by CSB Staff •
March 29, 2021 •
News •
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Last Wednesday, the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center board voted to select the River District group as the “master developer” that will design and build an entire new neighborhood on 39 acres upriver from the Crescent City Connection.
The winning consortium, led by Elmwood-based Lauricella Land Co. as a co-managing member, bested Muse Landing, a joint venture of Woodward, Leventhal and Carpenter & Company headed by Woodward Design+Build president Paul Flower. The Domain Companies had also been in the running until dropping out a week before the board vote. There were originally five groups that submitted responses, which were then narrowed down to three.
In addition to Lauricella, other partners in the development team are Chris Maguire, CEO and chairman of the board of Dallas-based Cypress Equities; local developer Brian Gibbs; Michael Meredith of Verius Property Group; Shawn Barney of real estate development and public finance advisory firm CLB Porter; Tara Hernandez, founder and president of JCH Properties+, and local consultant Nicole Webre. San Francisco-based Gensler and local firm Manning Architects are the master planners, while Boh Bros. Construction, Broadmoor Construction, Gibbs Construction and the Lemoine Company will serve as the contractors.
River District’s plan includes more than $1 billion in cost, and will consist of two phases that include 1,100 residences with 450 being affordable, a civil rights museum, retail, parks, a boutique hotel, a tech campus, a music venue, movie theater and more.
The first phase will include 600 mixed-income housing units, an outdoor event and public square space dubbed “Batture Square,” a 2,500-seat live music venue, a movie theater, more than 100,000 square feet of retail and restaurant offerings, parking structures and a 150-room boutique hotel.
The second phase would include with the rest of the residential units, 30,000 square feet of retail and a 750,000-square-foot corporate/tech campus designed to appeal to a younger demographic.
The River District group is also under contract to purchase the adjacent, historic, Market Street Power Plant.
