The $1 billion Federal City complex is taking shape.
And there's no alternative: The federal government requires that Marines occupy the 29-acre compound in Algiers by September 15, 2011. That means construction must be completed by June 2011. To meet that deadline, builders are constructing the anchor Marine Forces Reserve building, or MarForRes, using a century-old method called "tilt-up."
Tilt-up is conceptually simple and technically complicated. It involves casting and erecting concrete walls on site, as opposed to shipping them in from an outside factory.
"It's the most economical method of delivery," said Ed Sauter, executive director of the Iowa-based Tilt-Up Concrete Association. "You don't have the overhead factory. You don't have transportation cost."
Tilt-up has shaved about three months of construction and up to 10 percent of costs for the 411,000-square-foot MarForRes, according to estimates by David Mize, president and CEO of the New Orleans Federal Alliance. But builders across the country have been slow to embrace the technique, which was first used in the early 1900s, according to the association.
Casting concrete is precision science, and erring by a few inches "is not an easy thing to fix," Sauter said. That's an imposing risk for the construction industry, which Sauter said is one of the "slowest to adopt new ideas."
"If you have problems you haven't foreseen, who will pay for your learning experience?" Sauter said.
But Federal City, along with similar projects, is helping to advance tilt-up. Woodward Design Build is forming 196 panels on a concrete casting bed for the outer shell of MarForRes. A crane is erecting the panels, which weigh more than 130,000 pounds and are as tall as 72 feet. MarForRes' walls are now about 75 percent complete.
"The conventional method of building, you'd come in and build the structural skeleton first," said Woodward Vice President Steve Lawson. "Then you'd have a brick and block crew on the outside, scaffold the building, and build it up, brick by brick and block by block."
About 700 million square feet of tilt-up wall now exists in the United States, roughly double the amount in 1997, when the association began tracking, Sauter said. And the method is creating a new industry, with firms specializing in products for lifting, bracing and chemical treatment. Six such firms existed when the association was founded in 1986, Sauter said. More than 50 are in business today.
Woodward is also embedding half-inch-thick bricks in the walls of MarForRes, giving the appearance of exposed brick in certain sections of the panels. It's an aesthetic touch that is part the evolution of tilt-up, Lawson said.
"I've done a lot of tilt-up, but nothing this fancy," he said.
Federal City may be among the fanciest of tilt-up projects, but it's not the tallest. The association's Web site features projects with walls approaching 100 feet, and that threshold seems well within reach.
Tilt-up is not the only time-oriented innovation Woodward is using to meet its deadline for Federal City. The firm is building MarForRes walls at the same time it designs the inside, which Mize said is saving another two months.
"You've got to figure out how to mesh it together. It's a little bit of a challenge, and it's a little bit of a risk," Mize said. "But it saves you all kinds of time if you can do it.".
-expert from CityBusiness Online
New Orleans, LA- Today the Federal City Team gave a progress report on the construction at the Federal City site in New Orleans and unveiled the largest tilt-up building in the gulf coast region.
“We are right on target with our construction timeline and our financial budget for the Federal City site,” said Algiers Development District (ADD) Chairman Jeff Arnold. “It has been a little over one year since we had the ground breaking ceremony. Our target is to complete the Headquarters of the Marine Forces Reserve by September 2011, which is part of the 75-year lease agreement between the Algiers Development District and the Department of the Navy signed last year.”
Retired General David Mize, who heads the New Orleans Federal Alliance (NOFA), the organization charged with overseeing the day to day operations of the project, told the crowd, “the MarForRes project is the largest project ever completed using tilt-up construction for military end use as well as the largest tilt-up building in the Gulf Coast region. This construction technique allows for faster, less expensive construction and delivers a building that is particularly well suited to handle hurricane force winds.”
