News Roundup

Gentilly rebuilding plan calls for ‘quality retail’: Shopping center at Elysian Fields would get revamp

Times-Picayune
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
By Jaquetta White

A rebuilding plan proposed recently to residents of Gentilly neighborhoods recommended converting the shopping center along Gentilly Boulevard at Elysian Fields Avenue into something “more appropriate to the surrounding neighborhoods and that better serves the needs of Gentilly residents.”

The plan was presented last week by Andres Duany, principal of Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company, the Miami firm contracted by the community to craft a plan for its rebuilding.

Duany called the shopping strip that had included a Blockbuster, Baskin-Robbins, Radio Shack, Walgreens and a mix of small, locally owned outfits, a “third-rate shopping center.” And said it is “absolutely crucial that you have a first-rate retail on that place.” Fewer than half of the businesses operating in the shopping strip before Hurricane Katrina have reopened.

The plan calls for a mixed-use development that would consist of retail space with residential space above it.

According to the plan, Gentilly Boulevard would be reconfigured to include a greenspace square surrounded by trees. The addition would “calm traffic” and “provide a new green civic space.” Parking would be moved to the rear of the shopping strip.

Among the other highlights, the plan suggests that a cinema or large retailer anchor the strip.

A developer would be identified through a request-for-proposal process. The plan says the remodeled town center could be financed through a public/private partnership, but does not give specifics.

The plan would need to be adopted by the Gentilly Civic Improvement Association and presented to the city to become the formal rebuilding plan for the neighborhood. Scott Darrah, president of the association, said he did not know if the group had approved it yet.

Local residents say a change would be welcomed.

Gentilly resident Vera Triplett said the goal is to get “quality retail” to move to the strip.

“The quality of occupants is not what the neighborhood would like to see or deserves,” area resident Reggie Glass said. “People would like to see something nicer.”

But, for those changes to take place, the center likely would have to be sold. The shopping center is now owned by Texas-based Gentilly LLC.

Ed Badouh, the company’s proprietor, said it is not currently for sale but he would entertain an offer to sell it.

However, he said his current priority is not on selling, remodeling or tearing down the center, but on allowing the tenants who want to return the opportunity to do so.

“What we’re doing is what we’re obligated to do,” said Badouh, who, with his wife, bought the center in 1983. “Our first obligation is to try to put back the tenants that were there.”

Badouh said he is also open to moving new tenants into the space and has met with the neighborhood group to discuss that possibility, though no plans are final yet.

Jaquetta White can be reached at jwhite@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3494.