It’s been 20 years since Lindy Boggs Medical Center was flooded by Hurricane Katrina and left to collect graffiti on Norman C. Francis Parkway in Mid-City. Now the long-blighted building is coming down, with demolition set to begin this week.
Mayor Helena Moreno said in a video posted to social media Sunday that crews will begin tearing down portions of the 70-year-old structure on Tuesday. Moreno didn’t provide more information in the video, but administration spokesperson Jonah Gilmore said the city will release more specifics on Monday.
Moreno vowed early on in her tenure to address blight and other quality of life issues in the city, and the Lindy Boggs demo is the result of a cooperative endeavor agreement between her administration and developers Bill Hoffman and Paul Flower. The plan, approved by voters last fall and finalized in April, involves razing the former medical center and building an underground stormwater retention tank in its basement to help prevent street flooding in the area.
Flower said Sunday that crews began preparing the site for teardown in mid-July, a process that included installing monitoring devices and other protective measures…