WWL-TV

The old Charity Hospital

BATON ROUGE, La. -- The state doesn't intend to demolish the now-shuttered Charity Hospital in New Orleans.

That was the pledge Thursday from Jerry Jones, head of the governor's Office of Facility Planning and Control, which oversees state construction projects.

Jones says the Jindal administration wants to market the Art Deco landmark to possible developers and is considering incentives the state might offer to attract them.

Jones' comments to lawmakers came on the same day that New Orleans community activists demonstrated against state plans to give up on remodeling the hospital in favor of constructing a new $1.2 billion teaching hospital.

Activists fear the plan will destroy part of a historic neighborhood when they believe it would be quicker, and cost less, to rebuild Charity, a hospital for the indigent that's been closed since Hurricane Katrina.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)