crime

Suspect identified, sought in Magazine Street home invasion

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Investigators have identified a suspect in last week’s home-invasion robbery attempt on Magazine Street, and are seeking the public’s help in locating him, police said Tuesday. Thaddeus “Fuggie” Braud, 40, is wanted on a charge of aggravated burglary, said Lt. Mike Montalbano, interim commander of the NOPD Second District. Braud is known to frequent not only Laurence Square park, but also areas of Magazine and Valence and Lyons and Annunciation, Montalbano said. A 61-year-old resident of the 4400 block of Magazine was in her driveway retrieving her newspaper about 7 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 14, when a man slipped inside her home and grabbed her by the neck when she came back inside, police have said.

business

Whole Foods granted minor concessions; Poydras Home addition approved and Monkey Hill expansion deferred

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After hearing from a procession of worried neighbors, the City Planning Commission voted to reject all but the least controversial of Whole Foods’ requested operational changes, possibly reducing months of efforts by the Magazine Street grocery into an extra hour of business on Sunday and the ability to put plants in front of the store. A major addition to the nearby Poydras Home retirement community was approved in accordance with the architects’ and neighbors wishes, but a decision was deferred on the expansion of the Monkey Hill bar into Johnny V’s restaurant amid concerns about parking and the nature of the expansion itself. Whole Foods

Whole Foods Arabella Station spent months negotiating with the surrounding Audubon Riverside Neighborhood Association in hopes of support for five requested changes to its operating agreement with the city: the ability to stay open until 9 p.m. on Sundays (as on the other six nights), more than one 18-wheeler per day, expanded hours in which deliveries are allowed, permission to display plants for sale on the front patio, and permission to host live music once or twice a month. On the deliveries, the most controversial issue, the store has argued that more 18-wheelers would mean fewer smaller trucks in total, and less impact on the neighborhood. Neighbors have accused the store of violating its existing operating rules, and said the store is already a shopping destination far too large for the small surrounding neighborhood and streets that should not be given additional concessions.

business

City urges Poydras Home to provide less parking for new building

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In a surprising move near a busy commercial corridor, city planning staffers are suggesting that a three-story addition to the Poydras Home retirement community be accompanied by fewer off-street parking spaces than the project originally envisioned, in an apparent effort to maximize the site’s green space. Poydras Home currently has 35 parking spaces in a main lot off Jefferson and a smaller one off Leontine, according to the City Planning Commission staff report on the project prior to Tuesday’s meeting. The new building at the facility would raise the required number of off-street parking spaces to 47, a figure that architects had planned to meet by adding two more spaces in the Jefferson lot and creating 10 spaces along a new driveway in front of the new building. Any change to the dense commercial stretch of Magazine between Jefferson and Nashville in the past year has been fraught with parking worries, and neighbors to the building likewise said in June that they were concerned about the parking impact of the Poydras Home project. After meeting with the architects, however, the neighbors said they were reassured by the developers’ promises not to ask for a parking waiver.

crime

Woman, 61, attacked by intruder inside Magazine Street apartment

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[Update, 5:57 p.m. Monday: Surveillance photos of the suspect have been released NOPD and attached to this article.]

A Magazine Street resident was attacked Sunday morning by a man who slipped inside her apartment while she stepped out for the morning newspaper, police said. The victim, a 61-year-old woman who lives in the in the 4400 block of Magazine, walked down her driveway for the newspaper about 7 a.m. Sunday, said Lt. Mike Montalbano, interim commander of the NOPD Second District. When she came back in, a stranger waiting inside pointed his finger at her like a gun, then grabbed her around the neck and ordered her not to scream, Montalbano said. She screamed anyway, and the attacker ran out, police said. Video from a nearby surveillance camera shows the man watching from around the corner when she steps out for the paper and then sneaking inside, Montalbano said.

business

Restaurant expansion, child-care facility, real-estate deal all raise neighbors’ concerns

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The proposed expansion of a Magazine Street bar, the possibility of a commercial development on Tchoupitoulas, and a child-care center on a residential block are all drawing the wary attention of their neighbors in Uptown’s Audubon-Riverside neighborhood. The agenda for the Aug. 23 meeting of the City Planning Commission includes a request at 6100-6108 Magazine Street — the address of Monkey Hill Bar — for an expansion of restaurant space and second-floor office and storage space. Audubon-Riverside Neighborhood Association board member Cele Gordon pointed out a Tuesday night meeting that the property owners have not sought to inform the neighborhood about their plans, and suggested that the association draft a letter making this clear to the planning commission. “Our association has never been approached and [we] don’t know anything about it, so we can’t take a formal position on it,” said Tim Betbeze, ARNA vice president, agreeing with a need for a letter to the city.

