A nearly 200-year-old commercial building at the corner of Bourbon and Iberville streets has a new owner. Lata Family Investments LLC closed on the purchase of 201 Bourbon St., a three-story, roughly 6,500-square-foot property in the heart of the French Quarter, after the deal drew multiple offers and went under contract within days of hitting the market.
The sale closed in less than 60 days from listing to close, according to New Orleans CityBusiness, which reported the transaction. SRSA Commercial Real Estate marketed the building to its investor network, and the firm — which operates across Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida and is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year — handled investment sales and brokerage services on the deal. The sale price was not disclosed.
The seller was the Arlene and Joseph Meraux Charitable Foundation, represented in the transaction by Barry Spizer. Spizer said the property was one-of-a-kind and investors recognized that immediately, per the same CityBusiness report, adding that long-built relationships enabled the deal to come together.
A Corner Lot With Deep Roots in Bourbon Street Nightlife
The building itself is estimated to be about 196 years old and carries a layered history that stretches back generations before its most recent tenant, Mango Mango Daiquiris, occupied the ground floor. In the 1950s, the address operated as the Sugar Bowl Club, with jazz and R&B acts, a comedian and girlie shows, according to a historical account shared on Facebook. Bourbon Street was widely known for that mix of live jazz and burlesque entertainment in the post-WWII era.
By 1964, the address had become Tony Bacino's Lounge, run by Anthony “Tony” Bacino, a well-known French Quarter bar operator active between 1946 and 1968, as detailed by New Orleans Magazine. Bacino had previously run venues on Toulouse Street and worked at Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop before taking over the Bourbon Street spot.
Three Floors, a Balcony, and a Prime Tourist Corridor
The property's layout includes the ground-floor bar space most recently leased to Mango Mango Daiquiris, a second-floor banquet room with a balcony overlooking Bourbon Street, and third-floor office space. That second-floor space has operated as the Iberville Room, a private event venue managed under Rue Bourbon Events, with a balcony that holds up to 24 guests and room capacity for cocktail receptions of up to 85 people, according to Rue Bourbon.
The building sits just one block from Canal Street and near well-known restaurants Galatoire's, Bourbon House and Felix's Restaurant & Oyster Bar, placing it within one of New Orleans' busiest tourism and entertainment corridors. Ground-floor drink shops like the building's former tenant benefit from New Orleans Code of Ordinances §54-405, which allows public alcohol consumption on French Quarter streets as long as drinks are carried in unbreakable plastic or paper go-cups rather than glass containers, according to BigEasyCannabis. Frozen daiquiri shops are among the businesses along the seven-block pedestrian stretch from Canal Street to Esplanade Avenue, per the same source.
New Owner Has Not Named a Tenant or Renovation Plans
According to the Louisiana Secretary of State's website, Lata Family Investments LLC is owned by local investor Suresh Sadhwani. The company plans to lease the property but has not announced a prospective tenant or any renovation plans, per CityBusiness's reporting.
Any future exterior changes will have to clear the Vieux Carré Commission, the historic preservation agency created under Louisiana's constitution in 1936 that holds jurisdiction over exterior alterations throughout the French Quarter, bounded in part by Iberville Street and the Mississippi River, according to the VCC Foundation. Leasing options will also be shaped by French Quarter commercial zoning, which in districts like VCC-1 and VCC-2 strictly limits formula retail and prohibits fast-food operations to preserve neighborhood character, according to the Vieux Carré Property Owners, Residents and Associates.
The Meraux Foundation
The Meraux Foundation was established in 1999 in Violet, Louisiana, following the 1992 death of St. Bernard Parish landowner Joseph Meraux, according to 64 Parishes.