Confirmed honorable speakers included: [Congressmen Anh “Joseph” Cao, Mayor C. Ray Nagin], Louisiana Economic Development Deputy Secretary Steven Grissom ,ADD Chairman Jeff Arnold, Council-at-large member Jacquelyn Brechtel Clarkson, Councilman James Carter and Bob Braithwaite, Deputy Commander of Marine Forces Reserve.
ADD, NOFA, and HRI/ECC, (who is the master developer) continue to discuss their future plans with local and federal tenants, merchants, education, and recreation representatives. The goals for Federal City include:
The $150 million investment by the state for Federal City includes approximately $110 million for the Marine Forces Reserve building and secure compound, $7 million for amenity upgrades on the site, and the remainder for other infrastructure improvements and other aspects of the project. Many of these improvements and upgrades are expected to be substantially complete by June of 2011. The current Naval Support Activity New Orleans will close by 15 Sep 2011 and turn control of the base property over to the Federal City team through an already agreed upon lease arrangement.
NEW ORLEANS – The military presence in New Orleans will soon be bigger than ever before, as progress continues on the new "Federal City," a massive Marine base under construction on the Westbank. It will be nearly two years before the first tenants move in, but local and state leaders offered a progress report on the development Friday.
"We are happy to report we are on schedule and on budget for this very important economic development project," said David Mize, who is spearheading the project. Walls are going up quickly due to a building technique called "tilt-up construction." The first step looks a lot like an old-fashioned movie set, with just the walls going up and being lodged in place with large steel rods.
"This is a wonderful day here in the city of New Orleans, for us to be celebrating this type of progress, for something is on budget, on time, on schedule and all those good things," Mayor Ray Nagin said.
The next step is locking the third floor and ceiling into place before finally completing the first and second floors. The building, which will eventually house the national headquarters of the Marine Corps Reserve, will be the largest built this way in the Gulf South, outside of Florida.
"The first commitment on saving the military here was the city of New Orleans and was matched by the state," said City Councilwoman Jackie Clarkson. The facility has $7 million of city money and $156 million of state money in it, and it is worth $750 million, Clarkson said. The deal will help keep an estimated $4.5 billion of military money in New Orleans.
By the time Phase 1 is complete, the base will employ 10,000 people and will encompass an area about the same size as Algiers Point.
- excerpt from WDSU.com All rights reserved.
Developers of the Federal City complex in Algiers will be hosting a press conference Friday, December 4th to provide an update on the site's progress.
A joint venture of the New Orleans Federal Alliance and HRI/ECC LLC, the Federal City site has been praised for both its potential economic and social impact. The complex will be occupied by the Department of Defense and civilian federal agencies, as well as the contractors and suppliers who support them. When fully developed, the site is expected to contribute nearly 2,000 military jobs and up to 10,000 Federal and civilian jobs to the Greater New Orleans region, according to project officials.
Additionally, the site's construction will provide significant job creation and training opportunities in the renewable energy, environmental science, and green building fields. Through capital funding from the state of Louisiana and use of Gulf Opportunity Zone tax incentives, developers are making provisions for a green energy grid and committing front-end investment for the use of energy efficient buildings at the Federal City complex.
Michael Hecht, President and CEO of Greater New Orleans, Inc., the economic development agency serving the 10-parish region, sees the Federal City project as a "bold economic development initiative that promises not only jobs for Greater New Orleans, but also new precedence in public/private partnerships and sustainable development."
Friday's event will be hosted by the Algiers Development District, the City of New Orleans, HRI/ECC, Louisiana Economic Development, New Orleans Federal Alliance, and Woodward Design & Build. The press conference is scheduled to begin at 10:00 am and will be held at Federal City's construction site for the Marine Forces Reserve building, where ground broke in September 2008.
- excerpt from BayouBuzz
About 14 months after the Navy and local officials signed a lease to convert the Naval Support Activity in Algiers into a military and government campus, officials will gather at the site today to herald progress on construction of the Marine Forces Reserve’s new headquarters. Their message: New Orleans’ largest economic development project, called federal city, is on budget and ahead of schedule. Under federal law, the Marines must occupy the 411,000-square-foot facility by Sept. 15, 2011.
