After seven years of planning, the $1 billion, 35-gate North Terminal, intended to replace the current airport, remains one of New Orleans’ largest projects. Yet its construction has been plagued by delays and plumbing issues, and it has missed its May 2018 completion date by more than a year.

This October, officials broke ground on a $125.6 million interchange to provide airport access from Loyola Avenue at Interstate 10, but that project won’t be completed until at least 2022.

The first phase of a $300 million expansion of the state’s only freestanding children’s hospital began in 2018. Construction is in progress for a four-story tower at the hospital’s Uptown campus that will include two operating rooms, a cardiac intensive care unit, 28 private beds, and a radiology suite.

Included in the expansion are a same-day surgery unit, a neonatal cardiac intensive care unit, a cancer center, a 400-car garage, and a newly designed entrance and lobby.

The project is scheduled to be completed in 2021.

A group of developers led by Joe Jaeger bought this building, previously inhabited by the Times-Picayune, in 2016. They then announced plans to demolish the building—complete with its dramatic marble lobby featuring works by Enrique Alferez—to make way for a three-story, $29 million indoor golf warehouse, set to open in 2020.

As part of that demolition, the building’s iconic, seven-story clock tower, designed by architect Edward B. Silverstein, finally came down this October, dramatically altering the city’s familiar skyline.

The New Orleans Redevelopment Fund bought the blighted hotel across from City Hall and Duncan Plaza in June 2019 for $8 million. The 12-story hotel, originally built in 1952, was abandoned following Hurricane Katrina. A $60 million renovation is underway, and its ground floor is expected to be repurposed for retail and commercial space.

The Domain Companies have planned a 29-story apartment building in the South Market District that will have 271 apartments. Taking the place of a surface parking lot, this 414,000-square-foot tower will be bounded by Loyola Avenue and Julia and Girod streets. Following its completion, currently scheduled for 2020, it will be one of the tallest buildings built in the city within the last three decades.

The hotel group broke ground in May 2019 on an $80 million, 230-room development at Baronne and Lafayette streets, adding to a cluster of hotel developments in the area. The hotel will have a Funny Library Coffee Shop, rooftop pool, a gym, and meeting and event spaces. 

Construction on this $85 million project began in early 2018, but a devastating partial collapse of the hotel’s top floors this October, which injured 30 people and killed three others, has likely put the project’s future in jeopardy.

New Orleans officials fear structural damage could lead to further collapse of the building, which, per the developers’ plans, would include 18 stories with 350 rooms and 62 residential units, 12,000 square feet of event space, a rooftop pool and bar, and lounges on the ground and eighth floors.

Part of a downtown high-rise construction boom, developer Marcel Wisznia’s plans for a $35 million controversial “co-living” space on St. Charles Avenue near Lee Circle include 68 shared residential units. Residents in the 140,000-square-foot development would share common areas like living rooms and kitchens. Wisznia is also aiming for a Punch Bowl Social chain to serve as an anchor tenant in the ground floor’s 25,000 square feet of retail space.

A 67-unit condominium in development on St. Charles Avenue will build on the existing structure, which was previously an office building with a parking garage. The additions will include five stories, and will be modeled to face both St. Charles Avenue and Carondelet Street.

There will also be two commercial spaces for sale inside the condominium.

The new units will have one to two bedrooms, and access to a private balcony or private courtyard, a rooftop entertainment area, a swimming pool, and a sun deck. Listed units have between 735 and 1,552 square feet and start at $400,000. The condominium is expected to open in late 2019.

The upper floors of a building housing Rubenstein’s clothing store on Canal Street will be redeveloped into a boutique hotel. The development is helmed by Joe Jaeger and CICADA architects. The store will remain on the ground floor of the the 19th-century structure, intertwining Renaissance Revival and Baroque elements.

The 33-story former World Trade Center site at the foot of Canal Street is being transformed into a Four Seasons hotel, with 341 rooms and 90 condos. Construction on the $460 million project began in early 2019.

The property was built in 1968 to commemorate the city’s 250th anniversary, and its dormancy has attracted several brands and developers eyeing the tower-like structure and its panoramic views of the city and the Mississippi River.

The hotel will feature two restaurants, 20,000 square feet of meeting space, a golf simulator room, fitness center and spa, and an outdoor 75-foot swimming pool. It’s expected to be completed in 2020.

As part of the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center’s five-year, $558 million capital improvement plan, a 1,200-room Omni Hotel will be developed on what’s currently a parking lot upriver from the Convention Center. Matthews Southwest Hospitality is partnering with developer Darryl Berger on the project.

The Convention Center is leaning on $7 million in public funds to support the hotel’s construction. It is also funding the hotel’s $27 million parking garage.

The Omni Hotel is expected to open in 2021.

In 2017, then-mayor Mitch Landrieu announced plans to redevelop the Mississippi riverfront from Woldenberg Park to Gov. Nicholls Street, in an effort to connect the existing parkway to Crescent Park in Bywater. The Audubon Commission will control that 2.25-mile linear park. Officials are currently collecting public input via surveys and at a series of community meetings, asking residents for their concerns and ideas for park amenities that range from performance spaces to dog parks.

Design and construction will come from a $15 million cooperative endeavor agreement among Audubon, the Port of New Orleans, and the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. The Convention Center will pay $9 million, and Audubon and the port will each pay $2 million.