New Orleans Federal Reserve building has a new owner. Here are the revival plans.

Alexander Ackel, who bought the old Federal Reserve building in the Central Business District with his partner Al Morris earlier this month, is adamant about one thing: They will not be converting the unique, century-old structure into a hotel.

"It is sinful to me that they wanted to turn this into a hotel," said Ackel, referring to a sale of the building to hotel developers that fell through last year. The neoclassical monolith at 147 Carondelet Street, which was built by the Federal Reserve in 1923, is known for its robust construction, featuring three-foot-thick steel-reinforced concrete walls, and a 38-ton solid steel door protecting the main vault area on the first floor.

"We're going to turn this back into what it was intended to be used for when it was built in the 1920s, except in the modern sense," said Ackel, a precious metals dealer and owner of New Orleans Silver and Gold, whose head office is two blocks away on Gravier Street.

Sitting in empty offices next to a life-sized cardboard cutout of the late David Oreck, the building's most recent owner, who was best known as the founder and pitchman for his namesake vacuum cleaners, Ackel outlined his plans.

Ackel and Morris plan to first revamp the areas designed to store valuables, which includes the unique historic vaults that cover three of the building's six floors. Though Oreck had renamed the building "The Security Center" and rented out part of it for secure storage, Ackel said they plan to revamp the vault areas and offer it for use as a gold depository for securities exchanges, for high value auctions and the like.

They also plan to reactivate the "Federal Ballroom" and other areas as event spaces and to install a museum on the first floor to highlight the building's history.

They plan to rename it "The Old Federal Reserve Building."

"I used to live next to David Oreck when I was a teenager and I've always had a box here since I started as a precious metals dealer," said Ackel, who is 37. "I used to leave here and say, 'I'm going to buy this place, I'm going to buy this place,' but I didn't think it would ever be possible."

He said he's been fortunate that the price of gold has tripled since he got into the business 15 years ago, while the old Fed building ended up being offered at a deep discount to its original offer price.

Second fiddle

The former Fed building was an emblem of a time when that part of the Central Business District was the financial heart of New Orleans.

Once known as "bankers row," the area in recent decades has largely transformed into a tourist area, with historic buildings such as the former Cotton Exchange and the former New Orleans Public Service Inc. building converted to hotels, and the entire Whitney Bank block set for a similar fate.

The history of the Federal Reserve's presence in the city itself tells the story of New Orleans' changing economic position within the region.

A year after the Federal Reserve Bank was created in 1913, New Orleans was passed over in favor of Atlanta when the 12 regional reserve banks were designated. The Georgia capital already had eclipsed New Orleans as a regional commercial and financial hub, so New Orleans was given the consolation prize of being a branch to the Atlanta reserve bank.

The New Orleans Fed then operated out of various rented premises until the property on the corner of Carondelet and Common streets was bought, said Claire Loup, Outreach Senior Advisor for the Federal Reserve in New Orleans, whose job includes education on the bank's history.

New Orleans architect Rathbone DeBuys, whose best known works include Bogalusa City Hall and Loyola University's Thomas Hall and Marquette Hall, was then commissioned to design the building.

The neoclassical design prioritized sturdiness, with a steel superstructure built on a massive foundation of Georgia granite. Above each window was mounted a golden eagle. A heavy but unadorned cornice was erected above that, topped by the building's fifth story, according to Mike Scott.

The total construction price tag was $1.25 million, which would be approximately $22.5 million in 2025 dollars when accounting for inflation.

After the Federal Reserve was sold in 1965 and moved to a new location at 525 St. Charles Ave. a year later, the building changed hands several times -- first to oilman and financier Louis J. Roussel for $2.45 million ($24 million in 2025 dollars), and eventually to Oreck in 1980.

Oreck's newspaper ads at the time explained that the facility offered numbered accounts similar to the Swiss banking system, temperature-controlled vaults and safe deposit boxes guarded by armed security. He also located one of his floor care centers on the ground floor, though that was discontinued when he sold the home appliances company in 2003.

After Oreck died in 2023, at age 99, the building was put on the market at an initial asking price of $7 million. Potential buyers who had considered a hotel conversion couldn't make that work financially and dropped out, according to Scott Graf, a broker at Corporate Realty.

The building was bought by Ackel and Morris this month for $3.5 million (about 15% of what it originally cost to build, not including the 1945 expansion).

"Seeing the younger generation of New Orleans entrepreneurs investing in downtown is a good sign for the Central Business District," said John Georges, who partnered with Ackel's late father, George Ackel Jr., a prominent real estate developer in Jefferson Parish, in several business ventures. Ackel's grandfather was former Public Service Commissioner George Ackel Sr.

Georges owns the Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate with his wife Dathel Coleman Georges.

Al Morris, who is a minority owner in the new building, is founder and owner of Crescent Holdings Co., whose interests include a signage business, car care and tire centers, and solar roofing.