A 23-story tower that once housed one of New Orleans' biggest banks has a new owner. In late August, an entity called 200 Carondelet Portfolio, LLC acquired the 189-unit high-rise apartment building at 200 Carondelet Street in the Central Business District for $27,166,125, or roughly $143,736 per unit.
The buyer is tied to VPG Enterprises, also known as Verius Property Group, a New Orleans-based development and general contracting firm, according to NOLA.com. The exact sale price and per-unit figure were reported by ELIFIN. VPG was founded in 2010, and Michael Merideth and Andre Lewis are Tuskegee University alumni; Lewis is identified as the firm's COO. The firm has reported more than $115 million in assets.
The building itself carries nearly a century of local history. It was completed in 1929 as the National American Bank Building, a 325-foot skyscraper designed by prominent Louisiana architect Moise H. Goldstein, and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. The tower blends Gothic Revival and Art Deco styling, with a limestone exterior, a marble-clad lobby featuring gold-and-silver leaf-pressed metal ceiling detailing, and a six-story octagonal rooftop tower, according to the city's Historic District Landmarks Commission.
From Bank Vault to Apartment Homes
Following the storm, it underwent a major renovation completed in 2008, transforming former commercial office space into the 189 apartment homes that stand today, with DonahueFavret Contractors involved. That redevelopment relied on public and private investment, state tax-credit financing, the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program, and CDBG support, per DonahueFavret Contractors.
Under the financing tied to that 2008 project, 200 Carondelet was structured as a mixed-income development. It remains an open question whether those income restrictions stay bound to the property now that ownership has changed hands, along with whether VPG plans any major capital upgrades to the 189 units.
A Cooling Rental Market Downtown
The sale lands amid questions about the rental market in the neighborhood. How market conditions affect investment returns on the newly acquired property is another unresolved question.
The building's location remains a selling point regardless of market shifts. It sits directly on a city streetcar route along Carondelet Street. The address is within the Central Business District.
Part of a Broader Downtown Shift
The purchase reflects the CBD's ongoing evolution.
The 200 Carondelet sale adds another chapter to New Orleans' urban core, this time led by a homegrown development team rather than an out-of-state buyer.
