NEW ORLEANS — A potential Uptown location of the hip grocery store Trader Joe’s will likely depend on whether the New Orleans city council votes to uphold a Historic District Landmarks Commission ruling that an empty school building on the desired location cannot be demolished.
NOLA.com reports that Trader Joe’s, a national grocery store chain known for its own brand of, sometimes unusual products with a devoted following, is seeking to build near the corner of Freret Street and Napoleon Avenue.
That is currently the location of the former Our Lady of Lourdes Parish Complex. The proposal by the grocery store is to knock down only the school building of the complex, leaving the church building intact.
According to the NOLA.com article, the developers’ plan would only affect the school building, which was built in 1957, and not the church, built in 1925 and the main reason for the block’s historic designation.
The Historic District Landmarks Commission voted that the entire complex should be preserved. The commission said it is seeking to find an alternative use for the property that would not require demolition.
“The school building is part of the Our Lady of Lourdes Complex which is on the National Register of Historic Places. It is the last architectural piece constructed that tells the complete story of the development of the complex,” was part of the reasoning.
NOLA.com said that the developers and those in favor of the project look at it as the ‘gateway’ to the Freret St. corridor that includes assorted specialty restaurants between Napoleon and Jefferson Avenues.
Those opposed point out that a Rouses opened in the past few years just a few blocks from where the Trader Joe’s would go.
