NEW ORLEANS — At an Oct. 27 event, leaders of the Port of New Orleans gave a progress report on efforts to build the $1.5 billion Louisiana International Terminal in St. Bernard Parish.
Port NOLA President and CEO Brandy Christian said the updated plan incorporates feedback from the St. Bernard community on traffic, neighborhood buffers, drainage and more.
“The input we received over the past two years from conversations at our community office, our two Community Advisory Councils, three public open houses, and two 30-day public notice periods gave us valuable insight,” said Christian.
The port hopes the facility, to be located on nearly 1,100 acres in Violet, will serve the larger vessels that are becoming more and more commonplace in the container industry. Officials said that, without a terminal downriver from the Crescent City Connection Bridge, Louisiana stands to lose to competing ports in the Gulf.
Here are more of the week’s top business stories:
Video game industry icon Jeff Strain has announced the public launch of Crop Circle Games, the second studio under Strain’s New Orleans-based Prytania Media imprint. Strain is co-founder of ArenaNet and founder of Undead Labs. The good news is that Crop Circle will be headquartered in New Orleans. The bad news? Most of parent company Prytania’s employees will work remotely. Like its “sister studio” Possibility Space, Crop Circle will be a fully distributed studio, “allowing every CCG developer to live and work wherever they are happiest,” said Strain in a press release announcing the new company’s debut. In 2021, city and state economic development officials touted a deal with Jeff and Annie Strain, Prytania’s co-founder, that would bring up to 75 new jobs to an office at the Pan-American Life Center on Poydras Street, but Strain said the realities of post-pandemic work life — and “red tape” associated with claiming state incentives — caused them to rethink the plan.
The New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center has achieved its first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification, a building rating system that provides a framework for “healthy, highly efficient, green buildings.” The official certification from the U.S. Green Building Council makes the convention center the “largest LEED-certified project in Louisiana, the largest convention center project in the U.S. certified under LEED v4.1 Operations and Maintenance, and the first convention center in the world to be awarded initial certification under LEED v4.1 O+M.” The latest version of LEED certification “raises the bar on building standards for energy efficiency, water conservation, indoor air quality and waste reduction.”
Regional public relations, marketing and advertising agency Beuerman Miller Fitzgerald has announced the acquisition of Bond Moroch. The deal includes the transition of several existing Bond clients. A BMF spokesperson said the company’s strength “lies in an international base of clients in multiple diverse sectors, and in the firm’s expertise in taking clients from brand development to marketing and PR to highly respected crisis and reputation management services that are tailored to each client’s needs and focused on business continuity.”
Real Estate Developer Green Coast Enterprises has announced the sale of its interests in the Pythian, a historic mixed-use property located at 234 Loyola Avenue in New Orleans. ERG Enterprises now assumes full ownership of the building. Green Coast Enterprises, along with ERG Enterprises and Crescent City Community Land Trust, purchased the Pythian in 2015 and launched a major renovation. The new Pythian opened in 2017 with fully renovated facilities, including 69 apartments, a fresh food market, and healthcare and business offices.
Equity investment firm LongueVue Capital said it has partnered with Dr. Stephen Harrison and Gail Hinkson of Summit Clinical Research, an integrated research organization, to “provide human and financial capital to accelerate the company’s growth.” Summit specializes in complex indications, including hepatology with a focus on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. Founded in 2018 and based in San Antonio, Texas, Summit manages a growing network of 100+ clinical trial sites worldwide seeking to improve trial enrollment quality, and outcomes in complex clinical trials. Summit allows sponsors to unite disparate sites under a single contributor to accelerate trial timelines and achieve target patient enrollment goals more efficiently and cost-effectively. Summit partners with many pharma and biotech sponsors specifically in hepatology and NASH research. The company’s operations span over 25 states and six countries, supporting pharmaceutical and biotech companies of all sizes across all stages of clinical trials.
