACE: A 500-square-foot outdoor patio

WHY THEY LOVE IT: 'This outdoor space really complements the pure city lifestyle I enjoy,' Karen says.

CITY LIFE: Karen Sepko is a condo kind of gal.

She adores her digs in the Cotton Mill, which, more than 100 years ago, was the site of a real cotton mill. She and her husband, Andy Sepko, can walk to Saints games as well as Hornets games. Fabulous restaurants are nearby, and many of Karen Sepko's favorite spots are a quick bike ride or stroll away.

The ambiance of the Cotton Mill, she said, is beyond charming.  From industrial art in the courtyard to the awkward nooks and crannies that served specific functions in the manufacturing days long ago, it's as if the warehouse is telling stories of its past. The site dates to 1719, when Gov. Jean Baptiste Le Moyne Bienville owned the land. It changed hands several times, and the Maginnis family purchased it in 1881, erecting the first cotton mill a year later.

The Sepko's 1,500-square-foot residence once served as the mill office.

"There's nothing quite like this place," said Sepko, a real estate agent. "When I first saw this space, I decided I must have it. I loved the old exposed brick, high ceilings, seven original windows, old wood floors and awesome outdoor patio."

PERFECT PATIO: The 500-squarefoot patio under their condo space -- storage before the storm -- has taken on a new life post-Katrina. For the couple, who love to entertain, it's now the perfect gathering spot.

They have pre-game football bashes, Mardi Gras parade parties, crawfish boils and whatever else comes along that gives them a reason to entertain.

The impetus for turning the space into prime party real estate "all started with that window," Sepko said, pointing to the 15 1/2-foot window that faces the courtyard.

CREATIVE REUSE: Now draped in floor-to-ceiling curtains, it was an archway leading to the courtyard before Katrina. After the storm, the Sepkos inserted an old Cotton Mill window there, giving birth to the patio party space that looks out on the complex courtyard.

The concrete floors were stained brown and stenciled with fleurs-de-lis by Jon Podret.

"I originally planned to just stain the floor, but later decided to add the stenciled fleurs-de-lis to commemorate the city's rich history and to be a reminder of the resiliency of all the people who endured Katrina and stayed in New Orleans because they love the city and would not give up," said Sepko, who came to the city in 2002 by way of Ohio.

The patio also features an outdoor bar, refrigerator, microwave and a TV with outdoor stereo speakers. Rustic furniture complements Sepko's pet project.

"It's cool to live here and have so much history," she said. "It's my little piece of heaven in the middle of the city."

-- JEWEL BUSH

Condo hotel and tower on Royal to take shape

$50 million job to start in 2008

Thursday, November 08, 2007

By Jaquetta White

Construction on a $50 million project to renovate a long-vacant Royal Street hotel into a luxury condo hotel is set to begin early next year, the developers said.

Developers Angelo Farrell and Lee Laporte, doing business as Royal Cosmopolitan LLC, also announced this week that they have hired Salamander Hospitality LLC of Virginia to operate and manage the site.

The Royal Cosmopolitan will be the state's first condo hotel and, when construction begins, the first new hotel project to break ground in the city post-Katrina, said Bill Langkopp, executive vice president of the Greater New Orleans Hotel & Lodging Association.

"This is to show the rest of the country that we are coming back," Farrell said. "We're coming back at a higher level of service and quality."

 Farrell and Laporte bought the more than 100-year-old Astor Hotel building at 121-25 Royal St. in 2005 for $3.2 million. They are spending $50 million to renovate the site, which has been closed for decades except for a few retail operations on the bottom floor. The plan also calls for building a new 26-story, 259-foot tower behind it, in the middle of the block bounded by Royal, Canal, Bourbon and Iberville streets.  

The 131-room Royal Cosmopolitan will be a condominium hotel, or "condotel," which means its rooms are available for sale as condominiums but the buyers can share in the revenue from guests who stay there when they don't.

 The project first became public in 2005, when a version of it won approval from the City Planning Commission, the Central Business District panel of the Historic District Landmarks Commission, and the City Council with no opposition from French Quarter residential and preservation groups. That proposal was for a 17-story, 178-foot tower, a building only slightly taller than the Astor Crown Plaza in the same block.  

But after Katrina, the developers went back to those groups asking to increase the height of the unbuilt tower by nine floors, to 26, because they needed to increase the number of rooms and suites from 80 to 152 to cover construction costs that had risen by 35 percent to 40 percent since Katrina. The new 268-foot proposed tower would be significantly taller than the Astor Crown Plaza.

 That proposal drew objections from French Quarter preservation leaders and two City Planning Commission members, but it eventually was approved in a 6-2 vote by the planning panel and unanimously by the landmarks commission in December 2006. The project also won unanimous support from the City Council in February after the developers made a last-minute decision to reduce the structure's height from 268 feet to 259 feet.  

Previous attempts to rehabilitate the hotel failed to gain either financing or city approval.  

The condotel is scheduled to open in early 2009. It will feature 107 condominium suites and 24 guest rooms in the original building. The units range in price from $349,000 for the smallest one-bedroom unit to $879,000 for a penthouse suite.  

The property also will feature valet parking, a skytop bar and lounge, and an infinity pool.  

The hotel will employ about 600 people during the construction phase and 250 when it opens.

The property will be managed by Salamander Hospitality LLC, a Middleburg, Va., firm created by Sheila Johnson, a co-founder of Black Entertainment Television and president of the WNBA's Washington Mystics. Salamander owns and operates the Woodlands Resort & Inn near Charleston, S.C., and has plans to manage another condo hotel in Virginia. Johnson said she sees the Royal Cosmopolitan as a catalyst for continued development in New Orleans.

 "The project in New Orleans is one we are very excited about," Johnson said, adding that she plans to buy a unit. "By stepping in, we're helping in a small way but in a grand way to bring the city back." . . . . . . .

Jaquetta White can be reached at jwhite@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3494.

Hyatt on Poydras will be sold

Jazz center plan never materialized

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

By Greg Thomas

The Hyatt Regency Hotel on Poydras Street , once the focal point of a sweeping downtown revitalization plan that would have created a National Jazz Center and park, will be sold for $32 million.

A local corporation known as Poydras Hotels Development LLC is buying the hotel, according to a statement issued Tuesday night by Strategic Hotels & Resorts, the Chicago-based company that currently owns the Hyatt.

Strategic spokesman Jim Prendergast said he could not confirm who the principals of Poydras Hotels Development are.

But according to records kept by the Louisiana Secretary of State, Poydras Hotels is controlled by Berger Management Corporation, the director of which is local developer Darryl Berger.

The 31-story hotel, the largest property in the Hyatt chain, never reopened after Hurricane Katrina. The 2005 hurricane smashed hundreds of windows in the building and flooded the area around the 1,184-room hotel.

Soon after the storm, Strategic Hotels, led by CEO Laurence Geller, initiated plans to convert the New Orleans Centre shopping mall and other nearby properties into a modern 20-acre National Jazz Center and park. The plan also called for a $700 million redesign of the Hyatt.

But the grand vision soon crumbled.

Over the summer, a frustrated Geller said he was tired of waiting on help from New Orleans and state officials. Rather than undertake the full project, Geller said he would instead repair the Hyatt and sponsor the National Jazz Center , a modern jazz museum, teaching facility and venue to be run by the nonprofit New Orleans Jazz Orchestra. The center was to be located at the corner of Poydras and LaSalle streets and be connected to the Hyatt.

Geller said in the statement Tuesday night that architectural plans for the jazz center, designed by award-winning architect Thomas Mayne, will be donated to the museum in hopes that that component of the revitalization plan may one day be realized.

Strategic Hotels & Resorts acquired the Hyatt Regency New Orleans from The Prudential Insurance Company of America in 1997, but the hotel struggled with its location.

The Hyatt had been built next to the Superdome with the idea that a convention center would soon be established nearby. Instead, the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center was built along the Mississippi River .

Over the years, Hyatt had looked with concern as new hotels and tourism became concentrated around the Convention Center, downtown and French Quarter, stranding the Hyatt as an island by the Superdome and New Orleans Arena.

Geller said he came up with the idea for the downtown revitalization program while brainstorming about how to better position the hotel after the storm.

. . . . . . .

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

N.O. board gives OK for $75 million bond sale

Design work may take up bulk of money

Thursday, September 20, 2007

By Bruce Eggler

Staff writer

After months of delay, a city board voted Wednesday to sell $75 million in bonds for streets and other capital improvements, the first installment in a $260 million bond issue authorized by voters in 2004.

The sale, the city's first since Hurricane Katrina, is scheduled for Oct. 17.

The interest rate cannot exceed 5.5 percent. The $75 million has been considered a key source of financing for Recovery Director Ed Blakely's ambitious plans.

But under plans presented to the board by Mayor Ray Nagin's administration, most of the money apparently would be used for architectural and engineering work, not construction. In many cases, FEMA money is expected to pay for construction.

Of about $25 million designated for streets, for example, only three projects would be assured of construction money from the bond issue: $4.4 million for Downman Road, $3 million for Woodland Drive and $2.8 million for Wisner Boulevard.

Dozens of city buildings, playgrounds, community centers, libraries and other facilities are in line for the other $50 million, with much of the money expected to go for design work and some for repairs.

Major beneficiaries would include the Criminal District Court building, $1.75 million; police headquarters, $975,000; Armstrong Park, $2 million; the Theatre of the Performing Arts, $850,000; the New Orleans Museum of Art, $1.8 million; Brechtel Park golf course, $2.3 million; City Hall, $1.5 million; Pontchartrain Park, $2 million; the Lyons Center, $1.5 million; the Treme Community Center, $1.8 million; Joe Brown Park, $1.5 million; the main public library, $2.1 million; and Milne Boys Home, $1.775 million.

The Board of Liquidation, City Debt, the agency that oversees the city's bonded indebtedness, authorized the sale unanimously Wednesday.

The board had first been scheduled to vote on the sale in June, but the vote was delayed repeatedly while the board waited for a list of the projects and completion of the city's 2005 financial audit. Before voting, City Council President Arnie Fielkow, one of two council members on the board, wanted assurance that the full council will be able to vote on the list of projects.

Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Cynthia Sylvain-Lear said the council will have to vote to appropriate the money as part of the city's capital budget.

Under the law, bond money must be spent as outlined in the original ballot proposition.

