Investors see opportunity along Central City corridor
by Stephen Maloney Staff Writer CityBusiness New Orleans

After being surrounded by blight for decades, business owners along Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard in Central City are preparing for a revitalization effort they say has been a long time coming.

Mason “Slim” Alexis has witnessed the decline of the once-thriving corridor in the 35 years he has operated Slim’s Barber Shop on the corner of Josephine Street and O.C. Haley.

“I’ve seen businesses come and go,” Alexis said. “What I’d like to see is them come and stay.”

Without commerce to breathe life into the dozens of empty storefronts and boarded up windows lining O.C. Haley, Alexis said the boulevard will continue to serve as a ghostly image of what once was.

“Business brings people and the people need the businesses,” he said. “It seems like the rest of the city has been neglecting these blocks. I want to see that stop.”

A renewed effort to revitalize O.C. Haley will kick into high gear in September when the New Orleans Recovery Authority breaks ground on a new office at the intersection of Thalia Street, sparking what NORA Executive Director Richard Monteilh hopes will be a renaissance along the corridor.

“Our building is a way to anchor the downtown end of that street, which has only got the New Orleans Mission right now,” Monteilh said. “One of our focal areas is to clean up the blight in Central City, so it makes sense to use our building to help do that.”

NORA is investing $1.8 million in nine projects along the 10-block corridor. Private investors have contributed $10.2 million with another $20 million expected to bring restaurants, nonprofits and retail outlets to the boulevard, Monteilh said.

NORA’s 20,000-square-foot office building will also feature restaurants and retail options. The $50 million project will be built with $2 million from NORA and $48 million from the private sector, $18 million of which has been committed.

These initial investments are designed to have a snowball effect along O.C. Haley, Hope Community Credit Union Senior Vice President Gary Williams said.

“The expectations are that the improvements are going to be catalytic,” Williams said. “The excitement from our perspective is tremendous.”

Williams said a decision was made to expand the Hope CCU’s Euterpe Street and O.C. Haley location, the Jackson, Miss.-based banking chain’s only New Orleans retail presence.

“We’re already moving forward with a 2,000-square-foot project to expand and enhance our location, but this definitely gives us a greater degree of comfort in our investment,” he said. “This reinforces that we made the right decision.”

Dryades YMCA Executive Director Douglas Evans said he is optimistic about the investments along O.C. Haley and in Central City in general, but added that he has seen many similar efforts come and go in the 39 years he has been at the community center.

“I’ve witnessed any number of attempts at revitalization, all of which for the most part have failed,” Evans said. “Hopefully we can get it done this time.”

The difference between the latest revitalization effort and previously failed attempts is the breadth of support O.C. Haley is receiving, Evans said.

“What you have in play right now is the Ashé Cultural Arts Center, the Good Works Network, Café Reconcile and several other entities that form the nucleus of what is happening right now,” he said. “Certainly with NORA coming in to anchor one end of O.C. Haley, we’re seeing a huge effort in bringing the street back.”

Carol Bebelle, Ashé’s executive director, said the original champions of O.C. Haley began passing the torch to the current generation of community groups about 10 years ago.

Community leaders such as Dorothy Taylor and the Rev. Avery Alexander spent years promoting the corridor and surrounding Central City neighborhood, creating a foundation that will allow the current efforts to succeed, Bebelle said.

“I’m really seeing more and more people rolling up their sleeves and pitching in,” Bebelle said. “Over the years, often it was a few people who were trying to carry a whole community, and it can’t be done.”

The infusion of private sector support coupled with NORA’s dedication to the neighborhood will provide community leaders with the tools and momentum needed to reinvent O.C. Haley, Bebelle said.

“I’m not cautiously optimistic about that. I’m just plain old optimistic,” she said. “It’s a matter of time and it’s a matter of effort.”

Barring another devastating hurricane, Bebelle said she can’t envision anything derailing the current campaign.

“We haven’t tipped yet and I’m not foolish to think that there isn’t something that could stop us. But I’d have to think a long time to come up with a description of what it could be,” she said.•