WASHINGTON: The Port of New Orleans has closed a major real estate deal as part of the process that puts the Public Belt Railroad in its hands and turns over prime Mississippi Riverfront real estate to the city. The port has purchased a former France Road shipyard on the Industrial Canal for $10.5 million from a real estate entity that belongs to Shane Guidry, owner of Harvey Gulf International Marine. Port President and CEO Brandy Christian and Guidry closed the deal Aug. 28, according to Orleans Parish real estate records. Donnell Jackson, the port’s media relations manager, said the acquisition will allow one of the port’s tenants, TCI Packaging, to relocate from the Gov. Nicholls and Esplanade Avenue wharves. That riverside property will be transferred to the city, which plans to turn the site into a public space that Mayor Mitch Landrieu has said would be part of the largest, contiguous riverfront park in the country.
In exchange for the riverfront real estate, the Port of New Orleans receives the Public Belt Railroad, a “switching” line that connects the port with six major freight railroads. As part of the TCI relocation deal, the port will pay $4.5 million toward improvements on the property at 4325 France Road. TCI also renegotiated its current lease with the port, which waived its rent for the remaining two years. The company has agreed to a 20-year lease starting in July 2019 for the France Road property. Its new annual rent will be $647,679 — equal to TCI’s current lease rate at the Gov. Nicholls and Esplanade Avenue wharves plus an additional $80,000 for additional land along the Industrial Canal, said Matt Gresham, the port’s external affairs director. The rent amount will be adjusted for inflation when the port begins collecting it in July 2019, he added.
