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Message
TulaneLSU's Top 10 skyscrapers of New Orleans East
Posted on 2/26/20 at 8:31 pm
Posted on 2/26/20 at 8:31 pm
Dear Friends,
There is love in the ruins. So said one of my favorite writers and fellow late to the table Waffle House aficionado, Walker Percy. New Orleans is not short on ruins, and in this Lenten season, I think it is good to reflect on our own ruins. For our sin has destroyed so much in this world, in our selves, our homes, and our towns and cities. But through it all, there remains love, Christ’s love, and that love is poured out in such a way that we can be leaking vessels of love. The love of Christ finds a way from our brokenness to the other. In that love is restoration, rehabilitation, and renaissance for that which is ruined.
New Orleans East is an area that has remained partly in ruin for a decade or two. It once sat posed to become a glorious extension to the city. So many factors, not so easily simplified as Section 8, occurred to hasten its ruin in the 2000s. The Katrina floods nearly killed the East. But it is slowly coming back. Perhaps in a century, our descendants will marvel at how we talked about this part of New Orleans as a crime infested ghetto.
I am grateful to you, my friends, who allowed me to express the root of my fear of bridges in my Top 10 dishes of Mosca's letter. Since revealing that confessional, cathartic narrative I have girded my loins and recently borrowed Mother’s Mercedes. My goal was to cross the Industrial Canal by myself, the first time I have ever done this. I was far too scared to go over the Highrise, and instead chose to take the less precipitous and traveled Danzinger Bridge. This bridge was site of a horrific massacre of innocent civilians following Katrina, and I prayed the entire time over the bridge.
Once across, I was safe in New Orleans East. And in peace I explored that beautiful region. I was able to take photos of TulaneLSU’s Top 10 skyscrapers of New Orleans East:
10. 6700 Plaza Drive
The sister building of the #9 highrise in New Orleans East, this building is now in need of a little TLC. It was built in 1975. The Unum Lift Insurance Company of America occupied it for most of the 1980s before selling it to the Regional Transit Authority (RTA) in 1992. The RTA’s administrative offices remained there until Katrina. It has sat abandoned ever since. In 2013, the RTA sold the derelict building to the 6700 Plaza Drive LLC. This LLC does not appear to have done much with it since. It appears that the 60,000 square foot building is on the market for just $999,000. That’s less than $17 per square foot for prime New Orleans East real estate visible from I-10.
9. 6600 Plaza Drive
Built in 1975 during the highrise boom of New Orleans East. Barclays American Financial had regional offices and Crescent City Tech College was there in the 1980s. Located right across the way from Plaza Movies 5, one could catch Jurassic Park 2 and learn Windows 95.
Building occupancy declined in the 2000s, and by the time Katrina arrived, there was not much else but a bus and truck driving school in the building. The building sat vacant for only a year after the flood when Liberty Bank and Trust Company moved its administration offices there in 2006. Since that move, the company has expanded throughout America, acquiring banks in Detroit, Chicago, Montgomery, Tuskegee, Jackson, and Kansas City. For more on the history of the bank, see Liberty Bank's Youtube documentary
8. The New Orleans East Hospital
At the time of Katrina, NOE had two hospitals, Pendleton Memorial Methodist Hospital, which Universal Health purchased from Methodist Health System Foundation in 2003, and Humana, formerly Lakeland Hospital. From 2005 through 2013, the entire area lacked a single hospital. Then the 80 bed New Orleans East Hospital opened. It is on the site of the previous 306 bed Pendleton Methodist Hospital. It is a beautiful building. I’m grateful I’ve never needed attention there.
7. Folgers Coffee plant
The best part of waking up for me is not Folgers in my cup. It is a cup of hot tea in one hand and my Bausch & Lomb magnifying glass in the other as I peruse the Oxford English Dictionary. That of course, is after reading at least ten chapters in the Bible, praying, and worshipping through the 1928 edition of the Book of Common Prayer. Still, one of the best parts about New Orleans life is when the wind is just right that it allows you to smell the roasting coffee at Folgers.
