New Orleans real-estate developer and entrepreneur Sidney Torres IV is in hot water over upgrades made to a 4,600-square-foot house and stable building he purchased in the French Quarter four years ago.
As The Wall Street Journal reports, Torres—the host of a new CNBC home improvement show and possible New Orleans mayoral candidate—made extensive renovations to the historic home and its architectural features, adding air conditioning and a swimming pool, skylights, and new doors and windows.
But some of the updates were never properly permitted by the city’s Vieux Carre Commission, which oversees the French Quarter. Now outraged preservationists say he should be forced to undo the renovations.
“What we have before us is a prime example of the adage that it’s easier to ask for forgiveness than ask for permission,” says Meg Lousteau, executive director of Vieux Carre Property Owners, Residents and Associates, at a June 7 commission meeting. She added that Mr. Torres’s reputation for doing good in the district shouldn’t make a difference.
“I would be saying this if the applicant were Pope Francis himself,” she adds.
Torres has reached a tentative compromise with the commission that requires him to report back in one month on modifying a few of the changes he had made. But preservationists remain unhappy and say he should be required to undo many more.
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