NEW ORLEANS — The street next to the decaying and crumbling Plaza Tower has reopened to traffic after new safety measures securing the decades-vacant building were put in place.
Mayor LaToya Cantrell announced Wednesday that South Rampart Street which runs next to Plaza Tower has reopened to traffic.
She says the Department of Public Works reopened the roadway after the current owner of the blighted property, installed additional safety netting and barriers around the building which is the center of safety concerns over vagrants setting fires inside and pieces of the marble façade exterior falling to the ground.
Those safety concerns led to the street being closed for more than a month.
“So we know that the owner has completed the new protective measures as well as to the exterior of the building, and code enforcement has inspected and approved these proactive measures.,” Cantrell said at her weekly press meeting.
The building is currently in the process of being sold and Cantrell says the owner will pay for the city’s cost to close the roadway and all costs of city inspections.
“Officials will now begin submitting all costs incurred to the city for necessary road closures and inspections and will host a cost hearing. So that is forthcoming. I know that this was also at the request of the New Orleans City Council. It's something that we want to do no problem doing it and it will be held.”
Plaza Tower is up for sale, nine years after developer Joe Jaeger bought it.
Jaeger says he's giving up on his plans to redevelop the abandoned skyscraper, which was New Orleans' tallest building when it was built in 1969.
“Our goal is to see the Plaza Tower return to commerce as quickly as possible,” Jaeger said in a statement released in February. “Right now, we think the best way to do that is through a sale. We will continue to take steps to secure the building in the safest possible manner until the property is sold.”
Alexandra Land & Development, owned by Jaeger, purchased the 44-story building in 2014, with a plan to turn the first 17 floors into a boutique hotel and luxury condos.
However, since the last building tenant left in 2002, the property has been a nightmare to redevelop and has fallen into decay.