A New Beginning

Tulane University President Michael A. Fitts remembers the first time he saw the former Charity Hospital building in downtown New Orleans.

The mammoth limestone structure stood gray and silent. Its darkened windows emitted no light, nor gave any clue as to what this mighty edifice had once meant to generations of New Orleanians who had been born there, cared for there or said goodbye to a loved one there. From the building’s leaf-strewn approach to the apex of its 20th floor, there was no hint of its role beyond serving as a vestige of a bygone era, a sentinel of a shuttered past. Fitts, however, sensed something else in the gray stillness. Hope.

With the right plan, the right vision and the right partners, Fitts knew that the former Charity Hospital building, with its 1 million square feet and location in the heart of the city’s burgeoning BioDistrict, could be the site of the most important and consequential redevelopment project in Tulane’s history and, perhaps, in the city itself.

“I grew up in West Philadelphia and I have seen, firsthand, what growth around a major research university, growth grounded in scientific discovery and medical breakthroughs, can do for a neighborhood and region,” Fitts said. “Startups and spinoffs based on a university’s intellectual property can improve lives through better treatments and cures while also creating a thriving community for residents.”

What Fitts envisions at 1532 Tulane Avenue is the creation of a true game changer that will reimagine one of the city’s most cherished buildings as a hub of scientific innovation while remaking the New Orleans economy into one centered on bioscience exploration and its breathtaking advancements. When Fitts announced this summer that Tulane had signed a purchase and sale agreement for the Charity project that would transition Tulane to an ownership role and main developer of the project, leaders at the city, state and federal levels cheered, while media from The Washington Post to the Times-Picayune hailed the effort.

“For two decades, this building stood as an empty eyesore in the heart of New Orleans. Now, that changes,” said Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry. “We’re not just fixing our skyline — we’re building a stronger future for our people. This project means new opportunities for homegrown talent and stronger investments in education and workforce development so our children can build their future right here in Louisiana. Thank you to Tulane University for helping bring this vision to life and investing in the future of our state.”

More than 650,000 square feet of the former Charity building will become a new home for the Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and the Tulane University Innovation Institute. Parts of the Tulane School of Medicine will also occupy the redeveloped structure, which will include state-of-the-art classrooms, community spaces and interdisciplinary labs for approximately 700 new researchers. The remaining sections of the building will be used for a mix of residential living, a food court, community gathering space and retail options.

“This project will breathe new life into one of our most iconic landmarks while creating jobs, driving innovation, attracting talent and strengthening downtown as a center for research, education and economic opportunity,” New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno said. “New Orleans is on the rise, and the long overdue redevelopment of the former Charity Hospital demonstrates that people are increasingly choosing to invest in the promise and potential of our city.”

Such bipartisan support of the project prompted The Washington Post to declare that Tulane’s plan for the Charity site “has forged an alliance among political leaders of different parties in Louisiana, a rarity in a deeply divided nation, and symbolizes a powerful commitment to the power of research at a time when federal research funding is dwindling nationally.”

Calling the endeavor a true public-private effort, Fitts lauded the enthusiastic support from all quarters.

“We are grateful to Governor Jeff Landry, State Senate President Cameron Henry, the entire Louisiana Legislature, Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Susan Bourgeois, New Orleans BioDistrict and its Board Chair Andy Kopplin, Mayor Helena Moreno, Councilmember Lesli Harris and the entire New Orleans City Council, our congressional delegation as well as the Goldring Family Foundation for their support of this project,” Fitts said.

The Goldring Family Foundation issued a statement that called the planned transformation of Charity “a true watershed moment.”

“This is an effort that has the potential to define Tulane as an institution and position New Orleans and Louisiana among the nation’s most forward-thinking. The Goldring Family Foundation is honored to be a part of this historic moment and urges others to join it in what promises to be a new and exciting chapter for our university and hometown,” the statement said.