The $110 million building overlooking Opelousas Avenue and Hendee Street is taking shape, with most of the exterior walls already standing four stories high thanks to the tilt-wall method of construction that sheds light on what the facility will look like when complete, officials said.
“Suddenly, with the tilt-wall construction technique, in the space of less than two weeks you suddenly see rising out of this (construction) site this massive building,” said retired Marine Corps Maj. Gen. David Mize, who is spearheading the project.
In 2005, the Defense Department announced it wanted to close the Navy base, but a federal panel, after hearing pleas from state and local officials to retain the installation, agreed to leave the Algiers base open for federal city.As part of that decision, the panel kept Marine Forces Reserve in Orleans Parish instead of moving it to the Naval Air Station-Joint Reserve Base in Belle Chasse, in facilities the federal government would have built.
The state pledged $150 million to the project, provided through the Department of Economic Development’s “mega fund.” The Algiers Development District board in September 2008 signed a 75-year lease with the Navy, allowing construction on the Marine Corps headquarters to begin.
The tilt-wall construction method dates to the 1950s, but its use in Algiers marks the largest in the state. The method was selected because of the speed at which the headquarters could be built, said Bob Lipscomb, senior project manager for Woodward Design+Build, the contractor for the Marine Corps facility. "Time is money,” Lipscomb said. “I think it cut a good three months out of it.” The 186 panels are fabricated on site, their brick veneers and decorative details already embossed in the face to give the exterior façade its finished appearance.
The panels are hoisted into position by a crane, attached to each other with welding plates and are held erect by support beams that will be removed once the roof and fourth floor deck are installed, Lipscomb said. The method essentially means the building is constructed from the outside in.
The walls, expected to be erected by Christmas, will contain about 11 million pounds of concrete, containing more than 1 million pounds of reinforcing steel bar, officials said.
“It’s an impressive sight,’’ said state Rep. Jeff Arnold, D-Algiers, who is chairman of the Algiers Development District board that has provided seed money for federal city. “The project is moving forward, on schedule, possibly ahead of schedule, time-wise and budget-wise.’’
Mize said Woodward Design+Build, working with architects Mathes Brierre, said the contractor also worked with the Marine Corps to incorporate its needs into the facility. “Our goal here is to give them the best headquarters building in the Marine Corps,’’ Mize said. Marine Forces Reserves currently occupies less square footage at the Naval Support Activity’s east bank campus in quarters built during World War I as an army depot. That portion of the base will close when the Marines move to Algiers.
- excerpt from Times-Picayune article by Paul Purpura
Lt. Gen. John Bergman leaves the Marine Corps a year later than he expected. His retirement package was approved last year, and he was set to be replaced as commander of Marine Forces Reserve and Marine Forces North by Maj. Gen. Douglas Stone in a Sept. 8, 2008, ceremony at the Naval Support Activity in Algiers.
But Hurricane Gustav canceled the ceremony, and a new date was not set. The Marine Corps commandant, Gen. James Conway, asked Bergman to remain at the helm of the largest command in the Marine Corps, responsible for drilling 39,600 reservists nationwide.
Closing out a 40-year career as a military aviator -- eight of them in New Orleans -- Bergman on Saturday handed command of Marine Forces Reserve to Lt. Gen. John Kelly, a father of two Marines who has served three tours in Iraq, including a stint overseeing coalition forces in Anbar province that ended in early 2008.
Ascending the ranks
He became Marine Forces Reserve commander June 10, 2005, the month after the Defense Department announced it would close the Naval Support Activity, leading local officials to push to retain the base for the Federal City campus. Marine Forces Reserve will be the anchor tenant in a headquarters complex that's under construction.
