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Lakeview Grocery opening caps Harrison Avenue’s post-Katrina renaissance

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The Times-Picayune, November 22, 2010

The recently opened Lakeview Grocery on Harrison Ave. has cemented that street as Lakeview’s commercial center, marking a huge milestone in the neighborhood’s post-Hurricane Katrina development. 

A venture of Robért Resources LLC, the entity that also operates Robért Fresh Markets, the store opened in October and occupies the former site of Lakeview Fine Foods, which had been vacant for five years.

Father Mike O’Rourke sat at a window table at NOLA Beans on Harrison Avenue in Lakeview, having just celebrated Mass across the street at St. Dominic. He sipped coffee and enjoyed muffins even as parishioners were departing the 8 a.m. service and others were arriving for the next.

O’Rourke said there is no doubt in his mind that Harrison Avenue is back as the neighborhood commercial center.

“We have almost everything we need here now,” he said. “But having the grocery store open, that’s big.”

According to Lakeview Civic Improvement Association President Glenn Stoudt, the new grocery store is an essential building block for neighborhood recovery.

“Having a grocery store open again on Harrison Avenue is of course practical and convenient,” Stoudt said.  “But it’s also an emotional touchstone, part of a community that defines and clarifies it, where you see your neighbors and friends and it’s all OK, once again.”

It wasn’t clear after Hurricane Katrina that things would ever be OK again.  But the Harrison Avenue commercial stretch between Canal Boulevard and Orleans Avenue has been steadily rising from the devastation of Katrina-related flooding, anchored by St. Dominic Catholic church and St. Paul’s Episcopal at the corner of Canal.  Since then, a string of commercial enterprises reopened, led by banks and followed by restaurants including Reginelli’s, Lakeview Deli, the Steak Knife, Lakeview Harbor and Mondo, Susan Spicer’s new restaurant that opened a few months ago.

Taking the place of Magic Laundry and Cleaners is NOLA Beans, a locally owned and operated cafe and restaurant that complements the Seattle-based Starbucks franchise a block away.  Lakeview Veterinary Hospital occupies a facility just off Harrison on Memphis, Little Miss Muffin offers retail opportunities and Rite Aid provides a pharmacy and serves additional shopping needs.  Need a neighborhood cleaners?  There’s Young’s.

With a new public library under construction at Harrison and Canal and the Edward Hynes Charter School under construction at Harrison and Argonne, the only missing puzzle piece was a neighborhood grocery.  Now, according to Municipal Court Judge Paul Sens, Lakeview Grocery fills that niche.

“Harrison Avenue really is the heart of Lakeview, and my wife and I prefer to spend our money here in Orleans Parish, so this is where we shop,” Sens said as he loaded grocery bags into his vehicle.

His wife, Ann, said she no longer needs to drive to Robert E. Lee for groceries and that “LG,” as the store refers to itself, offers amenities she can’t find elsewhere.

“The fresh produce is a big draw, but there are a lot of prepared foods that make it easy on people if they don’t want to cook,” she said.  “And I think they’re trying hard with that little cafe to make the store a neighborhood meeting place, where people can relax and visit with each other.”

The “cafe” is Harrison Cove, a small restaurant with outdoor tables at the Memphis Street end of the store.  It has a separate entry from the main store, in case a shopper just wants a sandwich and drinks instead of rotisserie chickens, bakery goods, wines and food staples.

O’Rourke said the neighborhood has waited a long time for the grocery store, but that growth continued nonetheless even as plans developed.

“Our parish has grown 40 percent in the past two years, if you can believe that,” he said.  “Some people live outside of the neighborhood since Katrina and come back here to go to church, but mainly the people we see are the ones who returned to the neighborhood to live or are new to the neighborhood.  Now we have everything we need right here on Harrison.  The only thing missing is a gas station.”

According to Stoudt, O’Rourke won’t have to wait for long, for a gas station is on the way.

“We never doubted, from even that grim period in the fall of 2005, that we would have what we have today, thanks to all who have who have believed and invested,” Stoudt said.

Ursuline Early Childhood Learning Center debuts with cutting-edge curriculum, facility

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The Times-Picayune, October 4, 2010

In an effort to modernize the way it teaches its very youngest students, Ursuline Academy has recently revamped its early childhood program, investing $3 million in a new classroom building and adopting a student-inspired curriculum, a significant change for a Catholic school steeped in almost three centuries of tradition.

The new center, named after former elementary school principal Sister Teresita Rivet, is housed in what was once a laundry used by Ursuline nuns who lived on the State Street campus.

The 4,500-square-foot building has largely retained its historic facade, but inside, it has been renovated into a large studio space with a trendy warehouse feel, equipped with learning centers, smart boards and lots of colorful toys that help children learn motor skills.