Before voters approved the bond issue in 2004, Nagin's administration specified 130 streets, public buildings, parks and libraries that would get the money, but only a handful of them were listed on the official ballot proposition.

There had been discussion in recent months of redirecting some of the bond money to projects considered more critical to the city's recovery than those planned before Katrina. But Meredith Hathorn, one of the city's bond attorneys, said the list of projects proposed by the administration conforms with the ballot proposition.

Because of its poor credit rating since Katrina, the city plans to break with past practice and try to buy insurance on the bonds before selling them. The insurance, expected to cost a few hundred thousand dollars, would let the city sell the bonds as if its credit rating were AAA, the highest possible.

Two bond rating agencies have set New Orleans' rating at the low end of the investment-grade spectrum, but Standard & Poor's continues to rank the city below investment-grade.

Peter Kessenich, a financial adviser who has worked with the city for many years, said Standard & Poor's has refused to upgrade the city's rating, rejecting his argument that the Board of Liquidation's ability to levy a tax millage to pay off the city's bonds is not affected by problems facing the city's general fund.

Even so, he said, "If we get the (bond) insurance, we're home free."

Hathorn said the 5.5 percent maximum rate is "relatively decent."

The 2004 election authorized the city to issue up to $260 million in 30-year general obligation bonds at interest rates not to exceed 9 percent per year, "for street improvements and for acquiring, constructing, improving, equipping and/or renovating parks and recreation facilities, public libraries and public buildings." It said $162.9 million of the total would be spent on streets.

. . . . . . .

Secret deal falls short of illegal

City didn't make promises on zoning

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

By Bruce Eggler

Staff writer

Lawyer and developer John Cummings was ready to drop a bombshell.

Turning to address the crowd gathered Monday night in Gallier Hall to discuss City Councilwoman Stacy Head's plan for a temporary moratorium on tall buildings in the Lafayette Square neighborhood, Cummings said Head's plan was illegal.

Just as illegal, he said, as a secret agreement that the City Planning Commission signed a year ago in which it promised to support a zoning change for property along Convention Center Boulevard, and also promised never to tell anyone about the agreement.

Many in the audience gasped and blinked in astonishment, though Planning Commission staff members quickly shook their heads to say they had never done any such thing.

Like many bombshells, Cummings' revelation turned out to amount to less than he claimed, although some of what he said was correct.

The "confidential settlement agreement" he held up resulted from a dispute over plans for the Tracage, a high-rise condominium tower next to the east bank Crescent City Connection approaches, that some neighbors said would be drastically out of scale with the nearby Warehouse District.

The 24-story, 288-foot-high building was to be built at 1100 Annunciation St., next to the low-rise Lengsfield Lofts condo building at 610 John Churchill Chase St. The site is just outside the historic part of the Warehouse District.

At a City Planning Commission hearing on the project in June 2006, residents of the smaller lofts building led the opposition to the Tracage project, but by the time the council voted two months later, all but one of the residents had agreed to drop their opposition.

Keith Perrin, president of the Lengsfield Lofts owners association, said his group had come to an agreement with the developers on issues such as possible damage to the smaller building during construction.

Head, whose council district includes the site, made clear she was not happy with allowing so tall a building near a low-rise historic district. But she said the zoning at the site imposed no height limit -- in fact, that was why the developers chose it -- and the city needed to have "consistent and predictable" zoning rules that developers can count on.

At her behest, the council approved plans for the project 6-0.

Head also said at the time that she might ask the council to pass a moratorium imposing a temporary height limit in the neighborhood.

The confidential document that Cummings unveiled Monday spelled out the agreement that Perrin had referred to, including promises by the Tracage developers to pay about $250,000 to the Lengsfield Loft residents.

The developers also promised they would not oppose any temporary or permanent rezoning that would impose a 100-foot height limit in the few blocks, including the Tracage site, that, through an apparent glitch in zoning years ago, have had no height limitation, although nearby parts of the Warehouse District have a 100-foot limit.

That area is bounded by Convention Center Boulevard and Andrew Higgins, Annunciation and Calliope streets.

Most of the parties to the agreement signed it in September 2006, a few weeks after the City Council approved the Tracage project.

Three months later, Lisa Schneider, a deputy city attorney, added her signature. The city was involved because the Lengsfield Lofts owners, during their dispute with the Tracage developers, had challenged the validity of zoning waivers -- later withdrawn -- that the Board of Zoning Adjustments had approved for the project. Schneider serves as counsel to the board, which operates under the aegis of the City Planning Commission.

Contrary to Cummings' statement Monday night, the agreement, even with Schneider's signature, did not commit the city to any position on the rezoning issue.

But Cummings was right about the secrecy provision. Under the agreement, "all parties" promised "that they will keep confidential all information about the terms, amounts of settlement payment, and existence of this agreement, and agree not to disclose any such information to anyone" except Lengsfield Lofts tenants "or as may be required by law." They also could tell council members they had an agreement but not show them a copy or go into specifics.

The reason for all the secrecy is not explained in the agreement, which appears to have been negotiated primarily by Russ Herman for the Lengsfield Lofts residents and Gary Elkins for the Tracage developers.

The city attorney's office did not respond Tuesday to a question about its position on such confidentiality provisions.

A few months after it voted on the Tracage project, the council, at Head's request, passed a one-year moratorium setting an 85-foot height limit in the area that formerly had no limit. The council passed the moratorium without sending it to the Planning Commission for a formal review, as is required for permanent zoning changes.

Cummings, who owns property in the area affected by the moratorium, did not explain how he got a copy of the supposedly secret agreement.

. . . . . . .

Developers to ask city for tax break on hotel

Piazza d'Italia plan runs into call for moratorium

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

By Greg Thomas

Real estate writer

The developers of the Loews Hotel New Orleans will ask the Industrial Development Board today to approve tax subsidies so that they can build two new hotels even as the Bureau of Governmental Research calls for a moratorium on all such property tax breaks.

The two hotels, which would together account for 300 rooms and include a 10,000-square-foot restaurant, would be in the same block as the Loews Hotel but on the other side of the Piazza d'Italia, an architectural park renovated when the developers built the Loews.

The two hotel buildings would round out development of the city-owned property that developers Darryl Berger, Roger Ogden and Steve Rittvo have a 99-year lease on. The developers have long had plans for the site surrounding the architectural monument. They say they could build the new hotel as long as they are granted tax-exempt GO Zone bonds and a payment in lieu of taxes, or PILOT, which would freeze property taxes at predevelopment levels.

This is the second major project in as many weeks that Berger and Ogden have introduced and are seeking tax help on. Berger and Ogden are also proposing a massive high-rise hotel at Canal Place . For that project, the developers are also seeking $190 million in GO Zone bonds and a PILOT.

The repeated requests by Berger, Ogden and other developers for tax breaks on the new construction projects they are planning has raised the ire of BGR Executive Director Janet Howard.

In a statement released Monday, Howard cited a "massive surge" in developer requests for tax breaks. "Negotiating taxes is rapidly becoming standard procedure for new projects in New Orleans ," Howard wrote.

By awarding tax breaks to projects that don't really need them, the board is whittling away the city's tax base, said Howard, who does not take issue with the award of GO Zone bonds.

Jim Thorns, president of the Industrial Development Board, defended his group Monday. "The city is not losing a penny in the projects operating or under consideration, because more taxes are being received than before" the subsidy, he said.

The IDB has also been working on more standard policies and procedures so that it can more thoroughly vet the many applications it receives from developers seeking tax help. "We're working through procedures and policies, but BGR is just a big distraction," Thorns said.

Developers, including Berger and Ogden, say the tax breaks awarded by the board are crucial for getting their deals off the ground. PILOTs and tax-increment financing agreements, in which a portion of the future sales taxes generated from the new project are used to cover development costs, are especially important to developers because GO Zone bonds are likely to be difficult for developers to obtain. Fierce competition for GO Zone bonds, which the Industrial Development Board gives preliminary approval for, has left that pool of money in short supply.

GO Zone bonds or other subsidizes are essential for any large projects, Berger said.

But Howard says developers are relying too heavily on PILOTs and tax-increment financing.

Prior to Hurricane Katrina there were three active (tax-increment financing arrangements) in New Orleans and 11 active or approved PILOTs, Howard said.

The number of PILOTs has since risen to 16, and there are currently 48 requests for PILOTs pending before the board, Howard said.

"The men and women . . . on (the Industrial Development Board) endure such hard work in trying to rebuild this city, and they have to listen to the chronic belly aching from BGR without a single bit of positive contribution," Thorns said. "It's pathetic. BGR should close its doors and get out of the city if they're going to get in the way of those trying to rebuild New Orleans ." "Right now the IDB is the only agency working its tail off to get to rebuilding," Thorns said.

. . . . . . .

Apartment project spans 2 buildings

437 units, retail space part of plan

Saturday, September 08, 2007

By Greg Thomas

A Dallas development firm has proposed converting 225 Baronne St. and 305 Baronne St. into apartments and connecting them with a sky-bridge over Gravier Street .

The proposed $150 million conversion would be the first use of the 29-story 225 Baronne St. office building since Hurricane Katrina. The total project would create 437 apartments, retail space and an adjoining 550-space garage.

Apartment Development Services Ltd. has received preliminary approval for $150 million in Gulf Zone Opportunity Act tax-exempt bonds from the Industrial Development Board of New Orleans. The IDB still needs to conduct a cost-benefit analysis and give its final approval and it also needs preliminary and final approval from the Louisiana Bond Commission. At its last meeting, the IDB board voted to give preliminary approval to numerous projects to get them in line for the a slice of the original $7.9 billion in Go Zone bonds established for economic investment and repairs.

As of this week, 92 projects, utilizing up to $7.5 billion in Go Zone bonds, have received preliminary or final approval from the Louisiana Bond Commission for projects across the state.

Apartment Development also seeks a 20-year payment in lieu of taxes, or PILOT, which would freeze property taxes at pre-development levels for the three buildings involved: the 29-story tower at 225 Baronne St. , the 10-story 305 Baronne St. office building built in the early 1900s and the Clark Parking garage at 930 Gravier St .