The spirit of Tulane and Charity

Tulane and 1532 Tulane Holdco, LLC, the original developer, expect to finalize the financial closing on the project this fall. When construction is completed in 2029, the vast space of the art deco marvel will be filled with researchers from the widest array of disciplines working to find new treatments for numerous diseases. This hearkens back to Tulane’s origins as an institution dedicated to eradicating the yellow fever epidemics that devastated 19th-century New Orleans.

“When Tulane was founded in 1834 as the Medical College of Louisiana, a partnership was formed with Charity, and working together with Tulane physicians, Charity was able to excel in its new role of a teaching hospital, providing high-quality healthcare to a growing population while also serving as one of the country’s most important training grounds for future physicians,” said Robin Forman, Tulane’s senior vice president for academic affairs and provost. “Charity Hospital stood as a symbol of our city’s commitment to public health. We are proud that this powerful legacy will continue and this new space will be a monument to public health.”

Today, Tulane researchers are pursuing breakthroughs undreamed of in times past. One example is MAGIC-SCAN, the brainchild of J. Quincy Brown, the Mark and Diana Tipton Professor of Biomedical Engineering in the School of Science and Engineering, and Brian Summa, associate professor of computer science in the School of Science and Engineering. MAGIC-SCAN, which attracted bipartisan funding and a presidential visit to Tulane in 2024, will give surgeons the ability to confirm that all cancer tissue has been removed while the patient is still on the table. It is an advancement designed to save lives while reducing patient worry and costly additional surgeries.

Brown has co-founded the spin-out Instapath to bring MAGIC-SCAN technology to hospitals large and small.

“Supporting those who both conduct research and bring discoveries to market through startups is what we are all about,” said Kimberly Gramm, David and Marion Mussafer Chief Innovation and Entrepreneurship Officer at the Tulane University Innovation Institute. “Researchers like Quincy and numerous others will find colleagues working with the same passion and curiosity within the same building along with entrepreneurs looking to bring advancement from the lab to the people who need it the most.”

Downtown Dreams

The Charity project is the anchor of a more than half-a-billion-dollar investment Tulane is making in New Orleans, much of it focused on a historic expansion of its downtown campus. The effort, dubbed “We’re on the Rise,” includes the 60,000 square feet of newly renovated lab space on the fifth and seventh floors of the Hutchinson Building, home of Tulane’s School of Medicine. Other related projects include converting space on the third and fourth floors of the former Tulane Medical Center (now the Downtown Campus Center) for Tulane’s Program of Nursing and its simulation lab, where students learn to perform procedures using interactive patient manikins, as well as additional research-dedicated space.

Patrick Norton, Tulane’s senior vice president, chief operating officer and treasurer, is the lead executive in directing the redevelopment of the Charity building and the university’s broader downtown expansion. He said Tulane’s growth in the city’s core is being undertaken with a deep respect for the history and culture of both New Orleans and the university.

“Tulane’s first home was downtown on Common Street, so downtown is both part of our origin and a central part of our future,” Norton said. “The redevelopment of Charity is about far more than one building. It is about helping create an entire neighborhood — a vibrant ecosystem of research, education, innovation and opportunity that will generate jobs at every level.”

With the addition of Charity, Norton said, Tulane’s downtown presence will reach an entirely new scale.

“Our downtown footprint will grow dramatically, but we are also staying true to the historic mission of Charity. We are bringing this extraordinary building back to life as a place where scientists, students and entrepreneurs will work together on discoveries and innovations that can help produce the cures of tomorrow.”

Tulane’s downtown campus is also a vital component of BioDistrict New Orleans, a state-created public-private economic development area centered on the city’s medical district and dedicated to advancing bioscience, healthcare and innovation. It stretches from the Central Business District in downtown to Xavier University on Carrollton Avenue.

“Tulane’s research investments are the biggest untold economic development story of the past decade,” said Andy Kopplin, chair of the BioDistrict’s Board of Directors. “They are bringing in $100 million more a year to New Orleans than they were a decade ago — net new money to the region.”

