Overview
- A New Orleans City Council community development committee advanced a lease with Mercy Partners LLC on Tuesday, a formal step toward redeveloping the long-vacant Lindy Boggs hospital site.
- City officials said demolition remains set to begin later in July and described an eight-month, seven-phase removal process that will start with tree protection and abatement work.
- The redevelopment will convert the existing basement into a 4 million-gallon underground stormwater retention tank that will store runoff and drain by gravity to the city system at Conti Street.
- Project funding combines $11.5 million in voter-approved city bond money for acquisition and the city’s portion of construction with a reported roughly $16 million payment to the developer for demolition and buildout, which has prompted public questions about oversight and taxpayer exposure.
- Developers plan mixed-use aboveground development with apartments, offices and retail and say the tank could cut street flooding on Bienville by about a foot, while nearby businesses seek protections for air quality, noise and truck traffic during construction.