Future of a prime block of Uptown real estate unclear as nuns vacate historic monastery.

After more than a century, the Poor Clares, an order of Roman Catholic nuns, have moved out of their historic monastery in the 700 block of Henry Clay Avenue near Audubon Park, leaving vacant an entire city block in the heart of one of Uptown’s priciest neighborhoods.

Just four nuns, all in their 80s, had been living in St. Clare’s Monastery, as the nearly 2-acre property is formally known. It stands behind a brick wall and encompasses the entire block bounded by Henry Clay, Magazine, Constance and Calhoun streets.

Given their advanced age and dwindling numbers, maintaining the buildings and sprawling grounds was simply too much for the nuns to manage, said Sr. Charlene Toups, who leads the order.

“We do our own work and are pretty self-sustaining,” said Toups, a New Orleans native, who joined the order in 1966 after dropping out of college. “But we’re older now and it’s hard for us to climb up and down ladders to change light bulbs and tend to the gardening.”

The nuns are working to sell the property to a local developer and hope to finalize a deal soon, said Toups, who declined to provide details, citing a nondisclosure agreement. They recently relocated to a house on Valmont Street about a mile from the monastery.

The monastery dates to 1912 and includes a main three-story building with a chapel, offices, meeting rooms, dining space and an infirmary. The upper floors of the building house dozens of bedrooms, most of which have been empty for years, and was designated in 1979 as a historic landmark by the city’s Historic Districts Landmarks Commission.

The monastery grounds are extensive, and include a mortuary chapel, where members of the order are buried, and a garden shed. There are also two live oaks named St. Anthony and St. Roch, a grotto, a grassy labyrinth and benches for contemplation.

Earlier this year, the monastery was assessed at nearly $7 million, according to the Orleans Parish Assessor’s Office, which valued the land at nearly $4 million and the buildings nearly $3 million.

Experts say given its size, location, historic architecture and storied past, the unique piece of property is hard to put a price tag on.

“It’s prime real estate, obviously,” said Larry Schedler of Larry G. Schedler and Associates, who specializes in the local apartment market. “There would be tremendous demand for it as market-rate or affordable housing. It’s really going to come down to how many historic tax credits can a developer get to renovate it.”

‘Dropping in’

The Poor Clare order is more than 800 years old and was founded by St. Clare of Assisi, who was born into nobility in 13^th-cenutry Italy and gave up her life of privilege to follow the example of poverty and simple living set by her contemporary, St. Francis of Assisi.

Poor Clare nuns are cloistered, meaning, they spend their lives in the monastery, praying and working, rather than ministering to the needy out in the world. Members of the order pledge chastity, poverty, obedience and enclosure when they enter the monastery, and devote themselves to a life of contemplative prayer.  

Today, there are about 20,000 Poor Clare nuns living in more than 70 countries worldwide, according to Santa Clara University, which is affiliated with the order.

Toups entered the order in the mid-1960s, when many other priests and nuns were rethinking their vocations and leaving. At the time, there were 27 Poor Clares at the local monastery.

“Everybody was dropping out. I was dropping in,” said Toups, who felt called to a life of poverty and contemplative prayer.

In the nearly six decades since, Toups said she hasn’t looked back and has found living in community both rewarding and meaningful. Though the Poor Clares are cloistered, they have played an active role in the local community.

For years, they ran a small printing business that printed stationery and brochures for small local museums. They also had a gift shop, where they sold homemade art and ornaments. Additionally, they baked communion wafers for local Roman Catholic parishes and held Sunday mass in their main chapel, which continues even though the nuns have moved.

“We are hoping to reestablish our gift shop once we get settled,” Toups said. “We’re still in the process of moving everything out. After more than a century, it takes a little while.”

SUBHED

The Poor Clare monastery is the latest of several large parcels of real estate owned by the Roman Catholic church and its affiliated orders that have been sold or listed for sale, amid changing demographics, aging priests and nuns and other financial pressures.

Locally, the Archdiocese of New Orleans’ need to raise money to settle claims with hundreds of survivors of sex abuse by priests, deacons and brothers has prompted Archbishop Gregory Aymond to sell nearly $20 million of real estate in recent years.

The Poor Clare order is not under the control of the archdiocese and the nuns own the monastery independent of the local church. Their deal to sell the property is not related to the church bankruptcy. 

While the Poor Clare property is valued at nearly $7 million by the assessor, it’s unclear how much the property would fetch on the open market, experts say.

A full city block in Mid City, including the shuttered Sacred Heart of Jesus Church on Canal Street, was assessed last year at $6.1 million. Its current asking price is $1.95 million, down from $2.28 million in late 2023.

But the Mid City property, though comparable in size to the monastery Uptown, is hamstrung by a couple of factors. It includes a large, aging former church building, which doesn’t lend itself to reuse as an apartment complex or condos. Also, a former school building on the Mid City site has already been converted to a rent-adjusted apartments for low-income seniors.

Schedler says the value of the Uptown monastery will come down to the amount of historic building tax credits a developer is able to secure to renovate the building and convert it to residential use.