A planned 70-acre medical campus near downtown New Orleans has raised the ire of preservationists and local homeowners. The joint venture of the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs and Louisiana State University will nix the city’s iconic Charity Hospital and more than 150 other historic properties, according to a November 26 New York Times article.

While politicians touted the thousands of jobs and increased healthcare availability the $2 billion project would bring the city, protesters shouted about the history and restoration headway the campus would destroy.

“In selecting these sites, the V.A. and L.S.U. have made a serious error,” National Trust for Historic Preservation President Richard Moe stated in the Times article. “They chose the alternatives that will not only be the most time-consuming, costly, and complex to implement, but will needlessly destroy a historic neighborhood where residents are struggling to rebuild their community in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.”

Adding to the controversy is Louisiana’s current inability to pay its share of the building and land acquisition tab, thanks to a standoff between the state and the Federal Emergency Management Agency over how much FEMA will pay for the damage Katrina caused to Charity. According to a Times-Picayune report, FEMA may soon end the impasse with an offer of $150 million. The state originally requested $494 million.

The V.A. portion of the project, which is funded, has been slated for completion by 2013. The city will have a year to relocate citizens and businesses from the area, according to the Times-Picayune article. Some buildings will be incorporated into the campus and others moved elsewhere in the city. Charity Hospital will not be reused, but it’s likely tax incentives will be offered to buyers of the building, according to the New York Times report.

Preservationists, however, say the $800,000 set aside to save properties will only salvage about 20 of the 165 historic homes, not to mention others in the district that have been restored since Katrina. History and restoration funds, however, won’t be the only casualties of the campus concept, as at least one of the Times sources pointed out.

“It’s a terrible idea,” resident Wallace Thurman, told the newspaper. “I was born in my house, and I’m going to lose it to put up a hospital?”