The $400 million Trump International Hotel & Tower in New Orleans is on hold until the real estate markets recover from the recession, an attorney for the developers said.
Stephen Dwyer, who represents Poydras LLC, said developers have not secured all their funding but still hope to move ahead with the luxury condominium and hotel project by the end of the year.
He said it's not a matter of whether the project will go forward but how big it will be when it does.
'Everything's there except the credit markets. The credit markets aren't back in a way to allow the financing to move forward,' he explained and said the developers are committed to the project.
The Trump International Hotel & Tower in Dubai has also been put on hold because of the credit crisis and in Chicago there is a court hearing pending regarding a construction loan relating to the Trump International Hotel & Tower in the city.
In New Orleans the project, when completed it will be the tallest building in the city, rising rising 716 feet with a 126-foot spire and include retail and parking space, 435 guest rooms and suites, and roughly 290 residential units, including studios and larger units and a handful of five-bedroom penthouses.
Promotional material for the Trump International Hotel & Tower New Orleans quotes Donald Trump calling the building the 'most incredible' the city had ever seen.
More than 100 reservations and other expressions of interest have been made so far, Dwyer said.
The project was proposed before Hurricane Katrina damaged much of New Orleans' housing stock. A city of renters before the August 2005 storm, it is regarded as lacking affordable housing.
Patrick Egan, head of the commercial division for real estate company Latter & Blum, has questioned the feasibility of many still-proposed condo projects in the city given the state of the national economy.