New Orleans Hornets' owner George Shinn ready to sell team to local billionaire businessman Gary Chouest

By Jimmy Smith, The Times-Picayune
April 08, 2010, 7:07AM

There were any number of ironies that presented themselves on Wednesday night at New Orleans Arena as the New Orleans Hornets continued playing out the string of their losing season against the Charlotte Bobcats.

The owner’s court-side chair, recently re-occupied by majority owner George Shinn who returned a week and a half ago disease-free after January surgery on his cancerous prostate gland, was being used by someone else as Shinn had a previous engagement.

Yet it appears that Shinn, as with anyone who has experienced a brush with mortality, has undergone a life-altering metamorphosis: Shinn has discovered that ownership of an NBA basketball team is no longer a necessity in his life now that he has triumphed over a potentially fatal disease.

more at... http://www.nola.com/hornets/index.ss...er_geor_7.html

South Market District/ CBD

Spurred by the future Loyola Avenue streetcar line, a local development firm plans to transform a sea of downtown parking lots into 450 apartments and 125,000 square feet of shops and restaurants that it calls the South Market District.

The Domain Cos. plan to develop an apartment and retail complex in downtown New Orleans. The Domain Cos., a New Orleans- and New York-based firm that developed successful mixed-income housing along Tulane Avenue, has four blocks of parking lots under contract in the area between Loyola Avenue and Baronne Street, Julia Street and Lafayette Street.

http://www.nola.com/business/index.s...omplex_of.html

http://thedomaincos.com/soma.htm

New Orleans streetcars
 

interesting article about New Orleans streetcars


http://www.architectmagazine.com/pla...streetcar.aspx




:cool:

Textron Marine

Afghan Army vehicles to be built in New Orleans East facility.

Textron Marine & Land Systems has been awarded a contract to build up to 440 armored security vehicles for the Afghanistan National Army. The ASVs are built at Textron’s eastern New Orleans facility on Chef Menteur Highway.

The U.S. Army is paying for the Afghan vehicles. It has authorized a one-year contract for $125.9 million which will pay for delivery of 240 ASVs and associated support equipment, spare parts, field service representatives and training. The contract could potentially be worth $286 million if the Army exercises an option for 200 more vehicles.

link: http://www.boston.com/business/artic...th_up_to_543m/

website: http://www.textronmarineandland.com/

That was a great read. Thanks for the link.

impressive developments along upper Canal Street
 

Wayne's world development
 

Does anyone have any information on the Wayne's World development on the former Belle Promenade Mall site? I passed by the site and it is cleared off, but no construction equipment or trailers are on the site.

Also if anyone has any photos of the Belle Promenade Mall that used to be there send me a line at southernmalls@gmail.com

Grand Palace Hotel demolition
 

This should be interesting to see in person....


Grand Palace Hotel implosion now scheduled for July 22

Bill Barrow, The Times-Picayune By Bill Barrow, The Times-Picayune

After several months of delays, state contractors are slated to implode the old Grand Palace Hotel at 1732 Canal Street on the morning of July 22. State officials in charge of the demolition, which is part of the construction process of a new state teaching hospital in Mid-City, have not announced a precise time for the event.
The state is now planning to implode the old Grand Palace Hotel on July 22 as it makes way for the new University Medical Center.

Separately, the state construction executives in charge of the University Medical Center project confirmed that site preparation complications have pushed back the projected opening of the complex to April 2015. It had been February 2015.

The Louisiana Division of Administration, other state agencies and local authorities are engaged on several fronts as they prepare to take down the 17-story building that opened in the 1950s as a leading example of mid-century American architecture and urban planning. It has been closed since Hurricane Katrina, becoming an eyesore at the corner of Canal Street and South Claiborne Avenue.

http://media.nola.com/health_impact/...0927-large.jpg


more @ http://www.nola.com/politics/index.s...l#incart_river