What's next for New Orleans' troubled Plaza Tower
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Plaza Tower, right, is the city's first skyscraper. Photo: Carlie Kollath Wells/Axios
Plaza Tower remains vacant with no definitive redevelopment timeline as New Orleans officials grapple with how to keep the troubled skyscraper safe.
Why it matters: Two people have died in falls from the blighted building since 2023, including a Belle Chasse teen last weekend.
The big picture: Demolishing the skyscraper would cost at least $25 million, an expense the city would likely not recoup, according to Jonah Gilmore, New Orleans' communications director.
- Instead, the owners are expected to keep the building safe while pursuing redevelopment.
- NOPD has temporarily increased patrols in the area, but it's the building owner's legal responsibility to secure the vacant site, he added.
- The city's previous assessment found that the building is structurally sound, but the exterior panels, which have fallen in the past, "require constant monitoring."
Zoom in: The estate of the late Joe Jaeger owns the property.
- Lincoln Avenue Communities has Plaza Tower under contract and expects to close the deal in 2027, Jeff Schwartz, the city's deputy mayor for economic development, told the council earlier this year.
- The company is working to convert it into an affordable housing project but is still going through due diligence, Gilmore says. There's no timeline for development as of Wednesday.
- The property taxes are up to date and the estate does not owe the city any fines, he added.
Zoom out: The city has worked with the owners for the last 18 months to require them to secure the building and provide on-site security, Gilmore says.
- The city could have fined the owners more than $1 million for code violations but instead fined them $4,075, WWL reported in 2023.
- Former Mayor LaToya Cantrell at the time ruled out fining Jaeger, saying "Fines just don't trigger a solution" to safety concerns.
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 more than 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 bought the building in 2014 from Bryan Burns, a year after it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
- Jaeger’s plan was to renovate it into luxury apartments, hotel rooms and parking, his website previously said, but the vision never came to fruition.