BIODISTRICT

NEW ORLEANS
Demographic and Economic
Baseline Report

September 30, 2010

 DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction 1

Executive Summary 3

Geographic Definitions 5

Population 7

Population Projections 13

Households 17

Income 21

Age of Residents 25

Household Retail Expenditures 27

Housing Units and Housing Value 29

Residential Real Estate 35

Retail Establishments 45

Restaurants and Bars 51

Commercial Real Estate 53

Hospitality and Special Events 61

Major Institutions 67

Employment 75

Conclusion 81
DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

Introduction
Executive Summary
Geopraphic Definitions
 DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

INTRODUCTION
To support the efforts of BioDistrict New Orleans (“the District”), GCR & Associates, Inc. (GCR)
has compiled a wide variety of demographic and economic data. These data are designed to serve as
a comprehensive “baseline” analysis of the District as it exists in the summer of 2010. This baseline
provides a snapshot of current conditions in and around the 2.2 square mile BioDistrict; a report on
the extent to which the district has rebounded from the effects of Hurricane Katrina in August of
2005; and a description of how conditions within the District compare to those in surrounding areas
and to the city of New Orleans as a whole.

The purpose of these baseline data is two-fold. First, they provide the BioDistrict and its partners
with credible indicators of current demographic and economic data with which to analyze public and
private investment opportunities, programmatic initiatives, and market potential. Secondly, they serve
as a benchmark to measure the ongoing impact of the growth of the biosciences industry on the
District’s population, demographic composition, economic competitiveness, and real estate dynamics.
Five, ten, or twenty years down the road, the most cogent and concise way to analyze the effects of
the BioDistrict’s efforts will be to compare those future conditions to the 2010 starting point.

This report documents the

sources and methodologies used
for the suite of baseline indica-
tors assembled and developed by
GCR. Additionally, the report
analyzes these indicators within
the context of dynamics through-
out the city and, where available,
in comparison to the pre-Katrina
condition of the District. A
comparison of the pre- and
post-storm characteristics of the
BioDistrict is essential, given the A comprehensive baseline assessment of the BioDistrict will serve as a bench-
mark to document the impact of major investments within the District.
fact that the District was almost
entirely flooded by Katrina. This comparison, therefore, helps to frame the investments that have oc-
curred over the past five years and the near-term trajectory of the area.

The sources of the baseline data are varied, ranging from original data collection, to publicly available
databases, to interviews with key institutions. GCR has, where relevant, used mapping and database
technology and GCR’s own analytics to report data at the smallest, most nuanced geographical unit.
Additionally, GCR has used its knowledge of the especially dynamic post-Katrina conditions in and
around New Orleans to extrapolate data into its most current and customized form.

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 DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
As this document consists of a compendium of data from disparate sources covering disparate top-
ics, there is no single thesis or overarching theme that emerges from the data. Perhaps the closest
approximation of this, however, is the blend of poverty and opportunity in the BioDistrict. Incomes
within the District are substantially below the citywide median; real estate values are comparatively
affordable; and neighborhood blight remains a formidable challenge. At the same time, the District
benefits from a tremendous number of stable institutional employers. With the forthcoming invest-
ment in the VA and University Medical Center (UMC) facilities and the anticipated spinoff economic
activity in areas such as research and development and medical manufacturing, there is a tremendous
opportunity to leverage these investments to tackle the longstanding poverty and quality of life issues
in the BioDistrict. There are few areas in the New Orleans region that have this unique blend of ma-
jor economic drivers set amidst a relatively impoverished community. There are also few low income
areas that have the potential for economic development, wealth creation, and social improvement
afforded by the major investments that the BioDistrict will soon witness.

The principal conclusions for each of the topics that were researched for this report are as follows:

• Population: The population of the BioDistrict has largely recovered from Katrina although much
of the population is now in a different housing type—large multifamily developments rather than
the 1-4 unit rental buildings that comprised much of the housing stock prior to Katrina.

• Projected Population Growth: Absent major investments in housing, blight remediation, infra-
structure, and beautification, population growth within the BioDistrict is expected to be limited.
With the right mix and sufficient scale of community investments, however, the BioDistrict could
become the preferred neighborhood for those employed at the UMC and VA hospitals and other
major institutions in the District.

• Households: A substantial portion of the BioDistrict population is not in a traditional household

environment, as the District contains a substantial “group quarters” population. Between univer-
sity dormitories, Parish prison facilities, group homes, and other accommodations, nearly a third
of the present population of the District is within a group quarters facility.

• Income: The median income of the BioDistrict is well below the median income for the city of New
Orleans overall—itself not a wealthy city.

• Age: The age profile of the BioDistrict is generally the same as the age profile of the city of New
Orleans overall.

• Retail Expenditures: The breakdown of household retail expenditures in the District roughly
parallels that of New Orleans overall. As a result of lower household incomes, however, District
residents generally have less to spend than residents in other areas of New Orleans.

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• Housing and Real Estate: The BioDistrict housing market is affordable by citywide standards.
One major reason for this and a major impediment to further investment is the abundance of
vacant and blighted properties within the District, a problem that existed even before Katrina
inundated the area. However, strong occupancy rates at new multifamily developments within the
District suggest that there is further potential demand for high quality rental housing in the BioDis-
trict.

• Retail Offerings: The District is largely underserved by retail. There are vibrant pockets of small,
independently owned businesses, but many basic retail establishments (grocery store or hard-
ware store, for example) are not located in the BioDistrict. Furthermore, there are few, if any,
stores for “discretionary” retail purchases, such as clothing, furniture, electronic, and sporting
goods stores. However, there are three potential retail concepts within and adjacent to the BioDis-
trict that could provide additional retail opportunities: the sports/entertainment district adjacent
to the Superdome, the revitalization of Canal Street in Downtown New Orleans, and the potential
for big box retail along Earhart Boulevard (as proposed in the city’s recently adopted Master Plan).

• Restaurants: There are a variety of small restaurants in the district, mostly providing fast food
and affordable dining options. Many of the principal employers and economic drivers in the
District—the LSU Health Sciences Center and Xavier University, for example—have few restaurants
within walking distance. Given the forthcoming investment in the UMC and VA hospitals, there is a
likely market for quality restaurant offerings.

• Commercial Office Market: There is a wide diversity of office types within the BioDistrict, rang-
ing from high quality Class A office towers to boutique offices within converted residential struc-
tures. Rents tend to be affordable, and there is an ample supply of underutilized office space both
in Downtown New Orleans and scattered throughout the District. This surplus space could poten-
tially accommodate spinoff economic activity catalyzed by the UMC and VA facilities.

• Hospitality: The inventory of hotels within the BioDistrict is limited. Virtually all of the hotels
are at the same, budget-level price point, and there is currently only one Extended Stay option
within the District. Throughout the city, the hotel market is not as strong as it was in 2005 (prior to
Katrina), but it has rebounded somewhat. The completion of the Hyatt Hotel will add a substantial
inventory of quality rooms to the BioDistrict.

• Major Institutions: The major health care, educational, and governmental institutions are the
principal economic drivers in the area. Collectively, they employ over 14,000, and their signifi-
cance and economic reach are poised to grow substantially with the completion of the VA and
UMC hospitals in the coming years.

• Employment: The District is home to approximately 30,000 jobs. Approximately half of the jobs
are directly generated by the major institutions in the BioDistrict. While there is substantial growth
potential in the health care sector, it is already the primary economic driver of the area, account-
ing for nearly a quarter of all of the present jobs within the BioDistrict.

