11-19-2025: Support for CAL. NO. 35,307 – Amendment to Lease Agreement with Touro Shakspeare Revitalization Company LLC

November 19, 2025

New Orleans City Council
1300 Perdido Street
New Orleans, LA 70112

Re: Support for CAL. NO. 35,307 – Amendment to Lease Agreement with Touro Shakspeare Revitalization Company LLC

Dear Members of the City Council,

Louisiana Landmarks Society would like to express our support for Calendar No. 35,307, which authorizes the Mayor to enter Amendment No. 1 to the lease agreement between the City of New Orleans and Touro Shakspeare Revitalization Company LLC for the property located at 2621 General Meyer Avenue. This amendment acknowledges the substantial progress already achieved: the completion of critical stabilization work and the successful securing of leasehold financing. These tangible accomplishments demonstrate the viability and momentum of this project.

Louisiana Landmarks Society has long noted the architectural and historical importance of this site, naming it to the 2015 Nine Most Endangered Sites. The organization supports any progress towards the revitalization of this property, which will contribute meaningfully to the vitality of the neighborhood, honor our city's cultural legacy, and create opportunities for future community benefit.

The historic Touro Shakspeare Home is a treasured landmark in our community. Built in 1933 and designed by renowned local architect William R. Burk, the Touro Shakspeare Home exemplifies the finest Neoclassical and Jacobethan Revival architecture, featuring ornate ceilings, a non-denominational chapel with a 20-foot domed ceiling and stained glass windows, Corinthian columns, and distinctive diamond-pattern brickwork. For over 70 years, this magnificent structure operated as an almshouse and senior care facility, fulfilling philanthropist Judah Touro's bequest to provide dignified housing for the city's elderly poor—a legacy that originated with Touro's original almshouse built in 1862. The facility served the community until Hurricane Katrina's devastation in 2005, after which it remained vacant.

Louisiana Landmarks Society asks the City Council to vote in favor of CAL. NO. 35,307 in the hopes it will be a pathway to the rehabilitation and reuse of this public asset as well as an opportunity to preserve an important piece of New Orleans history and architecture.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Sandra Stokes
Chair of Advocacy
Louisiana Landmarks Society