RiversideNOLA

This building once housed one of the best coffee houses in the city, Rue de la Course. I spent lots and lots of time here. It’s on Magazine between 8th and 9th Street. The word on the street is that the owners of this building either would not renew the lease to Rue de la Course or made rent prohibitively expensive, forcing them out. Then the building’s owner leased it to a friend who put in another coffee shop. Rue de la Course was a beautiful space. The new shop (as you see in the next two pics) was the tackiest, most visually offensive food/beverage business in the city. I never went inside the place once this business took over. They always had huge, ugly, plastic banners and signs hanging outside, just puking all over this lovely building.

The good news is: Rue’s owners, Debra Dunn and Jerry Roppolo purchased a space directly across the street. Retail rent on Magazine street went from 12-$16 / sq. ft. from 1997 to 2005. After Katrina, it jumped to $21 and it continues to rise,. threatening to populate Magazine St. with chain restaurants. So they are hopefully in a much better position now that they own. And it looks like they thrive to this day.

The better news is: the new coffeehouse that went into the building above failed pretty quickly. This building (with massive square footage that can get premium rates) has been empty for many months if not a year. And I’m glad for it.

The former aesthetic:

The “new” place up in Carrollton:

(found online, photo cred ?)