A plan is being pitched to make New Orleans a beach destination.
The Times-Picayune reports Gulf Properties LLC, lead by developer Pieter Stoffels, wants to build a sandy beach with a pool, restaurants and festival grounds on Algiers Point in New Orleans.
Stoffels says he hopes to open NOLA City Beach in early 2020. It would be constructed on an elevated wharf and would include a two-story building with a restaurant, pool and lounge area, multiuse venue and festival grounds with movable performance stages overlooking the river.
Stoffels declined to say how much the project will cost, but he says he’s secured a 99-year lease for a privately owned property near the Algiers ferry terminal. The goal, he says, is to develop a getaway for locals and tourists that’s in scale with the neighborhood “without taking it to Miami Beach style.”
Rob Booms, president of the Algiers Point Association, says the group has not taken a position on the proposal because the design has yet to be finalized.
“This is the second-oldest neighborhood in New Orleans,” Booms says. “We have a lot historic housing stock. We like to see cozy shops and coffee houses. That’s been developing and coming along nicely, and this is a very large development that most likely will be controversial.”
