9 Acres of Land for Sale Purchased for Mixed-Use Development
Land for sale which was purchased from the New Orleans Terminal Co. and Alabama Great Southern Railroad by New Orleans local Sidney Torres will eventually be developed into a high-end Bayou St. John real estate development. The land borders a stretch of the Lafitte Greenway in Mid-City in New Orleans. Sidney Torres purchased the 9 acres if land by using his company IV Capital, a venture capital firm. This plot is also bounded by Mid-City’s Rouses Supermarket and Bayou St. John, so some of the development will have a waterfront view.
Plans for the land that was bought include 380,000 square feet of “high-end, mixed-use residential and commercial”
property. Because of its proximity to the new University Medical Center and the Veteran Affairs hospital, housing and retail is being planned as a TND (Traditional Neighborhood Development) to include housing and retail in walking distance within this master-planned community for potential employees of these two medical facilities.
The advantage to this land purchase is that the land itself already has “built-in” amenities with the bicycle and pedestrian paths and trails of the Lafitte Greenway which connects the French Quarter to City Park. This planned natural recreational park should be finished at the end of 2015. Housing will include both single-family homes as well as apartments. Some of the planned retail aspects include a gymnasium, cafe, and boutique hotel. Other amenities planned for this master planned development include fire pits along the bayou, playgrounds, and additional bike paths.
Torres said the development team welcomes input from the surrounding community. “We encourage people to bring their best ideas to the table,” Torres said. Partners in the deal include hotelier and developer Joe Jaeger and Hicham Khodr, owner of Camellia Grill.