305 Baronne has received preliminary approval for historical tax credits.

Apartment Development officials have not returned phone calls over the past few weeks to discuss the project. Details filed with the Industrial Development Board show projected rents between $1.70 per square foot and $2.40 per square foot per month, meaning from $1,360 to $1,920 for an 800-square-foot apartment, though in its proposal Apartment Development gives no specific sizes or amenities for the apartments.

The proposal says that because of rising construction and labor costs, the project would be impossible without the property taxes being frozen for 20 years at their present level.

Records show the bonds would go toward acquisition and renovation of the structures. The 225 Baronne St. building is one of the few 1960s-era office buildings that was not converted to hotel or residential space during the hospitality construction boom that began in the mid-1990s.

The plan calls for the ground floors of all three buildings to be used for retail or office space, while upper floors will be converted to apartments, except for the garage.

Apartment Development's application to the IDB shows that conversion of 225 Baronne would cost $108.2 million, 305 Baronne would cost $19.5 million, and the Clark Garage and the sky-bridge that would connect the buildings, $22.2 million.

The office tower contains asbestos and will require substantial remediation, according to documents filed with the IDB.

The buildings are owned by Continental Baronne Inc. and TCI New Orleans Properties. Apartment Development filed a letter of intent with the IDB from Continental and TCI to sell the three buildings to the Dallas developer. The proposal called for work to begin in August and be completed June 2009. Mortgage and conveyance records, however, show no recent transactions for the properties.

Beeler Guest Owens Architects of Dallas has prepared renderings for the project, but records show no general contractor has been hired.

In addition to the Baronne Street projects, Apartment Developers is working on an unspecified 30-story tower on Rampart Street , according to its Web site.

Principals of Apartment Development are its founder, J.E. Woods Jr., managing director and chief executive officer, and Jarrett Woods, who is an analyst for development opportunities, brokerage and property management.

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New towers proposed for downtown N.O.

Woolworth , NOPSI redevelopments need financing

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

By Greg Thomas

Real Estate writer

Two redevelopment projects proposed for downtown New Orleans call for the construction of multistory towers that would house apartments, parking and retail space.

Metairie developer Mohan Kailas, in plans filed with the New Orleans Industrial Development Board, is proposing building two towers on either side of the old NOPSI building at 317 Baronne St. Separately, Kailas is planning to build a 550-space parking garage and a 200-foot apartment tower at the site of the closed Woolworth building at 1031 Canal St., which would be demolished to make way for the new structure.

During the 1960s the Woolworth building was the site of numerous sit-ins organized by civil rights workers attempting to end the city's segregation of lunch counters. Some of the original stools and counters are in storage and would be used in the project to memorialize the site's significance in the civil rights movement, Kailas said.

Both the Woolworth and NOPSI projects depend on the approval of Gulf Opportunity Zone Act bonds and a 15-year payment in lieu of tax arrangement.

The so-called PILOT program freezes taxes for properties at their predevelopment assessed value for the period of the bond issue. The projects are just two of 41 proposals to which the Industrial Development Board has considered awarding tax-exempt bonds and property tax breaks since Hurricane Katrina. Neither project will move forward if PILOT tax breaks are not awarded, Kailas said.

Denise Gaines, chief financial officer of Kailas Companies LLC, said the details of the Woolworth redevelopment will not be finalized until meetings are held with neighborhood groups to hear their concerns and desires. She said the height of the tower is flexible and could go higher or lower depending on how discussions with city and community leaders go.

Height is a sensitive issue because zoning along the French Quarter side of Canal Street limits building heights to 85 feet unless a waiver has been obtained from the City Planning Commission and the City Council. Kailas is hoping an agreement by a previous developer to build a structure higher than 85 feet there will pave the way for his project.

Developer Neal Hixon was near closing a deal in early 2006 to build a tower on the Woolworth site and had tentative cooperation from the Vieux Carre Property Owners, Residents and Associates Inc. and then-City Councilwoman Jackie Clarkson, who represented the area. Hixon initially sought a 240-foot tower, but an agreement was reached for a tower just under 200 feet. Hixon suddenly pulled out of the project, and Kailas and other family investors bought it from Thor Equities of New York.

In addition to parking and about 300 apartments, the Woolworth development also calls for first-floor retail space. The Woolworth project seeks $90 million in GoZone bonds.

The $55 million project next to the NOPSI site involves constructing a 10-story tower on the Baronne Street side of the building that would contain apartments. An eight-story building on the other side of the NOPSI building would house a robotic parking system with 160 spaces and upstairs apartments. The overall project would encompass 181 apartment units; Kailas said the robotic parking system literally lifts cars in boxes and racks them on containers.

The NOPSI building, which formerly housed a city-owned utility, qualified for both state and federal historic restoration tax credits. Kailas said both projects would be advantageous to the city because they offer additional parking. And the Woolworth building, near the Saenger Performing Arts Center at the corner of Canal and North Rampart streets, would help generate interest in reviving the city's theater district, he said.

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Canal Place hotel proposed

Developers request tax breaks, bonds

Saturday, August 11, 2007

By Greg Thomas

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.

. . . . . . .

Staff writer Bruce Eggler contributed to this report.

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

The 340-foot, 242-room tower would be built on the river side of the Wyndham Hotel at Canal Place , which also has retail and office space. [3447782]

Arts Light Up White Linen Night

Sean and be Seen

Thursday, August 02, 2007

By Roberta Grove

Tracage, a residential development project in the Warehouse District, recently hosted a reception celebrating its commitment to the arts. Tracage is among the many businesses that are sponsoring Whitney's White Linen Night.

Spokesman Anthony Iarocci is excited about his company's commitment to the New Orleans community. A Tulane University alum, Iarocci said he is "proud to play a role in helping to rebuild one of America 's truly great cities" and to support "one of the most popular art events of the year."

White Linen Night is presented every August by the New Orleans Arts District Association and produced by the Contemporary Arts Center . This year, 17 galleries and museums in the historic Arts District will open to the public on Saturday from 6-9 p.m.

Admission to the galleries is free and refreshments will be available for sale during the event.

I hope that everyone will come out and support the arts.

For information on White Linen Night visit www.cacno.org.

SUNDAY MUSIC WORKSHOPS

The Tipitina's Foundation is inspiring musicians of the future through its Sunday Music Workshops. Every week, local music students have an opportunity to gain valuable insight into their art through lectures, performances and jam sessions with some of the country's top music professionals.

Music of all genres is scheduled year round by workshop coordinator Deborah Vidacovich. If that name sounds familiar, it should. Deborah is the wife of renowned New Orleans drummer Johnny Vidacovich.

The concept of music workshops is not new, Deborah Vidacovich said. They date back to the 1990s when the sessions were originally funded by the state.

Today, Tipitina's operates and funds these workshops through their nonprofit foundation.

Several students who recently took advantage of Tipitina's free music workshops included brothers Lenton Smith, who plays trumpet, and Jared Smith who plays drums; Taylor Boillotat who plays alto sax and drummer Jose Bravo.

The experience ended with the opportunity to join the great Connie Jones and his all-star band on stage during a grand jam session.

"It is important to remember that the kids represent our music future," Deborah Vidacovich said.

The opportunity for a child to learn from acclaimed professionals can leave a powerful impression on budding young artists.

Please support this important effort by visiting www.tipitinasfoundation.org.

To learn more about the Music Workshop Series and the workshop schedule, please visit www.tipitinas homepage.

Music enriches our lives and is an important part of our city's cultural heritage.

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Planners unveil their ideas for riverfront improvements

Bywater apartments remain controversial

Sunday, July 29, 2007

By Bruce Eggler

Planners who have been studying ways to redevelop several miles of New Orleans ' east bank riverfront unveiled their recommendations Saturday, drawing a mostly positive response from a crowd of more than 200.

A team of local and nationally prominent architects and planners has been working on the plans for six months under a contract with the New Orleans Building Corp., a city agency.

The ideas presented Saturday in the planners' "final draft" were generally consistent with those they released in an interim report two months ago, though with some changes and refinements.

The most controversial recommendations continue to be some of those for Bywater, where the planners suggest that several mid- and high-rise residential buildings should be built in a large park that would replace the military facilities at the Port of Embarkation site between Poland Avenue and the Industrial Canal .

Some Bywater residents have been highly critical of the proposal, though others have praised the planners' overall recommendations for the neighborhood, which also include providing more parks and creating a road that would get riverbound traffic off Poland .

Other proposals presented Saturday include:

-- Celeste Park, a park that would replace several blocks of deteriorating wharves between Jackson Avenue and Market Street . It could include piers jutting into the river, a pavilion, a wetlands garden and performance spaces.

-- Nine Muses Square , a large inland park, perhaps with performance spaces, that would be created on the site previously slated for the now-shelved fourth phase of the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center .

-- A new hotel at the foot of Julia Street .

-- A redesigned Spanish Plaza that would connect directly with Canal Street . The adjacent ferry terminal also would be redesigned.

-- Broad steps or terraces leading down to the water at Spanish Plaza and an expanded Moonwalk.

A pedestrian bridge over the railroad tracks between Washington Artillery Park and the Moonwalk.

-- Portage Plaza , an opening cut through the warehouse on the Esplanade Wharf to provide views to the river from Esplanade and Elysian Fields avenues. The rest of the warehouse would remain in maritime operation, and a navigation beacon would be added.

-- An amphitheater or bandshell to be built at Bywater Point, the tip of land on the western side of the Industrial Canal 's juncture with the river.

The planners' overall goals include removing or minimizing physical barriers that restrict the public's access to the river; providing a continuous green space, with a pedestrian and cycling path along the entire riverfront, although there are areas where that path would have to move inland a block or more because of continuing maritime uses and homeland-security restrictions; creating "gathering places" that will encourage activity near the river; and building new architectural landmarks and residential buildings along the river's edge.

Billions in investment

Boston-based planner Alex Krieger, one of the consultants, said the team's recommendations, if all implemented, could create 4,500 permanent jobs, trigger $3 billion in private investment, increase the city's tax revenue by $40 million a year and encourage other projects such as expansion of the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts and construction of RiverSphere, Tulane University's proposed conference center, museum, classroom and research facility upriver from the Convention Center.

Krieger said work on some of the proposals could start quickly, and a lot of them could be in place by 2018, the city's 300th birthday.

The planners will present their final report, including financing strategies, timing and sequencing recommendations, and proposals on who should be in charge of the redevelopment, in October.

