New Orleans Trolley Stop Cafe on St. Charles to be hotel | Business News | nola.com

Oct 26, 2024

The empty lot at 1923 St. Charles Avenue, where developers plan to build a 58-room luxury boutique hotel.

There is a new plan for the site of the old Trolley Stop Café on St. Charles Avenue: a six-story boutique hotel with a ground floor restaurant.

The owners who bought the property and demolished the beloved all-night greasy spoon two years ago had originally planned to put up a four-story building, with retail and office space plus eight condominiums on the upper floors.

Now, Joe Mann and Brian Keen, partners in Verdad Real Estate, plan to build a taller building that will have a restaurant on the ground floor, a 58-room hotel and a rooftop pool area with a bar and recreation room, according to public filings.

Those currently camping on the Trolley Stop Café site will have to vacate when the demolition crew arrive, according to City Council member Lesli Harris, whose District B encompasses 1923 St. Charles Avenue. Linda O'Neill, one of those camping on the site, said they were not aware they would have to find a new spot.

The new plan for 1923 St. Charles Avenue required City Council approval to be 71 feet tall, 11 feet above the height normally allowed in that area. The additional floor is required to accommodate the rooftop pool, bar and a "multipurpose room," according to plans filed with the city. The Board of Zoning Adjustments approved the variance last year.

The 42,000-square-foot interior space will have a ground floor restaurant and lobby and hotel rooms on floors two through five, the filings show.

Mann, whose real estate interests include the former Harry's Ace Hardware building at 3535 Magazine Street, which he has converted into nine condominiums and retail space two years ago, declined to comment beyond what is in the public documents, saying more details would be forthcoming in December. It is not clear why the developers changed their plan, or whether the new boutique hotel will be independent or carry a hotel chain brand.

In an email last week to City Hall officials and neighborhood activists, Mann discussed the property and implored the city to do something about a group of people who have been camping on that corner of St. Charles Avenue for several years.

"We are two years into a redevelopment of the property with plans to construct a 58 key, luxury boutique hotel," he wrote in the email to Nathaniel Fields, head of the city's homeless services, City Council member Lesli Harris, who chairs the Council's quality of life committee, and others.

"I believe the Lower St. Charles Ave. corridor has so much potential and should be one of the premier commercial corridors in our city," Mann continued. "Investment and redevelopment will help get us there, but we must do something about the homeless situation. While our property is fenced, it continues to be littered with garbage, liquor bottles, hypodermic needles, and other drug paraphernalia."

Mann said they plan to start a test pile program soon, with cranes and other heavy machinery moving onto the site.

"While this should displace the homeless encampment in front of our site, I fear they will move somewhere in the general vicinity," he said. "I implore the city to address the situation immediately."

Lower St. Charles Avenue has been transforming in recent years, with some of its dive bars and fast food joints giving way to new tenants. A block from the new hotel site, for example, Tito's Ceviche & Pisco has recently relocated from its Magazine Street digs to the building previously occupied by St. Charles Tavern, which was a 24-hour watering hole spot.

"There's a whole lot going on between Jackson Avenue and the Expressway on St. Charles that I don't know if the market fully appreciates yet," said Parke McEnery, a real estate broker.

Baptist Community Ministries, a private foundation, is spending around $7 million to revamp the former Whitney Bank building at 1322 St. Charles, which will be the nonprofit's new headquarters.

Next door to that project is the building formerly occupied by Emeril's Delmonico, which shuttered two years ago and has been slow to sell despite a big price drop last year.

McEnery said that is because it is such a large premises, at more than 8,000 square feet, and it is being marketed as a turnkey restaurant project with equipment, furniture and fixtures. He noted that the parking lot space adjacent to the restaurant has sold separately to short-term rental operator Hosteeva.

It's not yet clear what the company plans to put on the site.

Email Anthony McAuley [email protected].