For over 50 years, beginning in the 1960s, Folgers was America’s biggest coffee seller. New Orleans and this plant are a big reason for that. Folgers initially was a San Francisco company, but shipping to New Orleans from Central and South America was much cheaper than to San Fran. So in 1960, the company chose to begin building a roasting facility on the MRGO, near where the Chef and Old Gentilly Road meet.
According to our good friend and former Folgers employee, sometime in the 1980s, Folgers purchased the current property on the Industrial Canal. Coffee ships now had easy access through both the Mississippi River and the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO). In 2010, the company invested $70 million expanding this facility. I love the smell and I like the look of the building from the Highrise, treacherous though it may be.
6. 5640 MCENO
This 1980 medical office building is perhaps New Orleans’ best example of Post World War II Calvinist Functionalism. The 92,000 square foot, nine story building’s closest Functionalism companions are the K&B Plaza and the Joe Yenni Building and Elmwood Tower in Elmwood. Of note is its bold white color with subtle offwhite triangular shapes on the building’s corners. The property has a whopping 253 parking spaces. On my recent visit here, the parking lot was filled with people waiting and smoking.
5. Lake Forest Tower
Attractive 200 unit highrise set on 2.5 acres of prime New Orleans East real estate. It is adjacent to the majestic Executive Plaza. If you or someone you know is a retiree or veteran, it is imperative that you get in on the ground floor here. These units won’t last long when they are opened. The initial building opened in 1974, the same year the world famous Lake Forest Plaza mall opened. 1974 was quite a boom for New Orleans construction, particularly in the East.
There is love in the ruins. So said one of my favorite writers and fellow late to the table Waffle House aficionado, Walker Percy. New Orleans is not short on ruins, and in this Lenten season, I think it is good to reflect on our own ruins. For our sin has destroyed so much in this world, in our selves, our homes, and our towns and cities. But through it all, there remains love, Christ’s love, and that love is poured out in such a way that we can be leaking vessels of love. The love of Christ finds a way from our brokenness to the other. In that love is restoration, rehabilitation, and renaissance for that which is ruined.
New Orleans East is an area that has remained partly in ruin for a decade or two. It once sat posed to become a glorious extension to the city. So many factors, not so easily simplified as Section 8, occurred to hasten its ruin in the 2000s. The Katrina floods nearly killed the East. But it is slowly coming back. Perhaps in a century, our descendants will marvel at how we talked about this part of New Orleans as a crime infested ghetto.
I am grateful to you, my friends, who allowed me to express the root of my fear of bridges in my Top 10 dishes of Mosca's letter. Since revealing that confessional, cathartic narrative I have girded my loins and recently borrowed Mother’s Mercedes. My goal was to cross the Industrial Canal by myself, the first time I have ever done this. I was far too scared to go over the Highrise, and instead chose to take the less precipitous and traveled Danzinger Bridge. This bridge was site of a horrific massacre of innocent civilians following Katrina, and I prayed the entire time over the bridge.
Once across, I was safe in New Orleans East. And in peace I explored that beautiful region. I was able to take photos of TulaneLSU’s Top 10 skyscrapers of New Orleans East:
10. 6700 Plaza Drive
The sister building of the #9 highrise in New Orleans East, this building is now in need of a little TLC. It was built in 1975. The Unum Lift Insurance Company of America occupied it for most of the 1980s before selling it to the Regional Transit Authority (RTA) in 1992. The RTA’s administrative offices remained there until Katrina. It has sat abandoned ever since. In 2013, the RTA sold the derelict building to the 6700 Plaza Drive LLC. This LLC does not appear to have done much with it since. It appears that the 60,000 square foot building is on the market for just $999,000. That’s less than $17 per square foot for prime New Orleans East real estate visible from I-10.
