Ready for tenants: A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the 438 Main Street development, a 22-unit mixed-income apartment complex at the same address as its name, will be held on-site at 10 a.m. Wednesday. Representatives from the Louisiana Office Community Development and the city-parish will be on hand to talk about the public-private project, which was funded in part through OCD’s Affordable Rental Program, which provided $3.5 million of the total $4.7 million cost of the project. The project developer, 438 Main St. LLC, is owned by Kevin and Helena Cunningham as well as Norman Chenevert of Chenevert Architects and Liberty Bank & Trust.
After the flood: In the busy and understaffed offices of New Orleans’ flood-control leaders, there’s an uneasy feeling about what lies ahead. By the time the next hurricane season starts in June 2013, the city will take control of much of a revamped protection system of gates, walls and armored levees that the Army Corps of Engineers has spent about $12 billion building. The corps has about $1 billion worth of work left. Engineers consider it a Rolls Royce of flood protection. Whether the infrastructure can hold is less in question than whether New Orleans can be trusted with the keys. The Associated Press has the full story here.
Got to be in it to win it: The historic Powerball jackpot that was boosted to $500 million today is all part of a grand plan that lottery officials put in place early this year to build jackpots faster, drive sales, and generate more money for states that run the game. Their plan appears to be working. Powerball tickets doubled in price in January to $2; and while the number of tickets sold initially dropped, sales revenue has increased by about 35% over 2011. Sales for Powerball reached a record $3.96 billion in fiscal 2012 and are expected to reach $5 billion this year. The Associated Press has the full story here.
