Virgin Hotel New Orleans Breaks Ground

Sir Richard Branson was in New Orleans last Thursday to break ground on a new $80 million Virgin Hotel, which will go up at the corner of Baronne and Lafayette streets in the Warehouse District. The 14-story, 225-room hotel is expected to open in 2021.

The Virgin Hotel New Orleans has been under development since 2015. A number of New Orleans firms are involved in the project, including Mathes Brierre Architects, Broadmoor Construction and Logan Killen Interiors. There are currently only two other Virgin Hotels, in Chicago and San Francisco. New properties are also being planned in Dallas, Nashville, New York, Las Vegas and Edinburgh, Scotland.

Branson said that New Orleans will be one of the Virgin Hotel destinations the company can promote through its new cruise line, which will debut its first ship out of Miami in 2020.

You can read more about the announcement here.