Forensic Center
 

Site prep work will begin in June on the new $7 million, 2-story, 23,000 sq. ft. Foresnic Lab. It will be on the grass lot on Earhart and Claiborne, near the Superdome. Renderings contained in video.
http://www.fox8live.com/story/176635...k-ground-on-or

Algiers Crossing
 

http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/...et_invest.html

Mostly an article about Sal Perricone blabbing his mouth on NOLA.com and how he revealed a federal investigation into supposed shennanigans with Algiers Crossing, but they never found anything.

Most importantly for this forum is that the developers and Kern say they hope to rescuscitate the project. Someone else had posted the renderings a page ro so back.

1. New lanes of the Huey Long Bridge open this weekend! Old lanes start being demolished next week.

2. Wall Street Journal writer praises New Orleans for cheap urban living! Also mentioned in the article is something I agree with - oppose this new "Hospitality District" layer of bureaucracy. We should insist on lean, transparent, city-level departments to do their jobs, not redundant government waste.
http://uptownmessenger.com/2012/04/o...st/#more-19686

3. New rendering of old LaSalle School Condos on Perrier. The balconies and wings are gone:
http://uptownmessenger.com/wp-conten...-rendering.jpg
http://uptownmessenger.com/2012/04/p...ay/#more-19674

Uptown Messenger
 

Also, the Uptown Messenger article talks about a "“a retail establishment greater than 10,000 square feet in floor area" at 1117 Carondelet which I believe is the big, old Fleet Tire Service even though the article mentions "under" the expressway I assume it is next to it.

Drury construction is full speed ahead. They've torn up the entire area to be used and are actively drilling caissons. Looks pretty cool.

Lasalle Condos look great! Also agree about the hospitality district. If anything the service should be rendered through the DDD!

Great... The LaSalle condos look much, much better. My only gripe is with the two ventilation grilles on either side of the central dormer... They look like zits on the building.

Agreed! This quote from the article made me shake my head in disbelief: "'Why should neighbors across the street from this suffer at all, or make any compromises, when the project can work within the existing envelope?' Huger said Monday. 'If the whole point of this to save this historic building, why not let the building be what it is?'”

The Hospitality District is defined very vaguely, but there needs to be some kind of mechanism by which investments are made. The central area is the primary driver of the city's economy, soas much as I hate to say it, it requires a higher level of infrastructural investment. It needs streets and sidewalks kept in excellent condition (most are very good now), it needs blighted properties to be turned around yesterday, it needs well-designed streetscaping, and it needs a high level of cleanliness. It could also be the testbed for innovative new ideas - cycle tracks, bike sharing, transit shelters w/fare machines, etc. A hospitality district could fund all of this with revenue.

The DDD, as well-intentioned as they are, does not have nearly enough revenue to tackle the challenge. The glacial pace at which they are funding facade improvements on Canal Street is evidence of this.

I say either give the DDD some serious funding to work with, or make way for the hospitality district.

I do oppose giving handouts to large, established businesses, though. For example, the Chateau Bourbon should not get city money to renovate the rooms.

I think giving the DDD this money is a great idea. Maybe they can bring 1 or 2 new people on to exclusively work on this, while keeping other costs down like additional rent for offices, employees whose jobs would be replicated etc. If the DDD isn't doing a good job then we should find a way to get on their case anyway to do a better job

I think giving the DDD this money is a great idea. Maybe they can bring 1 or 2 new people on to exclusively work on this, while keeping other costs down like additional rent for offices, employees whose jobs would be replicated etc. If the DDD isn't doing a good job then we should find a way to get on their case anyway to do a better job

Exactly the issue isnt whether there should be new revenues for downtown infrastructure, its a question of why one needs to create a whole new government body that will just duplicate what the DDD is supposed to be doing. I think its important for hospitality leaders to realize that the burgeoning residential and health infrastructure of downtown will assist them in making downtown more attractive to tourists and locals. I want a nice sidewalk just as much as tourists and considering I live by Poydras and Baronne this is important for tourist too. Keeping all of this in one department will be more effective in addressing downtown needs.


Anyone know what this rehab is by Lafitte Greenway.
http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5040/7...5a1e9f7d_c.jpg

St. Margaret's senior housing. They haven't yet decided what to do with the rest of the site, but they're getting the new building up first.

That semicircular building on the corner of Bienville/Jeff Davis would make a great residential conversion if the windows were opened up a little bit. It has a great form, I hope they save it.

Demo @ Jeff Davis & Washington
 

Finally demolishing this building...thankfully... (this is the google streetview, i went by too quickly in the car to get one with my phone but it's coming down very quickly)

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5071/7...6d1578dc_b.jpg

Streetcar Update
 

The RTA just posted 14 really interesting pictures of the streetcar underground construction on their facebook account. Can someone figure out what the random piling being used in one of the pictures is for?

http://www.facebook.com/NewOrleansRTA

Anything going in its place?

Jeff Davis @ Wash
 

Not that I'm personally aware of...but seeing as this thing has been vacant since at least katrina, if not pre-katrina, I would think that landowner is wanting to do something if they are spending the money to demolish it.

It didn't appear structurally unsound so I dont think the city would have paid to demolish that large of a building unless it was facing imminent collapse.

I looked on the assessor's site and they have no information on that parcel.

Anyone else?!

There was a demo meeting a few weeks ago mentioning this property, not sure what its going to be, but I remember it being owned by Xavier.

The piling is probably for an underground utility vault or catch basin. Those are usually fairly heavy concrete structures that sit underground, and in our terrible low-density soil, the vault would sink and settle fast (and cause damage to the roadway/sidewalks above) unless it has a pile foundation.

It could also be for a traffic signal.