A group of local developers who bought The Times-Picayune’s former Howard Avenue building last year have asked the city for a zoning change that would open the industrial property to a wide range of uses.
The ownership group, led by New Orleans real estate magnate Joe Jaeger, hasn’t filed a specific plan for the building and nine-acre site at 3800 Howard Ave. but they have asked for more leeway in how to move forward.
The City Planning Commission is scheduled to consider the request from 3800 Howard Investors LLC on Tuesday (Jan. 10). The company bought the property last year for $3.5 million. Barry Kern of Mardi Gras World, real estate developer Arnold Kirschman and local businessman Michael White are also owners.
City planning staff issued a report recommending the zoning change be denied, arguing that the requested MU-2 High Intensity Mixed-Use District zoning isn’t appropriate in the industrial area along the expressway.
Former Times-Picayune building sells for $3.5M
“The prime location of the property and the resurgence of the neighborhoods surrounding the Central Business District make this an attractive opportunity for redevelopment,” the group said.
“The proposed MU-2 District zoning is intended for walkable neighborhood centers, while the subject property is isolated and not easily accessible for pedestrians or vehicles,” the staff report says. “The site is separated by railroad tracks on two sides and the Broad Street overpass and the Pontchartrain Expressway on the other two. This results in a site only accessible by vehicles along minor industrial streets or by taking Howard Avenue a half a mile from Jefferson Davis Parkway.”
“The site’s only pedestrian access involves detours of multiple blocks or navigating high speed merging traffic on the Broad Street overpass,” the report says.
The requested zoning category is one of the highest intensity zoning districts outside of the Central Business District. It would allow for a mix of commercial, residential and industrial uses and a seven-story, 85-foot height limit, the report says.
The owners issued a written statement in September after the sale closed, saying “the prime location of the property and the resurgence of the neighborhoods surrounding the Central Business District make this an attractive opportunity for redevelopment.”
City planning staff suggested the owners have an alternative plan – using the city’s project-specific planned development process rather than seeking a permanent zoning change. The developers have also requested the change through a proposed amendment to the city’s master plan as part of an ongoing update to the plan.
The Howard Avenue building opened in 1968 as a home for The Times-Picayune and States-Item newspapers after being bought by the Newhouse family’s Advance Publications company. The newspapers later merged in 1980.
The building has been vacant since January 2016, when The Times-Picayune shifted printing of the newspaper to Mobile, Ala., and relocated its print staff to The Times-Picayune’s former East Jefferson bureau in Metairie. That renovated facility now houses the Advance Media Southeast Print Lab, a regional hub for designing, copy editing and producing pages for Advance Local newspapers in New Orleans, Alabama and Portland, Ore.
News, sales and marketing staff for NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune moved to One Canal Place downtown in 2013. Additional staff are based on the North Shore and in Baton Rouge.