Metairie Towers building in New Orleans sold to TX developer | BusinessNews

A Dallas-based developer with deep ties to Old Metairie is set to purchase the former Metairie Towers condominium complex on Metairie Road and convert the 1970s-era property into high-end apartments.

Darren Aschaffenburg, a real-estate investor with projects in Louisiana and Texas, was selected from among nine investors who submitted proposals in December to purchase the building and redevelop the property. His offer of $24.5 million was the highest with the most favorable terms of those received by real estate broker Shaun McCarthy, whose firm, The McCarthy Group, marketed the property and vetted the proposals on behalf of the condominium’s owners.

Unlike some of the proposals, which called for tearing down the property and building something new on the nearly four-acre site, Aschaffenburg said he plans to renovate the existing 219-unit building, which has been vacant since Hurricane Ida and was later gutted. He plans to keep the existing floor plan more or less intact, while significantly upgrading the units and common areas.

“It’s going to be a nice, Class A development with first-class amenities, fixtures, appliances, equipment, and finishes,” Aschaffenburg said. “We’re going to make it a beacon in the city of class and elegance.”

While the deal must still be approved by two-thirds of the building’s condo owners and a state court judge, Aschaffenburg said he hopes to finalize the sale in June and could start construction later this summer.

Ties to New Orleans

Aschaffenburg knows the neighborhood well. He grew up in Old Metairie and his parents still live on Metairie Road. His great grandmother, philanthropist Edith Stern, founded Long Vue Gardens and Metairie Park Country Day School. Those family ties made investing in the area particularly attractive, Aschaffenburg said Monday.

“I know the neighborhood and know a lot of the businesses and residents well, so I feel very comfortable working in that environment,” he said. “That is somewhat why I increased my price to get the property because I knew I was going to do it right.”

The site is located in a high-dollar neighborhood in Jefferson Parish, within walking distance of a church, supermarket and retail district — factors that drove interest in the property, according to McCarthy, who said his firm vetted nine serious offers and narrowed the list earlier this year before selecting Aschaffenburg’s offer last week.

“Of the nine offers, the five that wanted to keep and redevelop the existing buildings were much higher than the four that wanted to raze the building and start from scratch,” McCarthy said.

Troubled past

The deal is a positive development after several difficult years for the building. In 2021, the mostly elderly residents of the seven-story building were forced from their units after Ida’s Category 4 winds tore the roof off the building. Later that year, a contractor was hired by the insurance company to restore electricity and water service caused a flood in the building, which soaked both the storm-damaged units as well as apartments that had managed to escape the hurricane unscathed.

In the months that followed, the Metairie Towers Condominium Association got into a dispute with the insurance company over the cost of repairs. Meanwhile, problems surfaced with asbestos in the building’s sheetrock and flaking in its cast-iron pipes.

In October 2022, the association secured a bank loan to begin the asbestos remediation. At the time, residents were told it would be another year before they could move home. But well before that, a majority of owners decided it was time to sell. McCarthy listed the building for sale in October, 2023. Preliminary offers were due Dec. 8.

“We got significant interest from all over the country,” he said. “We are confident we found the right person.”

Something fun

Aschaffenburg said it’s too soon to say for certain what the newly renovated complex will look like when completed, likely sometime in the second half of 2026. It’s possible he could add an additional floor or two of penthouse units atop the seventh floor, which would add months to the construction timeline.

It’s also possible that he could decide to keep the units as condos, although at this point he’s leaning towards converting them to apartments, he said. He has no plans to expand its horizontal footprint or add ground-floor retail or restaurants to the building.

“But we will have a nice workout facility, pool, party room,” he said. “We’re going to make it something fun.”

The one- and two-bedroom units will lease for market rate, which currently comes in around $2.50 per square foot in that area, or $2,000 for a one-bedroom unit. Existing condo owners will have the right of first refusal to rent units in the building at a discounted rate, Aschaffenburg said, although he could not say how lease rates would compare to what they were paying on their condos.

“It’s all very preliminary,” he said. “We didn’t know until a few days ago we were going to get the building and it will be two years before we get to that point so we have to see what the market is doing then.”