February 2012
Rebuilding After Hurricane Katrina
From Construction Today: It is estimated that Hurricane Katrina resulted in more than $81 billion in damage. Gulf Coast cities have made a long way toward recovery, but the work is ongoing. In New Orleans, where 53 levees were breached and 80 percent of the city flooded, the city is breaking ground on new projects each year.
Last September, the Orleans Parish Sheriff鈥檚 Office (OPSO) broke ground on a $145 million facility funded primarily through FEMA reimbursements. The building will include inmate housing, an intake processing center and an administrative building to replace buildings rendered uninhabitable by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and demolished in 2007. The OPSO has since operated from a temporary facility but will welcome its new campus in 2014.
鈥淭his new facility will incorporate the best practices of the American Correction Association, from the latest in security technology to space that better accommodates our inmate training and education programs,鈥� Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman said in a statement. 鈥淲orking with our partners at FEMA and the state of Louisiana, the sheriff鈥檚 office is building a replacement facility that offers safer, more secure living and working conditions for our inmates and deputies.鈥�
The OPSO hired a joint venture team that includes The McDonnel Group, based in Metairie, La., and the national construction firm Archer Western. Between the two organizations, the new OPSO campus project benefits from the local expertise of The McDonnel Group and the best practices employed by Archer Western nationwide.