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Developer Wants to Tear Down Mid-City Hospital
November 28, 2007
Original The Times-Picayune (posted on nola.com) article→
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“You will now see some of the tenants that would be commonplace in suburban shopping centers for the first time have the ability to go into that market,” Schwarcz said.
But that is exactly what many Mid-City residents fear. They do not want to see a project full of the big-box chains that seem to dominate other Victory properties, Weishaupt said. Among other holdings, Victory owns the Westgate Center on Veterans Memorial Boulevard in Metairie, which includes a Wal-Mart.
The Times-Picayune
Developer Wants to Tear Down Mid-City Hospital
Massive retail project is planned for site of closed facility
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
By Jen DeGregorio
Business writer
The shuttered Lindy Boggs Medical Center in Mid-City could be reduced to rubble in a matter of weeks if New Orleans approves a request to demolish the facility by developers who need the site for a sprawling retail project.
Representatives for Victory Real Estate Investments LLC asked a city planning board on Monday to approve a demolition application, which would allow the company to begin dismantling the former medical complex even though they still have no set design for their retail complex. But the Housing Conservation District Review Committee deferred the matter for two weeks after Mid-City residents protested, saying they had not been apprised of developers’ plans for the site.
Jennifer Weishaupt, vice president of the Mid-City Neighborhood Organization, said it has been months since officials with the real estate firm met with residents to discuss the development.
“Before we should approve the demolition of buildings, we should know whether the plan going forward is going to be acceptable,” she said during a phone interview. “It’s kind of putting the cart before the horse.”
Victory purchased the 26-acre Lindy Boggs property in May for nearly $9.4 million from Tenet Healthcare Corp. The hospital on North Jefferson Davis Parkway has been closed since Hurricane Katrina and is damaged “beyond repair,” according to Richard F. Cortizas, an attorney for Victory.
The parcel is a key component of a much larger project Victory has been planning for Mid-City. According to plans presented in April to Mid-City residents, the development calls for a mix of residential and retail space stretching more than half a square mile between Jefferson Davis Parkway to North Solomon Street and from Toulouse Street to Bienville Avenue.
The project would come in two phases, according to the plans presented to the Mid-City group. The first would include the hospital site in the area bounded by North Carrollton Avenue, Toulouse, Jeff Davis and Bienville. The second stage would occur where the old Bohn Ford dealership and an abandoned strip mall now stand unattended on North Carrollton.
At the permit hearing, Cortizas said it is still unclear when the company would begin construction on the project. He said demolition of the medical center could begin in three to six weeks.
Cortizas also warned the committee that stalling the demolition permit could complicate the potential city financing that could be used to pay for aspects of the project, including the medical center wreckage.
Cortizas would not specify the value or nature of the financial incentives he said the city offered to Victory. He would only say that officials in the Office of Recovery Management and the office of Councilwoman Shelley Midura proposed financial assistance that could push Victory’s development forward.
“It was discussed, and it was offered,” Cortizas said in a phone interview.
A statement from the mayor’s office said that New Orleans recovery czar Edward Blakely has been working with Victory “to identify possible means of supporting the project to include funding requisite infrastructure changes, support for GO zone bonds and other types of support.”
Blakely had initially offered to subsidize demolition work with a loan but later determined that such a loan “would not be feasible at this time,” according to the statement.
Alex Morgan, Midura’s chief of staff, said his office did not offer any formal incentives.
Mid-City residents want a say in the design of the project that ultimately replaces the hospital site and surrounding areas, particularly if public funds are involved, Weishaupt said.
“Once the building is demolished, there is no going back for us,” she said.
Hurricane Katrina flooded Mid-City streets with as much as 8 feet of water, leaving in its wake many abandoned buildings that still serve as reminders of the storm. Those vacancies are now opportunities for many retailers that have long wanted to gain a foothold in Mid-City, said Don Schwarcz, a real estate agent with SRSA Commercial Real Estate.
“You will now see some of the tenants that would be commonplace in suburban shopping centers for the first time have the ability to go into that market,” Schwarcz said.
But that is exactly what many Mid-City residents fear. They do not want to see a project full of the big-box chains that seem to dominate other Victory properties, Weishaupt said. Among other holdings, Victory owns the Westgate Center on Veterans Memorial Boulevard in Metairie, which includes a Wal-Mart.
R. Stephanie Bruno, who sits on the housing conservation committee, said Victory should meet with the neighborhood as a “goodwill gesture” before the board votes in two weeks on whether to issue the demolition permit.
Weishaupt asked Victory officials to meet with the Mid-City group at its next meeting on Dec. 3. Cortizas said the company would likely meet with residents, although he has not yet agreed to a date.
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Jen DeGregorio can be reached at jdegregorio@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3495.
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