Municipal Auditorium still is not a good fit

The Cantrell administration’s latest proposal that the future City Hall would be divided between a refashioning of the 1930s-era performance hall in Armstrong Park, housing most of the senior administrative offices, with the remainder relocated into the former Veterans Administration hospital building a few blocks away, still feels as though it is trying to fit a square peg into a rounded hole.

Yes, a mini-skyscraper might not rise from the shell of the auditorium, which would literally overshadow the historic Vieux Carre’ and Faubourg Treme. That is a good start; however, the mayor has not yet provided satisfactory answers to many of the other problems inherent in her proposal.

She wants to partially finance her new City Hall with the $40 million in FEMA reconstruction funds available to reconstruct the Municipal Auditorium. That makes the Armstrong Park site attractive to the mayor, along with the reasonable justifications of the public green space around, the grand granite façade, and the fact that the city already owns the property. Nevertheless, her administration still hasn’t answered the genuine concern that the Civil Court Judiciary refuses to concede their millions in construction funds to build a new complex at either the Municipal Auditorium or the Veterans Affairs Hospital sites – or anything much of a distance from Duncan Plaza.

The judges of the Orleans Parish Civil Court strongly object to moving so far away from the Poydras Street corridor of law firms, part of the reason Mayor Mitch Landrieu‘s proposal to convert Charity Hospital – right next-door to the old VA hospital – into the new City Hall was dead almost as soon as proposed. This ranks as more than an academic objection; the Civil Judiciary yields real financial power in this debate. Over a decade ago, the Louisiana Supreme Court Judicial Committee allowed the Orleans CDC to raise its filing fees to garner money for a new courthouse. Along with money put aside by the Orleans Parish Assessor’s Office, the CDC Judiciary and Erroll Williams have saved $21 million in fees earmarked for a new home. It’s a difficult, though not an insurmountable, argument to gain $40 million and lose $21 million.

The judges have proposed constructing a joint complex with the City on the former State Supreme Court property at Duncan Plaza, behind the current City Hall, facing the park. Of course, Mayor Cantrell points out – accurately – that Orleans Parish does not own the land. It is state property, with a price tag of $3 million to purchase. However, there is a viable option to trade the current unused city street under which the Superdome’s Champions Square sits for the empty state land – hardly an unrealistic proposal, according to sources within the governor’s office who have spoken to The Louisiana Weekly.

The Mayor’s contention that Orleans Parish needs a new City Hall is equally hard to dismiss. The current complex is not only falling apart, but just to meet health and safety standards would need over $100 million in gutting and asbestos remediation. And, the refashioned City Hall still would be too small to house the satellite city offices which currently cost the general fund $1 million in yearly off-premises rent. Merely finding temporary housing for city departments whilst undergoing a major reconstruction would cost over $12 million. Moreover, even the most ardent of historic preservationists find little that is architecturally redeeming about the ugly 1950s office building. The current City Hall stands as a depressing citadel for a cultural metropolis such as ours. The mayor is right. Better to build somewhere else.

A team of consultants comprised of the Pace Group LLC, an engineering firm; Woodward Design+Build, a construction company; and Gensler, an architecture and design firm, analyzed what kind of space the city needs for its administrative center – and how it should be laid out. Their report leans heavily toward building a new, 12-story, 445,000-square-foot City Hall. While the Municipal Auditorium is huge, it is not that big. Constructing a City Complex within would literally raise the roof of the 89-year-old building considerably; hence, the reason as to why the mayor embraced the idea of creating a bifurcated City Hall and jointly occupying the Veterans Affairs Hospital building.

Still, the cost of building within the Armstrong Park Music Hall and refashioning the VA could amount to more than the $171 million proposed cost of a new City Tower. Quickly, the $40 million windfall diminishes, and there is no real indication that FEMA would allow the monies to be used for a purpose other than reconstructing a performance venue.

Even if FEMA officials would agree to concede the funds, New Orleans needs the Municipal Auditorium. We do not have a performance venue of its size. At 7,853 seats, it stands as the perfect gathering place between the Mahalia Jackson and Saenger theaters (at 2,100 and 2,600 seats respectively) and the 18,000 people who can usually be accommodated within the Smoothie King Center. A restored Municipal Auditorium could also serve as a linchpin of a true “Broadway South” cluster, large enough to support the $100,000-plus live productions sizable enough to qualify for the state live performance tax credits (roughly equivalent to the film tax credits).

Perhaps, a greater concern exists. Even if one ignores the obvious negative impacts of increased auto-traffic and extra footfalls which a transplanted City Hall would have on an historically Black neighborhood, already struggling to maintain its cultural integrity and sense of community, what about the question of respect?

The new City Hall would overshadow Congo Square. Slaves once gathered on this unused plot of land, Back-of-Town, to keep their culture alive. Through music they battled the overseers’ attempts to stamp out their African cultural heritage. Song became the medium of memory and pride. To remove music forever from the grand edifice shadowing the Square would insult that legacy.

This article originally published in the March 9, 2020 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.