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 DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

GEOGRAPHIC DEFINITIONS
The portion of the city referred to in this report as “BioDistrict New Orleans” or “the District”
(shaded green in the following map) is bounded by Loyola Avenue, Earhart Boulevard, Carrollton
Avenue, and Iberville Street. The “Expanded Area” (shaded blue in the map) contains all areas
within the BioDistrict plus the area bounded approximately by Royal Street/St. Charles Avenue,
Martin Luther King Boulevard/Broad Street/Fontainebleau Drive, Leonidas Street/Olympia Street,
and Orleans Avenue. In some tables within this report, specific addresses and properties are listed in
the “Buffer” or “Expanded Area” and refer to those properties that are within the Expanded Area
but not within the BioDistrict itself; in other words, only the areas shaded blue in the map below. In
other tables, particularly those that pertain to demographic data, data for the Expanded Area are in-
clusive of the BioDistrict as well. This report attempts to clarify these distinctions as individual data-
sets are presented. Meanwhile, any “citywide” or “city of New Orleans” references within the tables
below refer to the entirety of the city of New Orleans/Orleans Parish, including the BioDistrict and
Expanded Area unless noted otherwise.

Map of BioDistrict Area and Expanded Area

BioDistrict

BioDistrict Expanded Area

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DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

Population
 DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

POPULATION
The population of the city—and correspondingly that of the BioDistrict and its surroundings—has
experienced considerable fluctuation in the past decade. Before Hurricane Katrina, the city had ex-
perienced steady population decline since the 1960 Census as a result of smaller household sizes and
disinvestment in certain neighborhoods. This pattern slowed considerably in the 1990’s, but accord-
ing to official Census figures, the city’s population declined by nearly 30,000 residents between 2000
and 2005—from 484,764 to 455,188. Alternate estimates suggest that the population was essentially
static during the first five years of the decade1. Since Katrina, population levels in the city have
steadily increased on an annual basis, and as of this writing, the current population stands at approxi-
mately 79% of its 2005 size.

Each year, the U.S. Census Bureau updates its population estimates for counties (parishes in Loui-
siana) throughout the country. This data set, as well as the annual American Community Survey
(ACS), serves as an intermediate method of tracking population growth and demographic changes
at the county level during the periods between decennial censuses. The most recent update to the
population estimates dataset was published for 2009, while the most recent update to the ACS was
published for 2008.

2010 Population as % of Pre-Storm Population

Sources: GCR & Associates’ Residential Activity Index, Census Bureau

Note: These population figures include the incarcerated population as they are included in the Census’ tally of overall popula-
tion. A more detailed description of the prison and non-prison population is presented below.

Since Hurricane Katrina, GCR has supplemented these datasets with a block-level “activity index” to
track recovery and repopulation throughout New Orleans and its surrounding parishes. This index
relies on indicators of residential occupancy, including active utility accounts, garbage collection ac-
counts, and postal accounts. GCR has developed a copyrighted methodology for using these data to
estimate population return, and GCR updates its estimates on a monthly basis. Unlike the Census
population estimates, which only report data at the parish level, GCR generates block-level estimates
that can be aggregated to customized geographical reporting units. Therefore, GCR has been able to
Indeed, data compiled and analyzed by GCR for the City of New Orleans’ appeal of the 2007 Census estimate suggest that there was little change in the number of house-
1

holds in New Orleans from 2000 to 2005.

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DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

develop annual population estimates for the BioDistrict and the Expanded Area. Additionally, GCR
has used its activity index to provide an updated citywide estimate as of March 1, 2010.

The table below combines the 2000 Census, annual Census population estimates for the city, the up-
dated 2010 citywide estimate developed by GCR, and the sub-area estimates for post-storm periods
also developed by GCR. Please note that the population totals for the “Expanded Area” are cumula-
tive totals that include all blocks within the Expanded Area, including the BioDistrict itself.

Total Population, 2000-2010

Sources: 2000 Census, 2005 – 2009 Census population estimates, GCR Activity Index and geo-processing of Census 2000 sf1 block level data.
Note: These population figures include the incarcerated population as they are included in the Census’ tally of overall population. A more detailed description of the
prison and non-prison population is presented below.
Note: 2010 estimate is from March 1, 2010; 2000 figure is from April 1, 2000; all other estimates are from July 1

Population of New Orleans: Census Estimates vs. Initial Projections

Sources: Census population estimates, 2006 RAND Corporation population projections.

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 DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

BioDistrict New Orleans – A Recovering Community

Several conclusions can be drawn from the population data:

• Given that 80% of the city of New Orleans flooded and that 71% of all housing units in the city
were damaged2, New Orleans has recovered relatively quickly from Katrina. The city’s rate of popu-
lation growth has greatly exceeded initial, post-Katrina projections for the city’s pace of recovery3.

• The recovery of both the BioDistrict and the Expanded Area is outpacing that of the city as a whole.
The BioDistrict has recovered approximately 85%, and the Expanded Area 82%, of their respective
pre-storm populations. New Orleans as a whole stands at 79% of its pre-storm population.

• At all three geographical levels, the population continues to grow. New Orleans has gained ap-
proximately 5,000 residents since the last official Census estimate (2009). The population of the
BioDistrict has grown by 12% since the summer of 2009 while the Expanded Area has grown by a
healthy 5% since then.

• The pace at which the BioDistrict and the Expanded Area have recovered is impressive in light of
the damage that both areas sustained. Virtually the entire extent of both geographical areas expe-
rienced moderate to severe flooding from Katrina.

A New Housing Typology

While the population of the
District is within 15% of its
pre-Katrina population, the
spatial arrangement of the
population and the type of
housing that District residents
occupy have changed substan-
tially over the past five years.
To a greater extent than any
other neighborhood in New
Orleans, the BioDistrict has
witnessed the emergence of Large, multifamily, mixed income developments, such as the Crescent Club
(pictured here), represent a new type of housing for the BioDistrict.
high density, tax credit fi-
nanced, multi-unit apartment buildings in recent years. Historically, the overwhelming major-
ity of housing units in the District have consisted of low-rise, one- to four-unit structures.
Most of these structures were rendered uninhabitable by Katrina’s floodwaters, and many
remain unrepaired and unoccupied. In the meantime, over 900 high-density multifamily units
have been completed within the District since 2008, representing approximately 870 house-
holds and over 2,000 residents. In fact, these new multifamily units represent nearly 19% of
the current households in the District. Absent this investment, the present population of the
BioDistrict would be substantially lower.
2
Source: FEMA damage estimates, February 2006
3
For example, the RAND Corporation prepared post-Katrina population projections in 2006 that projected a 2008 City of New Orleans population of 271,870. The official
Census estimate for 2008 was 336,664.

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DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

Prison and Public Housing Populations

In addition to the emergence of
a new type of housing within
the District, other populations
that warrant special mention
include residents within public
housing developments and the
incarcerated population. Ac-
cordingly, GCR has researched
and compiled location-specific
data for these sub-groups.

Data for the population of the

prison facilities overseen by the Public housing units comprised a tremendous percentage of the households
Orleans Parish Criminal Sher- within the Expanded Area prior to Katrina. The pace and the scale of their
redevelopment will have a major impact on the future profile of the area.
iff ’s Office (which are located
within the BioDistrict’s bound-
aries) were based on construc-
tion updates issued from the
Sheriff ’s Office. There has
been a substantial decline in
prison beds from the approxi-
mately 6,000 that existed before
Katrina as a result of damage
to prison facilities. As facilities
have been restored, the prison
population has grown to ap-
proximately 3,300 but remains
Prison facilities also constitute a large percentage of the population of the
well below the pre-storm total. BioDistrict and Expanded Area. Within the table below, this percentage of the
population has been disaggregated from the total population.

While there are no public hous-

ing developments within the BioDistrict itself, there are four major housing developments—B.W.
Cooper, Guste, Iberville, and Lafitte—within the Expanded Area. Population estimates for each of
these facilities were culled from HANO redevelopment plans and field observations of demolition
and redevelopment activity.

The table below provides the figures for both the prison population and the population within
public housing. Given that both sub-groups comprise a significant percentage of the population
of the BioDistrict and the Expanded Area, the population dynamics of both areas cannot be
fully understood without disaggregating these sub-populations from the overall population. Note
again that in the table below, the Expanded Area population includes the entire population of the
BioDistrict.

