Court fight is ahead as School Board, state haggle over compensation for the building
Public officials at all levels of government began charting New Orleans' recovery almost as soon as the city was pumped dry and levees patched in the weeks after Hurricane Katrina.
The Orleans Parish School Board's plans involved using the FEMA Public Assistance program, the primary source of rebuilding money for public entities, to repair Mid-City's flooded, wind-whipped McDonogh No. 11 School, a late 19th century structure built as part of a post-Civil War school construction boom. The school had been restored before Katrina and was repaired again after the storm at a cost of $3 million to federal taxpayers.
For Louisiana State University and the state facilities office, top priorities included building a new academic medical center to replace Charity Hospital, a project also dependent on the FEMA Public Assistance program. The state's chosen site: 34 acres that surround a fully restored McDonogh No. 11 in the neighborhood immediately across South Claiborne Avenue from the existing downtown medical district. The state wants to pay Orleans Parish schools $2.365 million for the building, then demolish it.
The conflict will lead in the coming months to a court fight as the School Board and the state, each using private attorneys, haggle over compensation for the building, which the state is soon to claim under eminent domain authority. School Board officials say the system is entitled to replacement cost, which in this case is $20 million to $25 million beyond the state's offer. The board last fall spent $3 million on temporary classrooms for the 265 displaced students of Priestley School of Architecture and Construction. They now meet on a modular campus at 4300 Almonaster Ave. in eastern New Orleans.
Demolition on the horizon
Meanwhile, McDonogh sits empty on the corner of Prieur and Palmyra streets, having held its final classes in December. Without a reprieve, it will meet a wrecking ball as early as this spring, even as state authorities seek the remaining financing necessary for its $1.2 billion plan for University Medical Center.
Historic preservationists, long critical of the way the state has planned the Charity Hospital successor, decry the impending destruction of one of the few remaining schools designed by noted architect William Freret. But the circumstances also raise questions about post-hurricane spending and planning, particularly given that FEMA and the state were involved both in rebuilding McDonogh and in the site selection process for University Medical Center.
Why did the School Board choose to reopen McDonogh, knowing the state's preference for building a new hospital in Mid-City? Why did FEMA -- and the state officials who route Public Assistance program claims to the federal government -- allow it?
And if state officials were intent on the Mid-City site for a new medical complex, why couldn't -- or can't -- they incorporate the 130-year-old building into the design? The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which is building its own medical complex adjacent to UMC, has committed to include the old Pan-American Life Insurance building and at least the facade of the Dixie Brewery into its multi-building hospital.
Yet another wrinkle is that the state Department of Education is in talks with New Orleans biomedical and biotech industry advocates about locating a school, likely the New Orleans Charter Mathematics and Science School now on Loyola Avenue, near the University Medical Center site, most likely in a renovated downtown building. The stated purpose: integrate the medical center's operation with the high school students' curriculum.
Cross-purposes
FEMA approved the school system's initial Public Assistance project worksheet for McDonogh in May 2006, with additional adjustments made over time as renovations continued. The same year, state officials publicly discussed their early plans for a joint state-federal hospital in the footprint that includes McDonogh. The School Board approved the McDonogh renovation contract in May 2007. As work on McDonogh continued, the VA and state split their projects into two hospitals but continued on a parallel site-selection path. FEMA was a principal participant in that process, spelled out in federal historic preservation and environmental laws.
The VA site was open to some question, but state officials never wavered from their stated preference to build in Mid-City. McDonogh renovations were complete in time for the building to house the Priestley charter school and New Orleans PM High School in the 2008-09 school year. To no surprise, the state and federal government announced their selection of adjoining Mid-City sites in November 2008.
School Board President Lourdes Moran, who was on the board when the renovation was approved, did not return messages seeking comment. Board member Brett Bonin, who was not on the board at the time, noted that the system has been under an intense facilities shortage, in part because of the state-run Recovery School District's influence over property use.
Jerry Jones, the state facilities chief who oversees the UMC project, said it would have been improper for the state to pressure local officials not to rebuild McDonogh. "In any case ... the fact that it was restored increased the appraised value of the school, thereby ultimately benefiting the local School Board," he said.
Difficult to incorporate
FEMA officials conceded that the agency was involved in approving the McDonogh plans and the UMC planning process. But the agency said in a written statement: "FEMA does not dictate or recommend where a (recipient) chooses to build their projects with eligible funds. However, FEMA does facilitate the discussion among stakeholders to address any environmental and historic compliance concerns that can affect the selection of alternatives, timing, and funding of the (recipients) proposed actions."
But complicating the School Board's options, FEMA acknowledged that under the Public Assistance rules, the system could not have taken its McDonogh damage compensation and used it elsewhere without approval of FEMA and state authorities.
After the site selection, federal law required the state and VA to analyze how their plans would affect historic properties and give some consideration to reusing or moving certain buildings. McDonogh was listed in that document.
"Many elements were considered including the location of the school on the site," Jones said. "The school is located where the hospital planned to locate the Emergency Department entries and support facilities. Given the close proximity and placement of the school, it was impossible to integrate the existing facility with the complex structures needed for the hospital design. The school's age and type of construction also limited its ability to be used as a portion of a health care facility."
State-hired architects have completed designs. But the project still needs $400 million in financing that could be subject to a bond sale. Federal authorities who will decide whether to insure the bonds also could call for changes to the hospital's size and scope, meaning the design is not necessarily final.
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Bill Barrow can be reached at bbarrow@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3452.