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New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s administration took a major step Tuesday towards reviving the long-shuttered Municipal Auditorium, selecting a local architecture firm to come up with a plan to stabilize and repair the dilapidated historic venue.
A City Hall purchasing committee selected VergesRome Architects, which is partnering with Nano Architecture on the project, after evaluating and scoring proposals from five teams that responded last fall to a request for qualifications to lead the restoration and repair work.
The Morris FX Jeff Municipal Auditorium in Armstrong Park in New Orleans, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023. The city selection committee is evaluating responses from architect/engineers to stabilize and make needed repairs to the uditorium. The committee is expected to make a recommendation on which contractor(s) to hire for the $37M FEMA-funded job, which has to be underway by mid-year or the city could lose the money. Still up in the air are larger plans for what to do with the auditorium and surrounding property. (Staff Photo by David Grunfeld, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
That work — both the design phase and the construction that will follow — will be paid for with $37 million that FEMA allocated to New Orleans in 2018, after years of fighting with the agency over how much the federal government should pay to repair damage the building sustained in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Separately, the Cantrell administration is planning to seek proposals from private developers interested in partnering with the city on a larger redevelopment plan for the Morris F.X. Jeff Municipal Auditorium, as the venue is formally known, and the land that surrounds it in Armstrong Park.
City Hall officials have been working with neighborhood groups in Treme to come up with a culturally appropriate use for the building, since the mayor’s original plan to relocate City Hall to the building was torpedoed in 2021 amid intense opposition.
Jerné Barra dances with a sign during the protest march against the proposed move of City Hall to the Municipal Auditorium in New Orleans, Thursday, June 17, 2021. (Photo by Sophia Germer, NOLA.com, The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
Protestors meet at Congo Square to listen to speakers before marching against the proposed move of City Hall to the Municipal Auditorium in New Orleans, Thursday, June 17, 2021. (Photo by Sophia Germer, NOLA.com, The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
For now, though, the focus is on stabilizing the auditorium and preventing it from suffering from additional weather damage.
Construction is not expected to begin this year, city officials said. First, VergesRome has to finalize a contract with the city. Then, it has to do a complete assessment of the building and come up with a plan to make repairs, including: demolishing damaged elements, fixing the roof, replacing windows and doors, repairing damage from water infiltration, renovating restrooms and replacing the heating and air-conditioning system.
FEMA has said the city’s plan has to be substantially in place by August in order for the city to receive the federal funds. Once the agency has signed off on the plan, the city can bid out the various construction projects, which will likely begin sometime in 2024.
“We are so excited about this,” VergesRome Principal Steve Rome said. “This is such a significant building in the history of the city, and it was such a part of so many of our lives. I went to my junior and senior proms there.”
Considerable experience
VergesRome, founded in 1963, has a long history of restoring and repairing historic and public buildings, including, notably, the Chief Justice Pascal F. Calogero Jr. Courthouse in the French Quarter, home to the Louisiana Supreme Court.
Other significant projects in its portfolio are the $200 million post-Katrina renovation of the Tulane University campus, the $100 million renovation of the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center and the $82.6 million LSU Dental School restoration.
A statue of Big Chief Tootie Montana Mardi Gras Indian is seen beside the former Municipal Auditorium in Congo Square in New Orleans, La. Friday, June 4, 2021. (Photo by Max Becherer, NOLA.com, The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
Together with NANO Architecture, which was founded in 2000, the firm has done more than $850 million worth of FEMA-related projects, according to documents it submitted to the city.
NANO, co-owned by Terri Dreyer, qualifies as a disadvantaged business enterprise, or DBE, which carries a lot of weight in the scoring of city contracts.
The team also plans to use Julien Engineering and Consulting, also a DBE, for structural engineering services, according to its proposal. Julien did structural engineering work for the new terminal at the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.
It is not clear how much, exactly, the firm will get paid. But city documents show FEMA has allotted $37.2 million for the project and that the construction budget is estimated to be $28 million.
VergesRome narrowly beat out Matthes Brierre Architects on the evaluation score sheet. Other firms that submitted proposals were Woodward Design Group, N-Y Associates, Inc. and Pivotal Engineering.
Auditorium reimagined
The repair work to the building is the first step in a bigger project to find new uses for the auditorium and Armstrong Park, according to city officials. Among the ideas under discussion have been redeveloping the building into a multi-use entertainment, educational, commercial and cultural venue.
The Morris FX Jeff Municipal Auditorium in Armstrong Park in New Orleans, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023. The city selection committee is evaluating responses from architect/engineers to stabilize and make needed repairs to the uditorium. The committee is expected to make a recommendation on which contractor(s) to hire for the $37M FEMA-funded job, which has to be underway by mid-year or the city could lose the money. Still up in the air are larger plans for what to do with the auditorium and surrounding property. (Staff Photo by David Grunfeld, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Last fall, a spokesman for Cantrell said the city would issue a request for proposals for developers interested in partnering on the broader project before the end of the year.
That didn’t happen, but city purchasing officials said Tuesday the solicitation was in the works and would be issued soon.
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