Former congressman and top White House advisor Cedric Richmond is stepping back from national politics and embarking on a new phase of his career: a foray into New Orleans real estate.
Last month, Richmond and New Orleans political consultant Blair Boutte purchased the former Marti’s restaurant building at the corner of North Rampart and Dumaine streets. They plan to bring the historic building back to life with a new restaurant group at the helm.
“This is certainly the first time I’ve taken a piece of New Orleans culture and history with an intent to restore and preserve it as a storied treasure,” Richmond said in an interview this week. “My goal is that it will not be my last.”
Richmond and Boutte bought the two-story restaurant building along with a connecting two-story office building and a separate, six-unit apartment complex next door for $2.1 million. The family of the late New Orleans real estate developer Joe Jaeger sold the properties.
Jaeger, who died following a car accident last summer, had owned the historic buildings for more than a decade.
The building at the corner of N. Rampart and Dumaine streets in New Orleans, Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024. (Staff photo by David Grunfeld, The Times-Picayune | NOLA.com)
Richmond also purchased a single-family home next to the apartments from the Jaegers for $350,000. He plans to renovate the house, which was partially damaged in a fire, and keep it for personal use, he said.
An attorney who was first elected to congress in 2010, Richmond has served as a strategist for the Democratic National Committee since stepping down in 2022 from his post in President Joe Biden’s administration.
And while he’s taking on the property development project, Richmond said he isn’t completely leaving the political arena and will continue to advise the DNC part time.
FILE – White House adviser Cedric Richmond boards Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in suburban Maryland on July 21, 2021. Now a top advisor to President Joe Biden’s reelection effort, Richmond will soon be joined by Mitch Landrieu on the campaign.
“But anything I can do to bring the city back is something I am very interested in,” Richmond said. “For me, it’s a new form of public service. I’m still going to be involved in politics or public service, but I do want to figure out other ways to leave a legacy.”
Lots of plans
The Marti’s building has a storied place in New Orleans’ restaurant lore. It opened in 1971 as a classic French Quarter-style bistro. In the 1990s, it became Peristyle and, under chef Anne Kearney, was one of the city’s most celebrated eateries.
Martin Shambra sits at the bar at Marti’s in the French Quarter in 1985. (G.E. Arnold / NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
In late 2013, Gautreau’s Patrick Singley and chef Drew Lockett brought the restaurant back as a newly reimagined Marti’s. But it closed two years later as construction on the Rampart Street streetcar disrupted commerce on the street, and never reopened.
Jaeger, who had owned the restaurant and adjacent properties since 2012, wanted to bring it back into use but was never able to find the right tenant, his attorney Mike Sherman said Friday.
The bar at Peristyle restaurant in 2003. (John McCusker / NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
“Joe had an affection for historic buildings and loved owning these buildings but he had a lot of projects that he never had time to get to,” Sherman said.
In recent weeks, Richmond and Boutte have had better success generating interest from restaurant operators.
“We are talking to several restaurant groups, and we are going to figure out the best fit for the building and the neighborhood,” Richmond said.
He added that the building will remain a restaurant, though its name may change.
“Some of the chefs we are talking to already have a following on their own so we wouldn’t dictate to them what to call it,” he said.
Jaeger as mentor
Richmond is a native of New Orleans who began his political career at age 26, just a year after graduating from law school at Tulane University. He served 11 years in the Louisiana House of Representatives before being elected to Congress representing Louisiana’s 2nd Congressional District. He made a name for himself in Washington as a moderate Democratic deal maker.
Who will replace Cedric Richmond? The race is about to heat up.
When he left Congress in 2020 to serve as director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, he had already served as chair of the Congressional Black Caucus and was on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee. In 2022, he left the Biden Administration to work with the DNC and help get Democrats elected to office.
Since then, he’s been spending much of his time in New Orleans. He also was learning about commercial real estate development from Jaeger until his tutelage was cut short by Jaeger’s unexpected death.
Joe Jaeger, president and CEO of MCC Real Estate Group, who passed away June 23, 2024.
Richmond said he and Jaeger had been talking about the future of the Marti’s property for months. He also was exploring redeveloping one of Jaeger’s more prominent eyesores in the city — the blighted Canal Street Hotel building on Canal Street and Claiborne Avenue.
“We were working on trying to get that done,” Richmond said. “I’d still love to see it back in commerce, but I can’t do it without him.”
In the meantime, he and Bouttee, whose daughter, Elania Boutte will help manage the properties, are beginning to make minor repairs and cosmetic upgrades to the apartments and work towards finalizing a deal with a new restaurant operator.
“I want to honor Joe’s legacy and do something that would make him proud,” he said.