NEW ORLEANS | Project/Development Thread - Page 28

ardecila · #**541** Posted **Oct 27, 2009, 10:33 PM**

The WTC is anything but boring! One Shell Square, all of Poydras Plaza, and Energy Center (and nearly every other tall building) are the boring ones.

Uptowngirl - that's cool about the WTC. I need to go check that out sometime.

sguil1 · #**542** Posted **Oct 28, 2009, 1:01 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ardecila

The WTC is anything but boring! One Shell Square, all of Poydras Plaza, and Energy Center (and nearly every other tall building) are the boring ones.

Uptowngirl - that's cool about the WTC. I need to go check that out sometime.

Capitol one building? Entergy Center? First Bank and Trust? Plaza Tower?
How are these buildings boring compared to WTC?

sguil1 · #**543** Posted **Oct 28, 2009, 1:02 AM**

Charity Hospital floated as home for City Hall.

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

greenparrot · #**544** Posted **Oct 28, 2009, 2:23 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ardecila

The WTC is anything but boring! One Shell Square, all of Poydras Plaza, and Energy Center (and nearly every other tall building) are the boring ones.

Uptowngirl - that's cool about the WTC. I need to go check that out sometime.

One Shell gets a pass since it's our tallest...plain but clean lines....I like the energy center bldg...just wish it was 10-15 stories taller...I actually like a couple of the bldgs across from the superdome...once again I wish they were taller.

I'm sorry...but the WTC is just blah to me (not to be too technical)
that doesn't add anything to the skyline other than it's height. Maybe it's the round top or something

ardecila · #**545** Posted **Oct 29, 2009, 1:39 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by sguil1

Capitol one building? Entergy Center? First Bank and Trust? Plaza Tower?
How are these buildings boring compared to WTC?

I should also mention the Freeport McMoRan building next to the Superdome... that one is also pretty cool. I mentioned Plaza Tower earlier - it's easily one of the most unique skyscrapers in the country. I've never seen anything like it. (It was actually designed by Leonard Spangenberg, who also did the Frank Lloyd Wright-ish Unity Temple on St. Charles...)

Apart from that, all the buildings you list are huge, heavy-looking masonry boxes. Capital One/Place St. Charles has a really cheesy French Quarter-style iron sidewalk balcony slapped onto a heavy-looking masonry box. The glass "beacon" at the top is kinda cool, and I love the spiral parking ramp that cuts across the street 6 stories up... It's not often that parking garages do that.

There really aren't too many glassy buildings here... even Poydras Plaza, despite being clad in glass, is heavy-looking because of the dark tint.

Another issue I have is the huge lack of plaza space downtown... Duncan Plaza isn't very urban and it's now fenced off indefinitely and probably contaminated with asbestos from the sloppy demo of the State Office Building. Many other cities encourage developers to build plazas next to their towers to help beautify the downtown and stimulate pedestrian activity. Since we have decent weather year-round, there's even less of an excuse, although you would need to provide shade somehow.

A lot of the issues I have, in fact, are direct results of the incompetence of city government, not any particular failing of developers or architects. In other cities, developers are required to build plaza space or retail space or some other public amenity to get approval from the city. In New Orleans, developers are required to know somebody on City Council.

inCrescentCity · #**546** Posted **Nov 5, 2009, 4:29 PM**

There is a lot of development going on at St. Charles and Louisiana Ave right now. Two banks are in the early stages of construction, a First NBC bank and another one across the street which I forgot the name of. They are filling the empty lots that are across from the Rite Aid and Borders, respectively.

They have signs up on the fences around the construction showing the renderings, and both look pretty nice. They fall in line with the column-heavy architecture on St. Charles. I always felt that the intersection at Louisiana and St. Charles looked awful and it was really a shame because the rest of St. Charles is so gorgeous. It looks like these two banks will help that intersection aesthetically. Look forward to seeing them finished

I'll try and snap a few pictures of the renderings when I get a chance.

inCrescentCity · #**547** Posted **Nov 5, 2009, 4:31 PM**

Also, 930 Poydras is getting really close to done. The Muses construction is flying as well.

sguil1 · #**548** Posted **Nov 5, 2009, 8:10 PM**

Agree, both renderings look nice. Nothing special but better than a blighted lot. The other bank is first NBC or something.

sguil1 · #**549** Posted **Nov 5, 2009, 8:19 PM**

http://www.wwltv.com/sports/football...9cbcentre.html

nice article and video about new orleans centre. Work to begin soon.

NOLAau · #**550** Posted **Nov 6, 2009, 6:07 AM**

The new info on the Saenger and the sports complex by the dome are very nice. Does anyone know the status on some of the other theaters in that area such as the joy?

I am currently following the recovery from afar. I'm in college so I'm not at home much these days, but was home a couple weeks ago to see the work on 930 Poydras. I agree with those that thought the renderings look better than the product thus far...but oh well, at least it adds another somewhat tall building to our skyline. Such is the reason why I was hoping for the Trump to become a reality. It's unfortunate that it's dead now. Not sure about Tracage in the Warehouse District.