An expanded scope

The Building Corp. commissioned the $500,000 "Reinventing the Crescent" study after the city and the Port of New Orleans last year reached an agreement spelling out terms under which wharves no longer needed for cargo or other maritime activities can be put to public uses.

Under that agreement, the study was to encompass about 4.5 miles of wharves from Jackson Avenue to Poland Avenue . The planners decided to expand its scope to take in the area between Poland and the Industrial Canal , plus some modest suggestions for improving the levee across the canal in Holy Cross. They also made proposals for the Convention Center expansion site that seems likely to remain empty.

The area officially under study was only the river side of publicly owned wharves, from the floodwall to the water's edge, which amounts to 174 acres -- and only about 38 of those acres are considered suitable for building.

Krieger said the planners are recommending that 85 percent of the 174 acres remain open space.

Their recommendations do not include some of the more ambitious possible projects mentioned in the cooperative endeavor agreement between the city and the port, such as a "world-class performance venue" at the Louisa Street Wharf or another site.

The bandshell proposed at Bywater Point would be for community events, not professional productions.

Besides Krieger from Chan Krieger Sieniewicz, a Cambridge, Mass., planning and urban design firm, the planners leading the study include George Hargreaves of Hargreaves Associates, a San Francisco and Cambridge landscape architecture firm; Enrique Norten of TEN Arquitectos, a New York and Mexico City architecture firm; and Allen Eskew of Eskew + Dumez + Ripple, a New Orleans architecture and urban design firm.

As audience members entered the Port of New Orleans headquarters building Saturday morning, they were handed fliers issued by the Riverfront Alliance, a group of Bywater, French Quarter and Faubourg Marigny activists who have been critical of the proposal for residential towers in Bywater and what they said has been a lack of public participation in the planning process.

Later, there were murmurs of unhappiness from some in the audience when Krieger said the planners would propose changing zoning laws to allow taller and more massive buildings along the riverfront under some circumstances.

But when the planners finished a more than hourlong presentation, they received prolonged applause, and during a question-and-answer period several speakers praised the planners' ideas, though again there was some criticism of the Bywater proposals.

Among those in attendance, though neither spoke, were City Council President Arnie Fielkow and Councilwoman Stacy Head.

More information on the plan is available at www.neworiverfront.com.

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Troubled N.O. landmark auctioned off for $583,000

Plaza Tower is sold to mortgage holder

Friday, July 27, 2007

By Greg Thomas

You can buy a 44-story office tower in downtown New Orleans for $583,000 -- less than the price of some Uptown homes -- as long as you're willing to take on mold, leaks and faulty elevators.

And a Cayman Islands lender did just that Thursday when it bought the Plaza Tower , one of the most prominent and troubled fixtures of the New Orleans skyline, at public auction.

Plainfield Direct Inc., which holds a mortgage on the building that is in default, was the sole bidder on the property. Plainfield was represented by Tom Walper at the auction.

During the proceedings, a Blackberry to his ear, Walper uttered just one phrase: "583,000."

Civil Sheriff Paul Valteau, who conducted the auction, repeated the offer nearly a dozen times before ending bidding with the word "sold."

Though the $583,000 sales price seems remarkably low, it is actually much higher than the building's recent appraised value of $100,000. Valteau said that in his 27 years in office, he has almost never seen a major piece of the city's skyline appraise at such a low value. The building was appraised by Patrick Eagan of Latter & Blum Inc. Realtors.

The building at 1001 Howard Ave. , which opened in 1969, has been plagued from the get-go. It was designed as an office building with apartments in upper floors, but the residential aspect never took off.

The Plaza Tower 's last office tenants moved out in 2002 after years of complaints about physical defects, including rampant window, roof and pipe leaks that resulted in mold growth; faulty elevators that trapped workers; and asbestos that could easily be jarred loose and allegedly fell onto work spaces. Damage from Hurricane Katrina further reduced the building's value.

Two separate development teams have tried in recent years to convert the Plaza Tower into a condominium complex. Neither has succeeded, and one of the partnerships has dissolved into legal wrangling, with partners suing each other over Katrina-related insurance proceeds.

Carlos Hornbrook of PJM Safety Supplies LLC, an environmental mold remediation firm, said he has examined the building and thinks it would take at least $10 million to remove asbestos from the site, a process that must occur if the building is renovated or demolished.

Walper, who was chased down Loyola Avenue by a drove of television camera crews after Thursday's auction at Civil District Court, refused to answer any questions about Plainfield 's plans for the site.

But Plainfield 's interest in the property is clear. The company loaned more than $27 million to one of the development partnerships that had hoped to carve the structure into condominiums. That development team, which included former NFL Ravens player Michael McCrary and Baltimore developer Edward Giannasca, defaulted on their loan from Plainfield .

A lawsuit filed by local attorney Alan Goodman on behalf of Plainfield leaves open the door for the company to sue the previous owners for the loan's balance.

Goodman would not comment on the case Thursday.

Valteau said the $583,000 that Plainfield is paying for the Plaza Tower should be enough to cover a $576,876 delinquent property tax bill on the building.

Plainfield paid 10 percent of the building's purchase price Thursday. The balance will be due at a later date.

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Ferry Night festival takes flight Saturday

Bands, second-lines on both sides of river

Thursday, July 26, 2007

By Michael Molaison

New Orleans is known for its festivals, but Ferry Night on Saturday may be a first: a mobile festival that second-lines across the Mississippi and along both sides of the river.

Friends of the Ferry is sponsoring the festival to celebrate the return of the Canal Street-Algiers ferry to its pre-Katrina operating hours.

Fay Faron, president of Friends of the Ferry, said her passion for the ferry stems from her introduction to New Orleans long before becoming a resident.

"I first visited in the '70s," Faron said, "but I never found a place where I thought I could live. On one visit I crossed the ferry and discovered Algiers Point. There I could be a neighbor of the French Quarter and live in Algiers Point and have both a yard and a car."

The efforts of Friends of the Ferry began shortly after the filming of "Déjà Vu," starring Denzel Washington. At the time, the ferry was scheduled to be out of service for up to 30 days for the shooting of the scene in which the ferry explodes in a terrorist plot.

The Louisiana Department of Transportation Crescent City Connection Division ended up closing the ferry for 45 days for the movie. "Residents and businesses struggled through the delays because they were willing to sacrifice for the recovery of the city post-Katrina," Faron said. When the ferry returned to operation, the ferry closed operations at 8:45 p.m.

Friends of the Ferry organized to return the ferry to its pre-Katrina operating hours. Today, the ferry is running those pre-Katrina hours: 6 a.m. to 12:30 a.m.

For the Ferry Night party, Friends of the Ferry invites participants to dress as fairies (with wings) or even ferries (as boats) for Ferry Night.

Participants will enjoy discounts at French Quarter, Central Business District and Algiers Point cafes and bars.

Other events include a 5 p.m. second-line from the Canal Street ferry landing to the Moonwalk. As part of the celebration, participants will enjoy a blessing of the ferry, and Hillery's on Toulouse will provide Pink Ferrytinis, a drink created by Maria Stambaugh to commemorate the event.

The mobile festival will then second-line across the ferry and along the Mississippi levee to a Best Fairy Costume contest at Warren's Corner at Patterson Drive and Olivier Street in Algiers Point, where a lucky someone will be crowned 2007's "Pedestrian Fairy." Following the costume contest, the Bourbon Cowboys will perform at 7 p.m. and Westbank Mike will perform 9 p.m.

Faron said Friends of the Ferry and Ferry Night have been grass-roots efforts by residents and businesses. Lisa Carr helped identify sponsors for the festival, while Connie Burkes and Annette Watt have been instrumental with operations of Friends of the Ferry. Marilyn and Steve Enslow worked to secure a brass band for the second-line, and Lorraine Summers, a local artist, even held a one-day "Wing Workshop" on July 21 to help festival participants, both young and old, make fairy wings as part of their Ferry Night costumes.

Also, local nonprofit groups are pitching in to make the festival a success: Both the Algiers Point Association and Confetti Kids are donating money to the celebration. Old Point Bar will host the bands, Latter & Blum will pay ferry fares that evening and RZI Lighting is donating spotlights and a misting machine for the second-liners.

Faron said Friends of the Ferry plans to continue its efforts to keep the ferry operating for years to come. For more information about Ferry Night or Friends of the Ferry, contact (504) 363-9090 or see www.friendsoftheferry.org.

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CONDO WHEEZE

Sales of downtown units are tapering off as the supply thickens and second-home buyers look elsewhere

Friday, July 06, 2007

By Greg Thomas

Sales of condominiums are slowing as buyers of second homes turn their attention to other markets and as the mad scramble ends for housing after Hurricane Katrina.

The number of condos sold in downtown New Orleans during the first six months of the year fell to 103, down from 168 during the first part of 2006 and from 160 during the first part of 2005, according to figures released by the New Orleans Metropolitan Association of Realtors. The number of condos listed for sale dipped slightly as well, falling to 277 during the first six months of this year from 282 during the same period in 2006 and from 165 in 2005.

"I hate to tell you that there is a general slowdown in the condo market similar to the single-family market," said Elie Khoury, head of the KFK Group. "But from my perspective, condo sales are doing better than (single) family (home sales)."

Khoury converted the building at 1205 St. Charles into 221 condos in 2004 and is renovating and converting the historic former Krauss Department Store on Canal Street into condos and apartments.

The average sales price of the condos sold so far this year is $354,373, up from $296,583 during the same period last year and $269,871 during the 2005 period. But data on average sales prices can be skewed because of the diversity of local properties. For example, this year a $2.5 million One River Place condominium sold as well as a small condo at 814 Lafayette St. that went for $128,000.

Arthur Sterbcow, president of Latter & Blum Inc. Realtors, said that the area has a high concentration of condos for sale with asking prices between $401,000 and $500,000. In the past 90 days, only two condos in that price range have sold. At that sales pace, it would take 44 months to sell the existing inventory of condos priced between $401,000 and $500,000.

Condos priced between $180,000 and $350,000 are selling. About 41 units in that price category have sold during the past 90 days.

Wade Ragas, a real estate consultant with Real Property Associates, said it's no surprise that sales of higher-priced condos are slowing.

"A lot of the households that relocated are relatively affluent. They're the first group to go when anything upsets the economy. They're either moving out of state or in state but just not here" in Orleans Parish, Ragas said. The slowness in Road Home closings is also slowing down the condo market, he said.

