"For every one dollar that the state of Louisiana spends on UNO, the university generates about another $17. Quite simply, that is a staggering rate of return"
UNO President John Nicklow, speaking about the university’s new economic impact study, conducted by its Division of Business and Economic Research. The study found UNO’s impact on the eight-parish New Orleans metro area during the 2014-2015 fiscal year to be $470.1 million.
Jefferson Parish in 2015
Population: 433,401
Median Household Income: $46,302
Civil Labor Force: 220,772
Average Annual Wage: $47,758
Unemployment Rate: 5.8%
Residential Construction Permits Issued: 2,158
Value: $105,266
Commercial Construction Permits Issued: 926
Value: $145,816
SOURCE: JEDCO 2015 Annual Report
Louisiana cities with access to the Best 401(k) Benefits Plans
(According to a recent SmartAsset study)
COMING SOON
UNO Digital Animation Studio
The University of New Orleans has received a $94,728 grant from the Louisiana Board of Regents to build a digital animation studio. The studio — an 11-station laboratory housed at Earl K. Long Library — is expected to be available to students in the spring of 2017 and will serve to better equip them for jobs in animation and special effects. In the New Orleans metro area, the annual mean wage for people working in that field is nearly $73,930.
New Destinations from MSY
Clearwater, Florida (Allegiant Air) service currently underway twice weekly
Frankfurt, Germany (Condor) twice weekly from May 3 to September 27, 2017
Destin-Fort Walton Beach, Florida (GLO Airlines) daily service begins June 24
Recent Openings
Pontchartrain Hotel
On June 17, the famed Pontchartrain Hotel at 2031 St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans’ Garden District reopened. A project of AJ Capital Partners and John Besh’s Our House Hospitality, the 106-room hotel was built in 1927 and played host to prominent figures including Frank Sinatra and Tennessee Williams, the latter of which wrote “A Streetcar Named Desire” while living in the hotel.
SVN | Graham, Langlois & Legendre
Commercial real estate brokerage firm SVN | Graham, Langlois & Legendre, out of Baton Rouge, opened its first office location in New Orleans June 1 at 139 Enterprise Drive in Gretna. Having quadrupled in size in less than two years, this past April, SVN became the third largest CRE firm in Baton Rouge.
California Building
On June 28, Malin Construction celebrated the grand opening of the California Building at 1111 Tulane Avenue. Among the oldest International Style buildings in New Orleans, the former 10-story office building has been revitalized as a mixed use building with retail space on the first floor and 167 luxurious residential units.
Select Laboratory Software
On June 6, North Carolina-based Select Laboratory Software announced the company’s expansion into New Orleans with an office on 650 Poydras Street. SLS develops cloud-based medical laboratory software used in toxicology and clinical laboratories across the country. The company is expected to hire up to 25 people, with the first five to 10 to start by the close of this year.
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