NEW ORLEANS – Here are the top business stories from this slow, sleepy summer week:
St. Bernard Economic Development Foundation has announced that St. Bernard Parish Sheriff James Pohlmann and the St. Bernard Parish Council have unanimously approved Chalmette Refining’s Industrial Tax Exemption Program application at the local level. Parish President Guy McInnis also expressed his support. “This new project is exciting for St. Bernard Parish and the metropolitan area,” he said. “We welcome the huge investment at Chalmette Refining and look forward to the hiring of over 100 new employees that are a direct result of this project. Renewable energy is at the center of the U.S. energy transition, and we are thrilled to be included on the ground level in St. Bernard.” …
Local nonprofit STEM NOLA said it will use a portion of a new $1.25 million dollar grant from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation to create an innovation center in New Orleans East. The project is currently in the design and fundraising stage. STEM NOLA plans to house the Innovation Center in a 42,000-square-foot building formerly owned by Ochsner Health located at 6800 Plaza Drive. The structure was damaged during Hurricane Katrina and was donated to the nonprofit by the health system. A spokesperson for STEM NOLA said the new facility will feature a specialized STEM-exploration laboratory space, classrooms and meeting spaces, and it will serve as the headquarters for the delivery and design of programming. …
New Orleans based real estate developer Anthony Marullo has launched the $100 million Louisiana Revitalization Fund aimed at “investing in the revitalization of the hospitality and other service-based industries that have recently suffered due to the pandemic,” according a press release from Urban Properties Real Estate. The goal of the fund, said Marullo, is to have available capital to purchase commercial real estate to help infuse businesses by offering lease-back options to business owners or masters of their craft/trade. In other words, business owners in need of capital can sell their property to investors and then sign a lease to continue working on the premises. “The demand from investors was overwhelming and I am proud to announce we are overfunded,” said Marullo. “Lease-back real estate structuring can be a great investment for both the developer and the operator. It gives the operator the cash infusion needed while giving the developer a solid return.” …
Local restaurants Beaucoup Eats, Taste & See and Addis will all receive support from the PepsiCo Foundation and National Urban League Black Restaurant Accelerator Program. The joint $10 million initiative will provide 500 Black restaurant owners in 12 cities over the next five years with capital, technical assistance and mentorship services. “As the pandemic exposed existing disparities many minority business owners face, we saw a fundamental threat that could erase the decades of progress Black-owned restaurants have made,” said Pepsi’s C.D. Glin in a press release. “This investment will help Black restaurateurs not only recover from the pandemic but set them on a path to long-term economic resilience.” Pepsi said 41% of Black-owned businesses have shuttered since February 2020 compared to just 17% of white-owned businesses. …
New Orleans & Company is re-launching its COOLinary New Orleans summer restaurant campaign from July 14 to Sept. 5 with some new twists. Unlike previous years, the campaign has opened participation to include delivery and take-out options, as well as counter service restaurants. The 17th annual COOLinary New Orleans (July 14 – September 5) returns earlier this summer in an updated format, offering special two- and three-course lunch menus for $25 or less and three-course dinner and brunch menus for $45 or less at restaurants* including:
