Perkins Road Hardware Site Work to Begin

Construction crews will begin work on the former Perkins Road Hardware building in the next few weeks, beginning its transformation into a mixed-use development anchored by a new concept by a New Orleans-area restaurant, a local gourmet pizzeria and four apartment units.

Chad Ortte of Donnie Jarreau Companies said the anchor restaurant is not ready to make an announcement, but that it is a fine-dining establishment with rustic motif serving Louisiana cuisine.

He would not comment on the word "Dakota" appearing on a schematic filed with the city-parish Department of Public Works.

The second restaurant will be a pizzeria owned by Zippy's owner Neil Hendricks. It will go into an addition to the existing building where the former hardware store's greenhouse was.

Ortte said plans call for four apartment units on the second and third floors of the building, and parking in the rear after part of the existing warehouse is torn down. Ortte said a second phase could turn 2,000 square feet of the remaining portion of the warehouse into retail or office space.

Perkins Road Hardware, the anchor of the collection of local retailers that make up the popular Perkins Road Overpass area, suffered fire damage in late 2006 and the owners sold the buildings to Jarreau last year.

Ortte said the redevelopment will be keeping as much of the building as possible and try to retain some of the aesthetic elements of the hardware store.

He said there has been no final decision on a name for the development, but the company formed to redevelop the property is Perkins Renaissance Development and what they come up with will likely "be something that keeps the memory of it being a hardware store."

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