The New Orleans’ commercial real estate retail market saw growth in 2013 like it hadn’t seen in years with many new retailers coming to town.

Here are the highlights:

The $70 million redevelopment of the Riverwalk Marketplace downtown into an upscale outlet mall.   The renovation will add 50,000 square feet to the building.  New tenants include Neiman Marcus, Tommy Bahama, Coach Men’s Factory Store, New Balance Factory Store and Red Mango.

The planned outlet mall at the former Six Flags site in New Orleans east died. The city’s Industrial Development Board formally terminated a two-year lease agreement with the joint development team of Provident Realty Advisors of Dallas and DAG Development of New Orleans.  The developers acknowledged that the Riverwalk Marketplace development killed the deal.

Costco opened its $45 million store in mid-City (I-10 and Carrollton) in September, which created about 200 permanent jobs.  Proponents are excited that wholesale shopping can now be done in Orleans Parish, capturing the sales tax that neighboring Jefferson parish had been seeing for years.  The city chipped in $2 million to improve streets, sidewalks, traffic lights and drainage and created a rebate of $3.3 million in sales taxes in Costco’s first five years of operation to reimburse the company for complying with the Federal Emergency Management Association’s elevation standard.

High end clothing retailer Billy Reid opened in a 2,000 square foot location at 3927 Magazine Street.

The blow dry bar trend hit New Orleans at the beginning of 2013, with the opening of Blo Blow Dry Bar at 5530 Magazine Street.  The 1,300 sf store was a flagship location for the company.

H&M opened its first store in Louisiana in a 32,000-square-foot spot in the French Quarter that previously housed Hard Rock Café and French Connection.  The New Orleans store will be one of the first U.S. sites to feature an H&M Home department.

Tiffany and Co. opened a store in Canal Place. The 3,900-square-foot store includes bridal, fine and fashion jewelry sections.  The new store, in space formerly occupied by Mignon Faget, employs 21 people.  The company spent more than $2 million to build at the downtown mall.

New Orleans will also be home to two new Wal-Mart stores, as construction is underway for new locations in Gentilly and on Bullard Avenue in eastern New Orleans.

Related Posts

• 

  Cantrell Eyes Demolition of Six Flags Site

• 

  Six Louisiana Wal-Mart Properties Trade For $78 Million

• 

  Check Out Scurlock’s Plan & Renderings For Six Flags Site [VIDEO]