NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – Developers told a packed room of Downtown neighbors that a plan to convert the abandoned Lindy Boggs healthcare facility into a nursing home has failed, and it’s unclear what will happen next to the graffiti-covered eyesore.

At a Mid-City Neighborhood Organization meeting Monday night, Nov. 11, Woodward Interests president Bill Hoffman told MCNO and the assembled neighbors that the U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) loan his company had been working to secure for years was being scrapped because the company Woodward was working with withdrew from the project.

Hoffman told neighbors that it took so long to secure the HUD loan because a special case had to be filed because the former Lindy Boggs Medical Center (and Mercy Hospital) has a basement in a flood zone.

Although the special case was eventually accepted, by then the relevant nursing home had to find another location.

Hoffman reassured disappointed viewers: “At this stage of my career, at this stage of my life, this is one of the most important things we’re working on.” “I don’t want to come here every three months and say we’ll do this, we’ll do this, we’ll do this.”

National architecture firm Gensler was hired to conduct a study of the building, which has remained vacant since Hurricane Katrina, and to suggest potential ways the building could be redeveloped to take advantage of historic tax credits.

“I worked there for 14 years. I was in intensive care. “I was there for Katrina,” one woman said. “It’s very traumatic to see this building in its current state.”

The site has become a haven for graffiti artists, whose tags can be seen by motorists passing by any side of the high-rise on the Norman C. Francis Parkway.

Frustrated neighbors said the site had also long been used by vandals, vagrants and illegal drug users.

“We’re so tired,” another woman told Hoffman. “And I don’t mean it’s ugly. I really want you to understand, all the cards are in your hands. “We don’t keep anything.”

Hoffman told the crowd that demolishing the entire structure would cost about $3.5 million, which would require jumping through new bureaucratic hoops.

Instead, he said, potential reuse of the property and partial demolition of some pieces could keep the project eligible for historic tax credits and also contribute to the neighborhood.

“We got involved in this in 2021 because, frankly, it was right down the street from our office,” Hoffman said. “Then we think it’s an eyesore. “We think it’s now an eyesore.”

Woodward invested in security measures, including new fences and locks, and metal covers to prevent entry through exterior doors and windows. New exterior lighting is being considered, he said.

But ultimately, he said, more security measures will attract more vagrants.

Instead, MCNO, with support from Hoffman and City Council member Lesli Harris, touted the effort to create a program to transform the space into a temporary art space where artists would be allowed to paint murals.

“As you can see now, it is covered in labels. But we want something nice for Mid-City and New Orleans,” said MCNO vice president Mark Mascar. “(If) it’s been a year and things are starting to change, we’re pretty happy to see something beautiful and worth a year’s worth of art.”

Mascar said he is hopeful the murals can be completed before the Super Bowl.

Hoffman said owning the dilapidated property costs his company between $30,000 and $40,000 a month in property taxes, security measures and landscaping.

While neither project has been finalized, the first shovels for any potential redevelopment could hit the ground in nine to 15 months, he said.

See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Click here to report this. Please include the title.

Subscribe to Fox 8 YouTube channel.

Copyright 2024 WVUE. All rights reserved.