225 Baronne was originally constructed as a 30-story office tower in the heart of New Orleans’ Central Business District.  The building suffered minimal damages from Hurricane Katrina but was not re-occupied following the storm.  The existing building underwent a thorough renovation and repurposing.  Ten stories of the existing historic structure serve as parking, with the following seven stories being used as a new 188 room boutique Aloft Hotel (a division of the W Hotel brand).  The remaining floors were renovated to include 192 high-end apartments, with the first floor serving as the hotel lobby and dining.  Directly adjacent to the existing structure, a new 10-story ramp structure was constructed to service the parking garage.

 

The completed project expands the space to 600,000 square feet.

MMI’s role in this project was to review the existing structure to determine its acceptability when compared to new floor loading, wind loading as dictated by modern standards and general code compliance.  After reviewing the existing structure, our scope of work included designing the new ten-story ramp structure as well as designing new floor levels within the existing shell, designing and retrofitting the existing framing to support a new rooftop pool, designing a new mezzanine level between the 30th floor and the existing roof, retrofitting framing to allow for the relocation of the existing elevator machine rooms and various other finish modifications, in-fill detailing and civil paving replacement.