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Population of Prison and Public Housing Developments

Note: 2010 estimate is from March 1, 2010; 2000 figure is from April 1, 2000; all other estimates are from July 1
Sources: 2000 Census, HANO redevelopment plans, Orleans Parish Criminal Sheriff’s Office construction updates, GCR Activity Index

Geography of Population Recovery

Population recovery within the BioDistrict and adjacent areas has not occurred evenly.
While some blocks have recovered much or all of their pre-Katrina population, others have
less than half of their pre-storm population, and many have some intermediate level of pop-
ulation. Using data calculated from the Activity Index, GCR assembled the following map
which illustrates the repopulation of blocks within the BioDistrict as well as those surround-
ing the District. As the legend indicates, the color that each block is shaded corresponds to
the percentage of each block’s pre-Katrina population, as of March 1, 2010. Those blocks
that are shaded white on the map had no residential activity prior to Katrina.
Percent of Pre-Katrina Population Returned by Block

BioDistrict

BioDistrict Expanded Area

Note: Blocks that are shaded white are those that had no indication of residential activity prior to Katrina.
Sources: 2000 Census, GCR Activity Index. Map represents the percentage of the population that had returned as of the spring of 2010.

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DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

Most blocks within the District and adjacent areas have a population that is at 40% or more
of the pre-Katrina population. Spatial patterns in the recovery of the population are dif-
ficult to discern, but it appears that there is somewhat of a socio-economic dimension to
the recovery of the BioDistrict population. The area bounded by Banks Street, Carrollton
Avenue, Jefferson Davis Parkway, and Iberville Street at the northern, lakeside edge of the
District (arguably its most stable area) appears to have a stronger and more uniform recov-
ery profile than that of other areas of the District. On the other hand—whether due to an
intrinsically slow pace of recovery or the imminent hospital development plans—the blocks
that lie within the footprint of the proposed University Medical Center (UMC) and VA hos-
pitals (bounded by Rocheblave Street, Tulane Avenue, Claiborne Avenue, Canal Street) have
a more sluggish recovery profile.

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DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

Population Projections
 DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

POPULATION PROJECTIONS
There are a multitude of variables that will affect the pace of population growth within the
District and adjacent areas in the coming years. They include:

• The success of the state’s Small Rental Repair program. This housing assistance pro-
gram, which provides financial assistance to the owners of small rental properties in
exchange for preserving the affordability of renovated units, has encountered numerous
programmatic and administrative roadblocks. Given that approximately three quarters of
the housing units within the District were renter occupied prior to Katrina and given the
flood damage that the area sustained, this program is critical to the eventual rehabilitation
of much of the District’s historic housing stock.

• Compliance with the Road Home program. Research conducted by GCR for the state
Office of Community Development (OCD) suggests that many Road Home “Option
1” grant recipients4 may soon be noncompliant with the terms of their rebuilding grants
insofar as many have not yet reoccupied their properties. Insufficient funds—whether due
to contractor fraud, insufficient private insurance, or insufficient Road Home grants—
may be an obstacle to the rehabilitation and occupancy of these properties.

• Anti-blight strategies administered by NORA and the City of New Orleans.

New Orleans faces the most severe
blight problem of any city in the United
States. An estimated 64,000 addresses
are in a vacant state; many of these may
be blighted.5 The BioDistrict and the
Expanded Area exemplify this prob-
lem, as they are home to a plethora of
blighted properties. The efforts of the
New Orleans Redevelopment Authority
(NORA) and city government in pros-
ecuting blight and disposing of blighted
properties could spark redevelopment
activity and subsequent population
growth.

• A private market response within the

District. The factor that would most
effectively catalyze the redevelopment
of the District and significant popula-
tion growth is a private market response. It has been decades since many New Orleans neighborhoods—including much
of BioDistrict—witnessed market driven reinvestment. This is a problem exacer-

Many of the neighborhoods that com-

bated by the poor condition of the public infrastructure.

prise the BioDistrict and the Expanded

4
The Road Home program is a federally funded, state administered program that provides financial assistance to homeowners whose houses suffered damage from Hur-
ricanes Katrina or Rita. “Option 1” grant recipients elected to use their Road Home funding to rebuild in place.
5
Source: “The New Orleans Index” (2010) produced by the Brookings Institution and Greater New Orleans Community Data Centers.

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DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

Area have not had a functioning housing market for years, in some cases even decades.
The damage caused by Katrina only exacerbated this problem. If redevelopment activ-
ity is to be self-sustaining and if the District is to witness persistent population growth,
market driven reinvestment is a precondition.

• The success of new biosciences investments in catalyzing reinvestment. A major

potential impetus for residential reinvestment within the District and the adjacent area is
the forthcoming investment in the VA Hospital and University Medical Center. The new
jobs generated by these and other, complimentary facilities could provide a market for
the dilapidated homes and vacant properties currently scattered throughout the District

• The redevelopment of public housing. While the BioDistrict itself does not have any
public housing developments within its boundaries, the redevelopment prospects of
the four public housing developments within the adjacent Expanded Area will greatly
impact the future population of that area. Redevelopment activity is partially underway,
but there are a number of variables that could affect the ultimate scale and timetable of
redevelopment. These include the forthcoming plans for the Iberville Housing Develop-
ment and the continued availability of subsidies through the federal “GO Zone” incen-
tive program6.

The population projections that are pre-

sented below are fundamentally conserva-
tive in that they do not assume any radical
deviation from the status quo. They do not
assume, for instance, a sudden flowering
of market rate reinvestment or exponential
improvements in the management and dis-
position of blighted properties. While two
scenarios are provided—a “moderate” and
a “high” growth scenario—both are varia-
tions on the status quo dynamics that have
guided redevelopment activity in BioDistrict The success of the anti-blight and redevelopment initiatives
and the adjacent area for the past five years. of the City of New Orleans and New Orleans Redevelopment
Authority (NORA) will have a major impact on future popula-
In short, both scenarios are fundamentally tion growth within the District.
conservative. Predictably, both scenarios
anticipate little growth in the District in the coming years. The major multifamily projects
that have been announced for the BioDistrict over the past several years have already been
completed; other areas within the District have witnessed scant market-driven redevelop-
ment for decades; and a large swath of the District has been set aside for the VA and Uni-
versity Medical Center hospitals.

6
As of the writing of this report, the Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO) had recently issued a solicitation for qualified development partners for the redevelopment
of Iberville. Additionally, the fate of the proposed extension of the federal “GO Zone” incentives for the Katrina impacted area remains uncertain. Financing for the redevel-
opment of public housing hinges in part on the extension of the GO Zone program.

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However, more effective anti-blight strategies and well coordinated public investments could
indeed stimulate a market response and substantially greater population growth. If they
are sufficiently ambitious, these kinds of public investments could turn the District into a
preferred neighborhood for the thousands of individuals who will be employed at the new
medical centers and ancillary facilities.

The following table, compiled from block level population estimates by GCR, presents two
fundamentally conservative scenarios for future population growth in the District and Ex-
panded Area. Note that the moderate scenario may have recently been eclipsed7. Again note
that the Expanded Area is inclusive of the BioDistrict itself. Citywide population projections
over the same period have been provided in the table below as well.
Population Estimates and Forecasts for City, BioDistrict Area, and Expanded Area

Source: Projections prepared by GCR. Methodology originally developed in 2008 for New Orleans Public Schools (NOPS).

BioDistrict New Orleans – Future Population Growth

Several conclusions can be drawn from the population projections presented above:

• Absent a major change in the trajectory of the neighborhoods that comprise the BioDistrict, little
population growth should be anticipated.

• However, the economic investment that is forthcoming in the District could be leveraged to gener-
ate substantial reinvestment and population growth.

• In addition to the investment in the two major medical facilities (VA and University Medical Center),
other measures would have to be undertaken to generate a market response and additional hous-
ing investment in the area. These include effective anti-blight strategies, a more successful Small
Rental Repair program, and major infrastructure and beautification investments.

• The population projections presented within this section assume none of these major investments
or policy adaptations and, therefore, are fundamentally conservative.

7
GCR continually updates its population estimates on a monthly basis, while population projections are prepared at a single, fixed point in time. The most recently avail-
able population data suggest that the population of the District may have eclipsed an earlier population projection.

