News Roundup

$100 Million Condo Project Planned for Central City

Developers want to build 600 units

The Times-Picayune
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
By Greg Thomas
Real estate writer

A team of developers has acquired land that was the subject of a bitter battle over a proposed Central City grocery and plans to build a condominium complex instead.

Elie Khoury and partners, doing business as the KFK Group, paid $7 million for about five acres near Felicity and Carondelet streets. The group plans to build about 600 units with a total value of $100 million. The units will sell for between $180,000 and $280,000.

The project, tentatively called Felicity Crossings, also will have 765 ground-floor townhouses and some service-oriented retail space for small businesses like neighborhood groceries.

The project will consist of three buildings:

— A 4 1/2-story building of about 51,000 square feet will be constructed in the space bounded by Felicity, Carondelet and Polymnia streets. It will contain 37 units and retail space.

— A five-story building stretching along Felicity between Baronne and Carondelet will consist of two-story townhouses on the bottom floor with single-story units on the upper floors.

— The largest building — at 361,000 square feet — will be five stories and will be bounded by Felicity, Carondelet, Euterpe and Baronne. It will have townhouses and condominiums. A 12-story tower containing 10 condos will be built on the center of this building.

Parking in all three buildings will be under the structures and will be accessed through driveway entrances. The largest building will have two floors of parking, or more than 600 parking spaces.

In 1998, Albertsons grocery chain unveiled plans to develop a 66,000-square-foot store on the property. Preservationists upset about the size of the proposed grocery waged a long battle against the project. Albertsons pulled completely out of the New Orleans market in 2004, shuttering about a half dozen stores, and the Felicity store was never built.

New Orleans City Councilwoman Stacey Head, whose district includes the tract, said the new plans may be more palatable to the neighborhood and to preservationists.

Head was briefed on the project Monday by Khoury and said she was impressed, although she is reserving final judgment until the project enters the regulatory process. Zoning for the tract will have to be changed from commercial to multi-family to accommodate the project, Head said.

She said much of the controversy surrounding the Albertsons proposal involved the need to demolish and move numerous homes. Khoury’s proposal involves no demolition.

Mathes Brierre Architects is the project architect.

Khoury expects the entire project to be conventionally financed. He has struck a partnership with Gary Leff and Tim Tucker, doing business as LT Development out of California for equity and ownership.

The KFK team is behind several residential projects under way in the city, including the conversions of the Krauss Department Store building on Canal Street and the Regency Apartment complex at 1205 St. Charles Ave. The Krauss building was slated to become condominiums, but Khoury said this week that building will instead be turned into apartments. The Regency Apartment complex is being converted into a condominium complex. Khoury and his partners also recently bought the Texaco building on Canal Street with plans to develop 108 condominiums.