Latter & Blum agent Glennda Bach worries that a flurry of recently announced condo projects will further increase the already-high number of units for sale.

Some proposed projects are already listing their condos for pre-sales, "and they just stay on the (market) forever," Bach said.

Bach and Isabel Reynolds of RE/MAX New Orleans Properties said condo sales got a boost in 2006 when many families displaced by Hurricane Katrina snapped up units to use as temporary housing. Sales have cooled this year, and they might slow even further this summer as potential buyers wait out the hurricane season.

In addition, second-home buyers, who represented a significant chunk of the area's condo buyers before Katrina, are not as interested in New Orleans , Reynolds said.

But Bach said she is just now beginning to see a return of one of the major driving forces behind condo sales in the Warehouse District market: medical students. "I've sold eight to medical students, and that's very strong" in the post-Katrina world, Bach said.

The New Orleans Metropolitan Association of Realtors report on condo sales does not count proposed projects seeking pre-sales.

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

Housing construction down in May

WASHINGTON (AP) — Construction of new homes fell in May as the nation's homebuilders were battered by the crisis in subprime lending and rising mortgage rates.

Housing, which is struggling through its biggest downturn in 16 years, is expected to continue to face troubles in the months ahead before starting to stage a sustained rebound in 2008.

The Commerce Department reported Tuesday that construction of new homes and apartments dropped by 2.1 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.474 million units, 24.2 percent below the level of a year ago.

The May decline was in line with expectations and reflected weakness in the South and West, which offset construction gains in the Northeast and Midwest .

Permits, considered a good barometer of future activity, rose by 3 percent in May but that followed a huge 7.1 percent plunge in April. The strength last month came from a rebound in permits for apartment construction, which can be volatile. Applications for single-family homes fell by 1.8 percent and have been down four of the past five months.

"The downward trend remains firmly in place and there is no prospect of any near-term relief, given the huge inventory overhang in the new home market," said Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist for High Frequency Economics.

On Wall Street, stocks eked out a modest gain. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 22.44 points to close at 13,635.42.

Home builders, struggling to reduce record levels of unsold homes, are slashing prices and offering a variety of sales incentives, such as kitchen upgrades and free decks, to do so.

However, they are facing new problems with the recent spike in mortgage delinquencies, which means more homes are being dumped on the market, and a steady rise in mortgage rates over the past month, with Freddie Mac's national survey for 30-year mortgages hitting an 11-month high of 6.74 percent last week.

The National Association of Home Builders reported its survey of builder sentiment sank in June to the lowest level in 16 years, a reading of 28, down from 30 in May. The three major components of the index — sales, sales expectations and buyer traffic — all posted declines. It was the lowest showing since February 1991, a period that covered the last major housing recession.

"The tightening in lending standards is having quite an impact," said David Seiders, chief economist for the home builders. He predicted that home sales would likely fall further in coming months with a sustained rebound not occurring until 2008.

Seiders said he looked for construction of new homes and apartments to decline by 22 percent this year after having fallen by 13 percent in 2006.

"We have rising interest rates, problems in the subprime market and tighter credit standards," said David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor's in New York . "Housing is going to get worse before it gets better."

It had appeared that the slump in housing was hitting bottom at the end of last year, but there has been a renewed drop in recent months triggered by problems in the mortgage industry. The level of late payments and foreclosures on subprime mortgages hit record highs in the first three months of the year, according to a survey by the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The percentage of payments that were 30 or more days days past due for subprime mortgages — loans made to borrowers with weak credit histories — rose to a record 15.75 percent in the January-March quarter.

Housing had enjoyed a five-year boom fueled by the lowest mortgage rates in four decades and soaring home prices that drove investors to get into the market. That boom ended in 2006 and since that time sales of both new and existing homes have been falling and home prices in the hottest markets are down as well.

Construction of single-family homes dropped 3.4 percent last month while construction of apartments rose by 3.1 percent.

By region of the country, construction activity fell by 19.7 percent in the West and 1.6 percent in the South. Construction was up 15.7 percent in the Northeast and 15.5 percent in the Midwest .

The steep slump in housing has weighed on the overall economy, dragging growth down to a barely discernible rate of 0.6 percent in the first three months of this year.

Warehouse to become entreprenurial housing

Historic properties to be developed using tax credits

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

By Greg Thomas

Two 19th century warehouses at St. Joseph and Constance streets are slated to be turned into a 61-unit, mostly affordable apartment complex geared toward artisans and entrepreneurs.

The renovation will set aside 7,500 square feet for retail space plus another 7,500 square feet for entrepreneurial meeting and seminar space that will be designed by the Idea Village , a nonprofit business start-up group. Idea Village is in negotiations to operate the entrepreneurial space, although a third party may be hired instead.

"This is specifically designed for entrepreneurs . . . and those that can take part in a vibrant entrepreneurial setting," said developer Jay Trevor of J&T Development LLC of Chicago. He said demand for such sites has soared post-Katrina as many creative, business or program-minded people no longer have work facilities, let alone homes.

"There's a real need for giving a spot to live downtown for . . .entrepreneurs and artists alike," said Trevor, whose firm specializes in the restoration of historic properties across the country. "We feel like this project will have overwhelming demand."

About 11 of the units will be rented at competitive market rates, while the balance will be affordable housing, thanks to a $1.25 million Low Income Housing Tax Credit that is worth $10.25 million over 10 years. The credit was approved by the Louisiana Housing Finance Authority.

Some $4 million in state and federal historical tax credits are providing equity for the $18 million project, which includes the acquisition costs of the buildings.

The affordable units will be open to tenants with households that earn less than 60 percent of the area's median income.

Local architectural firm Eskew+Dumez+Ripple of New Orleans is doing the design using the Idea Village 's concepts for the space in the complex. The architectural firm for the overall project is Sikes-Abermathie Architects of Omaha, Neb.

Mike Sikes said Monday that his firm specializes in historic restorations and has done several projects with Trevor.

The restoration will also follow green building principles, meaning it will be energy-efficient, and may seek Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, an unusual accomplishment for anything other than new construction.

"There's a real need for giving a spot to live downtown for . . .entrepreneurs and artists alike," said Trevor, whose firm specializes in the restoration of historic properties across the country. "We feel like this project will have overwhelming demand."

About 11 of the units will be rented at competitive market rates, while the balance will be affordable housing, thanks to a $1.25 million Low Income Housing Tax Credit that is worth $10.25 million over 10 years. The credit was approved by the Louisiana Housing Finance Authority.

Some $4 million in state and federal historical tax credits are providing equity for the $18 million project, which includes the acquisition costs of the buildings.

The affordable units will be open to tenants with households that earn less than 60 percent of the area's median income.

Local architectural firm Eskew+Dumez+Ripple of New Orleans is doing the design using the Idea Village 's concepts for the space in the complex. The architectural firm for the overall project is Sikes-Abermathie Architects of Omaha, Neb.

Mike Sikes said Monday that his firm specializes in historic restorations and has done several projects with Trevor.

The restoration will also follow green building principles, meaning it will be energy-efficient, and may seek Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, an unusual accomplishment for anything other than new construction.

The site takes up most of the river side of the block bounded by Andrew Higgins Boulevard and Constance, St. Joseph and Magazine streets.

The project also includes 401 St. Joseph St. , an industrial building across the street from the main building at 400 St. Joseph , a four-story former Woodward warehouse building currently occupied by Gulf Marine Inc..

Teragon Consulting LLC of Omaha is the contractor on the project.

. . . . . . .

N.O. Housing efforts are criticized

Council members say gutting order failing

Friday, June 01, 2007

By Bruce Eggler

A day after members of the New Orleans City Council aimed a barrage of criticism at the economic development programs of Mayor Ray Nagin's administration, some of the same members returned to the attack Thursday, this time targeting the administration's housing policies.

Unlike Wednesday's session, when the council largely avoided direct criticism of Director of Planning and Development Donna Addkison, who oversees both economic development and housing for the administration, Addkison was squarely in the line of fire Thursday.

For more than four hours, council members Stacy Head and Shelley Midura aggressively questioned Addkison and other administration officials about a variety of housing programs and policies, chiefly the Good Neighbor Program to promote the gutting and remediation of flooded houses.

During the meeting of the council's Housing and Human Needs Committee, Head and Midura repeatedly expressed frustration with what they viewed as Addkison's evasive answers and the administration's failure to follow through on promises to fix problems the council has complained about before.

"I keep hearing 'no, no, no, no, no, can't do it,' " an irate Midura said at one point.

Even so, the council members sought to avoid personal criticisms of Addkison's leadership.

The same was not true of local businessman Donald Vallee, who told the committee that the Nagin administration's housing officials are "the most dysfunctional group of people I have seen at City Hall" in 40 years. Then, speaking directly to Addkison, he said, "You have done a horrible job of managing this department."

Vallee is the head of a local landlords association, but he said later he was speaking for himself in his criticisms.

Addkison did not respond to his comments.

Although Head commended Addkison and other officials for "doing pretty well" in finally getting hundreds of administrative hearings held each month under the Good Neighbor Plan, Midura said the plan "is just not working. . . . These piecemeal efforts are not working. It's ludicrous."

Law called too lenient

Addkison replied that one of the problems with the program is the wording of a law passed by the council in August 2006, three months after Head and Midura took office.

The law, passed four days before the Aug. 29 deadline that the council had set in April 2006 for New Orleans

homeowners to clean, gut and board up their flood-damaged homes, kept the deadline nominally in place but in practice gave all owners more time to take care of their homes.

The revised law spelled out in detail the procedures to be followed in enforcing the deadline and the legal protections for homeowners, including a requirement that a list of reasons for hardship exemptions from the law "shall be liberally construed."

Addkison suggested that this type of "leniency" and other "unintended consequences" of the gutting laws passed by the council had hamstrung the administration's efforts to force homeowners to clean up their properties. The August law, however, was supported by the Nagin administration.

Call for cross-training

Head and Midura devoted most of an hour to criticizing the Good Neighbor Program's Web site, saying that much of the information on it is inaccurate, misleading or out-of-date and demanding substantial revisions to it.

Another major bone of contention was the administration's alleged failure to cross-train city inspectors from different departments so that the same person can check for several types of violations at an address, such as sanitation and health problems.