9. 6600 Plaza Drive
Built in 1975 during the highrise boom of New Orleans East. Barclays American Financial had regional offices and Crescent City Tech College was there in the 1980s. Located right across the way from Plaza Movies 5, one could catch Jurassic Park 2 and learn Windows 95.
Building occupancy declined in the 2000s, and by the time Katrina arrived, there was not much else but a bus and truck driving school in the building. The building sat vacant for only a year after the flood when Liberty Bank and Trust Company moved its administration offices there in 2006. Since that move, the company has expanded throughout America, acquiring banks in Detroit, Chicago, Montgomery, Tuskegee, Jackson, and Kansas City. For more on the history of the bank, see Liberty Bank's Youtube documentary
8. The New Orleans East Hospital
At the time of Katrina, NOE had two hospitals, Pendleton Memorial Methodist Hospital, which Universal Health purchased from Methodist Health System Foundation in 2003, and Humana, formerly Lakeland Hospital. From 2005 through 2013, the entire area lacked a single hospital. Then the 80 bed New Orleans East Hospital opened. It is on the site of the previous 306 bed Pendleton Methodist Hospital. It is a beautiful building. I’m grateful I’ve never needed attention there.
7. Folgers Coffee plant
The best part of waking up for me is not Folgers in my cup. It is a cup of hot tea in one hand and my Bausch & Lomb magnifying glass in the other as I peruse the Oxford English Dictionary. That of course, is after reading at least ten chapters in the Bible, praying, and worshipping through the 1928 edition of the Book of Common Prayer. Still, one of the best parts about New Orleans life is when the wind is just right that it allows you to smell the roasting coffee at Folgers.
For over 50 years, beginning in the 1960s, Folgers was America’s biggest coffee seller. New Orleans and this plant are a big reason for that. Folgers initially was a San Francisco company, but shipping to New Orleans from Central and South America was much cheaper than to San Fran. So in 1960, the company chose to begin building a roasting facility on the MRGO, near where the Chef and Old Gentilly Road meet.
According to our good friend and former Folgers employee, sometime in the 1980s, Folgers purchased the current property on the Industrial Canal. Coffee ships now had easy access through both the Mississippi River and the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO). In 2010, the company invested $70 million expanding this facility. I love the smell and I like the look of the building from the Highrise, treacherous though it may be.
6. 5640 MCENO
This 1980 medical office building is perhaps New Orleans’ best example of Post World War II Calvinist Functionalism. The 92,000 square foot, nine story building’s closest Functionalism companions are the K&B Plaza and the Joe Yenni Building and Elmwood Tower in Elmwood. Of note is its bold white color with subtle offwhite triangular shapes on the building’s corners. The property has a whopping 253 parking spaces. On my recent visit here, the parking lot was filled with people waiting and smoking.
5. Lake Forest Tower
Attractive 200 unit highrise set on 2.5 acres of prime New Orleans East real estate. It is adjacent to the majestic Executive Plaza. If you or someone you know is a retiree or veteran, it is imperative that you get in on the ground floor here. These units won’t last long when they are opened. The initial building opened in 1974, the same year the world famous Lake Forest Plaza mall opened. 1974 was quite a boom for New Orleans construction, particularly in the East.
This post was edited on 2/27/20 at 7:11 am
18
Posted on 2/26/20 at 8:31 pm to TulaneLSU
4. 6324 Chef Menteur
Believe it or not, this building made the National Register of Historic Places last year. Unless you count Forts Macomb and Pike as part of the East, it is the only structure east of the Industrial Canal on that list. Although a historic eyesore for the city, its current owner, Peter Gardner, says he is working to renovate the building to bring it back to its former glory. He has owned the building for nearly three years now. That this structure made the list by fitting the sole criteria of being 50 years old shows how government programs created to preserve our history can be manipulated. The Lakefront Airport’s terminal, for instance, isn’t even on the list. The benefit of making the list? Huge tax breaks and incentives for renovation.
