Downtown New Orleans is on the precipice of a new era. Tulane University has executed a purchase agreement to become the anchor tenant of the 1-million-square-foot Charity Hospital redevelopment, which will bring 2,500 new jobs, a major increase in research expenditures, and the potential to spin off new businesses that can become tenants in existing office space and drive new development. The Charity Hospital project is also expected to include hundreds of housing units. Once complete, the Tulane Innovation Institute, New Orleans BioInnovation Center, and Xavier Ochsner College of Medicine will expand opportunities to drive growth where Downtown meets the BioDistrict.
Just next door, the Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District and New Orleans Pelicans are developing conceptual plans for a transformational renovation of the Smoothie King Center and surrounding area. On the opposite side of Downtown, the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center has received entitlement and nearly finalized financing for a 1,000-room convention center hotel that will bring 1,400 new jobs and allow the city to compete for meeting and event business that current facilities cannot accommodate.
Together, these catalytic projects represent nearly $2 billion in new investment, positioning Downtown for long-term growth…