Developer Mike Wampold has plenty of projects these days to keep him busy in Baton Rouge, not the least of which is his mixed-use development, The Preserve at Harveston, which will break ground this spring.
But one of his latest—and favorite—projects is outside the Capital Region: the redevelopment of a 17-story office building in downtown New Orleans, which Wampold acquired in 2011 and is converting into a high-rise apartment complex with ground-floor retail and a rooftop club.
The building, currently known as the Elk Place Medical Plaza, is located on the corner of Elk Place and Rampart Street, an up-and-coming section of the Crescent City’s central business district half a block from Canal Street.
Wampold acquired the property in 2011 from the late Marie Bickham, and will spend about $20 million redeveloping the building into two- and three-bedroom loft apartments that will range from between 800- and 1,100-square feet and lease for about $2 per square foot.
“We’re catty-corner from the Ritz Carlton, across from the Roosevelt Hotel, walking distance from the [Superdome] and across from the Tulane Medical Center,” Wampold says. “It’s a great location.”
Wampold’s project, to be called 100 Elk, will also have a ground-floor retail tenant, which he hopes will be a restaurant, coffee shop or wine bar, as well as eight floors of parking and a rooftop club with a pool. Wampold believes demand for the units, which will be ready in spring 2014, is strong.
“There are several other high-rise apartment lofts, and they’re full,” he says.
This is Wampold’s second project in New Orleans. He was a partner in the development of the Astor Hotel on Canal Street in the early 2000s.
