The Lindy Boggs Medical Center, the New Orleans hospital turned post-Hurricane Katrina eyesore, has a new owner with plans to bring immediate improvements to the property and its graffiti-covered buildings.
City Council member Jay Banks told a Mid-City Neighborhood Association meeting Monday evening that real estate developer Joe Jaeger had sold his interest in the property to a new group led by Paul Flower, CEO of construction firm Woodward Design+Build. Banks said the deal occurred June 8, and that the Flower group promised it would quickly move to erect seven-foot-tall fencing and lighting, drain four to five feet of fetid water from the basement and remove the trash that's been dumped in the area.
"We hope to have some real progress in getting that eyesore into a much more neighborhood-friendly condition," Banks said.
Jaeger, who has held a 50% interest in the property since 2016 through his foundation, would not comment Tuesday, citing a nondisclosure agreement.
The St. Margaret's Foundation, which bought the property in 2010 and partnered with Jaeger to develop part of it, is listed by the Orleans Parish assessor's office as the property's legal owner. According to land records, the foundation transferred its ownership stake to a separate corporate entity earlier this month. Foundation leader Lawrence Stansberry didn't respond to requests for comment.
Screen Shot 2015-05-21 at 1.52.01 PM.png
Flower said he was out of town on business and wouldn't be able to comment until next week.
Banks said plans and timelines were vague on the site's long-term development. But he was told that the developers plan to convert the site into an assisted care center for elderly people, with an emphasis on caring for people with Alzheimer's disease.
He also said the Flower group has promised to spend about $180,000 to have the graffiti removed from the building's façade, though the timing of that work will depend on progress on the elderly care project. The new owners are expected to seek U.S. Department of Housing an Urban Development aid, as well as historic building tax credits, to make it financially viable, Banks said.
It's not clear what role St. Margaret's Foundation will play in any future development.
The new proposal represents the latest in a litany of plans to rehabilitate the building since it was flooded and abandoned after Hurricane Katrina and federal levee failures destroyed much of New Orleans' east bank.
Tenet Health Systems, which had operated the hospital, sold it in 2007 to Victory Real Estate, a Columbus, Georgia-based developer that owns nine small shopping centers in and around New Orleans. That group's plan to demolish the buildings and replace them with a food retailer never came to fruition.
St. Margaret's Daughters bought the abandoned site in 2010 for $4.2 million and spent $37 million converting the 100,000-square-foot office buildings on Bienville Street into the St. Margaret's at Mercy nursing home. Jaeger, through his family foundation, was brought in later as co-owner of the Lindy Boggs portion of the site.
For residents of Mid-City, the cleanup that began recently at the long-vacant Lindy Boggs Medical Center can't happen fast enough.
It took several years to address hazardous chemicals stored on the site and to remediate asbestos, with the aid of state and federal agencies.
Meanwhile, the deteriorating building stood out more and more as several developments occurred in the surrounding area. Two condominium complexes have sprouted nearby, and the Wrong Iron bar and restaurant on the Lafitte Greenway opened. Houses on nearby streets continue to be renovated.
Jaeger's firm, MCC Real Estate, and St. Margaret's said in 2019 they'd agreed to develop Lindy Boggs as an elderly residential complex. At that time, they promised to fix the standing water issue and clean up the outside as they began to design the housing project. They said they had narrowed potential operators to a list of three.
The derelict Lindy Boggs Medical Center in Mid-City, an eyesore and potential health hazard since it was shuttered in the wake of Hurricane Ka…
Nothing became of those plans, and in the subsequent two years the red brick building has continued to deteriorate.
In recent days, Entergy New Orleans trucks have been to the site to erect lights around the property, Banks said. Tests have been run on the standing water that now covers the basement area. Banks said they proved to be nontoxic, so the water may be pumped into public sewers in the next few days.
Still, news of the ownership change was greeted with a muted cheer by Mid-City residents, who have long been disappointed by development plans that failed to bear fruit.
Chris Blum, president of the Mid-City Neighborhood Organization, said he was relieved to hear of the new ownership but remained skeptical.
For residents of Mid-City, the cleanup that began recently at the long-vacant Lindy Boggs Medical Center can't happen fast enough.
"There is a history of lack of action to secure the property, of ignoring existing problems, not reporting illegal dumping nor any action to keep out trespassers or squatters," Blum said.