New Orleans City Councilwoman Jackie Clarkson lauded Bergman for his work in the region after Hurricane Katrina and for assisting in making the Federal City project happen. "He helped us secure keeping our Marines in this city so there would be a Federal City,” Clarkson said. "This city will always treasure his leadership." Bergman also has been an "effective proponent" of maintaining Quarters A at the Naval Support Activity in Algiers as the residence for the Marine Forces Reserve commanding generals, said retired Maj. Gen. David Mize, who commanded the Marine Reserve force in New Orleans from 1998 to 2001 and lived in the house.
Built in the 1840s and also known as the LeBeuf-Ott Country House, Quarters A has been used as the residence for senior military officers stationed in the city since 1943. The military planned to build a new residence for the commanding general at the Naval Air Station-Joint Reserve Base in Belle Chasse, but efforts are afoot to continue using Quarters A for that purpose as part of the Federal City project, which Mize is spearheading.
"The Bergmans have represented the military in general and the Marine Corps in particular extremely well to the New Orleans region," Mize said.
- excerpt from Times-Picayune article by Paul Purpura
The transformation of the Naval Support Activity in Algiers into a federal campus for military, government and private agencies is solidly under way with the footprint for the national headquarters for Marine Forces Reserve, the project's anchor tenant, taking shape.
A year ago, local leaders and Navy officials signed the final documents setting the stage for the active construction site, where concrete slabs are being poured over 2,600 pilings. By December, project officials expect the exterior walls to be four stories tall overlooking Opelousas and Hendee streets. Contractor Woodward Design+Build of New Orleans expects the 417,000-square-foot headquarters compound to be occupied by Sept. 15, 2011, the federally mandated deadline for the command's 1,900 Marines and civilian personnel to move in.
"We're on track, feeling excited about the prospects and delivering what we said we're going to deliver," said retired Marine Corps Maj. Gen. David Mize, who is spearheading the Federal City development. When construction is complete in June 2011, Marines will move out of the aging offices at Naval Support Activity's east bank campus, where they work in facilities built in 1918 as an Army supply depot.
"The project is starting to visibly take shape, which has increased the level of anticipation and generating plenty of discussion in our current offices," Davis said. "The designs are pretty much set, and this building will provide significant improvements in our ability to operate as the headquarters for the Marine Forces Reserve."
Architects and engineers suggested "tilt-wall construction," Mize said, in which 10-inch-thick reinforced concrete panels, with brick veneer and holes for windows, are fabricated on site. The 72 panels, each 10 feet wide and most 65 feet tall, will be lifted by crane and secured to the slabs and to each other "You'll have no idea it wasn't a stone kind of building," Mize said.
Meanwhile, construction on the $21.5 million, 53,000-square-foot Coast Guard Sector New Orleans headquarters, adjacent to the Federal City site, is about one-third complete, said Lt. Cmdr. John Barresi, the Coast Guard's director of Gulf Coast reconstruction. The facility, where about 300 Coast Guard personnel will work, is expected to be finished by May 2010, he said. The concrete skeleton already rises three stories, Barresi said, and construction on interior spaces began last week.
While the Coast Guard building at the foot of Hendee Street is not part of Federal City, Mize said discussions are under way for the agency and the Marine Corps to share security responsibilities, meaning the facilities would not be separated by a fence.
Construction is under way on about 14 acres of the total 149 acres that developers HRI/EEC LLC of New Orleans will get on Sept. 15, 2011, when the Navy turns over the remaining acreage to group. At that time, the fence bordering Naval Support Activity will be removed, allowing public access to all of the installation except for the Marine Corps compound, Mize said. Only then can redevelopment of the base begin, he said.
Following a master plan currently being devised, the redevelopment is expected over 15 years, he said. Developers are exploring restaurants, a grocery, a charter high school with a maritime focus and space for Delgado Community College to expand its West Bank campus, Mize said.
"We're confident we won't be a ghost town when it opens up in September 2011," Mize said.
- excerpt from Times-Picayune article by Paul Purpura
A raised French Creole cottage is one of a few surviving examples of an antebellum plantation house in the New Orleans area, according to historical accounts of the LeBeuf-Ott Country Retreat, which the Navy calls Quarters A. Built in the 1840s on land used to grow sugar cane, the raised French Creole cottage has served that purpose since 1943.
