New Orleans considers demolition of oldest skyscraper Plaza Tower

The city is floating the idea of demolishing Plaza Tower, Mayor LaToya Cantrell confirmed Wednesday, calling the blighted skyscraper an “issue and a challenge for decades.”

Driving the news: Joe Jaeger owns the building, and he's looking to sell. Tuesday was the deadline for bids, Cantrell said.

• Jaeger told NOLA.com he received “a half dozen offers,” but it will take months to assess them.

Yes, but: The city was told Jaeger’s company would legally challenge a demolition, so officials are exploring other options first.

Catch up quick: Plaza Tower is one of the city's biggest blighted buildings.

• The 45-story skyscraper was the city's first when it was built in the 1960s and has been vacant for about 20 years.
• It was supposed to be part of a row of other tall buildings on Loyola Avenue, but those developments were built on Poydras Street instead.
• Jaeger, who owns several hotels in town, bought the building in 2014 from Bryan Burns, a year after it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
• Jaeger’s vision for the building, according to his website, was to renovate it into 90 luxury apartments, 200 hotel rooms and 195,000 square feet of parking.

Threat level: Falling debris from the building has been problematic for at least two years, when a cyclist was hit.

• Last month, there was a fire, and later a man died after falling from the tower.
• The owners installed safety netting, but falling debris remains a problem, especially on windy days.
• The city on Tuesday closed South Rampart Street indefinitely near the tower “out of an abundance of caution due to risk of falling debris.”
• Cantrell on Wednesday ruled out fining the owner: “It doesn’t make the building safer. ... Fines just don’t trigger a solution.”

What’s next: The mayor said being aggressive with blight is a priority for her this year.

• Her office will release a list of a “dirty dozen” blighted properties, and Plaza Tower is on the list.
• “We have some armpits, and I want to highlight those armpits in order to get them into compliance.”
• Other buildings she says are on the list are the Canal Street Hotel and the Lindy Boggs Medical Center.

Of note: Messages left for Jaeger at his companies — MCC Real Estate Group and J Hospital & Development — were not immediately returned.