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Libeskind/Jefferson

The project to consist of two 20-30 story towers overlooking the Mississippi River will be one of west-suburban Jefferson's largest..................

Noted architect on Jeff tower job

He's planner for N.Y. trade center
Thursday, September 21, 2006
By Mark Waller

A developer wanting to replace a worn, half-century-old shopping center on Jefferson Highway with what could become one of the largest high-rise housing complexes in Jefferson Parish said Wednesday the project will be designed by a prominent New York architect who serves as master planner for rebuilding the World Trade Center site.

Developer Jim St. Raymond said architect Daniel Libeskind, a key figure in redeveloping the epicenter of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, is working on his plans for the Jefferson Plaza Shopping Center in the 2600 and 2700 blocks of Jefferson Highway, near Ochsner Medical Center. Libeskind's New York studio did not return messages for comment Wednesday.

St. Raymond recently purchased the 11-acre property from the family that owned the shopping center since the 1970s. He envisions two high-rises of 20 to 30 stories, one specifically for senior citizens that would include health care services, and the other containing traditional condominiums.

Specifics of design and financing are not complete, but St. Raymond said the complex will be built with the threat of hurricanes in mind, featuring a backup power system, backup water supply, hurricane-resistant windows and housing units elevated several stories atop parking garages, with views over the Mississippi River levee.

"In this new era, that's what you need," St. Raymond said of post-Hurricane Katrina conditions. "The goal is to get up over the levee, provide people security."

St. Raymond said businesses renting space in the shopping center, which include a Frostop restaurant, furniture store and thrift store, will have until February to relocate. After that, he plans to raze the strip mall that dates to the late 1940s. He said he hopes to start construction by April.

He is beginning the regulatory process, asking Jefferson Parish to combine seven lots and two pieces of streets on the parcel into one large lot. That request goes before the parish's Planning Advisory Board next week.

"He is looking to assemble all of the properties that he owns into one lot of record," said Bruce Richards, planning director for NY Associates, an architecture and engineering firm working for St. Raymond.

The land's existing designation for general commercial use allows high-rise housing, so St. Raymond does not have to seek a rezoning, said parish Planning Director Ed Durabb. Durabb said the project could be one of the first governed by a new set of high-rise building rules that the Jefferson Parish Council approved in July, partly in anticipation of more residential towers.

St. Raymond and the parish are studying the project's impact on utilities and traffic. He wants to close part of Maine Street, which runs from Jefferson Highway through the shopping center parking lot and then through a row of houses leading to River Road.

The row of houses would get a cul-de-sac, which St. Raymond said would relieve traffic congestion for the residents by cutting off Maine as a shortcut that drivers take from River Road to Jefferson Highway on their way to nearby Causeway Boulevard. The project would also remove a streetlight at Jefferson and Maine, which he says will smooth out traffic on Jefferson.

While details are still to be worked out, St. Raymond said each building might hold at least 200 units, the smallest priced at about $225,000.

Renderings will be posted when available