As New Orleans expanded west in the 1940s and 50s, a huge swath of land to the east sat largely unused, except for the little town of Michoud. Starting in the late 50s, development began across the Industrial Canal. The marque hotel of the East, this former Holiday Inn, known as the Holiday Inn East Highrise, opened with much fanfare in 1969. In 1995, ownership changed and it became the Ramada Inn Highrise. I remember attending a nerdy science fiction convention there was a friend who dragged me there in 2001. The nine story, 116 foot structure continued its decline, just like the surrounding neighborhood. The modernist edifice then became the Highrise Inn and was renovated in 2001-2002.
Although damaged in Katrina, the hotel did not close down. It was by this time under new ownership again and called the B Rise Hotel and Suites. People were living in the facility, essentially a homeless shelter, when a 2007 fire gutted the building. It remained standing, but for the last 13 years, no work has been performed on it. That is, unless you count a well executed graffitti exposition in 2017. Drive through I-10 in the East in either direction and you will ponder what it means: Read up Caveman Oye 2017.
3. Building 110 NASA Michoud Assembly Facility
The facility was opened in 1940 for the purpose of building bombers for World War II. The focus shifted to Saturn rocket production in the early 1960s, as America’s space program raced the Russians to the Moon. Its most important production has been the beautiful weiner shaped Texas Longhorn burnt orange external tanks for the space shuttle. I tried gaining access to the facility to take a better picture, but they turned me away. I have zero stories about the NASA facility.
2. Franklin Avenue Baptist Church
Fred Luter is the best preacher in New Orleans. His conversion to the Lord in 1977 following a horrific motorcycle accident set in motion an awakening. Franklin Avenue Baptist Church called him to be her pastor in 1986. It was a congregation of 65 faithful. By Katrina’s arrival in 2005, it was a fellowship of 7,000.
Katrina scattered the flock to the corners of the world. Having spoken to many members, it was the communion at Franklin Avenue and the preaching of Dr. Luter that brought them back to New Orleans. The congregation met for the first few post-Katrina years at First Baptist New Orleans, under the leadership of David Crosby. Its numbers slowly recovered. By December of 2018 the congregation moved from its original Franklin Avenue home to its new palatial nest at 8181 Lake Forest Blvd, whose main entrance and visual splendor is located on the I-10 Service Road.
While elsewhere towers are being built to honor that most destructive drug that is legal and leads many astray and ruins Mardi Gras, Franklin Avenue’s aqua steeple points us to the holy and sacred. John Winthrop preached in his historic treatise A Model of Christian Charity these words:
Franklin Avenue is the city upon a hill in New Orleans. All eyes, especially those entering and exiting via I-10, are upon that beautiful congregation. May its life and service be long and thorough.
1. Executive Plaza
Also known as the Crown Jewel of Eastern New Orleans. Designed by Los Angeles architectural firm, Stephen Oppenheim & Associates, this 1974 construction is a reflective light in New Orleans East. Located along the major hub of the East, Read Blvd, its towering 142 foot, 11 floor structure brought all the best of 1970s architecture to New Orleans. 46 years from its construction, it maintains a classy and stylish appearance. Its 114,615 square feet of office space enclosed by a soul penetrating and exposing glass facades have stood the test of time, through hurricane, tornado, flood, and economic upheaval. Its concrete turrets speak of New Orleans’ historic relationship with Central America and its Mayan and Aztec heritage.
Rent in this facility is an amazingly low $11/square foot/year! I am seriously mulling putting the headquarters for the TulaneLSU Poorboy Tours of New Orleans in this magnificent masterpiece. If only they would fill in the Industrial Canal and pave it so I could get there easily.
Dear Friends, for your attention, I wish to present you two additional buildings.
11. Abramson High School
12. New Orleans Federal Savings and Loan Building
Technically not in New Orleans East, it’s right across the Danzinger Bridge. An eight story, 103 foot tower, it was finished in 1966. Like the old Holiday Inn East Highrise, it is on the National Historic Register of Historic Places.