School staff began working to restore the flood-damaged building about three years ago. Before then, the two-story building, built in 1911 and listed in the National Register of Historic Places, had mainly been used for storage.

With the facility now nearly complete, 66 students — ages 2 to 5 — cycle between learning centers for art, music, reading and math, and more traditional classroom setups for religion and library time. Nine teachers work in the center. Tuition and fees are about $8,000 a year.

In every part of the center, technology plays an important role. Touch-sensitive tables — which work like huge iPads — teach the girls the alphabet and let them “paint.” Smart boards replace black boards.

The facility was designed by Concordia Architects, a local firm that has designed school facilities across the country and provided the master plan for the Louisiana Children’s Museum.

In addition to providing a first-rate facility, teachers fanned out across the country looking for the right educational model to adopt.

They decided on the Reggio Emilia approach, an Italian style of teaching developed in the 1940s that focuses on a student-inspired curriculum rather than a teacher-driven agenda.

“Previously, teachers taught as if children were little vessels to be filled up with knowledge,” said Kim Harper, Ursuline’s elementary school principal. “Now, teachers view children as capable of constructing their own learning, and lessons are developed from the children’s need to know and their own natural curiosity.”

The Reggio approach has a handful of basic hallmarks that set it apart from more traditional learning methods. Children should have a say in what and how they learn; they should interact with the subject matter being taught; relationships with other children are promoted; and each child should be free to express his or her individuality.

For example, some of the students recently wanted to play store — so the teachers helped them set up a market and began teaching about commerce. They plan to take the students to the Uptown Crescent City Farmer’s Market, and to eventually help them sell items they’ve grown in the school’s garden.

Becky McLellan enrolled her 4-year-old, Cecilia, at Ursuline because of the new Reggio-inspired program. She said it has already had a positive effect on her daughter.

“Every day she learns in some different, wonderful way,” she said. “This has boosted her confidence.”

Judith Kieff, acting chairwoman of department of curriculum and instruction at the University of New Orleans, said a Reggio program, like the one Ursuline is using, can produce a more inspired student. The girls’ market is a good example.

“They’re not looking to the teacher to tell them what they should know,” Kieff said. “The world becomes their teacher.”

Kieff plans to send UNO education students to Ursuline to use the center as a laboratory for their own training.

For Ursuline’s early childhood coordinator Belinda Baker, the building and program represent a philosophy she’s held during nearly 30 years in education.

“I’ve always believed children should be free to express themselves,” she said.

Transportation Consultants Inc. will expand at Port of New Orleans

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The Times-Picayune, July 22, 2010

Transportation Consultants, Inc. said Thursday that it will move its headquarters to New Orleans and establish a $13.5 million warehouse and distribution facility at the port.

The facility will bring with it a total of 80 jobs, but economic development officials say the real value of the plant will be its ability to keep shipping activity in New Orleans that is now going to Houston, while introducing a new approach to manufacturing in New Orleans.

The facility planned by TCI will package the plastic pellets that are used in a wide range of manufacturing processes and deliver them directly to the plants.

Currently, the pellets, which are melted down to make any number of plastic goods, are made in the many plants between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. No Louisiana shipper has the capability to package and ship the pellets in specific sizes, so the goods leave the state in bulk, where they are packaged elsewhere.

Gary LaGrange, president and CEO of the Port of New Orleans, said the new plant gives Louisiana the opportunity to capitalize on that lost business, which he thinks will cause more growth than the expected 60 direct and 20 indirect jobs the facility itself will bring.

“I think it’s going to add work to jobs elsewhere,” he said.

He also said the “investment gives the local transportation sector the tools to handle chemical products more efficiently.”

Michael Hecht, president and CEO of the economic development group Greater New Orleans Inc., says the packaging capability, called value-adding, increases profits for New Orleans companies.

“This gives us the ability to do value-added manufacturing, which we haven’t had in the past,” he said.

Hecht says Louisiana ships most of its raw goods in bulk form, with the exception of coffee, leading to lower profits. “I think this begins to take us in a new direction,” he said.

Hecht also says the plant is a step in the right direction in terms of replacing the massive job loss caused by the shutdown of the Michoud Assembly Facility and the Avondale Shipyard. Northrop Grumman announced plans last week to close the Avondale shipyard in 2013. The Michoud plant is winding down after completing work on the last external fuel tank for the space shuttle.

“We all recognize that it’s unlikely we’ll find a 5,000-job company that will replace Avondale one for one,” Hecht said. That’s why companies like TCI are important. Hecht sees a future where several businesses like TCI make up a “more diverse business portfolio” that’s less risky. “It’s going to take a while to get there, but I’m confident we will,” he said.