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Households
 DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

HOUSEHOLDS
As with population, the number of households within the city, the BioDistrict, and the Ex-
panded Area has changed significantly in the period following Hurricane Katrina. The Census
Bureau defines a household as “all persons who occupy a…house, an apartment, a mobile
home, a group of rooms, or a single room that is occupied…as separate living quarters.” Ex-
cluded from the count of households is the “group quarters” population—those residents who
live in dormitories, nursing homes, prisons, military facilities, or any other group facility. Thus,
the BioDistrict household estimates presented below are exclusive of those who live in the
Xavier University dormitories or inmates in Orleans Parish Prison, for instance.

Changes in the total number of households for the three geographical levels shown below
roughly parallel changes in the population, but there are some discrepancies in the percentage
change in the two figures as a result of the group quarters population. Using block-level house-
hold estimates from the 2000 Census as a baseline, GCR has tracked the number of house-
holds by block throughout New Orleans through its activity index. The estimated number of
households is listed in the table below. As with the population tables, the household counts for
the Expanded Area include the number of households within the BioDistrict proper.

Total Estimated Number of Households, 2000-2010

Note: 2010 estimate is from March 1, 2010; 2000 figure is from April 1, 2000; all other estimates are from July 1
Sources: 2000 Census, 2005 – 2009 Census population estimates and 2010 GCR activity index for city of New Orleans. 2000 and 2005 data for BioDistrict and Expanded
Area extrapolated by GCR from 2000 Census and 2005 Census population estimate; all other data are from GCR activity index.

The following table further elucidates the distinction between households and group quarters
facilities, as it disaggregates the population of the BioDistrict and the Expanded Area into their
respective household and group quarters population figures.

Population of BioDistrict Area and Expanded Area, Including Group Quarters

Source: Census Bureau and GCR and Associates

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Households in Public Housing

Within the Expanded Area, a large portion of households are located in public housing de-
velopments. The number of households in these developments has declined substantially in
both absolute and relative terms since 2000. In 2000, the Expanded Area’s 3,511 households
in public housing comprised over 20% of the area’s total occupied housing units, whereas the
current number of public housing households, 1,790, accounts for just fewer than 13% of all
households within the Expanded Area. Clearly, the loss of public housing since Katrina has
had a major effect upon the overall household and population counts within this area. The
redevelopment of public housing will, therefore, be a major driver of repopulation and over-
all investment activity in the area. Note again that the data for the Expanded Area include all
households within the BioDistrict.

Breakdown of Households In Expanded Area, 2000-2010

Note: 2010 estimate is from March 1, 2010; 2000 figure is from April 1, 2000; all other estimates are from July 1
Sources: 2000 Census, HANO redevelopment plans, field observations by GCR

Average Household Size

One of the most difficult household and population statistics to deduce is the average house-
hold size within a given sub-county area. This information is tabulated on a block by block
basis every ten years and is published in the decennial census. From these block level data, an
average household figure can be calculated for a small geographical area, such as the BioDis-
trict. However, more recent data are not available.8 For its population estimates, GCR assumed
a relatively constant average household size within the District and the Expanded Area. In real-
ity, this figure may have changed somewhat since the 2000 Census as a result of:

• Households sharing living quarters as a result of a citywide shortage of affordable hous-

ing, thereby increasing average household size
• Households having fewer children (as suggested by disproportionately reduced school
enrollment and supporting Census data), thereby reducing average household size
• Changes in the type of housing units located within the area (i.e. the emergence of large,
multifamily housing)
• Other demographic changes

This information will be made available when the results of the 2010 Census are published in 2011.
8

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 DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

Short of replicating the work of the Census Bureau, there is no statistically sound way to infer
a higher or lower average household size. If, in fact, there has been a major change in house-
hold sizes between 2000 and the present, this will have an effect upon the population estimates
and projections presented within this document.

The following table provides the average household size estimates that were used by GCR.
Note that the Expanded Area, as defined in the table below, includes the population and
households within the BioDistrict itself.

Average Household Size, 2000

Source: 2000 Census, analysis of American Community Survey data

BioDistrict New Orleans – Household Profile

Several conclusions can be drawn from the household data presented above:

2010 Population and Households as % of

• The average size of households within New Pre-Storm Population and Households
Orleans, the BioDistrict, and the Expanded
Area is highly uncertain and will not be
known until the publication of the 2010
Census in 2011. A conservative figure was
used for the estimates and projections
within this report.

• As of the 2000 Census (the last period

when small area household data were
published), the BioDistrict had a slightly
smaller average household size than the
Expanded Area and the city as a whole. Sources: Census Bureau and GCR & Associates’ Activity Index

• The BioDistrict has recovered a higher percentage of its pre-Katrina households than its pre-Katrina
population because of the slow return of certain group quarters facilities within the District. The Dis-
trict has recovered nearly 100% of its pre-Katrina households, in part due to the construction of new
multifamily housing developments in recent years
• Much of the District’s population is not included within the tally of households. The prison popula-
tion, those living in nursing homes, dormitories, or any other group quarters facility are not consid-
ered to be part of a “household.”

• The loss of public housing is a major reason for the decline in households in the Expanded Area. The
redevelopment of public housing will drive household and population growth within the Expanded
Area in the near term.

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DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

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DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

Income
 DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

INCOME Median Household Income: New Orleans and MSA

Since Hurricane Katrina, the me-
dian household income within the
City of New Orleans has increased
substantially. Relative to the New
Orleans Metropolitan Statistical
Area (MSA) and the nation as a
whole, New Orleans’ median house-
hold income was increasing even
prior to Katrina as moderate levels
of reinvestment were driving this
figure upward. Since Katrina, how-
ever, the rise in median household Median Household Income:
income in New Orleans has become New Orleans and the Nation
more pronounced. This increase is
likely attributable to two factors: ris-
ing wages and the displacement of
many lower-income residents who
have had difficulty returning to the
city.

Household income is updated on

an annual basis at the county (par-
ish) level through the Census Bu- Sources: 1990 and 2000 Censuses, 2005 – 2008 American Community Survey
reau’s American Community Sur-
vey. Since median income data for smaller geographies are not maintained annually by the
Census, GCR deployed a methodology for calculating a median household income estimate
for the households within the BioDistrict and Expanded Area. This approach integrates a
variety of datasets:

• The rate at which individual blocks within the respective geographical areas have re-
turned to their pre-storm population and household count

• Major redevelopment initiatives such as the redevelopment of public housing

• Changes in citywide median household income between 2000 and 2005

• Changes in median household income in the New Orleans region between 2005 and
2008 (the most recent date for which parish-wide and metro area-wide income data are
available)

• Limited income growth since 2008 as a result of the national economic downturn.

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DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

The resulting median household income levels for the city of New Orleans, the BioDistrict,
and the Expanded Area are provided in the table below. Because citywide income levels
have not been updated by the Census Bureau since the 2008 American Community Survey,
GCR has assumed a static citywide income figure in 2009 and 2010, given the national eco-
nomic downturn. It should again be noted that the Expanded Area subsumes the BioDis-
trict itself. It should also be noted that the prison population and any other group quarters
population within the District or Expanded Area are not included within these estimates, as
the estimates are for households only.
Median Household Income, 2000-2010

Sources: 1990 and 2000 Censuses, 2005 – 2008 American Community Survey, GCR & Associates

Per Capita Income

Another way to concisely express the income profile of a particular geographical area is
through its per capita income. The formula for calculating per capita income is extremely
simple: the aggregate income within a particular area divided by the total number of people
within that area. To calculate per capita income, GCR utilized a methodology very similar
to its median household income methodology. Small area data from the 2000 Census were
combined with income growth rates at the citywide and metropolitan area levels. These
modulated income data were then divided by the estimated population for that area, yielding
an estimated per capita income.

Income Per Capita, 2000-2010

The per capita income figures
for the BioDistrict and the Ex-
panded Area have many of the
same characteristics as the median
household income data for these Source: 2000 Census, 2005 – 2008 American Community Survey, GCR small area estimates
areas. One principal difference
between the two statistics, however, is that the group quarters population is factored into the
per capita income figure while the group quarters population is excluded from household
income figures.

Disaggregation of Households by Income Tranche

A methodology, similar to the median household income methodology described above, was
deployed in order to disaggregate the households within the District and Expanded Area
into various income tranches. This approach provides a complimentary perspective on the
breakdown of households by income within defined geographical areas. As with the single
median household statistic, these data confirm the low income profile of the BioDistrict and
the Expanded Area.

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 DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

Counts of Households By Income Tranches, 2010

Households

Distribution of Household Incomes, 2010

Source: 2000 Census, 2005 – 2008 American Community Survey, GCR small area estimates. Note that the household totals for the City of New Orleans
are from the American Community Survey, which likely underestimates the total number of households in New Orleans. The data are nonetheless useful
as an indication of the income composition of households within the city.

When compared to the City of New Orleans as a whole, both the BioDistrict and the Ex-
panded Area have a much greater percentage of households earning less than $15,000 per
year. An astounding 45% of the households within the BioDistrict earn less than $15,000
per year. Approximately the same percentage of households within the Expanded Area—
44%—also earn less than $15,000 per year. Conversely, New Orleans as a whole has a much
greater percentage of households earning $50,000 or more than the BioDistrict or Expanded
Area has.

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DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

BioDistrict New Orleans – A Low Income Community

Several conclusions can be drawn from the income data:

• By any reasonable standard, the District is a very low income community. In present day 2010, it is
estimated that the BioDistrict has a median household income that is fully 33% lower than that of
New Orleans overall—itself not a wealthy community.

• There are very few middle income neighborhoods within the District. A small exception is the area
bounded by Jefferson Davis Parkway, Iberville Street, Carrollton Avenue, and Banks Street9. Other-
wise, the remainder of the District could almost uniformly be characterized as low income.

• The median income of the BioDistrict has declined slightly since 2007, likely the result of a return-
ing low income population.

• The BioDistrict has a slightly lower median family income than the household population of the
Expanded Area. This area captures the edges of some middle income neighborhoods such as the
CBD, French Quarter, Fountainebleau, and middle income areas of Mid-City. Had much of the pub-
lic housing within the Expanded Area remained intact, its median household income would likely
be somewhat lower.

• The BioDistrict is home to an extraordinarily high percentage of low income households. Ap-
proximately 45% of the households within the District earn less than $15,000 per year. Within the
entire City of New Orleans, that figure totals 22% of all households

• Conversely, a very small percentage of households in the District earns $75,000 or more per year—
only 4% of all District households.

Even this area is perhaps more accurately described as a “moderate income” community.
9

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DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

Age of Residents
 DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

AGE OF RESIDENTS
The U.S. Census Bureau reports data on the age of residents in two principal ways—in the
number of residents within certain age “tranches” (65 and older, for example) and as a single
median age statistic for geographical areas. These data are updated down to the block level
for the decennial census and at the county/parish level through the Census’ annual American
Community Survey.

As with the income data described in the previous section of this report, GCR used its
understanding of block-level repopulation dynamics to extrapolate age group estimates for
the BioDistrict and Expanded Area. Using a methodology that incorporates the pre-Katrina
profile of the area, the pace of recovery, and citywide and metropolitan changes in the age
breakdown of the population, GCR has devised estimates of the total number of residents
within certain age tranches. GCR has developed these estimates for both the BioDistrict and
Expanded Area, as shown in the table below.

Counts of Residents by Age Tranches

2,864

Population
Source: 2000 Census, 2005 – 2008 American Community Survey, GCR small area estimates

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DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

Distribution of Residents by Age

Source: 2000 Census, 2005 – 2008 American Community Survey, GCR small area estimates. Note that the population totals for the city of
New Orleans are from the American Community Survey, which presents an extremely conservative estimate of population. The data are
nonetheless useful as a indication of the age composition of the city’s population.

BioDistrict New Orleans – A Typical Age Profile

The following conclusions can be drawn from the data on the age profile of the BioDistrict:

• There are no particularly dramatic differences in the age profile of the BioDistrict and that of New
Orleans as a whole. The age distribution of the population of the District approximates the age
distribution of the city.

• The 18 – 29 year old population comprises a larger percentage of the District’s population than the
city’s population: 24% vs. 20% for all of New Orleans.

• Conversely, the 50 and older population comprises a smaller percentage of the District’s popula-
tion than the city’s population: 27% within the BioDistrict and 34% in all of New Orleans

26
DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

Household Retail Expenditures

 DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

HOUSEHOLD RETAIL EXPENDITURES

Households’ expenditures on retail goods are tracked by the Bureau of Labor Statistics’
(BLS) Consumer Expenditure Survey. The BLS calculates expenditures on various catego-
ries of goods through quarterly interview- and diary-based surveys. BLS’s consumer expen-
diture data for 2005-2006, published at the geographical level of the Metropolitan Statisti-
cal Area (MSA), was extrapolated down to the block group level and to future years by the
Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), a leading provider of geographical informa-
tion systems (GIS) and market research data. Consumer expenditure data for New Orleans,
the BioDistrict, and the Expanded Area were compiled by GCR at these three geographical
levels from ESRI’s block group consumer expenditure data.

Note that the division of consumer expenditures by expenditure category may exceed 100%.
Many expenditures do not fit readily into one discrete category and therefore may be “dou-
ble-counted” in survey reporting. Also, note that the most robust consumer expenditure
data—the raw data collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics—are only collected at the
metropolitan area level. While ESRI’s extrapolations to the parish and small area levels are
methodologically sound, they are not the result of direct surveys at those levels. Thus, the
precision of the data at these smaller geographical levels should be viewed with a measure of
caution. Note that the consumer expenditure data for the Expanded Area include consumers
within the BioDistrict itself.

Breakdown of Retail Expenditures as a Percentage of Household Income, 2010

Source: 2005-2006 Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Expenditure Survey, ESRI, 2008 American Community Survey, GCR Small Area Estimates

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DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

BioDistrict New Orleans – Fewer Discretionary Expenditures

The key conclusions that can be drawn from data on household expenditures are as follows:

• There are proportionally fewer expenditures on discretionary goods and services among the
BioDistrict population as compared to the population of New Orleans at large. This is due to both
a lower median income and the fact that District residents spend a smaller proportion of their
income on retail goods and other expenses, such as entertainment and household furnishings.

• However, data on household expenditures at the level of a small geographical area, such as the
BioDistrict, must be interpreted cautiously as the most accurate, original survey data are collected
at the metropolitan area level.

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 DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

Housing Units and Housing Value

 DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

HOUSING UNITS AND HOUSING VALUE

Data on the number of housing units and their characteristics are collected in detail by the
U.S. Census Bureau for every decennial census. The Census reports data on the number of
owner-occupied, renter-occupied, and vacant units; average and median home values; the
physical characteristics of housing units; costs of rent and mortgage payments; the number
of units for rent and sale; and a variety of miscellaneous housing data.

Each year, ESRI uses Census data to estimate and forecast the number of owner-occupied,
renter-occupied, and vacant housing units, as well as the median value and average value of
these units. These data are extrapolated down to the block group level and are published in
ESRI’s “Business Analyst” data suite. GCR has customized ESRI’s housing data for 2010 to
generate estimates for the BioDistrict, Expanded Area, and the City of New Orleans.
Summary of Housing Units
These data provide an illuminat-
ing overview of the housing
characteristics of the three areas,
but they should be viewed with
a degree of caution. The fun-
damental source data for these
figures are still 2000 Census
data, subsequently modulated to
reflect local and regional market
conditions. The resulting data,
therefore, do provide a concise
comparison of housing charac-
teristics, but they lack the nuance
and the rigor of real estate data
collected from local resources.
For this reason, GCR has pre-
sented these data as a starting
point for further analysis of real
estate characteristics and has
compiled supplemental real estate
data from a variety of resources
to paint a more complete picture
of the housing market. Source: 2000 Census, ESRI Business Analyst

In spite of these limitations, ESRI’s summary data of housing conditions are presented in
the table below. Note that the data for 2000 are directly from the 2000 Census. Also note
that data for the Buffer/Expanded Area do not include the BioDistrict itself. The data for
the buffer area are only for those blocks immediately adjacent to and outside of the BioDis-
trict.