Addkison said the Civil Service Department has raised objections to that idea, but Civil Service Director Lisa Hudson said the problems were mainly procedural.

Midura pressed Addkison to set a deadline when the cross-training procedures will be in place, but Addkison refused to agree to one. Midura then said she wants an agreement by Sept. 1. "Frankly, I'm just sick of the excuses," she said, adding that the council will try to force the administration to implement the procedure if nothing happens soon.

Alberta Pate, who was in charge of housing programs for the Nagin administration until early 2006, showed up at one point, saying she had been watching the meeting on TV and wanted to set the record straight on a couple of points, such as how much money had been promised to a Gert Town revitalization initiative.

Pate also said that by working with the Civil Service staff, she had been able to get 43 positions reclassified in just a couple of months.

Head also raised the issue of the 26-story Dominion Tower office building across Poydras Street from City Hall, saying it is filled with trash and rats and needs to be gutted. If the city is going to prosecute "little guys" who don't gut and remediate their homes, Head said, "we need to pick on awful and irresponsible big guys too."

Addkison said the city can't cite the owner of the building, despite its hundreds of shattered windows and other problems, because a small part of it is being used as a medical clinic. Head said the clinic is in a separate building, not in the office tower, and the city therefore can cite the tower's owner, California investor Judah Hertz.

. . . . . . .

AP Centerpiece: New Orleans high-rises on hold as recovery crawls

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Lured by congressionally authorized tax credits and other financial incentives after Hurricane Katrina, a procession of developers announced plans to build high-rises.

But 20 months after the storm, most have fallen by the wayside. The slow pace of the recovery gets much of the blame. New Orleans still has no comprehensive rebuilding blueprint, and funding is falling far short of planners' expectations.

Adding to the tension for commercial investors: Construction and insurance costs have soared.

"There have been a lot of announcements, but you don't see a lot of cranes, do you?" said Michael Siegel, executive vice president of Corporate Realty Inc., a New Orleans-based brokerage. "I think we all underestimated how long this (the recovery) was going to take."

At least one big plan — a $400 million proposal by Donald Trump to construct the city's tallest building — is going ahead, although the only visible sign at the planned site of the Trump International Hotel & Tower is the tycoon's name painted on a brick-wall mural. Every weekday morning, cars fill the parking lot where the 70-story building is to be built.

Not to worry, said Trump's son, Donald Jr. The city's slow recovery, he said, hasn't derailed the plan to build more than 700 units of condos and hotel rooms in the city's central business district. A sales office is expected to open near the site in less than three months, he said.

But while the Trump proposal is making its way through the city approval process, most other projects have seen more hype than hard hats. Many have stalled or fallen apart.

David da Cunha, president of the commercial investment division for the New Orleans Metropolitan Association of Realtors, said many developers are waiting for government leaders to devise a clear rebuilding plan before they invest. "I think that's what is slowing things down," he said.

Redevelopment proposals are making their way through the city approval process, and the city's recovery director, Ed Blakely, hopes the pace of reconstruction will pick up by fall. Blakely envisions a $1 billion program of mixed-use redevelopment, but his funding source — the federal government — has only $117 million available for the task.

Doubts about the strength of the city's flood protection system also are weighing on developers' minds, said city planning administrator Arlen Brunson. When Katrina struck on Aug. 29, 2005, levees broke and flooded about 80 percent of New Orleans . The water extended well into the business district, and hurricane-force winds blew out windows in many high-rises.

The Army Corps of Engineers is pumping billions of dollars into flood protection improvements. But the Corps itself acknowledges some levees are not up to federally mandated standards set before Katrina.

The Trumps, at least, have not been deterred. "This is going to be a big statement for the city and its recovery," Donald Trump Jr. said recently. "It's not charity, but we do think it's one of America 's great cities and we want to be there to support it any way we can."

The Trump project is one of eight new luxury condo complexes, totaling more than 8,000 units, approved by the city planning commission since Katrina. At least one of those projects, Vantage Tower , has fallen apart.

In January 2006, Trey Cefalu announced plans to build the 25-story condo complex in the central business district. Prospective buyers reserved 105 of 219 units at Vantage Tower , but about half of them backed out after the developers raised prices to offset a 30 percent increase in construction costs.

Cefalu said he decided to shelve Vantage Tower in February.

"We're taking a wait-and-see attitude to see where construction costs go," he said.

Other developers say they aren't giving up on the market. The first high-rise project to break ground could be Tracage (the French word for "loft"), a 24-story condo complex planned for the Warehouse District.

Jason Voyles, the Jackson, Miss.-based developer of the $60 million project, said he acquired rights to the property before Katrina, but didn't close the deal until after the storm.

"We were committed to New Orleans and wanted to make it happen," Voyles said.

Voyles said he has pre-sold 65 percent of 126 units, which range in price from $266,000 to $2.5 million. Construction will begin sometime this fall, he added.

"We believe in the project. We believe in the city. We are not scared to take calculated risks," he said.

The city hasn't seen many commercially driven projects that match the scale of the residential high-rises proposed by Trump and other developers. A notable exception is a $715 million redevelopment announced last May by Strategic Hotels and Resorts, Chicago-based owners of the Hyatt Regency Hotel in New Orleans .

The company's blueprint called for opening a park, a National Jazz Center and government offices along with repairing and renovating the hotel, which is next to the Louisiana Superdome. The high-rise hotel was heavily damaged by Katrina, and is expected to reopen next year. Strategic hasn't set a timetable for construction on the rest of the project.

v Company chief executive Laurence Geller, said plans for the jazz center have been adjusted to reflect "all of the real estate hurdles we encountered." He described New Orleans as "a challenging city in which to get things done."

The city's overall rebuilding hasn't moved at the anticipated pace, but there has been progress, he wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

"We remain optimistic that the local, state and federal governments will act in concert and build momentum," Geller wrote.

Next to the Hyatt and across from the Superdome — the refurbished stadium that's perhaps the most positive symbol of the city's recovery — is a pockmarked office building that sends a very different message about progress in New Orleans.

The storm-shattered windows on Dominion Tower seem out of place at the heart of the city's bustling business district, where top-of-the-line high-rises have more tenants than before the hurricane. Market watchers say that's because many smaller or older office buildings have not been repaired.

The 26-story Dominion Tower , which includes the New Orleans Shopping Centre, is one of several office buildings owned by Judah Hertz. The Santa Monica, Calif.-based real estate investor said he will begin repairing broken windows soon, but doesn't have any firm plans to reopen either the office building or the shopping center. Macy's, the shopping mall's major tenant, has said it will not reopen its downtown store or another in suburban Kenner .

"We're just going over our different options," Hertz said.

Developers push projects in New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Lured by congressionally authorized tax credits and other financial incentives after Hurricane Katrina, a procession of developers announced plans to build high-rises.

But 20 months after the storm, most have fallen by the wayside. The slow pace of the recovery gets much of the blame. New Orleans still has no comprehensive rebuilding blueprint, and funding is falling far short of planners' expectations.

Adding to the tension for commercial investors: Construction and insurance costs have soared.

"There have been a lot of announcements, but you don't see a lot of cranes, do you?" said Michael Siegel, executive vice president of Corporate Realty Inc., a New Orleans-based brokerage. "I think we all underestimated how long this (the recovery) was going to take."

At least one big plan — a $400 million proposal by Donald Trump to construct the city's tallest building — is going ahead, although the only visible sign at the planned site of the Trump International Hotel & Tower is the tycoon's name painted on a brick-wall mural. Every weekday morning, cars fill the parking lot where the 70-story building is to be built.

Not to worry, said Trump's son, Donald Jr. The city's slow recovery, he said, hasn't derailed the plan to build more than 700 units of condos and hotel rooms in the city's central business district. A sales office is expected to open near the site in less than three months, he said.

But while the Trump proposal is making its way through the city approval process, most other projects have seen more hype than hard hats. Many have stalled or fallen apart.

David da Cunha, president of the commercial investment division for the New Orleans Metropolitan Association of Realtors, said many developers are waiting for government leaders to devise a clear rebuilding plan before they invest. "I think that's what is slowing things down," he said.

Redevelopment proposals are making their way through the city approval process, and the city's recovery director, Ed Blakely, hopes the pace of reconstruction will pick up by fall. Blakely envisions a $1 billion program of mixed-use redevelopment, but his funding source — the federal government — has only $117 million available for the task.

Doubts about the strength of the city's flood protection system also are weighing on developers' minds, said city planning administrator Arlen Brunson. When Katrina struck on Aug. 29, 2005, levees broke and flooded about 80 percent of New Orleans . The water extended well into the business district, and hurricane-force winds blew out windows in many high-rises.

The Army Corps of Engineers is pumping billions of dollars into flood protection improvements. But the Corps itself acknowledges some levees are not up to federally mandated standards set before Katrina.

The Trumps, at least, have not been deterred. "This is going to be a big statement for the city and its recovery," Donald Trump Jr. said recently. "It's not charity, but we do think it's one of America 's great cities and we want to be there to support it any way we can."

The Trump project is one of eight new luxury condo complexes, totaling more than 8,000 units, approved by the city planning commission since Katrina. At least one of those projects, Vantage Tower , has fallen apart.

In January 2006, Trey Cefalu announced plans to build the 25-story condo complex in the central business district. Prospective buyers reserved 105 of 219 units at Vantage Tower , but about half of them backed out after the developers raised prices to offset a 30 percent increase in construction costs.

Cefalu said he decided to shelve Vantage Tower in February.

"We're taking a wait-and-see attitude to see where construction costs go," he said.

Other developers say they aren't giving up on the market. The first high-rise project to break ground could be Tracage (the French word for "loft"), a 24-story condo complex planned for the Warehouse District.

Jason Voyles, the Jackson, Miss.-based developer of the $60 million project, said he acquired rights to the property before Katrina, but didn't close the deal until after the storm.

"We were committed to New Orleans and wanted to make it happen," Voyles said.

Voyles said he has pre-sold 65 percent of 126 units, which range in price from $266,000 to $2.5 million. Construction will begin sometime this fall, he added.

"We believe in the project. We believe in the city. We are not scared to take calculated risks," he said.

The city hasn't seen many commercially driven projects that match the scale of the residential high-rises proposed by Trump and other developers. A notable exception is a $715 million redevelopment announced last May by Strategic Hotels and Resorts, Chicago-based owners of the Hyatt Regency Hotel in New Orleans .