But what happens to it and a host of other buildings dating back more than a century when developers for the Federal City campus take over the base is unclear. Although a preliminary proposal suggests widespread demolition, developers say they're keeping older buildings. Still, urban planners Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co. in Miami aren't expected to release a master plan for four more months for the site envisioned to eventually bring 10,000 jobs through government and military agencies to Algiers.
"I am very comfortable in stating that we are trying to keep and reuse, or 'repurpose,' virtually all of the older buildings on the base," said retired Marine Corps Gen. David Mize of the New Orleans Federal Alliance in an e-mail message. "The retention of these buildings has many benefits. The buildings have good and interesting architecture, and they are the architectural foundation around which we are developing and blending in the new buildings at Federal City. This will enable (us) to retain a sense of character and connection to the base's use since 1901," he said.
- excerpt from Times-Picayune article by Paul Purpura
Donna J. Gambrell, Director of the U.S. Treasury Department's Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund, traveled to New Orleans last week for a series of visits to community redevelopment projects that exemplify best practices in the use of New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) financing.
Her visit included a tour of the Second Line Stages (SLS) film studio project, which was recently honored as the Best Tax Credit Financed Project in the Nation by the Council of Development Finance Agencies (CDFA). Other stops included Ochsner Baptist Medical Center and the site of the planned Federal City office park.
The Federal City project in New Orleans' Algiers District is a public-private venture to transform a military naval support facility into a first-of-its-kind federal office park. It comprises more than 165 acres along the West Bank of the Mississippi River, and is expected to serve as a model for converting future Department of Defense installations nationwide.
- excerpt from MarketWire article by Erik Deutsh
The May 12 Federal City presentation, the last of three meetings aimed at incorporating community input, showed the promise of the project and of the master planning process being used to create the plan.
Retired Marine Corps Maj. Gen. David Mize described the objectives of Federal City as, "to create a new model for private/military partnerships, to make sure we give a good return on the state's $150 million investment, an economic development effort by far the largest in Louisiana and to be the engine that drives the growth and renewal of the West Bank."
Led by world-renowned urban planner Andres Duany of Duany Plater-Zyberk, the series of meetings provided opportunities for residents to express their concerns and provide input into what would become the master plan for Federal City. Duany explained that DPZ "designs walkable, compact, diverse neighborhoods." He showed how office, residential, retail and parking structures were placed strategically to maximize quality of life and retail commercial success.
The best news for Algiers, Duany said, is that Federal City "represents the permanent infusion of 10,000 jobs," as opposed to the benefits driven by the existing Naval Support Activity, which "only bulks up in times of war." Those jobs, he said, would translate into greater stability for Algiers real estate values and greater success for retail establishments. "Anyone can open a business. The gym, tennis courts and pool are for the entire community, not just the military," Duany said. "We're hoping to get a 30,000-square-foot Rouse's. It's going to be a tremendous community asset."
In earlier meetings, residents and business owners along the Newton-Teche corridor were concerned that the commercial development within Federal City would hurt the planned revival of their area. At the May 12 meeting, Duany said the project would open up the NSA site and weave the surrounding neighborhoods together into a unified Algiers. He showed that the site would have several entrances, with streets going all the way through, opening up the area to neighborhoods surrounding Behrman Park, and to Tunisburg and beyond.
The design "weaves Algiers together in all directions." The area will be more densely developed than the current NSA. "We're going back to the old New Orleans, with tight, traffic-calmed streets" and the look of a neighborhood rather than an office park. In earlier meetings, residents of Tunisburg, the neighborhood immediately downriver from the site, expressed concern that they were being left out of the project and cut off from the economic improvements promised.
"Virtually everything you asked for, we were able to deliver," Duany said. "We were asked to include the Tunisburg neighborhood. . . . From now on you will always see the Tunisburg neighborhood included.
