New Orleans High-Rise Projects Fall By The Wayside

"Lured by congressionally authorized tax credits and other financial incentives after Hurricane Katrina, a procession of developers announced plans to build high-rises.

But 20 months after the storm, most have fallen by the wayside. The slow pace of the recovery gets much of the blame. New Orleans still has no comprehensive rebuilding blueprint, and funding is falling far short of planners' expectations.

Adding to the tension for commercial investors: Construction and insurance costs have soared.

"There have been a lot of announcements, but you don't see a lot of cranes, do you?" said Michael Siegel, executive vice president of Corporate Realty Inc., a New Orleans-based brokerage. "I think we all underestimated how long this (the recovery) was going to take." "