Warehouse District historic building gets temporary reprieve | Business News

The Sugar Mill, a historic building in the Warehouse District, will have a short reprieve to continue life as an event space before it is torn down to make way for a 1,000-room Omni Hotel next year, the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center said this week.

The Convention Center, which is partnering with Dallas-based Omni Hotels & Resorts to build the $575 million hotel on the Sugar Mill site and adjacent properties, announced Monday that it had renovated the 30,000-square-foot building and renamed it The Warehouse. They said they will be taking bookings through April 2026.

In January, the center completed the purchase of The Sugar Mill and two properties directly across Triangle Street — a total land area of just over 60,000 square feet — from retired lawyer and property magnate John Cummings III, who is best known for transforming the Whitney Plantation into a museum a decade ago. The center said it paid $20 million for the properties.

Cummings and his wife, Donna, together with Anne Gauthier, a philanthropist and wife of personal injury lawyer Wendell Gauthier, had purchased The Sugar Mill in 2007 and operated it as an event space since.

Originally constructed in the 19th century, the building served as a sugar holding facility during a time when New Orleans was a central hub for the sugar trade. The Warehouse District, where The Sugar Mill is situated, was integral to the industry, housing numerous warehouses and processing facilities that supported the bustling sugar economy along the Mississippi River.

The Omni’s preliminary design envisions a 300-foot tower to be built over the combined site, which is bordered by Andrew Higgins and Convention Center boulevards, and St. Peters and John Churchill Chase streets.

Omni executives said in January that the design would aim to blend with existing Warehouse District structures, with darker brick and steel to reflect the restored properties nearby, most of which have retained their historical facades and been converted to upscale residential condominiums or offices.

The Convention Center has long sought a new “headquarters” hotel that it has argued is needed to compete with cities like Nashville, Austin and Orlando, all of which have adjacent hotels to block-book convention goers.

The original plan was to build a 1,200-room Omni Hotel on vacant land at the upriver end of the mile-long convention center. However, that deal fell through during the coronavirus pandemic and Omni subsequently said it wanted to build closer to the French Quarter.

Long road

The project still has to go through a lengthy approval process that will include seeking a variance from the city so the partners can build to a height that would be more than twice that currently allowed in the district. The partners also plan to buy the city-owned Mississippi River Heritage Park adjacent to the hotel site, which would require city approval.

A group of Warehouse District residents from several of the nearby condominium buildings have voiced their disapproval for the hotel plan in petitions and letters delivered to the center’s board last year.

Meanwhile, the center is looking to generate revenue by adding The Warehouse to its four other event venues. With a 15,000-square-foot courtyard, The Warehouse has indoor and outdoor space that can accommodate up to 6,500 guests. It will be available at least until its date with the wrecking ball after Mardi Gras 2026, according to Alita Caparotta, the Convention Center’s finance chief and acting CEO.