The Plaza Tower, long alleged to be plagued with mold, will undergo a $10-million cleanup in 2008.
 
“We felt that once we commenced with the environmental remediation, development opportunities would improve,” said Joe Bencivenga, a representative for owner Plainfield Direct, a Greenwich, Conn.-based investment fund and mortgage lender that bought the building at a public foreclosure auction in July after a previous ownership team defaulted on a $24-million mortgage Plainfield had issued.
 
Plainfield paid $583,000 for the 1001 Howard Ave. office building, which rises over the elevated Pontchartrain Expressway on the fringes of the Central Business District. Built in 1969, the 44-story high-rise was one of the city’s first skyscrapers.
 
The previous owner partnership included former National Football League Baltimore Ravens player Michael McCrary and several out-of-state investors. They planned to convert the building into luxury condos before the foreclosure.
 
McCrary is suing former development partner Edward Giannasca Jr., alleging he misused $12 million in insurance money the Plaza Tower collected because of damage it sustained as a result of Katrina.
 
http://www.neworleanscitybusiness.com/viewStory.cfm?recID=25188
 
 
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