Renovation and rebranding to be complete by May
Converting the 250-room Chateau Bourbon Hotel on Canal Street from a three-diamond Wyndham hotel to a four-diamond Hyatt will mean more money for city government, the hotel's landlord, officials said as the New Orleans City Council approved amendments to the leases for the hotel and garage buildings.
View full sizeThe Chateau Bourbon Hotel building was photographed in June 2007, when the Chateau Sonesta operated there. The hotel, which opened in 1995 as the Chateau Sonesta, will be extensively renovated and "rebranded" by May 2012, Tom Leonhard, president of HRI Properties, told the council. It will remain open throughout the conversion.
The $40 million project will involve no city money.
The city acquired the former D.H. Holmes department store in the 800 block of Canal in 1989 when Dillard Department Stores decided to close the store shortly after taking over the Holmes chain. Dillard donated the store and an annex building across Iberville Street to the city, which set up a public-benefit corporation to act as their landlord.
Mayor Sidney Barthelemy chose HRI, led by developer Pres Kabacoff, to redevelop the buildings into a hotel, retail spaces, garage and apartments. It took Kabacoff several years to line up the financing for the hotel. Barthelemy is now an executive with HRI.
Leonhard said the hotel's lobby, bar and restaurant areas will be upgraded, and the operators will seek new tenants for two retail spaces that have been vacant since Hurricane Katrina. He said 80 percent of the 22,000 square feet available for retail is now occupied.
Cindy Connick, executive director of the Canal Street Development Corp., the city's public-benefit corporation, said the lease amendments approved by the council will put the city and her agency in a better financial position. Council members said that, after reviewing the documents, they had reached the same conclusion.
The amendments to the hotel and garage leases were approved 7-0.
In other actions, also by unanimous votes, the council last week:
Called on the Mitch Landrieu administration to seek proposals "from qualified advertising and marketing professionals for the development of comprehensive advertising and marketing strategies for city assets." Among the revenue sources suggested in the motion sponsored by Councilman Arnie Fielkow and Councilwoman Susan Guidry are selling advertising on public and government-access channels on cable television, selling advertising at city-owned buildings and facilities, and selling the naming rights for city buildings, parks or other facilities.
"The city cannot afford to leave dollars on the table," Fielkow said. "If there are opportunities for us to grow city revenue through marketing of city-owned assets, then we should, at the very least, explore those opportunities."
Established standards for the temporary operation of mobile health clinics in residential neighborhoods. The standards say the mobile clinics must be licensed and accredited through collaborations with local hospitals. They cannot be parked on sidewalks or parked in the street for more than 24 hours and cannot displace existing off-street parking. The hours of operation are limited to 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The ordinance says the mobile clinics can operate in residential areas in conjunction with blood drives or health fairs, as an accessory to a religious institution or school, or as a transitional use where a permanent health clinic is proposed. Councilwoman Cynthia Hedge-Morrell said the ordinance was needed at this time to allow a mobile clinic to operate in the Columbia Parc development until a planned permanent community clinic is ready.
Confirmed Mayor Mitch Landrieu's appointment of developer Roger Ogden to the New Orleans Aviation Board, which operates Louis Armstrong International Airport. Ogden replaces Dan Packer, who resigned in January. Packer, a former CEO of Entergy New Orleans, had been on the board since 2002, most of that time as chairman. He was facing questions about his use of an airport credit card and said he resigned because he did not want his "continued service to be a distraction or burden to (Landrieu's) administration or the board's day-to-day responsibilities."
Bruce Eggler can be reached at beggler@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3320.