The city’s demolition contractors moved into the Plaza Tower on Loyola Avenue on Monday to assess how best to make the derelict skyscraper safe and then to determine how it should be torn down.
Engineers from the Indianapolis-based firm Renascent could be seen rappelling down the face of the tower on Monday as they gathered information about the structure. Their initial work will take several weeks, after which they will deliver a plan to the city about how it should be demolished, according to a Renascent manager at the site on Monday who wasn’t authorized to be quoted by name.
A Renascent truck parked in front of Plaza Tower where contractors are planning to tear down the 45-story structure.
The move follows a decision by Orleans Parish District Court judge Sidney Cates earlier this month, denying the owner of Plaza Tower’s request for a restraining order to stop the city’s contractors. Cates sided with the city’s attorneys. They argued that time had run out for developers who have had a string of failed attempts to bring the 45-story building back into commerce over the last two decades.
In recent years, the deteriorating edifice has become a hazard to passersby, with falling debris hitting a cyclist four years ago and regular disruptions to traffic on adjacent streets. It has wracked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in code violations.
The city first gave notice of its intent to demolish the building over a year ago, around the same time as it announced stepped up plans to address the issue of blighted buildings in the parish and named Plaza Tower one of the “dirty dozen” such properties that were top of its hit list.
The city is also racing this week to finish its list of more than 550 road, sidewalk, lighting and other infrastructure repairs, as well as beautification efforts in time for Super Bowl LIX week, which begins next Monday ahead of the league championship game at the Caesars Superdome on Feb. 9.
One of the beautification projects entails hanging a large print by the artist Becky Fos on the Julia Street side of the tower to cover up part of the damaged building from public view. Large welcome messages for visitors and potential investors are going up on the Loyola Avenue side, sponsored by GNO Inc., the regional development agency.
Meanwhile, the owner of the building is racing to close a deal with a potential buyer that could save the defunct skyscraper from the wrecking ball.
The building is currently owned by a trust set up by the late Joe Jaeger, the New Orleans developer, to benefit his grandchildren. The trusts are run by Jaeger’s longtime financial advisor, Randy Waesche, who said Monday that he is still hopeful they can close a deal with an interested buyer before the city’s demolition team can start their work.
“I understand where the city is coming from but it is better to keep that building in commerce than to destroy it,” Waesche said, adding that he will be filing an appeal of the court decision whether or not the current interested buyers close on a deal.
City officials didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Will Barrois, manager of the commercial advisory division at Stirling Properties, who is the Jaeger estate’s broker for non-hotel properties, said that a Dallas development group has shown serious interest in buying Plaza Tower.
“They have met with the city folks, with Jeff Schwartz (the city’s director of economic development) and his team and they are pursuing various tax credits and incentives at both the city and state level,” Barrois said. He didn’t want to name the group but said they are talking about converting part of the tower into a hotel with condominiums on the upper floors.
There have been many potential buyers in the past that ultimately led nowhere, Barrois cautioned, noting that the Dallas group haven’t yet entered into any binding agreements.
Jaeger, who bought Plaza Tower in 2014, had felt he was close to a deal on several occasions but never closed. He had signed, for example, a nonbinding deal with UMusic Hotels, a joint venture between Universal Music Group and investment firm Dakia U-Ventures, but that was sidetracked and eventually abandoned when the COVID pandemic hit.
“Finding a legitimate buyer has been difficult,” Waesche said. “We have entered into negotiations with multiple buyers but none have had the capacity to do what we think should be done with the building. But we have now filed a letter of intent with a viable firm out of Dallas and the city has said they want to proceed, so we shall see.”
