[MarignyBywater] Large development in Marigny

[Scott Graves]

Below is the text article copied from WWL-TV web site.  The upshot appears to be at the end of the article (I highlighted).  Draw your own conclusions but it sounds like Section 8 investment to me.  
Scott 
Florida developers eye New Orleans opportunities

08:35 PM CST on Friday, November 7, 2008

Lucy Bustamante / Eyewitness News 


 
WWL-TV


A group of Florida business owners in New Orleans this week are cashing in on post-Katrina real estate opportunities.  Their trip comes almost a year after the World Trade Center of New Orleans brought a group of real estate developers to Miami to market New Orleans. 
A sightseeing tour of New Orleans East and the metro area was guided by the Office of Recovery and Redevelopment. 
“If you see something that you’re interested in, jot it down,” said a tour leader to the group as they toured the city by bus. 
The tour group was members of the Latin Builders Organization out of Miami, a group who discovered after Hurricane Andrew in 1992 how much money can be made in reconstructing a storm's path of destruction. 
“We have in our organizations that are here with us - from developers to contractors to engineers electrical contractors to  plumbing contractors to material suppliers to kitchen cabinet suppliers,” said Ovy Vento, a member of the group. 
“I always found New Orleans to be a work of art,” said Jose Antonio Font, a Miami developer. He arrived in the city already sold. 
“The nature of the city was appropriate for this product that I've been designing,” said Font. 
Font said he doesn't want to go into detail about the projects he's working on in the Faubourg Marigny, but he says he first met his match at the New Orleans Business Forum the World Trade Center hosted in Miami last year. It was effort to promote real estate in New Orleans to a group of people who didn't discriminate against storm-damaged cities, whether in property or in reputation. 
“The business aspect was driven by market opportunity,” said Font, adding he found the ambience he wanted for his project right here in the Faubourg Marigny, but he also found the public funding that made it financially feasible. 
He says his project is solvent because he leveraged private equity and didn't need to go into debt. 
“We are using new market tax credits, we’re using tax-exempt bonds,” he said. 
While Font said he doesn't want to go into the details of the project, he says it is set in stone. “The target opening date is March 2011.” 
In the meantime, this group of potential investors will analyze areas from a commercial perspective and the need for affordable housing. 
“So there is a lot of information that we're taking we're going to do our homework and say these are the areas that we’re going to concentrate on,” said Vento. 


--- On Sat, 11/8/08, b588 at bellsouth.net <b588 at bellsouth.net> wrote:

From: b588 at bellsouth.net <b588 at bellsouth.net>
Subject: [MarignyBywater] Large development in Marigny
To: marignybywater at marigny.org
Date: Saturday, November 8, 2008, 6:15 AM



While watching the WWL evening news on Friday, there was a segment about a group on Miami developers and builders touring New Orleans to view investment opportunities.
One of the developers said he was working on a property development in the Marigny which he expected to be complete 
by 2011.
Does anyone know where and what is this development?
G Brown 


      
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