NEW ORLEANS – An end of the year message from the President and CEO of Downtown Development District (DDD), Davon Barbour, highlights progress made in the development of the City’s BioDistrict and the Canal Street corridor, along with Super Bowl LIX preparations.
The BioDistrict New Orleans is an economic development district of approximately 1200 acres adjacent to downtown New Orleans and includes Tulane and Xavier Universities as well as the LSU Health Sciences Center and the New Orleans BioInnovation Center. The BioDistrict brings health care, economic development, higher education, business, and nonprofit organizations together to build the expertise, assets, and opportunities needed to position New Orleans as a global center of excellence in research and healthcare specialties such as neurodegenerative diseases.
In 2024, the Downtown Development District, the City of New Orleans and the BioDistrict worked together for the creation of a BioDistrict Strategic Plan which was approved by the New Orleans City Council. Approval of the plan clears the way for funding for improvements that enhance the quality of life for the people of New Orleans such as Tulane Avenue streetscape improvements.
Also in 2024, the New Orleans City Council directed the City Planning Commission to provide recommendations to improve commercial development viability along the Canal Street corridor. The Downtown Development District welcomed over forty ground-floor establishments to the district and Percy “Master P” Miller, New Orleans’ official Entertainment Ambassador, announced his plans to establish the NOLA Walk of Fame along Canal Street. The Walk of Fame project will install plaques along lower Canal Street to honor the city’s finest artists, entrepreneurs, and philanthropists, with the first fifty plaques in place by Feb. 6, 2025, in time for the Super Bowl.
Barbour said the Downtown Development District’s role in Super Bowl LIX preparations includes landscaping and lighting upgrades along with numerous murals showcasing the New Orleans spirit. The murals include the Brandan “BMIKE” Odums and Eternal Seeds 100-foot-wide mural on the Girod St Hyatt wall and the Tulane University, NASA, and DDD “Rings of Ecology” mural on Canal Street by Lee Hay and Sheri Philips.
Downtown Development District also continued its coalition building resulting in the allocation of external funding for sidewalk improvements, tree planting, parks and open space upgrades, and enhancements to the public realm generally.
“We joined public sector agencies, economic development partners, private utilities, and others to ensure that Downtown New Orleans is ready for its global showing,” said Barbour.
