NEW ORLEANS — The long-shuttered Charity Hospital is now expected to become a community built around innovation and entrepreneurship.
Tulane University announced plans to lease about 350,000 square feet of the million square foot building in downtown New Orleans. Tulane Senior VP and COO Patrick Norton said the project presents many opportunities for the university.
“Such as what we’re doing around research, instruction. It will be the new home of the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. It will be a place where there is a tremendous amount of retail, and it will be open to the community.”
Tulane, along with developers 1532 Tulane Partners, Inc. and SKK Opportunity Zone Fund I, LLC made the announcement in a joint statement Monday morning. The iconic, 20-story building on Tulane Avenue was built in the 1930s.
It’s been empty since Hurricane Katrina left it severely damaged 16 years ago.
“We are doing so much research, certainly in our downtown health sciences area, at the school of medicine and at the school of public health and tropical medicine that we need more space,” Norton said. “That was kind of the catalyst.”
Developers said special care will be taken to retain Charity’s art deco façade, main lobby, second-floor auditorium, and other historical characteristics. They also plan to fully renovate the interior.
“We are thrilled to be a part of redeveloping Charity,” said SKK co-founder David Shepherd.
“We are very bullish on the future of New Orleans and see it as a great place to invest today.” SKK partner Brian Lockhart said. “The history and culture of the city are unparalleled.”
New Orleans architect John William has done some work on the project. He said having Tulane as an anchor tenant could spur additional development in the heart of the city’s bio-medical corridor.
“The bar will be raised, and other people will then come in because of that anchoring of that area which now is empty,” Williams said. “You’ll see the other projects start to develop around there.”
The developers laid out a timetable for the redevelopment. They intend spend the next two and a half years completing base building construction before Tulane develops and customizes its space. The university hopes to be in the building in 2025.
