Media Clips

The new Federal City complex in Algiers won't sweep away the past

The Times-Picayune • Paul Purpura
Tuesday July 14, 2009, 8:16 PM

A raised French Creole cottage is one of a few surviving examples of an antebellum plantation house in the New Orleans area, according to historical accounts of the LeBeuf-Ott Country Retreat, which the Navy calls Quarters A.

During the Navy's opening of a dry dock overlooking the Mississippi River in Algiers in 1901, President Theodore Roosevelt, impressed with a country villa on the property and the stately magnolias that shaded the grounds, suggested the home should become the residence for the senior Naval officer stationed in New Orleans.

Built in the 1840s on land used to grow sugar cane, the raised French Creole cottage has served that purpose since 1943 and is one of a few surviving examples of an antebellum plantation house in the New Orleans area, according to historical accounts of the LeBeuf-Ott Country Retreat, which the Navy calls Quarters A.

But what happens to it and a host of other buildings dating back more than a century when developers for the Federal City campus take over the base is unclear.

Although a preliminary proposal suggests widespread demolition, developers say they're keeping older buildings. Still, urban planners Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co. in Miami aren't expected to release a master plan for four more months for the site envisioned to eventually bring 10,000 jobs through government and military agencies to Algiers.

"I am very comfortable in stating that we are trying to keep and reuse, or 'repurpose, ' virtually all of the older buildings on the base, " said retired Marine Corps Gen. David Mize of the New Orleans Federal Alliance in an e-mail message. "The retention of these buildings has many benefits. The buildings have good and interesting architecture, and they are the architectural foundation around which we are developing and blending in the new buildings at Federal City.

"This will enable (us) to retain a sense of character and connection to the base's use since 1901, " he said.

It's a challenge communities face nationwide in the wake of the Defense Department's Base Realignment and Closure rounds, when military installations are shuttered and communities or developers take over and strive for a balance between keeping historic structures while creating viable, profitable projects, said Tom Rumora, who was BRAC coordinator for a committee overseeing growth of Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va.

"In a developer's world, that's a pretty harsh, cold process, " said Rumora, who was part of a team that lost a bid to redevelop the Naval Support Activity.

An upside in Algiers, Rumora said, is that the Federal City development team includes HRI, a New Orleans firm that specializes in revitalizing old properties.

"You couldn't have a better company to be sensitive to these issues, " Rumora said.

Surveying the old sites

The Navy, which is leasing 149 acres of the 193-acre base to the Algiers Development District board for redevelopment, will have a say on what happens to six buildings and an archaeological site, according to an agreement between the Navy and Louisiana's Division of Historic Preservation.

Under the National Historic Preservation Act, the Navy was required to conduct a building survey after determining the redevelopment plan would adversely affect the base, said Jimmy Anderson, director of the Navy's BRAC Program Management Office Southeast.

Quarters A and its guest house, known as Building 34, are the only two structures at the base listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The survey also found that four other buildings and the grounds on which Quarters A sits are eligible for listing on the national register.

As such, the developers must submit their plans for those buildings to state historic preservation officers for approval, said Nicole Hopson-Morris, interim executive director of the state's Division of Historic Preservation.

But no outside review process exists for other buildings, many built during the same period as those considered historically significant.

"If they're not listed, they're not covered" by the agreement, Hopson-Morris said.

Hal Fairbanks, HRI's vice president for business development, said they plan to keep more buildings than those covered by the agreement, particularly the base's Federalist-style brick administrative buildings.

"It's always been our intention to keep any buildings that are tax-credit eligible, " Fairbanks said.

Only buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places are eligible for historic tax credits. Hopson-Morris said the developers can apply to have more buildings listed on the register and that other tax incentives exist for the redevelopment.

Hodgepodge of eras

There has been no public outcry over the fate of old Navy buildings. Often, Rumora said, the public knows little about what's inside active military bases until they are closed. Generally, some buildings now viewed as historic were used for a variety of reasons by the military, he said.

"One question is, which uses are we preserving?" Rumora said. "Even in trying to preserve some of the history of the building, some of the history is not that exciting."

The building inventory at Naval Support Activity reflects a wide period of construction.

While 13 buildings and residences were built before 1907 and include those structures the Navy deems historic, 12 were erected during the World War I era and 14 others date to World War II, according to the Navy.

Demolition started in April, when contractors razed the commissary, built in 1976, and a cluster of warehouses dating to World War II that overlooked Opelousas Street. That property will house the national headquarters for Marine Forces Reserve, the anchor for the Federal City campus and only announced tenant.

Conceptual plans for the rest of the base, envisioned as a mixture of residences and commercial businesses, include space for neighboring Delgado Community College to expand. That expansion could include the site of four senior officers' residences that were built in 1907. Mize said those structures might be moved.

The residences are not among those not covered by the Navy's agreement with the state. Others include a 1906 administrative building used as the headquarters for the 8th Marine Corps District before it relocated to Texas after Hurricane Katrina. Another is Building 4, built in 1904, which developers say could be reused, possibly as a charter high school. Despite their being excluded from the agreement, Fairbanks said they plan to retain these buildings.

These and other older buildings were not considered eligible for listing on the historic register because of renovations or modifications through the years.

"Some of them are so altered, they lost so many of their features" that make them historically recognizable, Hopson-Morris said.

Future of Quarters A

Although it's been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1993, Quarters A has seen its share of modifications, including extensive renovations during the World War II era, according to historians.

Since June 1943, 22 Navy admirals and two Marine Corps generals have lived there. Its current occupant, Marine Corps Lt. Gen. John Bergman, is expected to be the last.

The Navy and Marine Corps plan a new flag officer's residence at the Naval Air Station-Joint Reserve Base in Belle Chasse.

Fairbanks said HRI does not want to demolish Quarters A, which could cost as much as $800,000 to repair, but is still considering future uses, including as a senior officer's residence.

"We think there's some merit there, " Fairbanks said. "We're talking to the Navy and the Marines about that possibility."

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Paul Purpura can be reached at ppurpura@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3791.