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Defaults cast shadow over N.O. office market
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La. raising Medicaid payments Officials say higher rates will attract more providers BY ALYSE PFEIL Staff writer
Doctors’ offices and hospitals will get paid more to treat patients on Medicaid, Louisiana Department of Health officials announced Tuesday. Officials said higher reimbursement rates will attract more health care providers to serve Medicaid patients and increase patient access to health care. “Today’s move really creates a space that allows physicians all over the state to be able to take more Medicaid patients in their panel, opening up access for patients,” said Louisiana Department of Health Secretary Bruce Greenstein. “Better reimbursement rates empower doctors
ä See MEDICAID, page 7A
STAFF PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER
400 Poydras Street, right, and the Hancock Whitney Center, back left, are two of the most recognizable high-rises on the New Orleans skyline.
Two prominent skyscrapers face financial uncertainty BY ANTHONY McAULEY
Staff writer
Two of New Orleans’ most recognizable skyscrapers — the Hancock Whitney Center and 400 Poydras Street — are now in default on their debt, deepening uncertainty over the city’s fragile downtown office market. The dual defaults come as Shell Oil prepares to vacate its longtime offices in the Hancock Whitney Center and is expected to relocate to a new River District headquarters in early 2027 — a move that would further
strain a market still struggling to regain footing after years of decline. Both buildings are owned by Hertz Investment Group, the Los Angelesbased firm that for nearly two decades was a dominant presence in New Orleans’ skyline. Now, both properties are under the control of “special servicers,” third-party firms that step in and take control of properties when commercial mortgage-backed securities loans become distressed. Once a loan becomes delinquent, the servicer assumes control from the borrower — collecting rents,
ä K&B Plaza building in downtown up for sale. PAGE 8A negotiating with lenders and determining whether to restructure, sell or foreclose. The shift effectively removes Hertz from day-to-day control of two of its signature properties. Hertz declined to comment. Hancock Whitney Center and 400 Poydras, sometimes referred to as Regions Tower, are both in maturity default — meaning Hertz failed to
ä See DEFAULTS, page 8A
Cancer risk in industrial areas underestimated, study says
Louisiana Chemical Association questions accuracy of findings BY JOSIE ABUGOV Staff writer
Cancer risks in parts of Louisiana’s industrial area between New Orleans and Baton Rouge are up to 11 times higher than estimates by the Environmental Protection Agency, according to a study by scientists at Johns Hopkins University. In a peer-reviewed study that aimed to measure the prevalence of 17 pollutants and compare that
ä See CANCER, page 7A
Cult filmmaker Waters presents his ‘worst’ art at gallery show BY DOUG MacCASH Staff writer
John Waters is a bona fide pop icon. Starting a half-century ago, the Baltimore-based filmmaker, artist and raconteur helped lead the charge of gay culture into the mainstream with a string of campy, low-budget movies. On Saturday, Waters led a gaggle of fans on a comical tour of his new exhibit, “The Worst of John Waters,” at Arthur Roger Gallery in New Orleans. He wore a garish jacket, fluorescent orange shoes and his characteristic carefully trimmed mustache, which is as thin as a strand of linguine. “I try to make myself laugh,” the 79-year-old Waters said in an inter-
WEATHER HIGH 89 LOW 75 PAGE 8B
view Saturday. “Whatever I do, I’m the first audience. I like to surprise myself with what I can make humor with.” His breakout came in 1981 with a transcendently tasteless, tongue-in-cheek film titled “Polyester” that starred the drag queen Divine. The future cult classic included an olfactory component. At select showings, audience members were issued “Odorama” scratch and sniff cards, which allowed them to follow the plot with their noses. That’s John Waters. Waters’ current exhibit includes montages of movie stills featuring everything from a young Johnny Mathis singing, to actors in coffins, to splats of fake Hollywood blood, cinematic fires set by pyro-
maniacs, blank television screens, cosmetic surgery, and mundane duct tape marks on the floor that tell actors where to stand. All are satisfyingly droll. In addition to his wall pieces, the exhibit includes two especially memorable sculptures. One is an ordinary baby stroller that Waters satirically decorated with advertisements from bygone gay clubs with names such as Basic Plumbing and the Mineshaft. The sculpture, titled “Bill’s Stroller,” is a tribute to denizens of such clubs who have now become proud parents, Waters explained. The other sculpture, titled “Control,” is a disturbingly lifelike
STAFF PHOTO By DOUG MACCASH
John Waters leads a gallery tour of his exhibit ‘The Worst of John Waters’ ä See WATERS, page 11A at Arthur Roger Gallery.
Business ...................10A Commentary ................7B Nation-World................2A Classified .....................9D Deaths .........................3B Opinion ........................6B Comics-Puzzles .....5D-8D Living............................1D Sports ..........................1C
13TH yEAR, NO. 57