The plan includes the redesign of the Walker, Delgado and Tubman campuses. Tubman would move onto the Federal City site, and some of the Walker and Delgado buildings would remain while others would be replaced with more attractive buildings, parking areas and green spaces. Duany mentioned that two small high schools, a maritime academy and a high-tech school would be built on the Federal City property.
"What will make this successful is the quality of education we can provide through Walker, Tubman and other schools," said Pres Kabacoff, CEO and Co-Chairman of developer HRI/ECC. "If this community can become known as a center of fine education, and build off of the brand of the Marines," that would be a major victory for Algiers.
Federal City is designed to be green, with solar collectors on the roofs of the parking garages, and even wind and river turbines at the end of every street.
Asked how far the state's $150 million would go toward realizing the plan, Mize said, "We're still finalizing all the contract costs. If I had to estimate, I'd say we'll need $125 to 135 million for the secured compound" portion of the project. For the rest, they will pursue other sources of money, including historic tax credits, new market tax credits, stimulus money aimed at providing green energy and private capital from developers.
"This is going to be the blueprint that we're going to push hard to move forward," he said.
- excerpt from Time-Picayune article
NEW YORK, May 8, 2009 — Deloitte LLP announced today that it has closed the acquisition of substantially all of the assets of BearingPoint’s North American Public Services practice for total consideration of $350 million in cash, subject to adjustment, and the assumption of certain BearingPoint liabilities.
Barry Salzberg, Chief Executive Officer, Deloitte LLP, said: “We welcome the highly talented BearingPoint Public Services team to Deloitte. We are excited about moving forward together with even stronger capabilities to serve our clients and capitalize on the growth potential for federal, state and local business.”
Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP acted as legal counsel to Deloitte and Houlihan Lokey is Deloitte's financial advisor on the transaction. For additional information, please visit www.deloitte.com/us/bearingpoint.
About Deloitte as used in this document, “Deloitte” means Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries. Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries.
Deloitte’s purchase of BearingPoint’s Public Services Division closed on May 9, 2009, as such, Deloitte Consulting’s support to the New Orleans Federal Alliance, Federal City Project, previously provided under the BearingPoint name continues to go forward under Deloitte.
In compliance with the parameters set forth in President-elect Barack Obama's December 3rd letter to Governor Bobby Jindal soliciting advice in identifying "ready to go" projects, the state has developed a list of infrastructure projects that can be implemented quickly. Louisiana has many priorities; however, in compliance with this request, our state agencies were tasked to identify those projects that can immediately create jobs, and draw down resources in 2009 to expedite economic recovery. These projects would be and extension of state efforts already in place to strengthen our long-term economic growth while also immediately putting more Louisianians to work. If Congress and the new administration expand or shorten this timeline beyond 180 days, Louisiana is prepared to immediately provide a list of additional priority projects to meet the specified criteria.
The Louisiana Department of Economic Development recommends the following “ready to go” projects for consideration in the event that federal economic stimulus funding becomes available. Each of these projects represents an opportunity to help create new jobs and stimulate near-term economic growth, while also contributing to a foundation for long-term economic competitiveness.
Federal City New Orleans, LA
$77,020,000
Federal City is the public/private partnership lease and redevelopment of approximately 150 acres of the Naval Support Activity, New Orleans into a
mixed-use development, anchored by the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Headquarters, where all facilities for federal agency tenants (e.g., Federal
Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Boarder Patrol, U.S. Coast Guard) are designed according to requisite force protection standards. The State of
Louisiana has already committed $150 million for Federal City. However, additional funding is needed for several critical planned infrastructure
projects that will support federal agency tenants.
"Ready to go" projects up for funding Highways, bridges, coastal restoration, the New Orleans hospital--big ticket projects lacking state funding will soon be chasing the billions of dollars in infrastructure funding that President-elect Obama wants Congress to pass in a mammoth economic stimulus package soon after he takes office
Responding to the Obama transition team request, the Jindal administration has tasked agency heads with assembling lists of building projects that can be quickly let for contract, pending congressional funding.
