NOLA Audubon Building to become hotel

From the Times Picayune (8/17):

Former Audubon Building is being redeveloped as a New Orleans hotel
Published: Wednesday, August 17, 2011, 5:14 PM Updated: Thursday, August 18, 2011, 12:03 PM
By Jaquetta White

"He hadn't intended to buy a hotel. In New Orleans only for a day as he and his family waited out bad weather before resuming their trip home to Dallas from Florida, David Mark Wyant had only planned to take a stroll down Canal Street.

But as he passed a venerable but derelict building at the corner of Burgundy Street and noted its for sale sign, the American Airlines pilot who has developed several chain hotels decided he had to call the seller, even as he assumed the building was out of his price range." ...

"The object of Wyant's acquisition was the century old Audubon Building that once housed professional offices and retail shops, but has lain empty for more than a decade.

Wyant plans to reopen it as The Saint Hotel in mid-December.

The Dallas developer puchased the building in foreclosure for $5.35 million in April 2010. He plans to give it new life after a one-and-a-half-year renovation costing more than $39 million." ...

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