A good friend of mine from architecture school who is involved in the process of building the new Charity Hospital sent me an update on the old building’s situation. Selections from her response below:
[A]s I work at the firm that did the storm damage and the new packages to get the work done to fix the MYRIAD of problems just from the storm itself with FEMA I can pretty much tell you this: that building will never again be a hospital. According to the codes necessary for health care there is no way for that building to reach code for less than a couple more million than they’re going to spend on the new one. In addition the amount of asbestos and mold inherent in the HVAC and wall systems, due to the materials used last time they renovated that building, stack another couple to 30 mil on. It’s not a cheap building to fix for anything, especially for something as specific as a hospital. Which is why they are pouring 10.2 billion dollars (most likely plus) into the new LSU/Charity Hospital …
[P]eople can make noise as much as they want about it being done faster with a [renovation] to the old buildings, but it took a team of over 100 people 3 years just to get the contracts out to bid to get the roofing fixed …
[N]o matter how much we may want them to save the old hospital don’t count on anyone ever having enough money to fix that building, count on the new one getting built…
It looks like the building might have more of a chance being bought by a developer and turned into condos than being brought back to life as a hospital. I have to wonder if it would be possible to turn this building into a museum focusing on health care and hurricanes – maybe house a couple of different museums? I hope that whatever happens, this building remains a part of the urban landscape. It is one of the few Art Deco Buildings in the city, and unless it gets some federal backing and protection as a historic property it may go the way of the Rivergate.
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