The original Mercy Hospital was on Annunciation Street in the Lower Garden District neighborhood; the current building in Mid-City was constructed in 1959.

When the levee system failed on August 30, however, many people found themselves trapped in the facility with no way out after water flooded the emergency generators in the basement which caused power to go out.

Elevators were inoperable, there was no running water, no waste disposal, low food storage, and no TV or radio to get news updates.

Many patients, especially those recovering from risky organ transplantation procedures, were not able to be given the medicines they needed most and, since both the power and the generators had failed, were without vital services such as mechanical ventilation and cardiac monitoring.

[3] Since Hurricane Katrina forced the facility to close, Mid-City New Orleans has been without vital health care services, including an emergency department.

The same real estate group also purchased neighboring properties with plans for a retail development along Bienville Street but the project never moved forward.

[6] St. Margaret's, a Catholic non-profit organization, spent $37 million to renovate more than 100,000 square feet in a former medical office building on the site.