NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – A historic Algiers landmark, empty since Hurricane Katrina, gets new life.
Crews are transforming the former Touro Shakspeare Home and one supporter credits the Fox 8 Defenders for helping to make it happen.
Walking through the old Touro Shakspeare Home, amidst construction equipment and graffiti-marred walls, glimpses of what this building used to be shine through.
“You start scraping some of that stuff away and it’s just gorgeous,” said Jamie Christovich.
Preserving the past is a top priority for Christovich and his team at Landis Construction.
Pointing to the ornate ceilings, Christovich said, “All those are catalogued as items that we need to keep during construction.”
Landis is helping bring this 60,000 square-foot building along General Meyer Avenue back to life.
Built in 1933, the city-owned property named for city benefactor Judah Touro and former New Orleans mayor Joseph Shakspeare opened as an almshouse, or home for the poor.
It later functioned as the city’s only public nursing home and, more recently, a privately-managed elder care facility. But then Hurricane Katrina ravaged the structure.
“Unfortunately, the building was never really repaired and suffered 20 years of significant water intrusion,” said Chris Clement, senior vice president of HRI Communities.
In 2021, the city selected HRI Properties through a bid process to maintain site control, meaning it is effectively running the property.
“That site control, rather than a deed or ownership, is secured through a 99-year ground lease with the city,” Clement said.
HRI brought in Landis to refurbish the building, with a goal of once again using it to house the elderly.
It’s something for which Algiers native Arthur Ruiz has advocated for years.
“It’s just amazing how many people that I have discovered that they’re glad at what’s taking place, because family members that they had were in here, in this facility,” Ruiz explained.
Ruiz first reached out to the Fox 8 Defenders in 2019, upset that the historical landmark sat untouched. Through his role with the Algiers Historical Society, Ruiz lobbied the city and the Fox 8 Defenders for help.
“Y’all, thank God, took up the thing that I was trying to get done and pursued this,” he said.
Clement admits refurbishing the building hasn’t been an easy job.
“At face value, sometimes it didn’t even look feasible to a lot of folks, sometimes ourselves included,” Clement said. “Literally, we had concrete floors in the building. The second floor was laying on the first floor.”
But after months spent stabilizing the structure at city expense, crews are about to begin Phase Two of the project: Constructing the 52 one-bedroom units planned within the property. There will also be open spaces, housing amenities for residents to enjoy, such as the old chapel. There are courtyards and plans for a community garden and plenty of green space on the property.
As Ruiz surveys the work and what’s taking shape, he can’t help but marvel at what’s to come.
“God’s blessed, and hopefully this thing will be finished soon and people will be living in there, enjoying the two courtyards,” Ruiz said. “What HRI and Landis plan to do here should be a remarkable place.”
The goal is to have the Touro Shakspeare Home open and welcoming new residents by November 2026. The units will be available for people of all socioeconomic means.
If you have a consumer complaint you’d like us to look into, call the Fox 8 Defenders, staffed with volunteers from the National Council of Jewish Women at 1-877-670-6397. Or click here to fill out our online complaint form, which is the easiest way to reach us.
See a spelling or grammar error in our story? Click Here to report it. Please include the headline.
Subscribe to the Fox 8 YouTube channel.
Copyright 2025 WVUE. All rights reserved.
