Images of the Gertler Building in 1925 via Josh Gertler
Josh Gertler, an associate at Gertler Law Firm and a New Orleans-based developer, is in the beginning stages of developing a mixed-use project at 127 – 129 Carondelet Street in the Central Business District.
Gertler started his real estate career as an agent at Stirling Properties and he is now a broker and developer with his own firm, Basis Brokerage/Basis Development. He received a JD/MBA degree from Tulane where he took real estate development courses and worked at a few real estate internships out of state.
The mixed-use development at 127 – 129 Carondelet Street was previously home to the Gertler Law Firm until this past spring. Demolition is occurring now and the project, called Gallier Court after designer James Gallier, is expected to be completed by the end of October.
Gallier Court will have eight apartments with a 2,247-square foot commercial space on the ground floor. The one bedroom apartments start at approximately 640 square feet and the two bedrooms will be approximately 1,100 square feet. The building is currently zoned to allow a mixed-use project and will not require a zoning change.
Both the commercial and residential apartments are listed at current market value. Gertler confirmed that VOM FASS, which sells items to promote an Old-world European shopping vibe, will occupy the entire first floor commercial space. They should open on or before when the whole development is completed. As for the apartments, Gertler is partnering with Dorian Bennett Sotheby’s International Realty to market and rent the units closer to completion.
Gertler told CSB that the response to the development has been great. “The block that the development is in is prime for redevelopment and many are hoping that this project, along with a couple others, will help rejuvenate the block. Also, many are excited to see new retail in the neighborhood, as well as see a historic building completely renovated.”
Gallier Court will add back balconies to the building on the 2nd and 3rd floors. The project will also remove all of the modern windows and replace them with historically accurate windows in addition to the restoration of the historical elements found throughout the interior of the property.
When asked to predict the future of real estate in New Orleans, Gertler said the best predictor is what is occurring elsewhere. “If you look at what’s occurred in the larger cities in the country as far as their downtown neighborhoods in both their commercial and residential sectors, you are seeing those same patterns develop here. As long as the economy keeps moving in the right direction and job creation continues, we will continue to follow the larger cities.”
“I think the NOLA market is doing well,” Gertler continued. “The residential market in the CBD is strong and will only help develop the neighborhood even further. And commercial space along Canal Street and the surrounding blocks have been improving with the quality of the tenant mix and I believe it will continue to get better.”
Gertler is currently focused on Gallier Court but will be looking to develop other mixed-use projects throughout New Orleans in the future.
about the author: Julia Ballard
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[…] Magazine where Rare Cuts, Vom Fass and Parcels and Post are currently located. We now know that Vom Fass is moving to Gertler’s Gallier Court development in the CBD and Rare Cuts has signed a new lease at 5920 Magazine […]
[…] Gallier Court is a mixed-use development encompassing the historic building at 127-129 Carondelet Street in the Central Business District of New Orleans. The building was built in the 1840s and designed by James Gallier, Sr., the prominent architect who built Gallier Hall and other landmark New Orleans buildings. Gallier erected a row of buildings along Carondelet Street, including the building proposed for rehabilitation, to house his offices and workshops. He occupied and used these buildings for the entire time he remained in business. Gallier eventually passed these buildings on to his son James Gallier, Jr., also a prominent New Orleans architect, who renovated the row of buildings then known as “Gallier Court”. The Daily Picayune described Gallier Court as being a place where activities were “most cultured, most aristocratic” with “stores underneath”, and that these buildings “contain 25 rooms above, intended for boarding houses”. […]
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