Paul Murphy / Eyewitness News
Email: pmurphy@wwltv.com | Twitter: @pmurphywwl
NEW ORLEANS -- The state bond commission has approved the financing for a plan to redevelop the old Texaco building in the 1500 block of Canal Street in downtown New Orleans.
Developer Pres Kabacoff said the 17-story building that's been vacant for 15 years will include retail space on the ground floor and 112 apartments for low-income senior housing.
Kabacoff said the units are needed for elderly residents who will be displaced as the city turns the nearby Iberville Housing Development into a new, mixed-income neighborhood.
"A well run elderly project provides for a great need, elderly housing, and when it's well run, it's not going to hurt anything," said Kabacoff.
But, a group called "Revive NOLA" is now blasting the project in a series of ads on local radio.
The group is also opposed to another proposal by North Carolina based Reliance Housing Foundation to bring 33 affordable rental units to the old Hotel Lasalle, adjacent to the Saenger Theater, also on Canal.
"It might seriously jeopardize Broadway South and the development plans for the theater district and entertainment district there," said Revive NOLA spokesman Kevin Stuart.
Mayor Mitch Landrieu said he doesn't know much about the elderly highrise. But he said the Hotel Lasalle project already has the green light and tax credits from a state agency.
"The city is prohibited from discriminating against any kind of housing that is put in place," said Landrieu. "I'm not crazy about the idea of having anything that's not in complete synergy with what goes on at the Saenger Theater, but it's going to have to play itself out."
Kabacoff said both projects help fill a huge need for affordable housing in the city.
"To provide some on Canal Street, as long as you don't overwhelm it in poverty which is the mistake," said Kabacoff. "We have a mixed-income community. We should have a mixed-income environment."
"The way we develop our city can either help foster real community or hurt it," said Stuart. "Highrise, very dense population like that hurts it. Houses with sidewalks and street lamps and playgrounds, those help foster the community that prevent crime."
Renovation of the old Texaco building is now expected to begin in April with completion expected in mid-2013.