Speaker of the House Jim Tucker expects the state to ask for more than it ultimately is going to receive, but that is the process. "You have to ask for more than you expect to get," he said.
He is looking for $150 million for construction at the Federal City project to house federal agencies in his Algiers district. The Department of Environmental Quality wants hundreds of millions of dollars for unfunded water and sewer projects for local governments across the state. There are coastal restoration projects ready to go to contract if they are included in the bill. And the Louisiana Recovery Authority already is talking to officials in the new administration about the $492 million the state says it is owed by FEMA to build a new LSU hospital in New Orleans.
The state Department of Transportation and Development has submitted a prioritized list of over $1 billion in projects, with 90 percent of it going to highway construction.
The new president has not specified how much of his expected $775 billion stimulus package will be dedicated to infrastructure or how that will be divided among the states.
Because of his opposition to earmarks and the need to speed passage of the bill, it is unlikely that specific projects will be included in the legislation. A spokesman for Sen. Mary Landrieu, who sits on the Appropriations Committee, surmised the infrastructure portion of the bill might set aside pools of money for certain types of projects that could be dispensed through existing formula grant programs, such as the highway trust fund, or direct block grants to states.Given the current state budget shortfall, the federal stimulus package might represent one of the last big sources of money the state will see to address infrastructure needs.
- excerpt from LaPolitics Weekly article by John Maginnis
It was with great pleasure that the Algiers Development District and NOFA announced the ground breaking for Federal City! The Federal City Groundbreaking Ceremony was held at the Naval Support Activity, New Orleans, West Bank on Tuesday, 30 September at 11:00 AM.
Federal City will be "a critical investment that will help retain an estimated 1,660 jobs in the New Orleans area and add roughly 300 positions for a total of 1,960 jobs, in addition to spurring indirect economic development opportunities and investments throughout the region."
- Governor Jindal, August 14, 2008
"This is a great day for Louisiana and especially New Orleans as this is the largest economic development project in the entire state."
- ADD Chairman and Algiers State Representative Jeff Arnold
In a significant step toward making a campus for federal agencies and the military a reality in Algiers, the Navy and planners have agreed on basic terms for a 75-year lease of the Naval Support Activity's West Bank site, setting the stage for congressional approval. The action culminated months of negotiations and an approaching federally mandated Sept. 30 deadline to set financing and break ground on the "federal city" or else the Algiers base would close.
Senior Navy officials signed the lease Wednesday about 3:30 p.m., one day after state Rep. Jeff Arnold, D-Algiers, chairman of the Algiers Development District board, signed off on the terms on behalf of the city of New Orleans and the state. "We've got some hard work left, but at least we can see the finish line from here," said retired Marine Corps Maj. Gen. David Mize, who has spearheaded the project.
…U.S. Sen. David Vitter, R-La., said Tuesday he and other members of the Louisiana delegation are prepared to work with the oversight committees to ensure approval. Financing for the project already has been set. Last month, the State Bond Commission approved the sale of $150 million in bonds, which officials say satisfies Louisiana's financial commitment
- excerpt from The Times Picayune 14AUG08 article by Paul Purpura
New Orleans Federal Alliance announced October 17, 2007 that HRI/ECC, LLC was selected as the Master Developer for the Federal City project. HRI/ECC merges the capabilities and experience of a premier New Orleans’ developer, HRI, and ECC’s local reputation for Hurricane Katrina recovery work and international Federal program management experience. This partnership creates a unique synergy, which when teamed with NOFA’s goals and vision will ensure a successful development effort.
Together, NOFA and HRI/ECC will create a distinguished mixed-use development for federal, non-federal and commercial tenants. Additionally, the vision for Federal City strongly incorporates a vibrant community atmosphere through intelligent development planning, new business, commercial investment and sustainable job creation for the Algiers area.
