$7M to rehab Milne Home slips through city's fingers

The Milne Boys Home on Franklin Avenue has been closed since just before Hurricane Katrina.
New Orleans has missed out on $7 million in state money to repair The Milne Boys Home, a city-owned historic community center for young men. A place that helped me come of age, and I truly believe that were it not for Milne Boys Home, and the staff there, I would have ended up in prison for life, or even dead.

The money is likely no longer available to the city, said John Davis, capital outlay budget administrator for the state Facility Planning Office. The city never requested a line of credit on the appropriation so the state Bond Commission never granted one, said Davis.

"It's not looking good for this fiscal year," said Davis.

Sean Cummings, executive director of the New Orleans Building Corp., the landlord for the city-owned property, revealed the oversight Nov. 27 at City Council budget hearings when District C Councilman James Carter asked if Cummings knew about a the capital outlay appropriation for the Milne Boys Home from the Legislature. Cummings's response was "no."

Later, Cummings had no direct comment about the unused appropriation. He did say "there was no lapse in communication," and that the NOBC is "working with two possible users for the property" and the agency "should have something figured out" in a month.

"With any of the city-owned properties that still remain in development, how can we move forward if the administration people responsible for them don't know their status?" asked Councilwoman at-large Jackie Clarkson.

The 75-year-old building on an 11-acre campus in Gentilly operated as a nonprofit community facility for boys since 1986 until closed just prior to Hurricane Katrina.

Managed by the Milne Trust, a private foundation, it has remained vacant since receiving roof and structural damage during Hurricane Katrina.

Monty Burlingame, Milne Trust chairman, said the six-member board is assessing possible uses for the facility.

At least one potential tenant has been outbid for the property already. Rob Minton, founder and executive director of the CrossRoad Missions, a faith-based organization headquartered in Louisville, Ky., said he met with the Milne Trust to view the property for his organization.

"We would rehab (the facility) and we would occupy it until such a time it could be used as its chartered for a boys home or a center of education," said Minton.

CrossRoad Missions, however, is no longer looking at the property since a "third party" has contacted the Milne Trust and the city, said Minton.

"Someone is looking at that property to bring it back as an educational institute," said Minton. "We understand (the third party) has much more capital and whereas we would gradually rehab it over two years (this party) would provide a multimillion-dollar infusion."

State Rep. Cedric Richmond said the hope was to create a "residential, gender-specific charter school, maybe year-round."

"I'm not sure what the city's final desire for that facility is going to be (but) so far ... most of that (state) money has been bonded out and is no longer available."

I have been in touch with a local action reporter from a television station in New Orleans, and I have been informed that they are planning to do a story on what the city plans to do with the property, I can only hope that they choose to restore the property for what it was intended for.

Learn more about this author, Tommy E. Ledet.
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