New Orleans Notches Condo Record With $13 Million Penthouse Sale

New Orleans, the Louisiana city known for its stately Garden District mansions, has just chalked a record condo sale: A high-rise penthouse has sold for just under $13 million, according to a person familiar with the deal.

The buyer is Donald T. “Boysie” Bollinger, the person said. A prominent Republican donor, Mr. Bollinger, 71, is the former CEO of Bollinger Shipyards, a business founded in 1946 by his late father, according to the company’s website. He sold his interests in the company in 2014. Mr. Bollinger couldn’t be reached for comment.

The roughly 4,000-square-foot penthouse sits on the 30th floor of the Four Seasons New Orleans Hotel and Private Residences. Slated to open this spring, it is in one of the city’s best-known buildings. Built in 1967, the distinctive cross-shaped tower is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and was designed by Edward Durell Stone, who is also known for the Museum of

Modern Art in New York and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. The building formerly served as the city’s World Trade Center, and the penthouse was the setting for the Plimsoll Club, where foreign dignitaries were entertained while in New Orleans. Despite its history, the building was left largely without tenants after Hurricane Katrina in 2005; the cost of its revival cost about $530 million, according to a spokesman for the building.

The penthouse retains the Plimsoll Club’s fireplace, according to the spokesman for the building. It also has floor-to-ceiling windows and views of downtown New Orleans, the French Quarter and the Mississippi River. It is directly across the river from the Bollinger Shipyard, where the name “Bollinger” is painted in huge letters on the dock.

The 92-unit property, which sits above a Four Seasons hotel, has also drawn big names like Drew Brees, quarterback for the New Orleans Saints, according to a person familiar with the situation.

Prices for the remaining units range from $2 million to $10 million, the building spokesman said.

Residents have amenities like a club, a children’s playroom, a dining room and a golf simulator and get access to the hotel services, including in-residence dining, grocery shopping service, valet parking, a 75-foot outdoor swimming pool and hot tub and a fitness center.

The sale price of the unit, while low in comparison to deluxe penthouses in other U.S. cities, is exceptionally high for New Orleans. The median list price for a home in New Orleans was $312,000 in December 2020, though that was up 8% from December 2019, according to Realtor.com.