New Development Profile :: The Tracage

As promised, here is a look at a new condo development going up in the Warehouse District, the Tracage, a 24-story, 136-unit development slated to break ground later this year at 1100 Annunciation Street.

The development team consists of Isis Development Group, Spectrum Capital, LLC, Yates Construction, Foil Wyatt Architects and Planners of Jackson, MS, and Trapolin Architects of New Orleans, Louisiana.

Principals involved in the transaction include Hattiesburg resident Rob Tatum (2005 Tulane MBA graduate) and Anthony “TJ” Iarocci of Isis Development Group, and Jason Voyles and Stephen King of Spectrum.

The principals are claiming that 70 percent of the units have been reserved (which requires a $10,000 fully refundable deposit).  The LEED-certified development is projected to be completed in late 2009, and is expected to cost approximately $60 million.  Standard units will have 10' to 11' ceilings, with floor-to-ceiling windows and balconies.  The development is loaded with many of the amenities du jour that similar developments across the country have (controlled access, rooftop infinity edge pool, fitness center in the common areas, granite counter tops and GE Profile appliances in the unit), and is in many ways a "development by numbers" project, though with only 136 units to absorb should be fairly successful.  The marketing campaign appears geared in part towards second home buyers.

The project is meant to evoke the traditional loft style found in the neighborhood, with references to 'Soho' and 'sophisticated urban living' littered throughout the promotional materials, though at a monstrous 24-stories and sheathed in steel and glass, it is more likely to evoke a building in downtown Miami or San Diego than a converted bakery.

In many ways, the Tracage is a poster child for the type of divisive development that New Orleans will be forced to confront over the next decade (consider it a warm-up for the debate surrounding Trump Tower).  Residents at the neighboring Lengsfield Lofts have already voiced their opposition to the plans (though this may be ascribed to typical NIMBY-ism), and the project has already provoked talk of imposing a height limit in the historic neighborhood.  Similar objections can be found to almost any new significant development in any city in the country, and they often end up swept under a rug of rhetoric espousing progress and tax revenue (and the subject project appears no different).

New Orleans, as a result of Katrina, is in a singularly conflicted position.  While prior to Katrina a non-contextual and out-of-scale project such as this would have been in many ways unthinkable, residents today are forced to choose between preserving the historic fabric of a neighborhood and supporting 'progress' in the name of recovery. While not mutually exclusive by definition (in fact, there is a plethora of steps that developers can take to incorporate new architecture into the surrounding neighborhood), the Tracage clearly fails the contextual development test.

And so it is that a couple of opportunistic developers will alter the skyline of one of the great cities of the United States, and irreparably harm the built environment of a historic neighborhood.  And one day we will ask ourselves whether it was worth it.

Links:
Project Website
Tracage construction to begin later this year (NO CityBusiness)
The Simple Life (Gambit)
Secret deal fall short of illegal (T-P)
Press Release
 

Comments

[liprap]

Huh...what they REALLY don't want to show prospective buyers is the next-door proximity of the building to the elevated highway 90 approach to the Crescent City Connection. Then again, aside from possibly a business, I can't see what else would go in that location.

They'd better have good soundproofing in there.

[Max]

Thats part of the charm of that particular site. Endless views of the river, city, and traffic. I just hope there are no balconies on the highway-side.

[NOLA76]

The name Tracage has been coined here in New Orleans. I'm constantly hearing good comments about the building.
I want to start off by saying, I am for preserving the city of New Orleans, but in the same breath, New Orleans needs more progressive architecture. There are multiple commissions that govern the development of buildings in certain historical sections around the city. From what I heard, the site that Tracage is located is not in any of those sections. Why not develop something that stands out...something that demands attention? New Orleans needs to compete against other progressive metropolitan areas around the United States. NO's downtown is a bit on the boring side.
It's going to be nice to see the skyline change for the better.

[Max]

NOLA76: I would love to see progressive architecture here. However, the Tracage represents something far more banal and derivative than a "progressive" label would suggest, and is uninspired at best.

New Orleans, on account of its character and architectural legacy deserves a better effort.