NEW ORLEANS | Project/Development Thread - Page 24

sguil1 · #**461** Posted **Sep 12, 2009, 6:31 PM**

http://neworleanscitybusiness.com/up...fm?recid=26746

More funding secured for WWII museum. United states freedom pavilion to be completed by 2015. Going to be an awesome museum by the time its finished.

sguil1 · #**462** Posted **Sep 15, 2009, 12:45 AM**

Great rundown of planned City Park projects

http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2...rk_4_mill.html

State office building not happening since dominion tower bought by benson...

http://www.nola.com/politics/index.s...ffice_bui.html

Lake forest plaza

http://neworleanscitybusiness.com/vi...cfm?recid=1477

ardecila · #**463** Posted **Sep 15, 2009, 4:26 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by sguil1

State office building not happening since dominion tower bought by benson...

http://www.nola.com/politics/index.s...ffice_bui.html

YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME.

They just demolished a perfectly good building, planned a beautiful replacement, then backed out and PLAN TO LEAVE THE LOT VACANT? During demolition, they closed off Duncan Plaza because of asbestos flying out from the state office building. I'm guessing they won't clean up the park, and will just leave it fenced off and contaminated.

God, I hate the government here. Full of a bunch of complete and utter fucktards, at all levels from city to levee board to state government.

Good luck selling those condos in the Saratoga Building, Mr. Wisznia, with one of the city's hugest mistakes right across the street.

greenparrot · #**464** Posted **Sep 15, 2009, 1:51 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ardecila

.

God, I hate the government here.

.....and everywhere else while we're at it.

inCrescentCity · #**465** Posted **Sep 15, 2009, 11:38 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ardecila

YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME.

They just demolished a perfectly good building, planned a beautiful replacement, then backed out and PLAN TO LEAVE THE LOT VACANT? During demolition, they closed off Duncan Plaza because of asbestos flying out from the state office building. I'm guessing they won't clean up the park, and will just leave it fenced off and contaminated.

God, I hate the government here. Full of a bunch of complete and utter fucktards, at all levels from city to levee board to state government.

Good luck selling those condos in the Saratoga Building, Mr. Wisznia, with one of the city's hugest mistakes right across the street.

I'm no general contractor, but after seeing that building in person, it most definitely gives off the impression that it is far from 'perfectly good'. That place needed to be torn down in my opinion.

The land there is in quite a nice location and I'd be surprised if it remains vacant for any substantial period of time. Real estate values are plummeting and people are starting to think we are right on the verge of getting out economy back. Someone will come in, buy it up and build something nice.

ardecila · #**466** Posted **Sep 16, 2009, 12:38 AM**

Short of an explosion or an earthquake, there's nothing that can take down a modern steel-framed office building, even Katrina. The state could have gutted the building and left it as a shell for future renovations, allowing modern telecom/HVAC/plumbing to be installed, new elevators, and potentially a new glass installation on the front.

Have you seen the Texaco Building on Canal Street? Possibly the tallest derelict in the city, but plans are to strip it and re-clad it with a new system and build condos inside. This is not only possible, but far cheaper than demolition/replacement.

Tulane fortunately made this decision with Monroe Hall - it was slated to be demolished, but to save money, they decided to simply renovate. A whole new glass installation made the building look quite modern and up-to-date. Other than that, I'm not aware of any re-cladded towers in the city, but it is common elsewhere.

sguil1 · #**467** Posted **Sep 16, 2009, 1:52 AM**

Benson Tower...nice ring to it.

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

inCrescentCity · #**468** Posted **Sep 16, 2009, 9:04 PM**

Skyline shot from 09-16-09

930 Poydras can be seen going up in the middle of the skyline, it's directly infront of the First Bank tower so it's kind of hard to notice from this angle. Muses (the wood framing) starting on the top floor of the northern part of the complex (left side of the photo):

ardecila · #**469** Posted **Sep 16, 2009, 11:11 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by sguil1

Benson Tower...nice ring to it.

I like the name change. It makes sense.

I'm less than thrilled about the Bensons' plan to build a "party ground" where New Orleans Centre currently is. It just seems like an excuse to tear down the mall and build a cheap concrete deck in its place. Not that I like the mall, of course... but do we really need more open space next to the Superdome? What are they going to put there? Maybe some nice fountains, benches, and such? Nope, it's most likely just gonna be a place to park more t-shirt trailers and corn dog stands.

A nice outdoor plaza, maybe with a little retail space for an outdoor cafe or something, might really be an amenity for workers in Benson Tower and Freeport McMoRan across the street, where workers could take lunch breaks or have outdoor informal meetings. A bare concrete pad? Not so much.

At least they admit that plans are still in progress... they may beautify the plaza over time if they get input from any halfway-decent architects. A connection through the center of the Hyatt would be great, if they are ever able to resurrect that building - in conjunction with the Loyola streetcar line, it would form a convenient way to ride to the Superdome.

sguil1 · #**470** Posted **Sep 17, 2009, 1:57 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ardecila

I like the name change. It makes sense.

