The fundraising arm of Odyssey House Louisiana has purchased the former Bohn Ford building at 2700 S. Broad Street for $8 million, acquiring full ownership of a century-old landmark that the addiction treatment nonprofit has occupied since a nearly $18 million historic renovation was completed in 2019. The deal, finalized last week by the Homer Foundation, included a cash payment to the existing ownership group plus the assumption of more than $1.2 million in outstanding debt owed to the state, according to court records filed in Orleans Parish. The seller was a three-party partnership made up of Odyssey House, the Gulf Coast Housing Partnership, and the Rhodes family’s real estate firm.

The 43,000-square-foot building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and dates to the mid-1920s, when it was constructed as a flagship automobile dealership for the Bohn family. The structure was designed by Emile Weil, the New Orleans architect responsible for the Saenger Theatre and the Touro Synagogue, among other city landmarks. The Bohn family operated the dealership on the corner of Broad and Washington Avenue until 1996, when they relocated and sold the building. A six-alarm fire gutted the structure in 2002, leaving only its four outer walls and original steel frame standing.

The Rhodes family, a third-generation real estate firm rooted in Broadmoor, purchased the building in 2005 with plans to convert it into a mixed-use complex with restaurants and office space. Hurricane Katrina struck days later, and the project sat dormant for more than a decade. In 2013 the Rhodeses began exploring new directions for the property, eventually connecting with the Gulf Coast Housing Partnership and Odyssey House. By 2017 the three parties had formed a development partnership and launched a nearly $18 million overhaul that rebuilt the entire interior while preserving the original historic exterior and meeting federal preservation rehabilitation standards. Odyssey House moved in when the building reopened in 2019.

Odyssey House is Louisiana’s largest addiction treatment and recovery provider. At 2700 S. Broad it operates residential treatment units, a federally qualified health center, and an on-site pharmacy, a combination that has enabled the organization to serve nearly twice as many patients as it did before the move. CEO Edward Carlson said the acquisition gives Odyssey House sole control over the property for the first time and positions the organization to expand further. Carlson also said the Tonti Street location, which serves as Odyssey House’s original headquarters, is in the final phase of its own expansion that will add close to 110 additional beds.

The Bohn building’s renovation was among the first anchor investments in the South Broad and Washington Avenue corridor, arriving alongside the Laurel Street Bakery and the Propeller Incubator across the street and forming the nucleus of a commercial revival in a stretch that had been largely dormant since Hurricane Katrina. The renovation was financed through a combination of Disaster Community Development Block Grant funds, New Market Tax Credits from Enterprise Community Investment and Goldman Sachs, and loans from the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority.

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