GNO, Inc. Sunday Night Highlight – Downtown New Orleans Rides Post-Super Bowl Wave

According to the Downtown Development District’s latest market report, the CBD of New Orleans is experiencing a surge in commercial investment, with nearly $3 billion in planned projects across the downtown area and its surrounding neighborhoods.  These projects include:

• The New Orleans Saints and the state of Louisiana signing of a long-term lease, securing the team’s home at the Caesars Superdome through 2035 with options to extend the deal to 2055 (Who Dat! ⚜️)
• Saints owner Gayle Benson’s acquisition of 1515 Poydras Street, a 27-story Class A tower completed in 1983. The 529,000-square-foot property, which includes nearly 500 parking spaces, sits adjacent to both the Sports and Entertainment District and the BioDistrict
• Delta Utilities’ decision to expand its headquarters at Place St. Charles, a move tied to a series of acquisitions that have quickly elevated the company into the ranks of the nation’s top 40 natural gas providers.  Delta’s headquarters lease at Place St. Charles marked the largest Class A office transaction in five years
• The redevelopment of Charity Hospital, anchored by Tulane University, continues.  Once complete, this transformative project will reactivate the long-vacant building into a $600 million mixed-use life sciences and innovation campus. Tulane University has committed to leasing up to 500,000 square feet, its largest Downtown footprint to date. Among the plans for the structure, the project will include:
  • Biomedical and public health research labs
  • Academic classrooms and collaboration spaces
  • Public plazas, retail shops, and dining venues
  • Up to 300 residential units, including 150 for middle-income households
• The long-vacant Plaza Tower, an aging 45-story skyscraper that has sat empty since 2002, may soon be converted into affordable senior housing, according to a recent article by the Times-Picayune. Discussions are currently underway between property ownership and Lincoln Avenue Communities (LAC), a California-based affordable housing developer known for historic rehabilitation projects across the country
• 300 St. Charles Avenue is undergoing renovation to house the Bienville Club, an upscale social and business space, along with private office suites
• 210 St. Charles Avenue, part of the former Whitney Bank Complex, is being restored as a 37-room boutique hotel
• 1000 Howard Avenue, a long-blighted former Archdiocese property, is being redeveloped into a 39-unit apartment-style hotel near the BioDistrict
• Miami-based Gencom acquired the Ritz-Carlton New Orleans, reinforcing national interest in high-end hospitality assets
• Award-winning chef Isaac Toups announced plans to open a new restaurant in the former Cotton Exchange building at 231 Carondelet Street
• John Besh’s new restaurant, Delacroix, has opened on Spanish Plaza, next to the Canal Street ferry landing
• And adjacent to downtown:
  • The Exhibition Hall Authority approved the development and ground lease agreements with Omni for a 1,000-room convention hotel. The project is now in design phase, with construction slated to begin in 2026 and a targeted opening in 2029
  • Construction is underway at the River District, with infrastructure upgrades largely completed, and the first vertical project, a Class-A office tower for Shell, recently broken ground

Overall, vacancy downtown is 13%, compared to the national average of 21%.  Knudsen said this vibrancy and these developments illustrate the momentum sparked by high-profile events such as Super Bowl LIX earlier this year. “The legacy of Super Bowl LIX goes far beyond a single weekend; it’s embedded in the bricks and mortar, blueprints, and business plans shaping a new era for the heart of the city,” he wrote.

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