The River District neighborhood reached a significant milestone this week when the developers of the 220-unit Rivana Apartments closed on financing that paves the way for construction to begin on the $111 million complex later this month.
The deal, which was finalized Wednesday, will bring a second major building to the planned community just upriver from the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, where a new regional headquarters for oil giant Shell has been under construction since early 2025. The project will also serve as a visible sign of progress for an ambitious, $1 billion mixed-use development slated for 40 acres of unused land near the banks of the Mississippi River.
“The significance of this week’s closing is hard to overstate,” said Brian Gibbs, one of the Rivana’s developers, in a phone interview Thursday. “Having a new building built next to the Shell headquarters with retail and a park all helps paint the picture that this thing is rolling.”
The financial closing means the project’s lead contractor, Gibbs Construction, can begin fencing off the site in the 1400 block of Tchoupitoulas Street before workers prepare to drive pilings. The construction is expected to take just under two years to complete…