The company's blueprint called for opening a park, a National Jazz Center and government offices along with repairing and renovating the hotel, which is next to the Louisiana Superdome. The high-rise hotel was heavily damaged by Katrina, and is expected to reopen next year. Strategic hasn't set a timetable for construction on the rest of the project.

Company chief executive Laurence Geller, said plans for the jazz center have been adjusted to reflect "all of the real estate hurdles we encountered." He described New Orleans as "a challenging city in which to get things done."

The city's overall rebuilding hasn't moved at the anticipated pace, but there has been progress, he wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

"We remain optimistic that the local, state and federal governments will act in concert and build momentum," Geller wrote.

Next to the Hyatt and across from the Superdome — the refurbished stadium that's perhaps the most positive symbol of the city's recovery — is a pockmarked office building that sends a very different message about progress in New Orleans.

The storm-shattered windows on Dominion Tower seem out of place at the heart of the city's bustling business district, where top-of-the-line high-rises have more tenants than before the hurricane. Market watchers say that's because many smaller or older office buildings have not been repaired.

The 26-story Dominion Tower , which includes the New Orleans Shopping Centre, is one of several office buildings owned by Judah Hertz. The Santa Monica, Calif.-based real estate investor said he will begin repairing broken windows soon, but doesn't have any firm plans to reopen either the office building or the shopping center. Macy's, the shopping mall's major tenant, has said it will not reopen its downtown store or another in suburban Kenner .

"We're just going over our different options," Hertz said.

The Crescent City plays Beverly Hills in new film shooting locally

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

By Mike Scott

We see pothole-pocked streets, half-abandoned city blocks and neighborhoods dotted with trailers. But at least one filmmaker looks through his lens at New Orleans and sees . . . Beverly Hills ?

Yes, Beverly Hills. Swimming pools. Movie stars.

Increasingly popular as a place for mostly anonymous location shoots thanks to the state's filmmaking tax incentives, New Orleans has been starring as the famously tony 90210 ZIP code for the past month during filming of the California-set teen romp "American Summer."

Shooting started in late April and is expected to wrap next week. After that, about a week of filming is scheduled in the other -- the real -- Beverly Hills .

The movie stars Matthew Lillard -- you remember him from 1996's "Scream" and as Shaggy in the "Scooby-Doo" movies -- and Efren Ramirez, who did a memorable turn as Pedro Sanchez in 2004's "Napoleon Dynamite." In "American Summer," the two star as a pool boy and a gardener, respectively, who team up to turn a vacant Beverly Hills home into a house of ill repute.

"Hilarity ensues," said executive producer Michael Arata, a New Orleanian, who characterized the film as "a fun teen comedy."

You know the genre: low on sophistication, high on sophomoric humor. (And, often, low on budget, high on profits.) In fact, though it's not technically part of the "American Pie" franchise, "American Summer" is being produced in part by Warren Zide, who was part of the production team for that hugely popular -- and risqué -- film series.

Arata -- along with fellow executive producer Jerry Daigle, his partner in Voodoo Productions -- and Zide have also teamed up for the horror flick "Autopsy," starring Robert Patrick ("Terminator 2," "We Are Marshall") and being shot upstate in Jackson, La.

Unseasonably low humidity has imparted a West Coast feel to the "American Summer" shoot, but location manager Dana Hanby said that from an architectural standpoint, it was a little more difficult to capture that Beverly Hills feel.

"It's supposed to be Beverly Hills , with all those big houses with pools and stuff," Hanby said. "It was a bit of a challenge to find Beverly Hills houses here."

But Hanby is from New Orleans , so he knew where to look. Some of the film was shot on St. Charles Avenue , some in Old Metairie. Cameras also rolled Uptown and on Bamboo Road , with a massive staging area on Palmetto Street to lessen the impact on the neighborhood. Even a Bywater location was used for an interior scene.

Arata said filming has been going "magnificently." Local residents, he said, seem genuinely happy to have the film industry -- "any industry" -- rebounding after Hurricane Katrina. The largely West Coast cast and crew have noticed that enthusiasm, he said. They've also taken advantage of local entertainment offerings, such as the Zurich Classic golf tournament and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.

"We've been trying to give them this incredible, only-in-New-Orleans-type experience," Arata said.

Many locals are getting more than just a dose of civic pride from the project: The list of local actors in the cast includes Peter Gadd, Dane Rhodes and Tony Bentley.

Other notable names in the cast are Tom Arnold, George Takei ("Star Trek," "Heroes") and New Orleans native Jay Thomas.

A release date for "American Summer" has yet to be announced.

. . . . . . .

Regis & Kelly & the Crescent City

Morning-talk titans are bringing their show to New Orleans , a city that 'has a special place in our hearts'

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Dave Walker

New Orleans has been good to Regis Philbin.

Back in the days when "Live with Regis and Kathie Lee" was first getting off the ground, the annual National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE) convention was a life-or-death marketplace for the daily syndicated show.

"It was important to us," said Philbin, who with current co-host Kelly Ripa this week brings "Live" back to New Orleans for four episodes airing Tuesday through Friday at 9 a.m. on WWL-Channel 4. "We were the new kids on the block, and we were looking for recognition. We were thrilled people would stop by our little promotion booth at the convention. When people came in, we did a little song and dance for them.

"You could see every year more and more were coming in to see us in person."

Also important were the big early numbers won by "Live" on WWL. Equally robust was local audience reaction when "Live" would go live from here during NATPE.

"The ratings just knocked us out," Philbin said. "The audiences there were just absolutely sensational. We enjoyed it so much. It was like Carnival time."

More recently, local fitness maven Mackie Shilstone was dispatched to visit "Live" in New York with recovery tips for Philbin, who underwent coronary bypass surgery in March.

We know all about recovery down here, Reege.

This trip, "Live" intends to show its vast national audience both sides of The Convalescent City.

" New Orleans has a special place in our hearts," executive producer Michael Gelman said. "We all felt for the city when the whole Katrina disaster happened.

"The fact is, we are an entertainment show. There are many news shows, many serious shows, who spend their time focusing on the more serious aspects of life. People love to tune in to our show and have some laughs.

"Our main goal is entertainment, and one of the things we're going to do there is highlight the fact that New Orleans is open for business, for tourism, that the part of New Orleans that most visitors visit is good as new. We're going to do a lot of focusing on food and music and (seeing) a lot of the more upbeat parts of the city."

Accordingly, scheduled guests include Luke Wilson, John Stamos, NASCAR's Kyle Busch and " America 's Next Top Model" winner Jaslene Gonzalez. Featured musical guests will be Martina McBride and Cowboy Mouth.

Ripa is planning to do a taped piece about local nightlife. Superchef Emeril Lagasse will cook and lead a video tour of some of his favorite culinary haunts. In addition to Lagasse, local chefs scheduled for cooking segments are Paul Prudhomme, Tenney Flynn and Leah Chase.

Different local musical aggregations will serve as house band for each episode. The schedule: Tuesday, Pete Fountain; Wednesday, the Preservation Hall Brass Band; Thursday,

The Dirty Dozen Brass Band; Friday, Rockin' Dopsie Jr. and the Zydeco Twisters.

On Monday, both Philbin and Ripa are scheduled to tape an advance piece about a philanthropic project the show is sponsoring: building a new playground for Dr. Charles Drew Elementary School.

"Regis will do a whole overall piece looking around at some of the damage done by the hurricane, kind of show some of the updates on people on where they are now," Gelman said. "Areas that still need help. Places that have come back.

"We're not ignoring the fact that something terrible happened. A lot has been done. Obviously a lot still needs to be done, and we're going to touch on those things.

"We're going down there to . . . shine a spotlight on the city to the rest of the country and show that they're alive and kicking and that it's a great destination. I hope that will have a positive impact on the economy, and I think that the tourism economy is one of the things that can help lift New Orleans out of the hole that it's in."

Ripa, who like Philbin and Gelman spoke by phone from New York , said she has a couple of close personal connections to the Gulf Coast .

Her good friend (and former co-star on the ABC sitcom "Hope & Faith") Faith Ford is an Alexandria native who briefed Ripa on hurricane damage.

"She was blown away by the devastation, and she was also inspired by the people who had committed themselves to rebuilding," said Ripa, who has filled the Regis-adjacent chair on "Live" since early 2001 after a co-host search that followed Kathie Lee Gifford's mid-2000 departure. "You don't get a city like New Orleans by accident. Something that is so diverse, the influence of music and food, the pageantry -- that doesn't happen by accident. The citizens and the spirit of the people, I think it's a resilient group of people. We'll also be able to focus a lot on that."

Ripa also has made a jogging date with Shilstone, whose characteristically invigorating presence on "Live" a couple of weeks ago visibly bolstered Philbin.

"I gotta tell you, just to have him back is a gift," said Ripa of her mending co-host. "He's the heart and soul of our building.

"I'm so grateful he's back, and he looks amazing."

Philbin's grateful to be back as well, though he jibed that Ripa seemed perfectly at ease with the many pinch-hit co-hosts who filled in for him.

"As I say, she never looks happier than when she's with somebody else, never as ebullient," he said. "I'm happy to be back. I'm feeling stronger every day."

. . . . . . .

TV columnist Dave Walker can be reached at dwalker@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3429.

Planning panel approves 'green' project

Low-income housing backed by Brad Pitt

Monday, April 16, 2007

By Bruce Eggler

Staff writer

The official name of the applicant, Douglas and Andry Sustainable Building LLC, was scarcely as attention-grabbing as, say, Brad Pitt's name would have been.

The official language of the application -- "a request for a mixed-use planned community district overlay including residential and commercial uses in new structures in an LI light industrial district" -- was no more exciting.

But the prosaic terminology of government bureaucracy could not hide the unusual nature of the project that won approval last week from the New Orleans City Planning Commission: a 23-unit "environmentally friendly" low-income residential development in the Lower 9th Ward being built by Global Green USA with backing from actor Pitt.

The complex is being designed, thanks to the use of solar panels and other "green" technology, to require 75 percent less energy than typical New Orleans buildings, said Beth Galante, director of Global Green's New Orleans office.

It will include an 18-unit apartment building, five single-family homes and a community center containing offices, an auditorium, a visitor center, a community kitchen and retail space.