Friends, I hope you have enjoyed this letter.
Faith, Hope, and Love,
TulaneLSU
Believe it or not, this building made the National Register of Historic Places last year. Unless you count Forts Macomb and Pike as part of the East, it is the only structure east of the Industrial Canal on that list. Although a historic eyesore for the city, its current owner, Peter Gardner, says he is working to renovate the building to bring it back to its former glory. He has owned the building for nearly three years now. That this structure made the list by fitting the sole criteria of being 50 years old shows how government programs created to preserve our history can be manipulated. The Lakefront Airport’s terminal, for instance, isn’t even on the list. The benefit of making the list? Huge tax breaks and incentives for renovation.
As New Orleans expanded west in the 1940s and 50s, a huge swath of land to the east sat largely unused, except for the little town of Michoud. Starting in the late 50s, development began across the Industrial Canal. The marque hotel of the East, this former Holiday Inn, known as the Holiday Inn East Highrise, opened with much fanfare in 1969. In 1995, ownership changed and it became the Ramada Inn Highrise. I remember attending a nerdy science fiction convention there was a friend who dragged me there in 2001. The nine story, 116 foot structure continued its decline, just like the surrounding neighborhood. The modernist edifice then became the Highrise Inn and was renovated in 2001-2002.
Although damaged in Katrina, the hotel did not close down. It was by this time under new ownership again and called the B Rise Hotel and Suites. People were living in the facility, essentially a homeless shelter, when a 2007 fire gutted the building. It remained standing, but for the last 13 years, no work has been performed on it. That is, unless you count a well executed graffitti exposition in 2017. Drive through I-10 in the East in either direction and you will ponder what it means: Read up Caveman Oye 2017.
3. Building 110 NASA Michoud Assembly Facility
The facility was opened in 1940 for the purpose of building bombers for World War II. The focus shifted to Saturn rocket production in the early 1960s, as America’s space program raced the Russians to the Moon. Its most important production has been the beautiful weiner shaped Texas Longhorn burnt orange external tanks for the space shuttle. I tried gaining access to the facility to take a better picture, but they turned me away. I have zero stories about the NASA facility.
2. Franklin Avenue Baptist Church
Fred Luter is the best preacher in New Orleans. His conversion to the Lord in 1977 following a horrific motorcycle accident set in motion an awakening. Franklin Avenue Baptist Church called him to be her pastor in 1986. It was a congregation of 65 faithful. By Katrina’s arrival in 2005, it was a fellowship of 7,000.
Katrina scattered the flock to the corners of the world. Having spoken to many members, it was the communion at Franklin Avenue and the preaching of Dr. Luter that brought them back to New Orleans. The congregation met for the first few post-Katrina years at First Baptist New Orleans, under the leadership of David Crosby. Its numbers slowly recovered. By December of 2018 the congregation moved from its original Franklin Avenue home to its new palatial nest at 8181 Lake Forest Blvd, whose main entrance and visual splendor is located on the I-10 Service Road.
While elsewhere towers are being built to honor that most destructive drug that is legal and leads many astray and ruins Mardi Gras, Franklin Avenue’s aqua steeple points us to the holy and sacred. John Winthrop preached in his historic treatise A Model of Christian Charity these words:
quote:
Wee shall finde that the God of Israell is among us, when ten of us shall be able to resist a thousand of our enemies; when hee shall make us a prayse and glory that men shall say of succeeding plantations, "the Lord make it likely that of New England." For wee must consider that wee shall be as a citty upon a hill. The eies of all people are uppon us. Soe that if wee shall deale falsely with our God in this worke wee haue undertaken, and soe cause him to withdrawe his present help from us, wee shall be made a story and a by-word through the world.
