Downtown land rush

After Katrina New Orleans received a lot of advice from urban planners about how to"shrink the footprint" of the city. We were told to be careful not to repeat the injustices of the past where the city was largely segregated by race and class according to elevation.  Build high, build dense, and build on high ground, we were told.  Of course it didn't work out quite that way, sometimes for good reasons and sometimes for bad reasons.

Because you can't mow down a whole city and start over with a "blank slate," the human beings who live there have real life stakes and interests to consider. In other words, there's politics to do. Unfortunately our politics is dominated by wealthy real estate people so most of the time the results are sub-optimal for most of us.

And this is still true now in the post-post-K era where we are finding out that even though we did go and build high and dense on our high ground downtown, it turned out we were just building more nice things for rich people. 

Domain Companies officials will meet with neighbors Friday, May 31, to explain a zoning map amendment for their South Market District properties including The Standard, The Beacon, The Paramount, and a 36,000-square-foot surface parking lot. They are asking to change the zoning from CBD -5 to CBD-1, which would allow for increased commercial use, including timeshares.

Domain liaison Christian Brierre says the company is seeking the amendment “solely for the purpose of our retail spaces” and that The Paramount and The Beacon will “continue to be market-leading multifamily apartment products.”


Some neighbors wonder if Domain or a future owner could embrace timeshare as the highest and best use for those properties. Already, The Saratoga, the Maritime and 144 Elks Place are being redeveloped as timeshare or extended-stay properties.

While there is general unevenness in real estate sales citywide, business-friendly zoning downtown — which has encouraged the proliferation of timeshares, hotels and short-term rentals — is keeping overall real estate sales strong. Also Trump-era opportunity zones will provide long-term financial relief to many developers, including those acquiring properties in parts of the CBD.