News > Press > GO Zone bonds to back rebirth of Mid-City site

The State Bond Commission approved up to $20 million in tax-exempt bonds Thursday for a project designed to transform an abandoned car dealership in the Mid-City area into a 120,000-square-foot mixed-use development.

The commission authorized the use of Gulf Opportunity Zone Bonds for the project, known as the Building Block.

When completed in 2012, the site is expected to house a grocery, retail space, a conference center, and a 20,000-square-foot plot for manufacturing environmentally friendly home wall paneling, according to Will Bradshaw, president of Green Coast Enterprises, the principal owner of the firm.

Shortly after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, Congress launched the Gulf Opportunity Zone Bond program as a way to entice developers to rebuild the stricken areas by providing low-cost financing.

State Treasurer John Kennedy, chairman of the bond commission, applauded the developers for capitalizing on the GO Zone bonds when many other developers in New Orleans passed on them or could not get financing in order to take advantage of the program.

Kennedy said he was glad to see a “green company” apply for the bonds.

The project had the backing of the state Department of Economic Development as one of the kinds of businesses it would like to see grow in the state. It also had the backing of New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu; U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La.; U.S. Rep. Anh “Joseph” Cao, R-New Orleans; New Orleans District A Councilwoman Susan Guidry, who represents the area; and City Councilman-at-Large Arnie Fielkow.

The development will be on the site of the former Bohn automobile dealership and repair center, which many Mid-City residents have called an eyesore and a hindrance to development.

Mayor Landrieu said he expects the Building Block project to “create a regional hub of commerce to serve the expanding green building market in the Southeast.”

Jennifer Farwell, president and director of land use and development of the Mid-City Neighborhood Organization, wrote commission members a letter backing the conversion of the old car dealership site into an “eco-oriented, mixed-use retail, office and low-impact industrial space.”

By Ed Anderson
Capital bureau