Developer Darren Aschaffenburg has revised his plans to renovate the former Metairie Towers condominium complex on Metairie Road, which he purchased on Thursday for $24.5 million.
Instead of converting the building into 219 apartments, Aschaffenburg now says he will keep the building as a complex of condos but with fewer units — 160 — that have larger floorplans. He’s also adding an eighth floor to the building and 12 luxury penthouse units, upgrading the exterior, and gating the property, which will be staffed with around-the-clock security.
The renovation will take nearly two years to complete and will cost between $45 million and $50 million, he estimates.
“This is going to be a beacon of class and elegance in the heart of Old Metairie,” said Aschaffenburg, who is based in Dallas but grew up in Old Metairie and splits his time between the two. “It will have all the amenities of a Class A property.”
A rendering of the Tower Residences, the former Metairie Towers complex, which will undergo a $50 million renovation beginning in January.
Aschaffenburg’s change of plans come more than six months after the building’s owners selected his proposal over several others to purchase and renovate the 1970s-era structure, which was badly damaged during Hurricane Ida. In the months between when his offer was accepted and Thursday’s closing, Aschaffenburg said his plans “evolved” and that he decided to pivot to condos because it makes more sense.
“We were going to use historic building tax credits to do the apartments because the building is right at 50 years old and could have qualified,” he said. “But they really tie your hands with historic tax credits and I don’t like having my hands tied. I wanted to do it right, right out of the gate.”
High-end amenities, silk-stocking vibe
The site is located in a high-dollar neighborhood in Jefferson Parish within walking distance of a church, supermarket and retail district — factors that drove interest in the property when it was originally listed for sale nearly a year ago.
Aschaffenburg, who is renaming the complex The Tower Residences of Old Metairie, is banking that the area’s high-end amenities and silk stocking vibe will appeal to buyers of his condos, which will range from 900-square-foot, one-bedroom units priced at around $600,000 to 2,500-square-foot, three-bedroom units and penthouses priced at “several million dollars each,” he said.
Owners of Metairie Towers condos were given right of first refusal to buy new units in the buildings and Aschaffenburg said he expects some of those former residents will buy in.
“But we don’t expect the building to fill up with past owners,” he said. “It’s been three years since Ida and a lot of them have moved on.”
Metairie Towers on Metairie Road on Friday, September 23, 2022. The seven-story condominium development has sat empty since Hurricane Ida tore its roof off a year ago, uprooting hundreds of its mostly elderly residents. (Photo by Chris Granger | The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
The deal is a positive development after several difficult years for the building. In 2021, the mostly elderly residents of the seven-story building were forced from their units after Ida’s Category 4 winds tore the roof off the building. Later that year, a contractor hired by the insurance company to restore electricity and water service caused a flood in the building, which soaked both the storm-damaged units and apartments that had managed to escape the hurricane unscathed.
In the months that followed, the Metairie Towers Condominium Association got into a dispute with the insurance company over the cost of repairs. Meanwhile, problems surfaced with asbestos in the building’s sheetrock and flaking in its cast-iron pipes.
In October 2022, the association secured a bank loan to begin the asbestos remediation. At the time, residents were told it would be another year before they could move home. In early 2023, a majority of owners decided it was time to sell, though it wasn’t until last fall that the building was listed for sale.
Several lawsuits between past owners, the condo association and the insurers remain ongoing.
“I feel terrible for the people who have been displaced and for the neighborhood that has had to look at this eyesore. Our plan is to get this rolling as soon as possible,” Aschaffenburg said, adding that he hopes to begin construction by January.