The U.S. Navy ceded 118 acres of a former New Orleans base on Tuesday to the Federal City complex, which was developed with $150 million of state bonds.
Federal City is a redevelopment of the former Naval Support Activity base that will consist of office and retail space, municipal buildings, a hotel and residences, as well as a high-tech campus with buildings for federal, state, and local government agencies.
The Navy property turned over to the Algiers Development District included 51 buildings at the abandoned base along the west bank of the Mississippi River. The Navy operated a base at the site for more than 100 years before shuttering it in 2008.
In 2008, the Legislature authorized the Industrial Development Board of the City of New Orleans Inc. to issue $150 million of 30-year revenue bonds for projects in Federal City as the state and local contribution to the project.
The bonds, which are rated A2 by Moody's Investors Service, are supported by legislative appropriations under a cooperative endeavor agreement.
Proceeds financed a $110 million Marine Corps Reserve complex at the 200-acre site, $33 million of infrastructure improvements including a parking garage, and $7 million of other upgrades. The Marine Corps Support Facility became operational in 2011.
"Now that the Navy no longer owns the property, and we do, it makes financing the development much easier," said state Rep. Jeff Arnold, D-Algiers.
Arnold is chairman of the Algiers sales tax increment finance district, created by the Legislature to finance and oversee the Federal City project.
