The Orleans Parish School board is preparing to sell seven properties at a live auction later this month, as the cash-strapped agency seeks to offload dozens of vacant school buildings and empty lots across the city that it has been holding onto for years.
Among the properties on offer is an 88-year-old art deco building at 727 Carondelet St. that recently appraised for $6.5 million. Commercial real estate broker Paul Richard of NAI/Latter & Blum, who is handling the auction, said it would be a prime candidate for redevelopment into a hotel or apartments.
The other big-ticket property in the portfolio is a red-brick structure at 401 Nashville Avenue. The Uptown building dates to the early 1900s and was recently appraised at $3.7 million.
Along with three other former schools in Algiers and Gentilly and two vacant lots, the properties, which will be auctioned individually, could fetch as much as $14 million…