The former Archdiocese of New Orleans office building photographed at 1000 Howard Ave. in New Orleans, Monday, June 3, 2024. (Photo by Sophia Germer, The Times-Picayune)
The building at 1000 Howard Avenue is seen in New Orleans on Thursday, August 24, 2023. (Photo by Brett Duke, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
The former Archdiocese of New Orleans office building photographed at 1000 Howard Ave. in New Orleans, Monday, June 3, 2024. (Photo by Sophia Germer, The Times-Picayune)
The building at 1000 Howard Avenue is seen in New Orleans on Thursday, August 24, 2023. (Photo by Brett Duke, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
The former Archdiocese of New Orleans office building photographed at 1000 Howard Ave. in New Orleans, Monday, June 3, 2024. (Photo by Sophia Germer, The Times-Picayune)
The building at 1000 Howard Avenue is seen in New Orleans on Thursday, August 24, 2023. (Photo by Brett Duke, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Plans to convert the former Archdiocese of New Orleans office building on the edge of downtown into an apartment-style hotel are back on track, two years after stalling out amid rising interest rates and construction costs.
Developer Sam Mohd, who bought the blighted midcentury midrise at 1000 Howard Ave. from the Catholic Church in 2022, said construction is underway now that he and his partner on the project, Rohan Dawra, have secured financing and permits from the city.
Mohd and Dawra, who own and operate hundreds of short-term rentals through their platform, Vcay, are planning to turn the 12-story building into a hybrid hotel with 39 apartment-style units of 4 and 5 bedrooms each. The project is expected to cost nearly $19 million and take about 18 months, Mohd said.
The building at 1000 Howard Avenue is seen in New Orleans on Thursday, August 24, 2023. (Photo by Brett Duke, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
“No one knew what was going to happen in this tough financial climate,” Mohd said. “But we should be full steam ahead now.”
The renovation of the 63-year-old building is a positive development for the southwest corner of downtown, which has been redeveloped in fits and starts over the past decade and sits in the shadows of the blighted Plaza Tower.
In the two years since Mohd and Dawra purchased 1000 Howard Ave., the smaller building has also racked up code violations from the city for blight, trash and graffiti.
Mohd said they have told the city they will immediately clean up the building and want to be good neighbors.
“We’re addressing those concerns,” Mohd said. “We were just so focused on the financing and couldn’t do anything until that was in place.”
The Howard Avenue building was erected in 1962 for an insurance company and held a branch of the old First National Bank of Commerce. In more recent decades, it housed Catholic Charities and other offices for the local church.
When the nation’s second-oldest diocese filed for bankruptcy court protection in 2020 as clergy sex abuse claims mounted, the building—which had closed during the COVID pandemic and never fully reopened—was among the first properties listed for sale.
The former Archdiocese of New Orleans office building photographed at 1000 Howard Ave. in New Orleans, Monday, June 3, 2024. (Photo by Sophia Germer, The Times-Picayune)
In late 2022, Mohd and Dawra bought the building and its attached parking garage, which total more than 115,000 square feet, for $8.3 million or about $106 per foot. By the time they finalized the sale, they’d been planning the project for months and had already filed for permits with the city, records on the city’s Onestop dashboard show.
But taking on an ambitious real estate redevelopment project became more challenging in the months after the sale, as insurance rates climbed and interest rates and construction costs remained high. In mid-2023, Mohd said the partners were rethinking their plans.
They eventually found a lender for the project – Johnson Controls Capital, the financing arm of the multinational conglomerate Johnson Controls, which owns, develops and services real estate projects.
When completed, the hotel will be among several new hybrid hotels designed to appeal to group travelers. Like short-term rentals, they have multiple bedrooms within a single unit but, like hotels, are managed by a single operator under one roof.
Some hybrids have been criticized for trying to skirt the city’s ban on short-term rentals by registering as hotels but failing to follow the stricter regulations that are required of that class of lodging.
Among those requirements is a front desk that is staffed 24 hours a day. Mohd and Dawra amended their plans in 2023 to include a front desk. The hotel will be operated by Vcay and does not include plans for a bar or restaurant.
Mohd said demand from group travelers for multi-bedroom units is growing.
“The market has changed since 2022 and, honestly, it’s for the better in our case,” he said. “We are seeing great numbers from group travelers.”
Email Stephanie Riegel at stephanie.riegel@theadvocate.com.
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