The announcement, coming on the heels of the Avondale announcement and the rollout of the last external fuel tank at Michoud, was attended by Gov. Bobby Jindal and other local officials.

“I know our city and our state have faced some challenges, but today is a day to celebrate,” Jindal said. “This is a great day for New Orleans, a great day for Louisiana.”

TCI is a private logistics and warehousing provider that was founded in 1983 in New Orleans but moved to Harahan in 1990.

Jack Jenson, TCI’s CEO, said he jumped at the opportunity to return to New Orleans.

“As Drew Brees said, ‘We begin to understand the importance of making it home and making it successful,'” he said.

Jenson said the project could not have been done without help from state officials from the Port Authority, Louisiana Economic Development, and Entergy Corp.

The project is progressing in two stages. The first stage includes construction on the warehouse and container facilities. TCI obtained Gulf Opportunity Zone bonds and New Markets Tax Credit equity to help finance this construction.

For the second stage, Louisiana Economic Development delivered a total of $900,000 in incentives, money TCI will use to build a rail spur that will allow shipments of plastic pellets to be delivered directly to the plants.

Jindal said that although attracting outside business is important, locally owned companies such as TCI are the driving force behind job recovery.

“The majority of jobs created will come from existing companies,” he said. “We’ve got another Louisiana-based company not just making jobs, but keeping jobs that are already here.”

Jindal pointed to numerous surveys, studies, and rankings he says indicate Louisiana and New Orleans are bucking grim national employment trends. “Every single month during the economic recession, we’ve had lower unemployment than the national average,” he boasted.

New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu also spoke at the event, commending the company for showing confidence in the city and the port.

“TCI’s relocation and expansion will bring new jobs, new tax revenue and a growing, diversifying business to New Orleans,” he said.

Community celebrates opening of Haven for Hope

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San Antonio Business Journal – April 14, 2010

City and civic leaders have officially dedicated the new $100 million Haven for Hope campus in San Antonio.

After three years of construction, the 37-acre, 280,000-square-foot homeless facility is finally completed. Homeless individuals and families will start moving in later this month.

“Haven for Hope is a window on the soul of San Antonio,” says San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro. “It reflects our city’s strong sense of compassion and a belief in the power of an individual to transform himself or herself.”

Haven for Hope Chairman Bill Greehey praised the partnerships involved in making the campus a reality.

“This is one of the biggest public-private partnerships in San Antonio’s history, and it would not have been possible without the dedication, commitment and investment of countless individuals in both the public and private sectors,” Greehey says. “We are so grateful to the City of San Antonio, Bexar County and the State of Texas for dedicating funding, resources and other support. And we have been overwhelmed by the generosity of the hundreds of private donors who have helped us raise over $58 million, which puts us within $2 million of our fund-raising goal.”

SAMMinistries, one of the social service partners involved with Haven to Hope, will begin moving single men from its shelters onto the campus. About 10 men will move in each day for the first two weeks and then the numbers will ramp up after that. Women and families from other SAMMinistries shelters will begin moving onto the campus in early June. The entire campus is expected to be completely open to the public by mid-June.

“This is so important because we can’t solve the homeless crisis without everybody working together, and Haven for Hope is proof of the great things that can happen when the government and private sector work together toward a common goal,” Greehey says. “Together, we’re not just going to transform lives, we’re going to save lives.”

A Program that Works: New Markets Tax Credits

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Gambit, February 9, 2009

Of all the government programs helping south Louisiana recover from Hurricane Katrina, one of the most effective has to be New Markets Tax Credits (NMTCs).  Originally designed to spur private investment in economically distressed areas, the NMTC program was expanded under GO Zone legislation to include hurricane-damaged areas.

Since then, dozens of private projects representing more than $1 billion in investments have gone forward in the New Orleans area — thanks to state and federal NMTCs and participation by area banks and qualified nonprofits.  In fact, NMTCs represent one of the few areas in which Louisiana outpaced Mississippi in post-K recovery programs.

The only thing “wrong” with NMTCs is that more state and federal dollars aren’t dedicated to them.  Hopefully, that will change.

Even in these difficult economic times, NMTCs continue to generate private equity investments — more than $1 billion nationally in the past six months alone.  Since the program’s inception, NMTCs have spurred more than $12 billion in equity investments nationally.

The list of local projects made possible by NMTCs is impressive — and this is just a partial list:

– Expansion of the National World War II Museum to include a theater, a $60 million total project.

– Permanent funding for the Convention Center Marriott Hotel, which kept the hotel open after Katrina and saved more than 140 jobs.

– Ochsner/Baptist Medical Center, which reopened after Katrina and brought back more than 1,350 permanent jobs.

