NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – Officials voted to move forward with purchasing a site adjacent to the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in Downtown New Orleans that they said would eventually become home to the city’s newest, major hotel project.
The long-awaited Omni hotel would contain around 1,000 rooms and tower anywhere from 20 to 25 stories above the ground.
The idea of a “headquarters” hotel, basically meaning a hotel adjacent or linked to a city’s convention center, began around a decade ago, and Omni has been the official partner in the idea since 2018.
While efforts in the past failed to come to fruition, on Wednesday the New Orleans Exhibition Hall Authority voted unanimously on two motions: purchasing the site for the project and accepting a formal Letter of Intent with Omni Hotels and Resorts.
The hotel would be built on the current site of the Sugar Mill event venue.
“All of our competitive cities, at least 10 cities, have headquarter hotels, at least one,” said Michael Sawaya, President of the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. “We need a hotel that is adjacent to or attached to our building.”
Sawaya said the hotel would be the first large-scale, new hotel built in the city since 1984.
The total cost of the project is around $565 million, and Omni said it would kick in $500 million.
Purchasing the Sugar Mill cost the Authority around $19.2 million, and Sawaya said they would work with Omni to fill the remaining funding gap with money leveraged from hotel occupancy taxes, restaurant taxes and some contractor taxes.
“This is an example of something that is so transformative and so catalytic when it comes to economic activity,” said Walt Leger, President of New Orleans & Company. “The walkability of our city, the world class hotels we already have, the venues, the culture and the competitive advantages that we have in our city will only benefit from this investment.”
Sawaya said both the Authority, convention center and Omni would be working quickly to begin development. Construction is slated to begin next year, with the hotel being open to the public sometime in 2028 to 2029.
“Every hotel we develop gets better than the last one, and we look forward to working with the authority and the community here to make the best Omni hotel located here in New Orleans,” said Michael G. Smith with Omni Hotels.
Conservatively, it’s estimated the project would generate around 1,100 permanent jobs, roughly $280 million in annual economic impact and add a combined $24 million in annual tax revenue for the city and state.
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