The long-vacant SnoWizard sno-ball stand at the corner of Magazine and Constantinople streets is about to become something entirely different: an upscale, all-day cafe with room for about 30 people and a patio built where cars once parked. The man behind the plan is Jayson Seidman, the hotel and restaurant developer whose company, Sandstone Ltd., has spent nearly two decades reshaping some of New Orleans' most sentimental old buildings into boutique hospitality projects.
According to NOLA.com, Seidman has filed plans with the city and finalized a lease for the site with its longtime owners this year. The proposal calls for converting the 1,500-square-foot building into an indoor dining room while transforming the parking area into more than 1,600 square feet of open-air seating. Seidman has told the outlet he plans to retain the refurbished, sno-ball-shaped neon ornamentation on the exterior, saying the project should respect the site's history.
That sensitivity toward the building's past tracks with the location's outsized place in New Orleans food culture. SnoWizard's founder, George Ortolano, built a motorized ice-shaving machine in his garage in 1936 and ran a grocery store on Magazine Street, effectively launching the city's modern commercial sno-ball industry, according to SnoWizard, Inc. Before its closure, the SnoBall Shoppe at that address doubled as a retail demonstration site where the company showed aspiring stand owners more than 150 syrup flavors and best practices for ice temperature and blade sharpness.
A Developer With A Pattern For Old Buildings
Seidman's résumé is stacked with similar projects. He is a co-developer of Hotel Saint Vincent, and he operates both Columns Hotel and Hotel Henrietta, per the same NOLA.com report. Before founding Sandstone in 2007, Seidman worked in corporate real estate finance and investment banking at firms including Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse, according to Vessel Magazine.
Hotel Saint Vincent itself carries heavy history: the building opened in 1861 as St. Vincent's Infant Asylum, an orphanage built to care for children during yellow fever outbreaks, before later becoming a hostel and eventually undergoing a full restoration under Seidman's co-development in 2021, per HOTELSMag.com. Two of Seidman's properties, the Columns Hotel and Hotel Saint Vincent, were awarded MICHELIN Keys by the Michelin Guide last October, a distinction reserved for top-tier boutique lodging, according to New Orleans Tourism officials. When Seidman opened the 40-room Hotel Henrietta on St. Charles Avenue in 2024, he partnered with chef Paul Terrebonne and local vendor Flour Moon Bagels for its food and beverage program, WhatNow New Orleans reported at the time.
Seidman's team plans to bring that same chef, Terrebonne, to the new Magazine Street concept, according to NOLA.com's report. The cafe will focus on fresh, healthy and local ingredients, aiming to serve dog walkers, families and couples in a space the developer describes as upscale without being stuffy.
Property Owners Who Said No To National Chains
The corner property is co-owned by Margaret Floyd and Richard Dragisic, who together hold four properties in the 4000 block of Magazine Street. Per NOLA.com, the pair turned down many prospective tenants over the years, including national brands, before agreeing to lease the site to Seidman, who says he had his eye on the corner for years.
Seidman isn't stopping at one new concept. He told the outlet he's expanding into operating standalone restaurants beyond his hotel properties, noting that hotels typically generate a large share of revenue through food and beverage sales. He has plans to open a bar on Oak Street, a new French Quarter concept in the coming weeks, and to expand Fives — which currently operates as an oyster and cocktail bar on Jackson Square — into an adjacent unit. Seidman has also sold two of his earlier projects, the Drifter Hotel and the Frenchmen Hotel, the report notes.
Zoning Hurdles Still Stand Between Plans And Opening
Before any of it can move forward, the cafe needs the city's blessing. The New Orleans City Planning Commission voted unanimously at a Tuesday hearing to recommend City Council approval of a restaurant permit for the site, but the City Council still must sign off. Magazine Street falls under a special zoning overlay district, and city rules require any new Magazine Street restaurant selling alcohol to obtain a conditional use permit before pursuing building and other permits.
Under Section 18.20 of the New Orleans Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance, that Magazine Street Use Restriction Overlay District mandates conditional use approval for standard restaurants serving alcohol while prohibiting principal ice manufacturing outright, according to the City of New Orleans. Restaurant spaces that sit vacant for more than six months require a fresh conditional use permit, and operators must also install exterior security cameras and submit proximity analyses for any places of worship, schools, or parks within 300 feet, per Louisiana Commercial Realty.
The City Planning Commission recommended eliminating that additional restaurant-approval hurdle on Magazine Street back in 2025, but the rule remains in place for now. Maddy Charleston, Seidman's land-use consultant, said the approval process creates excessive obstacles for business owners, according to NOLA.com's reporting. The six-mile Magazine Street corridor currently contains nine restaurants endorsed by Michelin, underscoring the stakes of its ongoing reputation as a dining destination.
Part Of A Bigger Shift Along Magazine Street
Seidman's cafe isn't happening in a vacuum. Summer 2026 brought major turnover to the corridor, including the closures of long-running fine-dining spots Coquette and Gris-Gris, alongside a wave of proposals for more casual, all-day neighborhood concepts, as Hoodline has reported. Restaurateur Kyle Brechtel is separately bringing an all-day cafe called Charlotte's to a former restaurant space further down the street, while another operator has filed plans for an Italian restaurant called St. Elmo's on the same corridor.
In a previous adaptive-reuse project, Seidman redeveloped the Drifter Hotel under historic tax credit rules that required preserving original midcentury architectural features down to the parking lot markings, according to Metropolis. That same instinct toward preservation appears to be guiding his plans for the sno-ball stand's neon signage. Per NOLA.com, the planned Magazine Street restaurant is not expected to open before late 2027 — meaning the corner's next chapter is still more than a year away.
