Copeland Tower, the iconic Severn Avenue landmark that for a long time has been probably Metairie’s most architecturally unique edifice, will before long be converted into a senior local community, officers verified Monday.
Vitality Dwelling, a Tennessee-dependent corporation that operates senior residing facilities throughout the southeast, is partnering with Al Copeland Jr. and Al Copeland Investments to change the 95-suite hotel into one-bed room flats in a locale that will have a health heart, restaurant, bar and other features, Vitality Dwelling CEO Chris Guay mentioned.
It will be called Copeland Tower Dwelling.
The renovation of the 17-tale tower with its round top rated marks the transition of another storied Metairie locale of the center and latter component of the previous century. Barely two miles away, Clearview Searching Centre is staying reimagined as a well being treatment hub and blended-use facility. Nearer to the river, the owners of Elmwood Purchasing Centre are also setting up a important makeover that will involve residences as effectively as retail outlets.
The hope, according to business leaders, is to revive after-vibrant but now flagging buildings into newer services that will entice new family members and also make it less difficult for more mature residents to stay shut to where they produced their life.
“If there is a single detail that Jefferson Parish requirements, it really is alternate housing,” Jefferson Chamber of Commerce President Todd Murphy claimed. “We do not have a whole lot of options wherever a senior could downsize.”
Lots of instances, Murphy mentioned, seniors finish up transferring to the north shore, Baton Rouge or out of point out to be closer to youngsters.
Many thanks to a $16.4 million renovation in 2015 that transformed about 200 lodge rooms into 95 suites at the Copeland Tower, Vitality Residing will not have to do considerably to the setting up to get it all set for new residents, Guay claimed. Considerably of the construction will consist of carrying out factors like adding washing equipment to the rooms and converting floors at the bottom and top to a restaurant, bar and physical fitness center.
Guay hopes they can welcome their initial residents by the center of the summer months. Rents will begin at about $3,000 for every thirty day period on a year-prolonged lease, he mentioned.
Copeland Tower Residing will occupy the base 16 floors of the building, with the 16th which include a whole company salon, the fitness center and a yoga studio, he stated. Copeland Investments will keep on being on the 17th-floor.
The transfer was not driven by the pandemic-associated downturn in the resort business, Al Copeland Jr., who heads Copeland Investments, claimed Monday.
“I appreciate the hospitality enterprise,” he claimed, noting that the company even now owns other inns. The tower, he reported, just made perception as a senior dwelling website.
“We considered there was a perfect need for it,” he mentioned, adding that the relatives wished a way to greatest help the group.
“We just assume this is the greatest choice,” he claimed.
The switch to senior living is the hottest iteration in tower’s colorful history as a signature Metairie landmark.
Designed in 1973 and to start with identified as the Intercontinental American Motor Inn, cafe magnate Al Copeland and associates bought the constructing in 1978. Copeland purchased it outright in 1987 immediately after two of the partners have been convicted for trying to smuggle much more than 37,000 lbs of marijuana from Colombia to Plaquemines Parish.
Visible to countless numbers of motorists passing each individual working day on close by Interstate 10, it was regarded merely as the Landmark Lodge for many years and drew awareness for its unique architecture — and at times eye-grabbing colours. During the 1990s, Copeland made the decision to paint the constructing in tropical-searching shades of blue immediately after he was impressed by a favored hotel in Las Vegas. But as the hotel aged, demand for rooms sagged, and the creating was mainly vacant for several years following Hurricane Katrina.
The 2015 renovation reinvigorated the setting up, and it proceeds to work as a hotel today. Copeland Investments will keep on being the proprietor of the house immediately after its conversion, Guay stated, Vitality Dwelling will work it.
Guay praised Al Copeland Jr., the late Al Copeland’s son, and his vision for the facility, expressing the venture was an opportunity for both equally providers to provide a needed support to the community and learn from each other.
“To have a associate with actual hospitality expertise, we consider we can master from them,” he said.
Phone calls to Copeland Investments Monday ended up not returned.