City Grill

Ken Flower
President
Woodward Design+Build

Downtown continues to be a hotbed for construction in New Orleans, with much of that activity attributable to the state’s historic tax credit program, Flower says. The program has enabled development of the city’s existing but underutilized building stock, with structures that have been vacant for decades returning to use as hotels, apartments, retail and mixed-use developments. One such redevelopment Woodward helped coordinate was the conversion of the long-vacant New Orleans Public Service Building into the Nopsi Hotel, which opened to the public on July 6.

Woodward also coordinated construction efforts on the first four phases to redevelop the Iberville Public Housing Development, vacated after being damaged in Hurricane Katrina. The project is scheduled for a 2018 completion.

New Orleans also has seen a health care boom, with two recently built hospitals adjacent to the downtown area.

Additionally, renewed interest in urban living and a booming tourism industry continue to drive the demand for housing and other lifestyle amenities downtown, he adds.