NEW ORLEANS — New Orleans-based Verius Property Group (VPG) has purchased the 23-story former National American Bank Building at 200 Carondelet St. for $27.2 million, marking the company’s first high-rise acquisition and setting the stage for at least $2 million in initial improvements to the nearly century-old Downtown property.
The 189-unit building is approximately 90% occupied and includes both affordable and market-rate apartments.
“Honestly, I fell for the building before I ever ran the numbers,” said Michael Merideth, CEO of VPG Enterprise. “You walk in and you feel it. That kind of craftsmanship does not get built anymore, and it’s hard to deny the historic character of the building and what it has meant to New Orleans. Then the numbers told the same story.”
For Merideth, those numbers included the building’s location half a block from Canal Street, its range of housing and what he sees as a lack of comparable new development Downtown. VPG paid about $143,736 per apartment…