Hayden W. Wren, III., CCIM, SIOR, CPA

Hayden W. Wren, III., CCIM, SIOR, CPA | The CBD

Director, Commercial/ Investment Brokerage, Corporate Realty, Inc.

With a career in real estate that has spanned 35 years, native New Orleanian Hayden Wren has been actively involved in virtually every facet of commercial and investment brokerage, but with a specialty in the sale/acquisition of Central Business Development (CBD) properties. He has participated in an excess of $250 million in sales in the CBD alone.

Wren is a five time F. Poche Waguespack award winner, an annual award given for the largest volume of commercial transactions generated in the Metro New Orleans area, and was recently inducted into the New Orleans Metropolitan Association of Realtors (NOMAR) Commercial Investment Division’s (CID) Hall of Fame.

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How would you describe the growth and current status of the CBD?

The Central Business District (CBD) is a tight, well-defined pocket of bustling activity that combines a strong tourism base anchored by 20,000-plus hotel rooms and world-class restaurants all within walking distance.

The CBD is also the home of the state-of-the-art Ernest N. Morial Convention Center and the world famous National World War II Museum, and serves as the center for financial, legal, accounting, oil and gas and major banking institution activities in the Metro New Orleans area. There are 14 Class A office buildings, featuring 8.9 million square feet of space that house the majority of office users.

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The CBD has a very strong residential community of approximately 5,000 residents located primarily in the Lafayette Square Historic District and the Warehouse Historic District.
The New Orleans CBD is very much alive, 24 hours a day, every day.

Residential and hospitality continues to grow in the Central Business District (CBD), home to the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.

Are there certain sectors that are fueling this growth?

All of the market segments — i.e. office, hospitality, retail and residential — in the CBD are stable. However, the residential and hospitality segments continue to grow.

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The hospitality market will soon be rolling out an additional 1,200-plus rooms. In addition, the residential market continues to introduce new product to an already active market. The market is so strong that the Loyola Avenue corridor — from Poydras Street to Canal Street — has seen no less than a half dozen formerly economically obsolete, shuttered, older office buildings being converted into apartments and condominiums.

What does the CBD mean to the Metro Area?

The CBD is very much the key link to the New Orleans Metro area. In my opinion, it is the linchpin and the showpiece of Metro New Orleans. As the CBD goes, so goes New Orleans and the Metro area.

Looking inxto the future, how do you see this area changing?

In the short term, I think you will see a continuation of residential and hotel development. To provide for the burgeoning population, I do think you will see the settling in of service-type facilities to accommodate the needs of the expanding populous. You might even see another competitor to Rouses, but on the east side of the Warehouse District.

Long-term, urban living will continue its growth (it’s already beginning) in the Marigny and Bywater. The inventory stock in these areas provides alternatives to the high cost of property acquisition in our CBD.

 

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