The former Emeril’s Delmonico restaurant on St. Charles Avenue, which has been shuttered since the coronavirus pandemic, has been purchased by a local real estate investor after more than four years on the market.
Hossein “Lou” Talebloo, who owns retail stores, restaurants and dozens of apartments and condos in the Garden District and downtown New Orleans, purchased the 8,800-square-foot building for $1.2 million — about a third of the nearly $4 million Emeril Lagasse was asking when he put the historic property on the market in 2021.
The former EmerilÕs Delmonico restaurant, owned by chef Emeril Lagasse, at 1300 St. Charles Ave. in New Orleans., photographed Monday, Oct. 12, 2026. The property has been sold. STAFF PHOTO BY DAVID GRUNFELD
STAFF PHOTO BY DAVID GRUNFELD
Talebloo said in a brief phone interview Monday that it’s too soon to say what he and his family, co-owners in the property, might do with the building.
“I look for investments and buy when the price is right,” said Talebloo, who splits his time between New Orleans and southern California. “We just closed on this property so we’re still talking about what we’re going to do.”
The sale of the building comes as the roughly one-mile stretch of lower St. Charles Avenue between Jackson Avenue and Interstate-10 is seeing an uptick in new investment.
Next to the former restaurant, a slender, four-story “microhotel” is under construction. Across the street, the six-story Warbler Hotel, an upscale boutique, will welcome its first guests this month. A few blocks away, Church of the King is nearing completion on a yearslong renovation of the former Jerusalem Temple. Other new businesses have opened nearby.
The former EmerilÕs Delmonico restaurant, owned by chef Emeril Lagasse, at 1300 St. Charles Ave. in New Orleans., photographed Monday, Oct. 12, 2026. The property has been sold. STAFF PHOTO BY DAVID GRUNFELD
STAFF PHOTO BY DAVID GRUNFELD
Commercial real estate broker Bobby Talbot of Talbot Realty Group, which represented Lagasse on the Delmonico building, said the recent flurry of activity bodes well for the area.
“It’s definitely a positive sign when you see a building like this change hands at the same time so many other things are also going on nearby,” Talbot said.
Long history
The two-story townhouse at 1300 St. Charles that housed Emeril’s Delmonico was a continuously operating restaurant from 1895 until the pandemic forced its closure in March, 2020.
It was founded in the late 19th century by Anthony Commander, who had worked at the famed New York Delmonico’s and opened his own version of the restaurant in New Orleans with the blessing of the New York family, according to a history of the restaurant from Gambit. (His brother, Emile Commander, had opened Commander’s Palace a few years earlier.)
The former EmerilÕs Delmonico restaurant, owned by chef Emeril Lagasse, at 1300 St. Charles Ave. in New Orleans., photographed Monday, Oct. 12, 2026. The property has been sold. STAFF PHOTO BY DAVID GRUNFELD
STAFF PHOTO BY DAVID GRUNFELD
In 1911, the LaFranca family took over Delmonico and ran it through several generations until selling to Lagasse in 1997, who renovated the building, updated its menu and changed the name to Emeril’s Delmonico.
For the next 20 years, it would be known for its blend of Old World charm and Lagasse’s contemporary take on Creole classics.
After the pandemic, he decided not to reopen and, in 2022, put the building up for sale.
His spokesperson declined to comment.
New investments
The original listing price for the building, which has multiple dining rooms on two floors, an office, storage and a commercial kitchen, was $3.9 million or nearly $450 a foot. At the time, local real estate was booming.
But in mid-2022, interest rates began to soar along with insurance premiums and construction costs. Lending slowed. Commercial real estate deals dried up and the empty restaurant building sat.
The former EmerilÕs Delmonico restaurant, owned by chef Emeril Lagasse, at 1300 St. Charles Ave. in New Orleans., photographed Monday, Oct. 12, 2026. The property has been sold. STAFF PHOTO BY DAVID GRUNFELD
STAFF PHOTO BY DAVID GRUNFELD
In the years that followed, its price was lowered several times. By the time Talebloo purchased it last week, its price penciled out to about $136 a square foot.
The former EmerilÕs Delmonico restaurant, owned by chef Emeril Lagasse, at 1300 St. Charles Ave. in New Orleans., photographed Monday, Oct. 12, 2026. The property has been sold. STAFF PHOTO BY DAVID GRUNFELD
STAFF PHOTO BY DAVID GRUNFELD
It will be his latest of several properties in the area. Among his other holdings are the seven-story Factors Row apartments on Perdido Street in the Central Business District, Authentic Oriental Rugs in the 2000 block of Magazine Street and the Balcony Bar and Kitchen in the 3200 block of Magazine.
In November, he’s planning to open a new live music venue on Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard and Felicity Street called Sugar Loaf.
The former EmerilÕs Delmonico restaurant, owned by chef Emeril Lagasse, at 1300 St. Charles Ave. in New Orleans., photographed Monday, Oct. 12, 2026. The property has been sold. STAFF PHOTO BY DAVID GRUNFELD
STAFF PHOTO BY DAVID GRUNFELD
Talebloo is among several investors who have recently started to try and breathe new life into lower St. Charles Avenue. In addition to the new hotels and renovation of the former Jerusalem Temple, Adam Lambert, the president of Crescent City Auction Gallery, opened an antiques marketplace in the 1400 block of St. Charles in June called The Bellflower.
More recently, the Texas developer behind the Warbler Hotel purchased the old Toy Cleaner in the 2000 block of St. Charles and has plans for a new building on the site, according to Talbot, who said other hotel deals nearby are in the works as well.
Dining and Cooking