crime

Three Uptown robberies reported this week, with suspects identified in each

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Three armed robberies have been reported in Uptown New Orleans in as many days, but police have made arrests in one, linked it to the second, and identified a separate suspect in the third, authorities said Wednesday. The most recent robbery was 11 p.m. Tuesday, when a man walking on Freret Street near Nashville Avenue felt a tap on his shoulder from behind and turned to see two teenagers pointing guns at him, said Sgt. Chris Billiot of the NOPD Second District persons-crimes division. The teens searched the man, took his wallet, his Blackberry cell phone and his iPod, then fled on bicycles they had stashed nearby, Billiot said. An officer about eight blocks away saw two teens on bicycles and tried to stop them, but they took off, though police caught up to both.

business

Developer to share new design for Walgreens on Magazine Street

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With Walgreens moving forward on a store in the old American Legion hall on Magazine Street and no land-use changes required from the city, the developer on the project is holding a second community meeting to share new designs for the renovated building. At a meeting in March, neighbors were as concerned about the modern, glass-fronted design proposed for the building as they were about any other issues. Architects have since redesigned the building, and will present their plans at 6 p.m. July 12 at a meeting at the American Legion hall. According to an email from Karen Duncan, president of the Upper Hurstville Neighborhood Association:

Stirling Properties will hold an open public meeting on July 12th at 6:00 pm at the American Legion Hall to discuss how Stirling plans to minimize impact on the neighborhood during construction. In response to numerous requests, Stirling will also present the revised facade design of the building.

business

Imminent start to Magazine repairs at Nashville frustrates residents and merchants

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The third phase of repairs to Magazine Street could begin in just a few days by closing the block from Nashville to Arabella, officials announced at at community meeting Tuesday night to a surprised and frustrated audience of residents and merchants. The $6.7 million Magazine Street repair project began in January at the U.S. 90 overpass, and is now in the final weeks of its second phase, which brought the work up to Napoleon Avenue. The third phase was slated to begin in July and, like the earlier portions, was not expected to result in the closure of more than one lane at a time, said project spokeswoman Meghan Weaver and construction manager Rick Hathaway to a crowd of about 40 people at Poydras Home for Tuesday night’s meeting. The one exception was the block of Magazine between Nashville and Arabella, where a bus landing pad must be replaced on a stretch of street too narrow for the construction equipment to fit in one lane. Project officials just got word this afternoon that they could begin on that section, Weaver and Hathaway said, and thus planned to begin closing it Wednesday so they could start Thursday – a sudden start to the project that stunned some members of the meeting audience.

blight and demolition

Despite city’s initial OK, neither Rue de la Course nor Ignatius are moving soon, owner says

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The owner of the popular Rue de la Course coffeehouse on Magazine Street took a step closer Tuesday to being able to convert the location into a restaurant with alcohol sales, but said no immediate plans have been made for the location. Jerry Roppolo, who owns Rue and its building, was poised earlier this year to get a liquor license for Ignatius Eatery up the street, but then withdrew after he was unable to reach an agreement with his landlord there. Based on a subsequent plan he presented this month to move Ignatius into Rue’s building, the City Planning Commission voted Tuesday to recommend Roppolo receive a conditional-use permit to sell alcohol in the building he owns, but Roppolo said any changes to either location are still a long way off. “I believe our building would be a lot more valuable as a restaurant, and by getting a conditional use I have the opportunity to open a restaurant there,” Roppolo said. “Does that mean it’s going to happen?

blight and demolition

New bed-and-breakfast proposed in antebellum Lower Garden District house

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An antebellum mansion on Constance Street could become the Lower Garden District’s latest bed and breakfast after the neighborhood association gave the owner its blessing Monday night. Homeowner Matt Ryan told the Coliseum Square Association that he spent about four years renovating the historic house at 1431 Constance, which was built in 1852 by noted New Orleans architect Henry Howard. Ryan has given previous consideration to operating bed-and-breakfasts in the past, and Ryan said he has decided that the income it would bring would help him defray the expenses of the renovation and the upkeep. “If taxes go up or insurance goes up, we’re going to be in really bad shape,” Ryan said. Ryan said he would live on the house’s third floor, leaving room for two suites downstairs and two in a small side cottage.