NMTCs work and are popular among conservatives because they are not a government giveaway.  Typically, NMTCs represent the “last dollar” in a private deal, not the first.  The tax credits thus help “close” a lot of quality projects that otherwise might not go forward.  In fact, every $1 of federal tax revenue foregone via NMTCs induces, on average, more than $14 in private investment in low-income or storm-damaged communities.

Not all projects qualify, and less than 25 percent of all community development entity (CDE) applicants receive allocations of tax credits. Allocation of NMTCs by CDEs is competitive, and CDEs look for projects with the highest likelihood of success.

Here’s how the program works:

When a for-profit or nonprofit CDE makes an equity investment in a qualified private business endeavor, that equity investment gets favorable tax treatment in the form of tax credits granted over a multi-year “compliance” period.  The credits are then sold to provide “up front” equity in the chosen project.  During the compliance period, the federal and state governments make sure the program’s standards are met, including the mission of serving an economically distressed area.  CDEs that participate in the tax credit program can go back for more credits each year — but only if they can show their past investments are working.  Thus, the program rewards the private sector for doing what it knows best how to do, and it gets government out of the business of trying to do something it knows nothing about (i.e., deciding which businesses are good investments).

When he first came into office last year, Gov. Bobby Jindal recognized the value of state NMTCs and got lawmakers to put $25 million into the program for 2008.  Unfortunately, only $12.5 million was dedicated to state NMTCs in 2009 and again in 2010.  The program is so successful that all $12.5 million of this year’s credits were allocated in less than a week.  Clearly, this program needs more funding — and soon.

On a national level, the post-Katrina template needs to be expanded so that all federal disaster areas qualify for NMTCs for at least six years after disasters are declared.  It often takes that long for good projects to get going after a disaster.

Hopefully, it won’t take that long for the governor and the new president to recognize a government program that works — and to pump more resources into it.

Landrieu unveils cultural districts in New Orleans, Tammany

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The Times-Picayune, December 5, 2008

There currently aren’t enough businesses along the St. Claude Avenue corridor to attract the new residents needed for the area recover and thrive.  But Robyn Blanpied hopes a new tax credit program will help to change that.

Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu unveiled the Louisiana Cultural Districts Initiative on Thursday, a program that provides tax breaks to art gallery operators and owners of historic buildings in 17 New Orleans neighborhoods and five sections of St. Tammany Parish, among other parts of the state.

Blanpied sees the program as a catalyst for the redevelopment of abandoned buildings in the Bywater and Marigny neighborhoods.

“It will give us the critical mass to make St. Claude a success,” said Blanpied, who is manager of St. Claude Avenue Main Street, a revitalization program.  “Things like this will encourage people to at least come down here and give us a look.”

That is also what Landrieu had in mind when he backed the bill establishing the tax breaks in 2007.  The Cultural Districts program is run by the state Department of Culture Recreation and Tourism, which Landrieu oversees. The initiative fits with his office’s push to use Louisiana’s culture to generate economic development.

“We’ve been trying to get policymakers in New Orleans to see that they have to treat culture like any other business in the state,” Landrieu said.  “Culture means jobs.  Jobs make Louisiana not only a great place to visit, but to live.”

Property owners in the cultural districts are eligible for state income tax credits for rehabilitating historic residential and commercial buildings, defined as those more than 50 years old.  Galleries in the districts do not have to charge state sales tax on original works of art.

In New Orleans, the districts include Oak Street, Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard and the Rampart-Basin Street corridor.  Four areas, the Lower 9th Ward, Gentilly-Pontchartrain Park, Lincoln Beach and Viet Village, were added after City Council members Cynthia Willard-Lewis and Cynthia Hedge-Morrell complained that the 13 original districts included none in eastern New Orleans and just one in Gentilly.

In St. Tammany, the districts include Olde Town Cultural District in Slidell. A list of additional cultural districts will be announced in March.

“It doesn’t save the neighborhood overnight, but it will attract residents and investors,” said Greg Ensslen, president of the Freret Business and Property Owners Association and director of the Freret Market.  “It’s simply a tool to get more money for your projects.”

Ensslen said he hopes more local investors than outside developers will take advantage of the development opportunities.

Lynnette Colin of the Oretha Castle Haley Merchants and Business Association is looking forward not only to what property development could mean for the corridor, which is recovering in fits and starts, but also to venues like the Ashe Cultural Arts Center that sell original artwork.

“This helps bring people into our areas,” Colin said.  “And it will help the artists to sell many of their original works.”

Eventually, Landrieu said, he envisions that the Cultural Districts will redevelop in the same way that Julia Street in the Warehouse District and Magazine Street have.

“Those streets reinvented themselves,” Landrieu said.  “As you’re building neighborhoods, they have to have an anchor.  This is it.”

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