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Old Posted Apr 7, 2011, 9:10 AM
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SlidellWx SlidellWx is offline
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Citybusiness had an updated article on the redevelopment of the Gentilly Woods Mall. As most know...the center has been owned by NORA for a few years. It appears they are in talks with 3 developers. The first 2 want to develop a mixed-use property on the site. The third developer is actually Wal-Mart, so expect a Wal-Mart and possibly Sam's if they win the selection. In any event, it is good to hear of some progress on this large commercial property in a greatly underserved section of the city.

I have a subscription to Citybusiness...so here's the highlights of the article.

Quote:
Developers see budding opportunity in Gentilly

One thing Gentilly residents can agree on is that they’re tired of going to Jefferson Parish to shop, and they want more restaurants.

That was the consensus at a meeting Williams helped organize at Nacho Mama’s on Elysian Fields Avenue, where about three dozen Gentilly residents gathered last month to give ideas on what they would like to see in place of the 184,000-square-foot building that sits on 12.2 acres of land on Chef Menteur Highway near Press Drive.

The New Orleans Redevelopment Authority, which bought the property for $4.3 million in 2008, received three proposals for the site from developers last month. Kevin Hanna, who leads commercial development for NORA, said they came from Thor Equities, which previously owned the property, Michaels Development Co. and Wal-Mart Inc.

Michaels Development and Thor Equities refused to comment on their proposals, and Wal-Mart Inc. did not respond to requests for comment.

Thor Equities and Michaels Development want to build mixed-use developments with housing and retail, Hanna said, adding that the proposals have been sent to NORA’s review committee. The group plans to discuss them soon, but he declined to discuss specifics before the meeting takes place. Members of the community will also participate in the discussion, he said.

“The committee will use their best judgment to determine whether or not the developer will do what they purport to do,” Hanna said.

After the committee process, the three developers will be asked to present their plans to Gentilly residents.

Gentilly’s population has decreased 33 percent since 2000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, with Hurricane Katrina and the ensuing levee failures forcing the vast majority of the exodus. But there are still plenty of residents with buying power, according to those with an eye on the Chef Menteur corridor.

“Redevelopment of the area’s been pretty slow,” said Jennifer LaNasa, a Realtor who leases a small strip mall across the street from Gentilly Woods Shopping Center.

Things appeared to be coming back fairly quickly in 2007, she said, when a McDonald’s and Walgreens opened nearby. But tight lending and a sluggish economy have held up redevelopment, especially for small businesses.

Still, LaNasa has tenants in all but two of the 10 small retail spaces in her two-story building, including a notary, a tutoring agency, a real estate broker and a church. Nail and beauty salons occupy the lower level.

LaNasa’s family has owned the property since she was a child. She finished renovating the building and reopened it in 2008.

“I have a long history in that area and I knew if I rebuilt that area, I would have tenants no matter what, despite what was happening in the Gentilly Woods mall,” she said.

After Katrina, big box retailers typically have shied away from Gentilly because the population density has been too thin, LaNasa said, with the same being true for chain restaurants.

“But if they did open, they’d make a killing,” she said. “(Gentilly residents) drive all the way to Metairie to spend.”


Gentilly Woods was one of the first major shopping malls to open in the New Orleans area, as the racially mixed, middle-class neighborhood quickly became one of the city’s suburban centers in the mid-20th century.

David Welch, president of the Gentilly Civic Improvement Association, said stores in the neighborhood were built at a smaller, more “human scale,” so when full-fledged shopping malls were built in Metairie and on the West Bank, residents chose to shop outside Gentilly, he said.

But Welch said there’s no reason the trend couldn’t be reversed, noting the area has easy access to Interstate 10, which could channel people from other parts of the metro area into Gentilly.
http://neworleanscitybusiness.com/bl...y-in-gentilly/
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