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DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

BioDistrict New Orleans – An Affordable Residential Market

Several conclusions can be drawn from the housing data from the 2000 Census and the estimates
from ESRI:

• The most meaningful (and the most robust) data within the above table are the data on residential
value. The way that the Census collects information on the median and average value of owner oc-
cupied structures is simple: the Census simply asks individual respondents to estimate the value
of their house. The resulting data usually produce housing value statistics that are lower than those
reported through Realtor sales (which may exclude the lowest valued properties, many of which are
not sold through Realtors).

• Based on these self-reported values, the value of owner occupied homes within the BioDistrict is
substantially below the median value of homes for the city as a whole—over 18% below the citywide
median as of the 2000 Census.

• The value of homes within the BioDistrict

is also substantially below the median
value of homes within the Buffer area10-
-over 22% below the median value of
homes within the Buffer/Expanded Area
as of the 2000 Census. On the whole, the BioDistrict is characterized by a modestly
sized, moderately priced housing stock.

• The 2009 estimates and 2014 projections from ESRI suggest that this hierarchy of housing values
remains and will persist in the future, with the BioDistrict remaining a substantially more affordable
market than both the city as a whole and the Buffer/Expanded Area.

• The vacancy rate within both the BioDistrict and the buffer area exceeds that of the city as a whole.
Relative to other cities in the United States, New Orleans did record a relatively high residential va-
cancy rate as of the 2000 census—more than 12% of all housing units were vacant. While the Census
Bureau is only supposed to count habitable housing units in its inventory of all housing units (both
occupied and vacant), this figure likely reflects blight to a certain degree. Similarly, the greater than
14% vacancy rate within BioDistrict (as of the 2000 Census) is also likely a result of neighborhood
blight. Note that the problem of blighted and vacant housing within the District predated Hurricane
Katrina.

• The data on owner/renter breakdown, and the estimates of present and future vacancy (2009 and
2014) should be treated with caution11. GCR has conducted an extremely nuanced analysis of owner/
renter status for 2009; and through a variety of metrics of residential occupancy, GCR has compiled
a robust estimate of the number of vacant properties within the District. These results are presented
in the subsequent sections.

Again, presented here, data on the “buffer” or Expanded Area do NOT include the BioDistrict itself.
10

With the exception of citywide estimates from 2000—these are reported directly from the Census
11

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 DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

Owner/Renter Breakdown
In contrast to the ESRI estimates, which were prepared at the Census block group level, GCR
has utilized more detailed block- and even address-level data to arrive at its estimates of the
present day breakdown of owners and renters within the District, the Expanded Area, and
New Orleans as a whole. These estimates incorporate the aforementioned residential activity
index (which determines which sub-areas and even individual blocks within the District have
repopulated more or less rapidly). They also incorporate the completion of hundreds of units
of new rental housing and the phased redevelopment of the four public housing developments
within the Expanded Area.

The resulting owner/renter estimates are presented in the table below.

Percentages of Households Occupied by Owners and Renters

Source: 2000 Census, American Community Survey, small area estimates developed by GCR.

BioDistrict New Orleans – An Overwhelmingly Renter-Occupied Housing

Stock
The owner/renter data highlight a number of interesting characteristics:

• Prior to Katrina, the BioDistrict was an overwhelm-

ingly renter-occupied community, with 75% of the
occupied residential units being rental units.

• This figure is skewed even compared to New Or-

leans as a whole, which itself had a relatively large
renter population prior to Katrina. New Orleans,
prior to the storm, had a housing stock that was
approximately 50% renter occupied12.
Due in part to the completion of large, multifamily
• Due largely to the completion of hundreds of new apartment buildings, the BioDistrict now has a larger
share of renter households than it did before Katrina.
rental units, the BioDistrict has an even greater
percentage of rental occupied units than it had before Katrina. An estimated 80% of the occupied
housing units within the District are now renter occupied. This stands in contrast to the city as a
whole where a slight majority of occupied housing units are now owner occupied.

• The Expanded Area has seen virtually no change in its owner/renter breakdown in recent years and
is also dominated by rental units. Over 77% of the occupied housing units in the Expanded Area are
renter occupied units.

Source: 2005 American Community Survey

12

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DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

Vacant Housing Units and Properties

The issue of vacant or blighted housing units is one that is of particular relevance to rede-
velopment efforts within the BioDistrict. Blight within the area is not unique to the post-
Katrina period, as the District and the city as a whole were home to a plethora of blighted
properties before 2005. The scale of blight, at
both the neighborhood and citywide level, has
increased exponentially since then, however.

There are many ways to measure the number of

blighted units in the city. One method is to quan-
tify the number of vacant units. As calculated by
ESRI and as shown in the table above, that figure
is estimated to be nearly 90,000 units. However,
this figure likely overstates the blight problem by
including those units that are habitable and well Vacant and blighted property, a problem within the
District even before Katrina, is one of the foremost
maintained yet that happen to be vacant. impediments to redevelopment.

A more conservative, and robust, estimate is the number of units that are “out of service.”
The Greater New Orleans Community Data Center (GNOCDC), a local non-profit, has
estimated the citywide total to be 57,000 addresses (a reasonable proxy for a residential unit);
of this total, GNOCDC estimates that over 50,000 are in a blighted state. This estimate is
based on postal delivery data—specifically, the Postal Service’s estimate of the number of
addresses that are “No-Stat” addresses13.

Based on the estimated present number of households in New Orleans (139,890) and the
pre-Katrina number of households (188,251)14, the GNOCDC’s estimate appears to be a
reasonable and accurate figure. Unfortunately, this postal service-based estimate is not avail-
able for all geographical areas, and this methodology cannot be used to accurately quantify
the number of vacant units or properties within the boundaries of the BioDistrict. An
alternate method, developed by GCR, combines GCR’s residential activity index with parcel
data to arrive at an estimated number of parcels or properties that are currently vacant. The
number of vacant or blighted parcels will, by definition, understate the number of vacant
housing units, as many properties have more than one residential unit. Nonetheless, this
remains one of the best ways to quantify residential vacancy at the level of an individual
neighborhood.

Using its activity index, GCR estimates that there are 747 properties/parcels within the Dis-
trict that were active before Hurricane Katrina that are no longer active. This tally does not
include those properties that were vacant before Katrina, and it may include within the tally
some properties that are under renovation. Nonetheless, this figure provides a reasonable
estimate for the extent of blight within the District.
13
These are addresses that are not likely to receive mail for some time, according to the letter carrier in the field. Source: Greater New Orleans Community Data Center
(GNOCDC).
14
The numbers cited are both fundamentally conservative. The “pre-Katrina” figure cited is from the 2000 Census, while the “current” estimate of 139,890 households is
based on a reduced pre-Katrina base. Depending on the base data utilized, the discrepancy between present and pre-storm households may be moderately smaller.

32
 DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

Parcels Unoccupied Since Hurricane Katrina

BioDistrict BioDistrict

BioDistrict Expanded Area BioDistrict Expanded Area

Source: GCR Activity Index as of March, 2010

BioDistrict New Orleans – An Ample Supply of Vacant and Blighted

Properties
Data on residential vacancy and blight suggest that blight is a major impediment to the prosperity and
quality of life of the BioDistrict:

• There are approximately 750 vacant residential properties within the BioDistrict that were occupied
prior to Katrina. This tally understates the loss of residential units as a result of Katrina-related flood-
ing, as multiple residential units may have occupied a single property

• While a precise number of properties that were blighted/vacant prior to Katrina is not available,
anecdotal evidence suggests that blight was a major problem within the BioDistrict and Expanded
Area even prior to Katrina.

• Post-Katrina blight and vacancy appear to be relatively evenly dispersed throughout the BioDistrict.
Although one would expect a higher concentration of vacancy within the footprint of the VA/UMC
facilities, pre-Katrina blight is not shown within the above map. As a result, the map may understate
the degree of vacancy within the footprint of these facilities.

