New Orleans considers demolition of oldest skyscraper Plaza Tower
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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.