I got a brief look at the WWII museum from the interstate. Looks like it's coming along well. I can't wait to visit the new additions when they open!

NOLAau · #**551** Posted **Nov 6, 2009, 6:11 AM**

Oh, and I found this on nola.com. It talks about some advancements in the plans to "rediscover the river" with those various proposed parks and recreation areas. Good news.

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

ardecila · #**552** Posted **Nov 6, 2009, 6:34 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by sguil1

http://www.wwltv.com/sports/football...9cbcentre.html

nice article and video about new orleans centre. Work to begin soon.

It says that Poydras Properties could be just weeks away from getting the financing they need. That's great news if true... maybe some investors finally decided to buy their GO Zone bonds?

I like the comparison that the guy made to LA Live - if we get that caliber of design, it would be fantastic. I heard Bob Hale speak at Tulane recently - he designed the big audio-visual pylons at LA Live. Unfortunately, I doubt we'll get anything remotely that cool. If the plaza is anything beyond a giant concrete slab, it will probably have a bunch of tacky fleur-de-lis all over it and shit like that. That's cool on Canal Street, but not someplace that's supposed to be a state-of-the-art, high-tech festival ground, surrounded by glassy modern towers and futuristic stadiums. The Saints could easily pay for some cool media towers, if they wanted to - much of the money would come from advertising.

That reminds me.... I need to go check out New Orleans Centre before it gets torn down. I'm sure it's not too exciting, but I wanna know what the city is losing before I throw my unconditional support behind a plan that may turn out horribly.

Also, good news on the riverfront plan. Our riverfront right now is rather embarrassing, so it will be great to build parks along it and give it back to the people.

SlidellWx · #**553** Posted **Nov 6, 2009, 6:47 AM**

A new senior living community and associated medical clinic broke ground today out in New Orleans East. It's on the old Gaslight Square apartments land. The medical clinic will be a large asset to the East. I also noticed the steel remains of the Sam's Club are being torn down. Not sure what Wal-Mart plans on doing with that property.

tennis1400 · #**554** Posted **Nov 6, 2009, 7:40 AM**

Last I heard the Wal Mart was becoming a supercenter and needs all the property. The Sams will possibly move across the street to where the Lowes is. I can tell you that I am personally about to start a 60 unit brownstone development in lakewood South. Ill put renders of it up soon, but its a very unique product to New Orleans.

ardecila · #**555** Posted **Nov 6, 2009, 7:52 AM**

Cool. I like Lakewood South; it's one of the few places in the city that reminds me of the Chicago suburbs where I grew up. It doesn't look like there's room for a 60-unit development anywhere, though.

sguil1 · #**556** Posted **Nov 6, 2009, 7:02 PM**

Passed by N.O. Bioinnovation center site today, not a ton of action going on but there are two pile drivers on site that I don't think were there previously.

Nolacat157 · #**557** Posted **Nov 6, 2009, 9:07 PM**

Good article of the current state of NOLA development.

http://www.neworleanscitybusiness.co...fm?recID=27747

tennis1400 · #**558** Posted **Nov 7, 2009, 6:41 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ardecila

Cool. I like Lakewood South; it's one of the few places in the city that reminds me of the Chicago suburbs where I grew up. It doesn't look like there's room for a 60-unit development anywhere, though.

There is. Its located behind the pumping station by I-610 split. It use to be a Mormon Church. Its a really neat location and very excited for the project.

ardecila · #**559** Posted **Nov 7, 2009, 10:15 PM**

3001 Tulane Avenue (Crescent Club Retail)

Went past there today... apparently they have all but one of their spaces filled. There's gonna be a Hollywood Video, Subway, a "Therapy Wine & Tapas Bar", and a hair salon. The retail spaces will be right up against the street, with parking placed in back.

All the other projects on Tulane Ave also look good, except for the senior housing renovation across from Goodwill, which looks like a really ugly truckstop motel.

ardecila · #**560** Posted **Nov 10, 2009, 12:07 AM**

Bad news for the former Jazzland/Six Flags...

Nickelodeon ends licensing agreement with Southern Star
By Jaquetta N. White, The Times-Picayune
November 09, 2009, 4:35PM

Nickelodeon has cut ties with Southern Star Amusement, the theme park operator it had agreed to allow to use its name to redevelop the former Six Flags theme park in eastern New Orleans.

In a statement released Monday afternoon, the company said it had "ended its licensing arrangement with Southern Star Amusement for the proposed outdoor theme park in New Orleans due to Southern Star's failure to meet important contractual requirements and deadlines."

Nickelodeon, a division of the media giant Viacom, would not provide further comment.

Nickelodeon had agreed to lend its name, marketing strength and cache to the park through a licensing agreement with Southern Star. The company had not planned to make any financial commitments to the park.

Southern Star, an upstart company, recently withdrew its request to the Louisiana Bond Commission for $100 million in Hurricane Katrina business development bonds to fund the project because the company could not come up with $500,000 by the state treasury's deadline.