The latest economic reports support Kopplin’s enthusiasm. Tulane has an annual $5.2 billion (and growing) impact on the state’s economy, supports more than 30,000 jobs and contributes $88.2 million in annual state tax revenue. Much of that impact is fueled by the university’s research mission, which has experienced a 75% increase in funding over the last decade. There are currently 2,700 Tulane employees based downtown and more than 2,600 students there. Over the next eight years, the university expects to add 2,500 more employees downtown and increase its annual research expenditures to $400 million.

“I can’t think of a better thing to happen downtown, or really for the state of Louisiana, than what Tulane is doing at the former Charity Hospital building,” said Dennis Lauscha, a member of the Board of Tulane and president of the New Orleans Saints and Pelicans. Both franchises will be neighbors to the redeveloped Charity site.

Brain Gain

On a recent trip back to West Philadelphia, Fitts was enjoying a hamburger at one of the many eateries within the innovation district of the neighborhood in which he was born and raised. Thanks in large part to the discoveries produced by the nearby University of Pennsylvania, thriving high-tech industries now occupy a once-moribund area. Midway through his burger, Fitts was recognized by a former Tulanian.

“He asked me what I was doing there. I said, ‘I’m having a hamburger. What are you doing here?’” Fitts recalled.

It turns out that the Tulanian, a research scientist, had relocated from New Orleans to West Philly, drawn by the district’s opportunity. Fitts’ goal is to reverse precisely this kind of brain drain from the state of Louisiana.

Though more Tulane graduates are expressing a desire to build their careers and lives in New Orleans post-graduation, Fitts knows the city has a long way to go in stanching the outmigration of its best and brightest.

“Tulane graduates have every reason to stay in New Orleans after graduation,” Fitts said. “They either grew up here or they came here from other states and fell in love with the city. So, there is the incentive. What they need is the opportunity to have a successful career, to start their own venture or to become part of a vibrant economy with the promise of future growth.”

As much as he enjoyed returning to his old neighborhood, Fitts is looking forward to a thriving high-tech corridor complete with a walkable residential area and a welcoming street life around Charity. Then he can imagine another lunch with a Tulanian — perhaps this one over a po’boy rather than a hamburger — right in the heart of New Orleans.

A Beacon of Hope

The former Charity Hospital — or Big Charity as it was known locally — is actually the sixth Charity Hospital in New Orleans. The first opened in 1736 in the French Quarter. When the current building was completed in 1939, it was the country’s second-largest hospital.

“The group of young doctors who founded the Medical College of Louisiana, the forerunner of Tulane, actually practiced at what was the fifth Charity Hospital building. Our roots are here — and now we are returning to our roots,” said Lee Hamm, senior vice president and dean of the Tulane School of Medicine.

Few will have a more poignant return to the reimagined Charity building than Hamm. In 2005, when the levee system collapse following Hurricane Katrina brought historic devastation to the city, Hamm was treating patients in Tulane Hospital across the flooded avenue from Charity. Between shifts he used a canoe to visit Tulane doctors as they tended patients in the waterlogged and misery-laden corridors of Charity. There was no running water or electricity and diminishing quantities of supplies and hope. Hamm was one of the last people evacuated from Tulane Hospital — which had a heliport that airlifted patients and physicians from both hospitals.

Hamm relishes coming back to a new building when components of the expanding Tulane School of Medicine will take up residence there.

“A lot of good things happened in that building,” he said. “The hospital has taken on the symbolism of compassionate care to those that need it most. To be back in that building will be terrific.”

Thomas LaVeist, dean of the Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, also sees the redeveloped building as a full-circle moment.

“It seems fitting that Charity will once again be used to protect and serve the health of the people of New Orleans,” LaVeist said.

New Orleans’ Time

Fitts is fond of quoting the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan and his famous dictum, “If you want to build a great city, create a great university and wait 200 years.”

“Some people feel that they have heard me say that for 200 years,” he laughed. “But it is so true and prescient and so applicable to us. By us, I mean Tulane and New Orleans. Tulane is approaching its 200-year anniversary, and New Orleans recently celebrated its 300th, so our time has arrived. We have the funding, we have the vision, we have the team and we have the will. This is New Orleans’ time.”