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DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

34
DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

Residential Real Estate

 DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE

Real estate trends are important measures of the ongoing or potential impact of investments
from the public, private, and institutional sectors. Over the past five years, the New Orleans real
estate market has been extremely volatile. During this period, the market experienced a sudden
and profound reduction in supply after Katrina, a steady replenishing of housing supply in the
recovery period, a sharp increase in large multi-family developments catalyzed by federal tax
credit financing, and the relative stagnancy of sales resulting from the national recession.

Recent Trends in Sales and Rentals

Data on real estate sales and rentals is published annually by the University of New Orleans’
(UNO) Institute for Economic Development and Real Estate Research in the New Orleans Met-
ropolitan Real Estate Market Analysis. This annual report has been an authoritative source for data
on commercial and residential real estate trends since its first publication in 1978, and it bases
its findings on surveys of owners and property managers throughout the New Orleans metro-
politan area. GCR compiled data from these reports for the following years: 2000, 2005, 2006,
2007, 2008, and 2009. The most recent report that was issued by UNO was published in the
spring of 2010, and it provides sales and rental data for the last full calendar year (2009). Sales
data within these reports are compiled from an address level inventory of Realtor sales that has
been provided exclusively to UNO by the New Orleans Metropolitan Association of Realtors.

The tables below summarize the number of sales and the average sales price of single-family
and condominium sales citywide and in the predefined sales areas15 that are within and proxi-
mate to the BioDistrict and Expanded Area.
Summary of Single-Family Home Sales, 2000-2009

Summary of Condominium Sales, 2000-2009

Source: UNO New Orleans Metropolitan Real Estate Market Analysis

15
The sales areas are known as Multiple Listing Service (MLS) areas, and they are the smallest sub-parish geographical unit at which Realtor sales data are regularly and
comprehensively reported.

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DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

As with the residential value data reported by the Census and ESRI, the residential Realtor
sales data reported by UNO suggest that the BioDistrict is indeed an affordable market. Of
the seven MLS areas that are within or adjacent to the District, four of the seven have aver-
age single family home sales prices that are below the citywide average. The three areas that
have higher average sales prices than the city as a whole—Uptown/Fontainebleau, CBD/
Warehouse District, and the French Quarter are all at the periphery of the District. The
same geographical pattern holds true for condominium sales in 2010.

BioDistrict Expanded Area

BioDistrict

Source: UNO New Orleans Metropolitan Real Estate Market Analysis

The relative strength of the New Orleans residential for-sale market should also be noted.
While the average sales price is down somewhat from the peak of the post-Katrina, supply-
constrained period, prices have steadily risen since 2007. This is in contrast to other parishes
within the New Orleans metropolitan area and many other residential markets throughout
the country that have experienced stagnant prices or a severe decline in prices since 2007.

Current Units Available for Sale

Because the most recent sales data in the UNO report are from year end, 2009 and because
more precise geographical data are not available from this source, GCR supplemented these
data with primary data collection and analysis. GCR obtained records on homes available
for sale in the BioDistrict and Expanded Area through the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), a
national real estate database used by Realtors to evaluate market dynamics within neighbor-

36
 DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

hoods and cities. GCR geo-processed individual

listings of available units and aggregated these
addresses into two geographical areas: the Bi-
oDistrict and the Expanded Area.

One caveat to these data is that Realtor/MLS list-

ings do not include properties sold without the
assistance of a Realtor. Based on a comparison
of Realtor data and home value data collected by
the Census Bureau, Realtor transactions tend to For sale properties within the District that are listed
by Realtors may disproportionately be located within
have a higher average sales price. The residential the middle class areas of the District. This would have
for-sale data collected by GCR underscore this the effect of inflating the average value of for sale
properties within the BioDistrict.
qualification. Indeed, the average asking price
within the District for single family homes for sale as of May 2, 2010 was a healthy $237,400.
This figure belies the generally low to moderate income profile of the District. A map of
the individual listings that were tabulated (below) shows a cluster of Realtor listings in the
more stable, middle income areas of the District, close to the intersection of Carrollton Ave-
nue and Canal Street. Thus, while the 250 listings compiled and analyzed by GCR do provide
an extensive and detailed picture of residential sales activity, these data must be understood
in the context of Realtor vs. non-Realtor sales transactions.

Below are tables and a map developed by GCR summarizing all homes available for sale as
of May 2, 2010. The table summarizes homes for sale within the BioDistrict and buffer area
based on approximately 250 listings. In the map, dots are placed at the listed address and
shaded according to the price per square foot listed in the MLS database. Note that the sum-
mary statistics for the buffer area do not include homes for sale within BioDistrict itself.
Homes for Sale in BioDistrict Area and Expanded Area

BioDistrict

BioDistrict Expanded Area

Source: Data compiled and geocoded by GCR from Multiple Listing Service (MLS), May 2, 2010. Note that this map displays all
types of residential properties: single family, multifamily, and condo.

37
DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

Homes for Sale in BioDistrict Area and Expanded Area

Source: Data compiled and geocoded by GCR from Multiple Listing Service (MLS), May 2, 2010

Residential Rental Market

The following summary of rental units within New Orleans and certain geographical sub-
divisions was also compiled from UNO’s New Orleans Metropolitan Real Estate Market
Analysis. Rental market information was compiled for the years 2000 and 2006 – 2009. Un-
like the residential for-sale data, these rental data are not assembled from a single database.
Rather, they are gleaned from surveys of rental property owners and managers. As a result,
the accuracy of the data may vary somewhat from year to year based on respondents’ partici-
pation and answers. The two geographical areas that are included in the table below, Mid-
City and the Warehouse District, are two of the five geographical areas within New Orleans
for which UNO’s rental data are available. These are the two geographical areas that overlap
the District and the Expanded Area.
Summary of Rental Market in New Orleans and Sub-Areas, 2000 - 2009

Source: UNO New Orleans Metropolitan Real Estate Market Analysis

38
 DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

As the table suggests, the New Orleans rental market experienced a dramatic shift after Hur-
ricane Katrina as a result of a precipitous decline in supply. Particularly hard hit by Katrina
was the abundant inventory of low cost, non-subsidized rental housing. New Orleans was
home to an extremely large number of affordable units within depreciated 1-4 unit struc-
tures. Many low to moderate income residents were able afford these units without the assis-
tance of any kind of rental subsidy. The loss of these units and the dearth of rental housing
generally caused the average price per square foot figure to increase sharply. Between 2000
and 2006, the average rental price per square foot in New Orleans nearly doubled. The same
pattern of dramatically increased rents also occurred within the Mid-City and Warehouse
District sub-areas. Both before the storm and since Katrina, both areas have recorded rents
that are higher than the citywide average.

Occupancy rates have also been thrown into a state of flux. As shown in the adjacent graph,
the rental occupancy rate at all three geographical levels remains slightly below the 2006
level when rental supply in New Orleans was especially constrained. There have been unique
variations in occupancy within the three areas since 2006, perhaps as a result of changes in
supply. In Mid-City, for example, the completion of hundreds of units of new housing may
have suppressed occupancy somewhat before the Mid-City rental market then rebounded in
2009. Also, based on the most recently available occupancy data from UNO, the New Or-
leans rental market appears to be resilient in spite of the national recession.

