The Prairie

The VA Footprint, S. Rocheblave Street still under construction in the foreground, as seen from just outside the perimeter looking toward the river.  The Blood Center and the former Grand Palace Hotel, along with Charity Hospital, are all still visible off in the distance.  The LSU or UMC Footprint starts where the trees visible along S. Galvez.

The live oaks off on the right are the ones that remain of the many that lined what was once Banks Street.

In the words of one Anthony Turducken: "lower mid-city = urban prairie"

Scraps

The LSU Footprint looked like this from afar yesterday - McDonogh No. 11 School surrounded by a smattering of remaining historic homes set for moving and a number of other buildings - the former Southern Electronics site, the former Blood Center building, and a former Cox warehouse building off on the right.

Howl

...for it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in...

The UMC and VA Hospital footprints in New Orleans on August 1, 2011, looking lakeward from the CBD.  Note the number of structures that remain in the UMC site in the midground.  Note, too, the stark vacancy of the VA site compared to the dense neighborhood around it - the same urban fabric that existed there one year ago.

The LSU Footprint

[Click to enlarge any photos]

Note the several functioning businesses remain active in the site - Southern Electronics (set to move this month), The Blood Center (final photo at left), and Mid-City Automotive (barely visible in the distance in the center shot). The towering Grand Palace Hotel still stands off in the first shot above, as does McDonogh No. 11 School in the final shot.

Approximately 15 historic homes remain after dozens have been demolished in the past 9 months.

Not a single building has been moved off the site since site preparation started.