Gone

The pink, off-set Craftsman house at 1716 Cleveland, which had been in use as an office until recently, is no more.  There was no reason it needed to be demolished.  The area in which is stands is not set to be used by any part of the UMC complex at any point in the foreseeable future, if at all.

Blood Center on state's UMC plan: "I guess I find it somewhat ridiculous”

This issue involving the Blood Center, one of the largest occupants of the LSU Footprint, is even fishier, as pointed out in a WWLTV piece:

In the meantime, the state says it has gotten two appraisals on the Blood Center properties and made an offer based on "the higher of the two appraisals."


But Weales said this is where the disagreement over the value of the Blood Center's properties becomes curious. He said the state refuses to show him its appraisals.


“Which I find somewhat appalling,” he said. “I guess I'm wondering what are they trying to hide from me at this point?”


We have asked spokesman Michael DiResto why the Division of Administration has refused to provide a copy of its appraisal. He said, "We do not give out copies of appraisals to any property owners..."


The Blood Center has bought a building in the 2600 block of Canal Street and the land behind it for the new Blood Center. But since the teaching hospital will be one of its biggest clients, Weales argues it makes more sense for the Blood Center to stay where it is right now.


“Being the fact that we are a biomedical company and we are the provider of blood and blood components to the Medical Center of Louisiana,” Weales said, “it makes perfect sense for us to be in the middle of the biomedical corridor.”

Mr. Weales was asking all the right questions and making all the right observations.  In fact, I'd go so far as to say that he was on fire:

And Weales says to take a look at the footprint for the new hospital. It shows the property that the Blood Center now occupies on the corner of the campus will be green space.


“So I'm really curious as to why they need this property,” Weales said.


At a time when the state has a budget crisis and when it still doesn't have hundreds of millions of dollars lined up to finance the new hospital, Weales argues it makes no sense to pay millions of dollars -- whatever the final price -- to build green space around the new hospital.


“Absolutely not,” Weales said. “Not only that they have yet to be able to completely finance this project.”

Landfill - and the overall equation

From the final Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA) for the two footprints:

"Demolition and site clearing at the proposed VAMC and LSU AMC sites, mostly consisting of commercial and residential structures (15.4 tons per 1,000 square feet) and concrete floors and paved surfaces (53 tons per 1,000 square feet), would create about 137,000 tons of solid waste, with approximately two-thirds coming from the LSU AMC site. About 80 percent of the waste would be from paved surfaces and concrete floors."

It's unclear what the total amount of waste will be now that the house moving effort has reduced the overall amount of tonnage that ultimately went to the landfill.  The S.W. Green Mansion alone weighed in at 22 tons and was ultimately diverted from the path to the dump.

And that makes me wonder. What landfill has been receiving all the debris? And would the landfill have received nearly as much...if the hospitals hadn't decided to build in the midst of a neighborhood?

For many of us who have been following the hospitals issue, there remains a fundamental question: why did they need so much land, why did they cap the hospitals at 6 or so stories in height, why did the hospitals footprint ever expand above S. Galvez as the Regional Planning Commission suggested - why did the powers that be decide to take up 67 acres of neighborhood?  For any benefits that might be conjured up, the "Tulane-Gravier" site in Lower Mid-City entails some incredible pitfalls - hundreds and hundreds of individual parcels, a sizable population, lots of potential roadblocks and liabilities.  The equation has never seemed to add up, which has long led me to believe there's some additional variable out there.  But I've tried to avoid speculating excessively on the question or devolving into conspiracy theories.

Still, it seems to me that there are three potential items that could use far more study in pursuit of the "x" factor that may have tipped the scales: 1.  Real estate deals in the footprints, including land speculation after Hurricane Katrina (Squandered Heritage, SaveCharityHospital.com, and other sites have already delved into this to some extent, but it's no simple thing), 2.  Subcontracts for demolition and construction, and 3. The landfill trail - that wouldn't have existed to nearly the same extent if the footprint had been far smaller. 

Even the Trees

Crews tore down the large, mature trees along the block of S. Tonti that used to connect Canal Street with Cleveland Avenue.  In the photo above, you can see the last one falling off in the background.

AEcom's study for the BioDistrict noted that only 3% of the much larger planning area that encompasses the entire LSU/VA Footprint retained its tree canopy post-Katrina.

The Wasteland Spreads

While three households still reside on Palmyra Street, and few others cling here and there...frankly, there's not much left in the VA Hospital Footprint. 

There are still buildings to monitor, still more to move off the site.  Outer Banks goes on like a faintly beating heart.  But the neighborhood is dead.

Waste Unltd.

Remember the clay tiles I mentioned earlier this week?  The ones on the little Mediterranean Revival shotgun at 2320 Palmyra?

Well, they went to the dumpster today - instead of being salvaged for reuse.

UPDATE: A person working with one of the site contractors say an effort was made - for several weeks - to locate someone to salvage the tiles. The house was held off the list of houses to prep for an extra week, all to no avail in the end.

Clay Tiles at Risk - 2320 Palmyra

Submitted photo of 2320 Palmyra

If this Mediterranean Revival shotgun house in the VA Footprint is moved...and the roof must be taken off, as it has on the houses moved thus far...what will become of the hundreds of clay tiles?

It would be quite a waste to see them go to the landfill.

A friend pointed out this issue today.  Unfortunately, I don't believe tiles are listed under the salvage agreement, and I don't have any evidence that they will be re-used on the house as it's rehabilitated in a new location elsewhere in the city.  Thus, it seems important to find an outside party to remove the tiles at this point.

Gone

So much for the recently occupied blue house at 2421-23 Banks Street.

Waste