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A proposed $15 million. 200,000-square-foot communications complex on the Lakefront could provide a new home for WYES-TV, educational facilities and a badly needed studio for visiting film, video and commercial producers.
Such a facility, in various incarnations, has been discussed off and on for several years. But organizers believe they have hit on the right mix of uses, the right scale and the right time to move forward with the project.
It doesn't hurt that a funding source has appeared on the scene. The cost of building the communications facility could come entirely from the $20 million that would be generated by the sale of some Lakefront real estate
Orleans Levee District President Robert G. Harvey has proposed to his board that the proceeds from the expected sale of the former American Standard building be pumped into the communications project.
The Levee District money would fund the construction of the shell; each tenant would be responsible for building out its own space.
Because the space would be leased, the facility could provide a steady stream of revenue to the Levee District, which is always on the lookout for ways to decrease its reliance on millages, Harvey adds.
"I have two movie studios who have contacted me interested in leasing the studio," Harvey says. One of those studios might sign a master lease for space that it could in turn sublease to other companies.
The new complex could break ground within a year and reach completion 12 months later.
"It's still very early. but it's heating up," says University of New Orleans Chancellor Gregory O'Brien. "I think people realize the enormous importance of a facility for something like this."
The complex would consist of three primary elements: the commercial studio, educational facilities for UNO and Southern University at New Orleans, and facilities for public broadcasters WYES-TV, WWNO-FM and possibly WLAE-TV. The New Orleans Film Commission probably would add a...