business

New York investors buy the Whole Foods building on Magazine

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A New York investment group has purchased Arabella Station, the home of Whole Foods Market on Magazine Street, for $31.4 million, property records show. Whole Foods has a long-term lease on the former bus barn and is expected to remain. The property that takes up the entire block at 5600 Magazine St. was purchased by DK WFNO, a limited liability company operated by Debra Kalimian. Kalimian runs D&R Holding and A&R Kalimian Realty out of offices in Manhattan, records show.

historic preservation

Church working to take landmark building off the endangered list

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The slow deterioration of the Victorian-era wooden church on the Magazine and Valence streets has caught the attention of the Louisiana Landmarks Society. It was the only Uptown building on the preservation advocacy group’s 2022 list of New Orleans’ Most Endangered Sites. “Long a fixture along Magazine Street and for years described as ‘the country church uptown,’ the church building is now forlorn and neglected, a former neighborhood anchor now in decline on a busy, thriving commercial part of Magazine Street,” the LLS states in its report. It may not be neglected for long. The building has also caught the attention of a Baptist congregation in the Uptown area.

historic preservation

New owner of historic home has been trying for years to demolish it. With the council’s reluctant OK, now he can.

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The City Council voted Thursday to allow the demolition of a century-old house in the Uptown historic district, while mandating that the owner retain or restore the façade. It was  the fifth demolition request for 1230 Webster St. since 2019, after it was put on the market and eventually sold to an Alabama couple. Some requests were withdrawn, others denied. The Historic District Landmarks Commission has repeatedly opposed the demolition.

Audubon-Riverside homes to be featured in 2022 Shotgun House Tour

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The Preservation Resource Center’s Shotgun House Tour focuses on how the historic cottages can be adapted for a modern family. For this year’s tour on June 11 and 12, the PRC will open the doors to five private shotgun homes in the Audubon Riverside neighborhood, promising “smart, innovative renovations that showcase the livability and versatility of the city’s favorite house type.” As a bonus, the tour also includes the restored Hales Cottage on the campus of Children’s Hospital. Hales Cottage is one of the oldest buildings in Uptown New Orleans, with parts of its timber wall frames dating to the late 18th century. The tour headquarters is in St.

land use & development

City Council approves compromise allowing new Magazine Street building

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The City Council backed a plan to approve a controversial new building on Magazine Street in the Irish Channel while requiring further design changes to the three-story mixed-use building. The Historic District Landmarks Commission had gave the project its conceptual approval in April. The Garden District Association then filed an appeal asking the City Council to overturn the HDLC’s decision. In the appeal, Garden District Association President Frank Tessier quotes liberally from the HDLC’s guidelines for new construction, pointing out requirements — such as aligning balconies, roof ridges and other elements with adjacent buildings — that he states were not followed by the commission when it approved the design for 2230 Magazine. The appeal states the building is too large for the site, despite guidelines that require compatibility in size and massing.

land use & development

New building on Magazine Street gets HDLC approval over neighbors’ objections

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In a divided vote held after two months of hearings, the Historic District Landmarks Commission gave the green light to a new mixed-use building on Magazine Street in the Irish Channel. Their April 6 ruling will now go before the City Council, which could overturn the vote. The Garden District Association has filed an appeal, GDA Executive Director Shelley Landrieu told Uptown Messenger. Garden District, Irish Channel and Lower Garden District residents came out in force to oppose the plans for the three-story 15,000-square-foot building planned for an empty lot at 2230 Magazine St. The HDLC received 29 letters of opposition to the plans and one letter of support, according to city records.

city government

City Council upholds demolition of bungalow on Henry Clay

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The City Council voted Thursday (March 24) to uphold the Historic District Landmarks Commission’s approval of a developer’s request to raze a house on Henry Clay Avenue in the Uptown historic district. The demolition had been challenged by preservation advocate Susan Johnson. The HDLC staff backed the demolition request in its report to the commission and its testimony to the City Council. It’s rare that the HDLC staff support a demolition, according to Eleanor Burke, the commission’s deputy director. “Once historic resources or buildings that contribute to the heritage of a community are destroyed,” Burke told the council, “it is generally impossible to reproduce their design, texture, materials, details and their special character and interest in the neighborhood.”

opinion

Viewpoint: We need to stop demolishing our historic homes (sponsored)

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By Susan Johnson, guest columnist

From the street, the house at 1025 Henry Clay Ave. resembles an old-fashioned, eclectic California cabin on a generous lot, with an open, full-length wooden porch, chamfered roof, and double front doors with parti-colored inlaid paneling. In its centenary year, it inspires interest, admiration and affection. 

Yet the house will soon be torn down, if the new owner has his way. The old cypress tree in the backyard will be cut down, too. 

More than this, it looks like the Historic District Landmarks Commission and District A Councilman Joe Giarrusso III are going to let him do it. 

On Feb. 2, the HDLC commissioners approved the demolition of 1025 Henry Clay on the recommendation of HDLC staff, with a vote of 10 to 1.

historic preservation

Endangered places: As the Buddy Bolden house continues to deteriorate, PJ Morton ‘has a plan for it’

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Graffiti is scrawled across the side of the Central City shotgun that was once the home of jazz legend Buddy Bolden, and siding that received a fresh coat of paint a few years ago has begun falling off. In front of the house at 2309-11 First Street, near Simon Bolivar Avenue, trash has been piling up around the abandoned remains of past roadwork. Like many plans, those for the home of the musical innovator have been frozen in time for the past two years as Covid-19 disrupted every aspect of life here and abroad. But now that the coronavirus numbers are declining and people are starting to awaken from their forced slumber, questions have arisen about what exactly is going on in the 2300 block of First Street and when might work may be proceeding with the rehabilitation of Bolden’s former residence at 2309 First St. 

No apparent progress has been made since the house appeared on the Louisiana Landmarks Society’s list of New Orleans Nine Most Endangered Sites for the second time in November 2020. The society said that, despite celebrated restoration plans, the building owned by the Greater St.

historic preservation

Zion Williamson’s mom receives City Council approval for addition to Garden District mansion

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The City Council on Thursday (Sept. 23) approved a third-floor addition to a Garden District mansion owned by Sharonda Anderson, the mother of Pelicans star Zion Williamson. Anderson and architect John Williams had appealed the Historic District Landmarks Commission’s denial of their request to demolish 62% of the roof to add a screening room, workout room and guest bedroom to the 7,457-square-foot historic residence on First and Coliseum streets. The architects have since revised the design so that it’s less visible from the street, but the HDLC’s Eleanor Burke said the commission staff believes the addition would still undermine the architectural integrity of the building and the neighborhood and would set a precedent that could affect all of the city’s historic districts. The HDLC has partial control in the Garden District, giving it jurisdiction over demolitions and new construction only.