The development team behind Trump International Hotel and Tower, the first high-rise planned for Poydras Street in decades, will begin selling condominiums in about two weeks before launching a national push for buyers in the second quarter of 2008. When it is eventually built, on top of what is now a parking lot, the 70-story tower will be the tallest building in the city and only the second residential building on Poydras Street. It will include 290 condos and 435 condominium-hotel units that owners can rent to visitors when they are out of town.
Real estate magnate Donald Trump announced his involvement in the project days before Hurricane Katrina, and his son said during a visit to town Thursday that a sales office would open in two weeks inside the Pan American building at 601 Poydras, next door to the planned condominium tower at 555 Poydras. Construction will begin once half the units in the building are sold.
Donald Trump Jr. said the condotels should appeal to executives from the energy sector who visit New Orleans regularly and want to keep a pied-a-terre in the city. With the dollar weak and interest rates low, Trump also expected investors from Europe and Latin America to buy inside the building.
He said well-heeled locals, especially those with grown children, might also consider moving downtown. Condos and condotel units will start at $400,000 for a studio and top out at several million dollars for a penthouse. "There is a natural cycle we have seen in the market where baby boomers no longer want a home where they have to worry about leaky pipes and mowing the lawn," Trump said. "They are migrating to condominiums in urban areas."
Cliff Mowe, one of the tower's developers, said Thursday that the building would include retail space on the ground floor, followed by 15 floors of parking and a sky lobby on the 17th floor. The condominium-hotel units will occupy the next 15 floors, followed by traditional condos on the uppermost stories.
The $400 million building will have two rooftop pools, one for all occupants and one for condominium owners only. Mowe said there will be separate entrances and elevators for hotel guests to ensure the privacy and security of full-time residents.
Source: Times Picayune