A six-story building that once anchored the nation's very first Federal Reserve branch office is getting a new life as a planned private vault for gold, silver, and rare coins. New Orleans Silver and Gold has a blessing and soft opening scheduled for Monday at 8:30 a.m. at 147 Carondelet St., marking the historic structure's planned return to the city's Central Business District.
The building at 147 Carondelet St. formerly served as the New Orleans branch of the Federal Reserve and later operated as The Security Center for more than 55 years, according to WDSU. The station reports that Federal Reserve branches were established in 36 locations nationally, and that the building was at one point slated for conversion into a hotel before its current repurposing took shape. A representative told the station the facility is unlike most others in the country, drawing a comparison to the Federal Reserve in New York.
The roughly 50,000-square-foot building sits in the heart of the CBD near Canal Street and along the St. Charles streetcar line close to the French Quarter. Real estate firm ELIFIN Realty reported that Alex Ackel and a business partner bought the building.
A Building Built for Central Banking
Built in the neoclassical style, the structure opened in October 1923 with prominent, heavily adorned entrance pillars and a Federal Reserve emblem, according to historical records released by Corporate Realty. It was specifically built with fortress-like security features suited to central bank operations. The New Orleans branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta was originally established on September 10, 1915, making it the very first branch office opened in the history of the Federal Reserve System, per historical records documented on Wikipedia, which notes New Orleans was chosen because it was the largest city in the South at the time.
The Federal Reserve occupied the Carondelet Street building until 1955, according to the same Corporate Realty account. The New Orleans branch relocated to its current building at 525 St. Charles Avenue in 1966. Before the sale, the Carondelet Street property operated as an office and special event venue known as The Security Center under the ownership of David Oreck, founder of the Oreck Corporation vacuum cleaner company. Oreck's estate put the vacant property up for sale following his passing.
Expanding Vault Capacity
New Orleans Silver and Gold is scaling up the facility's safe deposit capacity to approximately 1,500 units, more than double the number of physical boxes previously available at the venue, according to local business outlet WhatNow. The expansion aims to provide non-bank secure storage for individual collectors and investors. Beyond safe deposit storage, Ackel plans to host live rare coin auctions, create a historical library, establish an event space in the building's former ballroom, and launch a fully insured gold depository serving the Gulf Coast region by 2027, the outlet reports, describing the planned depository as a major regional storage hub.
Ackel has cited escalating risks of artificial intelligence and cyber hacking against traditional digital bank accounts as a key driver pushing investors toward physical safety assets and precious metals, per the same WhatNow report.
