Developer: Amicus Properties, dba 1025 Lowerline, LLC
Purchased: Apr. 22, 2019; $550K
Construction fees/expenses: $252K (est.)
Architect’s project description: “renovation to an existing two-family residence”
Original living area: ___ sf
New living area: 2445 sf; increase: __%
includes accessory structure (back shed/old garage): 632 sf
1025 Lowerline (upper):
Original plan: 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom
Amicus plan: 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 1 half-bath
1027 Lowerline (lower):
Original plan: 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom
Amicus plan: 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 1 half-bath
Summary: bedrooms increased from 4 to 9, toilets from 2 to 8;
two parking places are provided in the rear of the house.
View the architect’s plans (.pdf).
Notes
The project for this house was to renovate the original building—while attaching a new two-story structure to the back of the house and installing a studio apartment in an original “accessory structure” in the back of the lot.
[Insert plans—two story structure.]
On Aug. 28, 2019, Amicus applied to the New Orleans Department of Safety and Permits for confirmation of the “non-conforming use” of a structure in the back of the house, which would have allowed the company to create a third unit at this two-family residence. But the application was denied in an S&P memorandum (.pdf) dated Oct. 5, 2019.
Zoning does not normally allow for multi-family residences in a Historic District (HU–RD2), so that Amicus was compelled to prove that the structure in the backyard had an established history of use as a dwelling.
Among other documents, Amicus submitted a 1951 Sanborn map (.pdf) as proof of the structure’s non-conforming status, but S&P identified the building (as it was marked on the map) as an “accessory structure”—or garage.
(Classified ads from various periods in the life of the house would appear to confirm the existence of a garage at this address—in Feb. 1923 (.pdf), in May 1949 (.pdf). and in Sept. 1967.)
In addition, Amicus submitted a copy of a recent lease for a tenant of the “rear house,” covering the period June 1, 2018, to June 30, 2019. This was accompanied by an affidavit (sworn by Amicus’s own realtor-manager and notarized by the company’s title attorney) and an “owner accessory use letter” (written by an Amicus principal) attesting to the structure’s historical function as a dwelling.
S&P, however, determined that these documents and avowals were insufficient to prove, as state law requires (La. R.S. 9:5625 G(1)), that the structure had been inhabited for at least ten years.
Amicus had also submitted a renovation plan for the studio apartment (.pdf), requiring the demolition of the interior of the authentically historical (sic) dwelling.
In plain language, Amicus wanted to make more money from this property by installing yet another tenant in a shed in the back of the house. This was their attempt to make an illegal garage apartment legal.
In the Project Information on page A0.1 of his plan, architect Seth Welty notes the following: “Historic District: N/A; Parking: N/A.” That is, neither HDLC regulations nor any parking ordinances are relevant to the work on the house.
Status
6/28/20—
Media/Links
“Council votes to ease parking problems linked to double-to-dorm conversions in university area,” uptownmessenger.com, March 10, 2020
Property transfer notice, New Orleans Advocate, May 4, 2019 (.pdf)
Classified ad, Times-Picayune, Jan. 13, 1923 (.pdf)—first archival mention of the house in the newspapers