New Orleans Trump Tower Set For Approval

Real estate mogul, Donald Trump, looks set to get approval on his latest project - a Trump Tower for the ruined city of New Orleans.

Badly damaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the area including downtown was ravaged by flooding that saw vast areas underwater and shocked the world that a modern city could be affected in the manner of a biblical disaster.

The skyscraper is not however a regeneration project. Announced a mere four days before Hurricane Katrina hit, its been planned for the site of the 90's Grand Regency Hotel project that was never realised making it the first tall building to go up in the CBD since the mid 80s.

Approval by the city planning authorities was previously expected last week but this has been delayed due to the omission of a traffic survey showing the effect the tower would have on local roads.

Trumps Tower, like his previous projects will be largely residential offering 734 units of which 435 are hotel suites with the remaindered being condos. There will also be 715 parking spaces.

Budgeted at $400 million dollars, totalling 67 floors, it will be 218 metres (716 feet) to roof and 258 metres (846 feet) to the tip of the spire making it by far the tallest building in both New Orleans and the state of Louisiana.

It's been designed by Harry Baker Smith Architects II LLC, and bares a slight resemblance to the stepped Trump Tower being built in Chicago, right down to the curving end section of the tallest portion and the location of the spire.

One unusual aspect of the tower is the slick glass look without the interruption of balconies, particularly given its main use as a residential building. This was done by the architects as a way of maximising floor space, for the apartments that range 60 square metres to 200 for the penthouses.

Contractors hope that construction can begin in June or July with the building opening for business in 2009, a pinnacle of a rebuilt New Orleans and a symbol that the home of jazz is getting over the flooded past.