The Dead Pool focuses on projects, developments, buildings, and infrastructure projects that were proposed but never actually happened for one reason or another. Like many cities, New Orleans is full of them.
This series will highlight some of the most spectacular proposals that never came to fruition. First up is the Trump International Hotel and Tower.
Photo via Wikipedia Commons
The Trump International Hotel and Tower was a proposed residential tower in the New Orleans CBD at Poydras and Magazine. It was a project of real estate mogul Donald Trump’s Trump Organization.
If constructed, the Trump Tower would have become the tallest building in the city of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana, at seventy stories. At a height of 716 feet along with a 126-foot spire, it would also be the tallest building along the Gulf Coast outside of Houston, as well as the tallest point in the state of Louisiana. It was planned to be a multi-use building with the ground floors allocated for retail shopping, the lower floors would have been luxury condo-hotels and the upper floors will be luxury condominiums.
The developer Poydras, LLC, was led by David Brannen and Cliff Mowe of Pensacola, Florida.
Trump’s 70-story, $400 million tower was to house 435 condo hotel units and 290 residences as well as a public arcade, retail space and restaurants. Units would have ranged in size from between 648 and 4,450 square feet.
Construction was expected to begin in the summer 2007 and to be complete by 2010. Prices ranged from $387,000 for a 684 square-foot studio to $3,330,000 for a 4,450 square-foot penthouse. You can check out the old floor plans here.
Photo via Wikipedia Commons
The project was announced weeks before Katrina hit, limped along for a few years, and was finally declared dead in
July 2011 after the location land was foreclosed on and sold at auction. The Times-Picayune reported that Jim Huger, the founder of Premium Parking, the leading parking company in New Orleans, outbid the lender at the auction and bought the two parcels of land where he currently operates a parking lot for $5.44 million.
about the author: CSB Staff
