nola.com
By Anthony Mcauley
The Julia Street building that once housed the Louisiana Children's Museum is set to become a hotel and residential complex, part of a new brand that the New Orleans site's developers are also launching in three other cities.
Nashville, Tennessee-based AJ Capital Partners, which counts Cooper Manning among its senior executives, originally planned to convert the historic Warehouse District premises into a Soho House, an exclusive members-only club founded in London in the 1990s. But those plans were stalled by the pandemic and construction on the site was delayed.
The new concept currently under construction is set to be called "Memoir Residential," which is "a multifamily platform to be launched across four markets in 2023."
The old two-story structure that previously housed the Children's Museum will remain largely intact, though the rear portion of the building has been partially demolished to make way for a new concrete structure. The remaining area of the old building was braced and restored for stability and to preserve its historical significance, according to the work plans approved by the HDLC.
The first floor that faces Julia Street is set to have 10,100 square feet of retail space, while the upper floor will consist of 20 hotel rooms.