Franklin Avenue is the city upon a hill in New Orleans. All eyes, especially those entering and exiting via I-10, are upon that beautiful congregation. May its life and service be long and thorough.
1. Executive Plaza
Also known as the Crown Jewel of Eastern New Orleans. Designed by Los Angeles architectural firm, Stephen Oppenheim & Associates, this 1974 construction is a reflective light in New Orleans East. Located along the major hub of the East, Read Blvd, its towering 142 foot, 11 floor structure brought all the best of 1970s architecture to New Orleans. 46 years from its construction, it maintains a classy and stylish appearance. Its 114,615 square feet of office space enclosed by a soul penetrating and exposing glass facades have stood the test of time, through hurricane, tornado, flood, and economic upheaval. Its concrete turrets speak of New Orleans’ historic relationship with Central America and its Mayan and Aztec heritage.
Rent in this facility is an amazingly low $11/square foot/year! I am seriously mulling putting the headquarters for the TulaneLSU Poorboy Tours of New Orleans in this magnificent masterpiece. If only they would fill in the Industrial Canal and pave it so I could get there easily.
Dear Friends, for your attention, I wish to present you two additional buildings.
11. Abramson High School
12. New Orleans Federal Savings and Loan Building
Technically not in New Orleans East, it’s right across the Danzinger Bridge. An eight story, 103 foot tower, it was finished in 1966. Like the old Holiday Inn East Highrise, it is on the National Historic Register of Historic Places.
Friends, I hope you have enjoyed this letter.
Faith, Hope, and Love,
TulaneLSU
This post was edited on 2/27/20 at 7:08 am
Posted on 2/26/20 at 8:32 pm to TulaneLSU
1st down vote.
Posted on 2/26/20 at 8:33 pm to TulaneLSU
Were ANY of those inspected? 
Posted on 2/26/20 at 8:34 pm to TulaneLSU
Your best thread of 2020.
Posted on 2/26/20 at 8:34 pm to TulaneLSU
A towering building scraped the sky. Down came the hard rock (sort of) and Mardi Gras went up in flames. The end.
Posted on 2/26/20 at 8:35 pm to TulaneLSU
quote:
TulaneLSU
In the top 10 reasons why the OT sucks now, You make the top 5.
Posted on 2/26/20 at 8:36 pm to TulaneLSU
The domino sugar refinery could/should have made the list. The building was originally in Pennsylvania and moved down to Louisiana. . . Pretty neat story if I remember correctly.
Posted on 2/26/20 at 8:36 pm to TulaneLSU
Thanks
Posted on 2/26/20 at 8:37 pm to TulaneLSU
quote:
New Orleans East
Posted on 2/26/20 at 8:37 pm to TulaneLSU
I am not sure if you understand the definition of a skyscraper
Posted on 2/26/20 at 8:37 pm to TulaneLSU
theres more than 10
this destroys all that I ever believed in
this destroys all that I ever believed in
Posted on 2/26/20 at 8:39 pm to BuddyRoeaux
quote:
The domino sugar refinery could/should have made the list.
That's in Chalmette, friend.
Posted on 2/26/20 at 8:39 pm to BuddyRoeaux
quote:
The domino sugar refinery could/should have made the list
The one in Chalmette?
Really Arabi I guess.
This post was edited on 2/26/20 at 8:40 pm
Posted on 2/26/20 at 8:39 pm to TulaneLSU
Are there even 10 skyscrapers in Nola East?
Posted on 2/26/20 at 8:41 pm to fightin tigers
Those are good additions. Thank you for your contribution, friend.
Posted on 2/26/20 at 8:42 pm to TulaneLSU
Is this even funny anymore?
Posted on 2/26/20 at 8:43 pm to TulaneLSU
I appreciate some of your posts in a morbidly curious way, but was wondering how much your crazy check is.
Posted on 2/26/20 at 8:43 pm to TulaneLSU
The Lakefront Terminal itself is a better candidate than the tower, but is dwarfed in size on the property.
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