I'm less than thrilled about the Bensons' plan to build a "party ground" where New Orleans Centre currently is. It just seems like an excuse to tear down the mall and build a cheap concrete deck in its place. Not that I like the mall, of course... but do we really need more open space next to the Superdome? What are they going to put there? Maybe some nice fountains, benches, and such? Nope, it's most likely just gonna be a place to park more t-shirt trailers and corn dog stands.

A nice outdoor plaza, maybe with a little retail space for an outdoor cafe or something, might really be an amenity for workers in Benson Tower and Freeport McMoRan across the street, where workers could take lunch breaks or have outdoor informal meetings. A bare concrete pad? Not so much.

At least they admit that plans are still in progress... they may beautify the plaza over time if they get input from any halfway-decent architects. A connection through the center of the Hyatt would be great, if they are ever able to resurrect that building - in conjunction with the Loyola streetcar line, it would form a convenient way to ride to the Superdome.

I like the plans if done right. Better than a big empty mall that has proven to be unsustainable. They are also still leaving plenty of room for retail. Hopefully they will have nice sports bars / resturaunts where people can gather at night even if not on gamedays.

inCrescentCity · #**471** Posted **Sep 17, 2009, 9:05 PM**

The Muses Apartments on 9/17/09:

The building may look uneven but that's because of my poor panorama-taking ability. They are already starting construction on phase 2 (foreground).

Quick drive-by shot of my favorite building downtown:

greenparrot · #**472** Posted **Sep 17, 2009, 10:33 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by inCrescentCity

The Muses Apartments on 9/17/09:

The building may look uneven but that's because of my poor panorama-taking ability. They are already starting construction on phase 2 (foreground).

Quick drive-by shot of my favorite building downtown:

I also like the 200 Carondelet Building. Reminds me of the older skyscrapers in lower manhattan...just not as tall.

http://200carondelet.com/building.html

sguil1 · #**473** Posted **Sep 17, 2009, 11:39 PM**

Wow, can't believe how fast Muses is going up. Thanks for the update. LCRC is also starting to go up fast. Working on the second story right now, I think it is going to be a really nice complex.

ardecila · #**474** Posted **Sep 18, 2009, 1:27 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by inCrescentCity

The Muses Apartments on 9/17/09:

The building may look uneven but that's because of my poor panorama-taking ability. They are already starting construction on phase 2 (foreground).

Since you live in the hood, do you know if anything is planned for the really awesome brick building on Baronne that appears to the right of the stair tower? If I had the money, I would definitely buy that place. I could probably get it for a steal...

Google Street View:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sour...348.1,,0,-4.81

inCrescentCity · #**475** Posted **Sep 18, 2009, 3:32 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ardecila

Since you live in the hood, do you know if anything is planned for the really awesome brick building on Baronne that appears to the right of the stair tower? If I had the money, I would definitely buy that place. I could probably get it for a steal...

Google Street View:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sour...348.1,,0,-4.81

Haha, I live in between St. Charles and Carondolet in a very nice apartment building so I'm not in the hood, but damn close. The brick building you're asking about has a giant "Muses" banner draped vertically on the front of it. I'm not sure if the Muses people own it or if they simply just put their logo all over it because it's a derelict building probably with no owner. I do know that the Muses people own a lot of land around the complex and are planning on constructing 3 different phases (the first two of which has begun)... so they might be actually planning on doing something with that building in phase 3.

Like you said though, that building is in the hood. I'm not sure why you see the appeal to it, although it IS pretty cool looking.

ardecila · #**476** Posted **Sep 18, 2009, 9:38 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by inCrescentCity

Like you said though, that building is in the hood. I'm not sure why you see the appeal to it, although it IS pretty cool looking.

Nice old brick structures are pretty rare here... most everything is wood-framed, outside of the Quarter.

sguil1 · #**477** Posted **Sep 19, 2009, 4:45 AM**

'Federal city' takes shape in Algiers
This is a huge project, Expansion to continue for the next 15 years. Glad to see it moving along.

http://www.nola.com/politics/index.s..._shape_in.html

MarForRas Building...

inCrescentCity · #**478** Posted **Sep 19, 2009, 5:40 PM**

Wow, looks great!

ardecila · #**479** Posted **Sep 19, 2009, 11:36 PM**

Man, those are tacky. Fortunately, the general public will never use them... it's on the West Bank, and it helps keep our construction workers employed.

Busy Bee · #**480** Posted **Sep 20, 2009, 1:25 AM**

That "architecture" is offensive to the senses. And it doesn't help that apparently the renderings were done in MS Paint. I'm sometimes absolutely shocked at how many hack architects there are in this country and how many clueless clients keep asking for this passe shit. This is nearly 2010!!! The bologna neotrad garbage is nearly 20 years out of favor. Someone didn't get the memo. Is this strictly a military project or is the GSA involved? If the GSA is involved I can't possibly imagine how they could sign off on this. Honestly, Somalia could build a more architecturally inpressive project.

Congrats N.O.