[fla_tiger]

The New Orleans City Planning Commission recently voted to allow developers Angelo Farrell and Lee LaPorte to build an additional nine floors to a planned hotel tower in the 100 block of Royal Street. Developers say the project will revitalize the entire block of Royal Street. Last year the Planning Commission voted to authorize a 17-story, 178-foot tower. The recent vote allows the tower to reach 268 feet.

Farrell and LaPorte paid $3.2 million for the site in 2005.

Renderings will be posted when available.

[LouisianaRush]

Great find.

[KevinFromTexas]

So it's officially approved then? It doesn't need anymore approval from the city council or anything?

[fla_tiger]

Despite the objections of French Quarter resident groups and a former council member, the New Orleans City Council voted Thursday to let two local developers build a 26-story hotel tower in the 100 block of Royal Street.

In return for being allowed to build the tower in the middle of the block bounded by Royal, Canal, Bourbon and Iberville streets, developers Angelo Farrell and Lee Laporte have pledged to restore a blighted, long-vacant hotel building at 121-125 Royal that is more than 100 years old.

The old five-story building, with a distinctive metal facade, would serve as the new hotel's entrance. The new tower would provide the rooms needed to make the project economically viable, proponents said.


The hotel, to be known as the Royal Cosmopolitan, would be a "condotel," meaning its 152 rooms and suites would be sold as condominiums, with buyers able to stay in their rooms when they like and to share in the hotel's revenue from other guests the rest of the time.

In a last-minute concession, Farrell and Laporte said they will reduce the height of the tower from the 268 feet they had been seeking to 259 feet. They said they won't reduce the number of floors but will shave a bit off the height of many of the floors.

http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/metro/index.ssf?/base/news-19/1171610972303630.xml&coll=1

[SlidellWx]

Excellent news. This part of Royal has long been blighted.

[TexasStar]

A new skyscraper in the French Quarter?
How is this a good thing?

[Mopacs]

A new skyscraper in the French Quarter?
How is this a good thing?

This project will be along Canal St, on the very edge of the FQ. Even though the east side of Canal is conisdered the Quarter, there are currently several highrises on this side of the boulevard. This includes The Marriott (40+ stories), Canal Place/Wyndham (20-30+ stories), among others.