Global Green hopes to break ground in May and complete the first home by Aug. 29, the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Galante said.

The rest of the complex should be finished by next summer, she said.

The final cost is not set, but it will be more than $8 million, she said.

She did not know how much of that Pitt is underwriting, she said, but part of the financing is coming from federal low-income housing tax credits.

A year ago, when Pitt announced plans for a competition to design the project on a 1.3-acre riverfront site in the Holy Cross neighborhood, his involvement helped gain international attention for the contest.

The competition called on architects and planners to envision a complex that would achieve "several sustainable design and green building goals."

In mid-July, Pitt was one of the judges who whittled down the competition's 126 submissions to six finalists, including three with New Orleans ties.

Several weeks later, the actor returned to town to announce the winner: a New York design firm named workshop/apd, led by Andrew Kotchen and Matthew Berman.

The winning design was changed considerably before it was presented to the Planning Commission last week by a local architecture firm headed by John Williams, which collaborated with the New York designers.

To save money, a simple walkway replaced a large bridge that had been planned in the middle of the development, but the basic site plan "stayed pretty much the same," Galante said.

The appearances of several buildings also were changed after talks with the Holy Cross Neighborhood Association and the city's Historic District Landmarks Commission, she said. Holy Cross is an officially recognized city historic district.

The site, now vacant, is the upriver end of the block bounded by Andry, Douglass, Flood and North Peters streets. North Peters runs along the base of the Mississippi River levee. Global Green, through the Douglas and Andry LLC, bought the site in December for $165,000.

The five single-family houses will face Andry, with the two-story community center on Douglass and the three-story apartment building on North Peters.

Although the complex appears "predominantly contemporary in its overall design," a report by the Planning Commission staff said, the architects have been meeting with the Landmarks Commission "to work out details that would hint at a turn-of-the-century milieu on the exterior facade, respecting the context without replicating it."

Energy-saving measures will include solar panels on all the buildings, high-efficiency air conditioners and heating units, weather sealing to prevent loss of cool air in summer and heat in winter, and energy-saving appliances, Galante said.

Cisterns will recycle rainwater for toilets, showers and other uses, but not for drinking. The buildings also will have paints, carpets and cabinets that contain as few harmful chemicals as possible, she said.

Assured of community support for the project, the Planning Commission voted 6-0 for it, and easy approval is expected by the City Council in a few weeks. The site is in Councilwoman Cynthia Willard-Lewis' district.

The one remaining sticking point appears to be the number of required off-street parking spaces for the complex.

Figuring that the community center, visitor center and retail uses will attract more cars than a typical residential development, the Planning Commission voted to require at least 66 spaces.

Project architect Daniel Winkert said Global Green thinks that having more than 40 to 46 spaces would be wasteful.

He said the Landmarks Commission agreed. The council will have to decide the issue.

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Bruce Eggler can be reached at beggler@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3320.

Music center wins OK from City Planning Commission

It's the centerpiece of Musicians' Village

Monday, April 16, 2007

By Bruce Eggler

Staff writer

Across the Industrial Canal from Global Green's planned "sustainable" residential development, another residential project has attracted a lot of public attention: Musicians' Village.

An initiative of Habitat for Humanity and New Orleans-born musical stars Harry Connick Jr. and Branford Marsalis, the village originally was supposed to house dozens of local musicians who lost their homes to Hurricane Katrina.

So far, applicants' credit problems and other factors have meant that most houses have not gone to musicians. But the site's developers still expect it to house a significant musical colony.

Plans for the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music, the centerpiece of the Upper 9th Ward development, won approval from the City Planning Commission last week.

The two-story center, named for the patriarch of the far-flung Marsalis musical clan, will consist of a 170-seat theater and performance hall with dressing and practice rooms, and a smaller community center that will contain meeting rooms, offices, classrooms and a community Internet room.

The courtyard between the two buildings will have a retractable roof.

The theater's seats will be movable, allowing it to be used in different configurations, depending on the type of performance.

The Planning Commission approved a proviso saying outdoor events must end by 10 p.m.

Jim Pate, executive director of the local Habitat office, said the theater and community center will be available for use by all neighborhood organizations.

At Pate's request, the commission agreed to reduce the requirement for off-street parking for the center from 56 to 51 spaces.

The commission approved plans for the center 6-0, and easy approval also is expected at the City Council. The site is in Councilwoman Cynthia Hedge-Morrell's district.

Besides 70 single-family homes in the 8-acre Musicians' Village site, Habitat hopes to build 150 other homes in the surrounding neighborhood.

Construction of the village began in March 2006, and the first 10 homeowners moved into their new homes in August.

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Bruce Eggler can be reached at beggler@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3320.

The Musicians' Village project includes the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music, left, which will house a 170-seat theater and performance hall, and a smaller community center, right, which will contain meeting rooms, offices, classrooms and a community Internet room. [3190225]

Planners question strategic decisions for N.O.

Recovery a hot topic at national meeting

Monday, April 16, 2007

By Michelle Krupa

Staff writer

PHILADELPHIA -- The question of which sections of New Orleans will be rebuilt -- and how -- remains capable of raising tempers and furrowing brows, even in Philadelphia , 1,100 miles from Hurricane Katrina's kill zone.

With thousands of urban planners gathered here this week for their annual convention, the issue came up at least twice Sunday, first during a session exploring New Orleans' citizen-driven recovery efforts and again during a talk on the likelihood that global climate change will fuel more catastrophic disasters.

The New Orleans leaders who came to share stories of ravage and rebirth, including City Hall recovery czar Ed Blakely, made no apologies for their plans to revive every neighborhood paralyzed by the flood -- and to create an environment in which every displaced resident can return. But they also made it clear that New Orleans is being rebuilt in a strategic way, with the possibility that residents themselves will elect to abandon areas most prone to flooding.

"The way we build is going to be very important," said Blakely, whose recovery work in the wake of earthquakes in Oakland , Calif. , and Kobe , Japan , ranks him as a celebrity at the American Planning Association conference. "Stick-building may not be our future. Building on slabs may not be our future. We may have to start looking at building with other materials, including steel."

Blakely's answer did not satisfy everyone in a room packed with professionals still fascinated with New Orleans ' fate. A man stepped to the microphone and asked: Why should New Orleanians be allowed to rebuild homes and business in locations where they would "actually be in harm's way in doing so?"

"What we are doing in New Orleans is creating opportunities for people to move out of harm's way by offering them incentives" for relocation from repetitive-flood areas or low-lying areas to safer areas, Blakely replied. "We're going to allow people to switch from a place that might be dangerous to the center of the city -- to a place that might be safer for them."

After his speech, however, Blakely acknowledged that the only "incentive" package in place right now is the state's Road Home buyout option, which pays as much as $150,000 to homeowners who want to dispose of their storm-ravaged properties. City Hall, he said, is working on a separate program that could provide financial incentives to residents to settle in "clusters" on high ground in their neighborhoods and around the 17 zones he unveiled this month as places the city will target public spending to spur private investment.

No city program is available yet, though, he said.

Some returning, some new

Probing the recovery issue in more general terms, a participant at another session asked the chief directors of the Unified New Orleans Plan whether it's realistic, based on current population estimates, to believe that all displaced residents will be able to return. A U.S. census survey found that 223,000 people lived in New Orleans in July 2006.

"Yeah, it's realistic," said Stephen Villavaso, who directed the portion of the unified plan that deals with citywide policy initiatives.

City planners often have faced similar questions, typically posed as if the city's future population potential hinges solely on how many of its pre-Katrina residents return.

Blakely and others have said that New Orleans ' future population will be a combination of its pre-Katrina population and new residents who want to seize opportunities born of the rebuilding effort.

The population potential, Blakely has said, depends on the quality of the rebuilding job and the quality of life the rebuilt city presents to potential residents.

With regard to displaced New Orleanians, Villavaso said Sunday that everyone cast out of the city by Katrina should have the chance to return to the same -- or better -- neighborhood and quality of life as he or she enjoyed before the August 2005 disaster.

"It's an opportunity for everybody to return," he said of the unified plan's goal. "If somebody makes a decision not to return, that's a decision."

Laurie Johnson, another UNOP director who spoke at the same session as Villavaso, pointed out that New Orleans ' geographic "footprint" is large enough to sustain a substantial population, noting that a similarly sized area around San Francisco is home to 1.5 million people. But she, too, pushed "clustering" to protect lives and private property, along with public investments in assets such as schools and police stations that will attract future residents.

"Money has to be put in place to incentivize people to live more safely," she said, and to assure that similar investments in public assets are safe.

Global warming

Blakely also spoke at length about the effects of global warming on populated areas. The topic is a focus for the first time this year at the American Planning Association's yearly meeting, which kicked off Sunday with a lecture by environmental activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

New Orleans , Blakely said, "is the first major American city that has been almost totally destroyed by the natural event. This is something we should anticipate happening elsewhere."

Blakely implored planners to be mindful of the regional connection of community development, as well as the importance of such protective natural resources as forests and marshland.

"Unless we rebuild the natural systems, we don't have any hope of surviving the future," he said. "We have to understand that we're global citizens, not just local citizens."

Sunday's two talks on New Orleans each drew more than a hundred participants, demonstrating the continuing interest in the city's plight and the civic lessons implicit in its rebuilding struggle.

About a dozen sessions this week are slated to focus on Gulf Coast recovery and disaster-prevention issues.

'I'm from New Orleans '

Meanwhile, Sunday's event marked Blakely's second public appearance since facing criticism for making controversial comments to the news media about New Orleans ' population and saying that outsiders interested in aiding the city were unlikely to tolerate local "buffoons."

He spoke to reporters Friday in New Orleans , where he stopped for several days after a weeklong visit to Australia , a trip to Washington , D.C. , to testify before Congress and the Philadelphia appearance.

Blakely never failed Sunday to refer to himself as a New Orleanian, frequently using the words "we" and "us" to refer to residents' recovery efforts.

"I'm from New Orleans ," he said in introducing himself. Blakely began his work as director of the Office of Recovery Management in January and lives in the Garden District.

He also maintains a home in Sydney , Australia , and a faculty position at a university there.

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City land sale offers chance to trump Trump

April 13, 2007

By Bruce Eggler 

Staff writer

If you've got an extra $300,000 you've been looking to invest,