The former Whitney Bank building on Oak Street has been sold; See details

A Kenner real estate developer has purchased the old Whitney Bank building at the corner of S. Carrollton Avenue and Oak Street, and has filed for permits with the city to add additional apartments to the top floors.

Edward Nickolaus purchased the century-old building in mid-November from Nidal Jaber for $1.8 million, or more than $163 per square foot, city records show.

A building permit application, filed with the city in late November, suggests Nickolaus plans to renovate the upper floors of the three-story structure. The plans call for expanding the number of units from 6 to 8 and increasing the total bedroom count from 12 to 14. The estimated $163,000 renovation would include new flooring, crown and base moldings, kitchens and bathrooms.

The renovation would bring back a prominent Oak Street property that’s sat unused since 2022. Whitney closed the location in 2004 and moved to a new branch office two blocks away. In the years before Nickolaus’ purchase, it was at the center of a protracted court battle and has been home to several different tenants.

Nickolas runs a firm called World Class Investments that specializes in historic renovations, according to an online profile. City permitting documents indicate he has renovated and built multi-family homes and short-term rentals in Mid City and Uptown.

He declined to comment on his plans for the building, which also has two ground-floor retail spaces. The two upper floors were originally built for offices and later converted to apartments.

Rich history

The building was designed for the Whitney Bank by renowned local architect Emile Weil and built in 1921.  

With Corinthian columns and two roundels depicting eagles, the stone structure was aimed to express “the solidarity, rationality and stability of the financial institution it housed,” according to a 2001 report from the Historic Districts Landmarks Commission.

The HDLC designated the building as a local landmark, calling it “a fine example of the Beaux Art period of architecture in New Orleans” and saying it, “physically embodies the dawn of modern banking in the United States.” 

An iconic Whitney Bank bronze and stained-glass clock was installed in 1928 and still remains attached to the building, though it has not been well maintained and shows signs of visible damage.  

In recent years, the building became the subject of a lawsuit between then-owner Tommy Ngo, who bought it from Whitney in 2005, and Jaber, who signed a lease with an option to purchase the building from Ngo in 2014. That deal fell apart three years later, and the two became embroiled in a series of suits and countersuits, court records show.

Jaber eventually ended up with the building.

Its most recent ground-floor tenants were a nail salon and a pho restaurant. Both have been closed since at least 2022, when Jaber put the property on the market for sale.