Nottoway Plantation sold to New Orleans Hotel Owner
Appearing on Nola.com and Written by Timothy Boone
Joseph Jaeger Jr., who owns 16 New Orleans-area hotels, has purchased Nottoway Plantation & Resort in White Castle, the South’s largest existing antebellum mansion.
Jaeger’s Nottoway Plantation & Resorts LLC bought the property for $3.1 million and “other good and valuable considerations” in a deal that closed last week, according to the Iberville Parish Clerk of Court’s Office. He was unavailable for comment Monday afternoon.
Nottoway had most recently been owned by Paul Ramsay, an Australian health care billionaire who died in 2014. Ramsay, who bought the plantation in 1985 for $4.5 million, spent more than $15 million about 10 years ago to renovate the property.
Nottoway covers 31 acres and has 40 rooms, including two honeymoon suites, two restaurants and amenities such as tennis courts, a hair salon, meeting rooms and a fitness center.
The plantation, built at the request of John Hampden Randolph, a prestigious sugar cane planter, was completed in 1859. The 64-room, 53,000-square-foot mansion was designed by renowned architect Henry Howard of New Orleans in Greek Revival and Italianate style.
Among its features were 22 massive columns, 165 doors and 200 windows. The mansion had flushing toilets, hot and cold water in all bathrooms, gas lighting throughout the home and a bowling alley installed for Randolph’s 11 children.
Jaeger serves as the chief executive officer of The MCC Group, which owns and develops real estate across New Orleans. According to the company’s website, the properties in its portfolio include the Bourbon Orleans Hotel, the Joy Theater, the Crowne Plaza New Orleans Airport Hotel, the Omni Royal Orleans Hotel, Mardi Gras World and the Marriott New Orleans at the Convention Center.
Jaeger got his start as an apprentice plumber with Mechanical Construction Co., crawling under buildings. By 1983, 18 years after he started with the company, he owned it. He sold the business in 2015 to Bernhard Capital Partners of Baton Rouge for an undisclosed sum.