New Orleans Affordable Landlord Seeks Bankruptcy in Miami

A Miami-based company filed for bankruptcy amid a yearslong legal battle over the redevelopment and demolition of a vacant New Orleans affordable housing complex.

Granaio LLC, which is owned by Joshua Bruno, petitioned for Chapter 11 reorganization in Miami federal court on June 24, listing $37 million in assets and $19 million in liabilities.

The bankruptcy was meant to stop what the company alleges was the City of New Orleans’ unauthorized demolition of its DeGaulle Manor property at 3010 Sandra Drive, the company said in a statement provided by its attorney Adam I. Skolnik.

The $37 million in assets consist principally of the 3010 Sandra Drive property and the development and design work completed for its redevelopment, while $18 million in liabilities represents Granaio’s secured mortgage on the property provided by Capital Advisors, the company said.

DeGaulle Manor, in New Orleans’ Algiers neighborhood, opened in the 1960s as the Bridge Plaza public housing complex. According to the city, the property later became one of New Orleans’ most blighted and troubled affordable housing developments before closing in 2012.

Granaio acquired it in a 2017 sheriff’s sale.

A day before the bankruptcy filing, the city announced it had secured $3 million to demolish the long-vacant complex, ending more than 14 years of delays.

The one-time funding, drawn from the city’s short-term rental fund, will pay for the phased demolition of the 12-building property from last month through May 2027. The city said the abandoned complex has racked up more than 100 code violations and has long been associated with illegal dumping, overgrown vegetation, rodent infestations and crime.

Although the city does not own the property, it plans to seek reimbursement from the company after demolition and environmental cleanup are complete. The city said removing the complex will eliminate a longstanding public safety hazard and create opportunities for future redevelopment.

Granaio, which lists its headquarters at a coworking space at 777 Brickell Avenue, alleges the city violated a 2022 consent judgment that established a process for governing any demolition at the site, disregarded engineering reports concluding the buildings could be redeveloped, and continued demolition after the bankruptcy filing triggered an automatic stay — which typically pauses actions against a bankruptcy filer’s property. The company sued the city on June 30, seeking to stop the demolition, recover damages and obtain compensation for what it alleged as an unlawful taking of its property.

Granaio said it has spent years planning to redevelop the complex into a mixed-income community with affordable and workforce housing, retail space and a community art walk modeled after Miami’s Wynwood Walls. The company alleges the city failed to finalize a redevelopment agreement before moving ahead with demolition.

The city’s communications department did not respond to several requests for comment.

Bruno came under fire from tenant advocates and city officials over deteriorating conditions at apartment complexes he owned during the pandemic, most notably the more than 300-unit Oakmont Apartments in Algiers, NOLA.com reported.

The city ultimately took the step of relocating the property’s remaining tenants.

Court records show Bruno filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in New Orleans federal court in 2022 through affiliated entities that owned multiple apartment complexes while those properties were in foreclosure. In 2023, a bankruptcy judge approved the lenders’ liquidation plan, and the apartment complexes were sold at auction.

Bruno also was accused of aggravated assault and criminal damage to property stemming from an August 2025 arrest in which prosecutors allege he attempted to strike a tenant with his pickup truck, WWLTV reported.

Bruno spent nearly a week in jail in 2024 after an Orleans Parish civil judge held him in contempt before the Louisiana Supreme Court ordered his release, NOLA.com reported.

Granaio and the company’s bankruptcy attorney declined to comment on the status of any criminal allegations. The magistrate office for the New Orleans Clerk of Courts said a case number or date of birth is required to access Bruno’s cases. The New Orleans Police Department did not immediately respond.

Miami-Dade property records show Bruno owns a condo in Miami Beach that is a non-homestead residence. New Orleans property records show the 3010 Sandra Drive complex as the only property in the parish owned by Granaio.

The company and its attorney also declined to comment on any of Bruno’s real estate holdings.