NEW ORLEANS- Urban planning experts are about to release their recommendations for the future of the abandoned Charity Hospital building in New Orleans.

  

The 20-story, million-square-foot art deco building operated from 1939 until 2005. The state-owned facility never reopened after levee failures during Hurricane Katrina caused catastrophic flooding. Various ideas for redevelopment over the years have fizzled. Among them, a 2013 proposal that the building be converted into a new City Hall and court complex. That plan was abandoned the following year as it was too expensive.

  

On Friday recommendations for the building will be released by representatives of the nonprofit Urban Land Institute, a real estate organization that draws on the expertise of land developers, engineers and others.

  

LSU Health New Orleans and the LSU Real Estate and Facilities Foundation sponsored the study.