Post-Katrina Rental Occupancy Rates

Source: UNO New Orleans Metropolitan Real Estate Market Analysis

39
DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

Rental Market Sub-Areas in New Orleans

Expanded Area

BioDistrict

Source: UNO New Orleans Metropolitan Real Estate Market Analysis

To address these shortcomings, GCR compiled an inventory of available rental units within
the BioDistrict and Expanded area from a variety of sources. Like the list of homes for sale,
this list of rental units may not be entirely comprehensive, as it excludes for-rent units that
are not listed within a publication (newspaper, etc.). The list that GCR compiled includes
properties renting through Latter & Blum and other local property management agencies, as
well as those posted independently on craigslist.com. For subsidized units, GCR gathered
data by contacting the following sources:

• Louisiana Housing Finance Agency Pipeline Report, January 2010 (projects financed
through Low-Income Housing Tax Credits and/or Community Development Block
Grants)
• Louisiana Recovery Authority, February 2010 (units funded by the Road Home Small
Rental program)
• Housing Authority of New Orleans, March 2010 (units eligible for Section 8 housing
vouchers)

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 DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

GCR merged data from these different sources to develop a single list of units available for
rent as of approximately June 1, 2010. Because of the varying availability of information
about these units (number of bedrooms, square footage, rent) and because there was not a
sufficiently large sample size for the BioDistrict and Expanded Area, these listings have not
been synthesized into aggregate data. Instead, these listings are best used as comparables or as
individual case studies. The full inventory of the approximately 200 units that GCR surveyed
has been provided within the appendix to this document.

A windshield survey of the rental inventory within the BioDistrict and the Expanded Area
reveals a wide variety of rental units. Units range from attractive renovations of historic, late
19th and early 20th century residential buildings to relatively dilapidated units within structures
of the same architectural vintage. Without a doubt, the most notable change in the rental stock
in recent years has been the arrival of hundreds of new rental units within large, multi-family,
predominantly mixed income developments. New complexes, such as the Marquis and the
Crescent Club, have added high quality new units to the area. While some expressed doubt that
this new rental typology would be embraced, occupancy rates at these developments suggest
otherwise.

Occupancy Rate of Large Multifamily Apartment Buildings, 2010

Source: GCR & Associates

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DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

Pending Residential Developments

A significant number of residential developments are either under construction or in the
financing and approval phases within the BioDistrict and Expanded Area. Based on newspa-
per reports, interviews with local housing officials, and data made available by the Louisiana
Housing Finance Agency, GCR has compiled a comprehensive list of projects, including their
address, anticipated number of units, and sources of financing. The map below displays the
locations and anticipated number of units for those residential developments “in the pipeline”;
a full list of pending residential developments in both the BioDistrict and the Expanded Area
is provided in the appendix.

The list compiled by Pending Residential Developments, 2010

GCR includes some
developments that were
initially announced as
many as four years ago
yet have not shown any
demonstrable progress.
The likelihood that BioDistrict
some of these projects
will be constructed is
in doubt. There have
been a number of
obstacles over the past Expanded Area

several years to proj-

ects’ getting underway.
Source: Inventory compiled by GCR.
An initial, post-Katrina
spike in construction costs rendered many projects financially infeasible. More recently, the
downturn in the national economy and lenders’ unwillingness to finance major developments
have put a number of projects on hold.

Nonetheless, these residential developments

represent the most tangible inventory of po-
tential near term population growth within and
around the District. The ultimate disposition of
these projects, and the market’s ability to absorb
new units, is a development dynamic that must
be monitored closely in the coming years. Their
success or failure will frame the viability of the
residential market and will help to determine
the likely demand for additional residential infill
The Maritime Building on Carondelet Street within
development in the coming years. the Expanded Area is one of several residential proj-
ects currently under construction.

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 DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

Pending Residential Developments Within the BioDistrict

Source: Inventory compiled by GCR.

BioDistrict New Orleans – Overview of Residential Real Estate Market

A wide variety of residential data and data sources have been provided within this report. Based on these data, a
number of conclusions can be drawn about the residential real estate market within the BioDistrict:

• The extensive sales data collected from the MLS sales database suggest that home values within the BioDistrict
are substantially below values in other neighborhoods and in New Orleans overall. The two MLS sub-areas that
most overlap the boundaries of the BioDistrict—Delgado and Tulane/Claiborne—have average sales prices that
are consistently well below the citywide average.

• Based on single family residential units for sale as of May, 2010, one would conclude that the BioDistrict has
a healthy residential real estate market, as the average asking price of these units was just under $240,000.
However, this inventory represents a relatively small sample size, and these units are likely disproportionately
from the middle income areas of the District.

• Based on anecdotal observation and a “windshield” survey of the District, there are very few areas of the
District that are currently attracting substantial market rate reinvestment. An exception is the area bounded by
Jefferson Davis Parkway, Banks Street, Carrollton Avenue, and Canal Street.

• Flooding from Hurricane Katrina resulted in a tremendous loss of affordable, unsubsidized residential units.
These units were primarily located in 1 – 4 unit structures. Due to the loss of these units and an overall con-
strained supply, rents have risen tremendously in recent years. Citywide, the average monthly rent per square
foot has risen by 56% since the year 2000.

• Despite a substantial increase in rental inventory in recent years, rental occupancy remains strong within the
core of the city. New multifamily apartment developments within the BioDistrict all report strong occupancy
rates, suggesting that there is demand for new, high-quality rental units within the District. The completion of
the VA and UMC facilities will only strengthen this demand.

• Approximately 200 new units of affordable and mixed income rental housing are in the development pipeline
in the BioDistrict. Many more rental units have been proposed or are under construction in the Expanded Area,
particularly in the Warehouse District and Downtown. Rental occupancy has been strong at recently completed
developments, but a number of impediments—most notably financing—may prevent some of these proposed
residential developments from breaking ground.

43
DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

44
DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

Retail Establishments
 DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

RETAIL ESTABLISHMENTS
The current retail landscape within the BioDistrict consists of a wide variety of retail and
other commercial establishments. Little, if any, of the retail activity within the District could
be characterized as high end. Instead, much of the retail serves the basic needs of residents
and businesses within the area. The major loci of commercial activity within the District are
Carrollton Avenue and Broad Street. There are also nodes of commercial activity along Tu-
lane Avenue and Canal Street. The retail landscape of the BioDistrict is defined just as much
by what is not there as what is there. Notably absent is a full service grocery store, although
the District does have three drug stores. The District also has no big box retail, few clothing
stores, and almost no “discretionary” retail establishments, such as furniture, electronic, or
sporting goods stores. Many of the existing retail establishments within the District consist
of convenience stores, gas stations, and automobile parts and repair outlets.

Because of the geographical extent of the

District and Expanded Area and because of
the small business character of the commercial
activity (as distinct from big box retail), a physi-
cal inventory of all businesses within these areas
was infeasible. To develop a full inventory of
retail and other commercial establishments, GCR
purchased address-level data from Dun and
Bradstreet business listings. GCR geo-referenced
the individual business listings in order to create
a count of businesses within the BioDistrict and
Expanded areas. Given that Dun and Bradstreet
assigns a North American Industry Classification
System (NAICS) code to each of its business
listings, GCR was able to catalog and sum these
establishments by type of retail activity.

The table below summarizes the retail offer-

ings for the BioDistrict and Expanded areas as
of May, 2010. They are grouped by categories
Existing retail establishments with the District mostly
of services or goods offered, and the total sales consist of small scale, independently owned stores,
figures represent the sum of the most recent many of which specialize in auto products and
services.
reported annual sales for each establishment.
GCR calculated an estimated square footage
total based on sales figures from Dun and Bradstreet, industry data from the Urban Land
Institute and International Council of Shopping Centers, and the classification of businesses
within the District by type of structure/location16.

16
Different retail environments (mall vs. urban storefront, for example) would yield different estimates of total square footage for that establishment. GCR utilized its knowl-
edge of the major commercial nodes within the District to assign each business to a specific building/location category.

45
DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

Note that the count of retail establishments by type and the total sales figures within the fol-
lowing table are directly from Dun and Bradstreet’s business database. The estimated square
footage totals, however, are extrapolated and are not the result of a physical survey.

Retail Offerings Around the BioDistrict Area

Sources: Dun and Bradstreet Business Data, ULI and International Council of Shopping Centers

46
 DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

Retail Occupancy and Rental Rate Data

Occupancy and rental rate data for retail properties were compiled from the New Orleans
Metropolitan Real Estate Market Analysis, published by UNO. In the fall of 2009 (the most
recent period for which data were collected), the overall retail occupancy rate for Orleans
Parish ranged from 95.9% for Class A retail space, to 76.5% for Class B retail, to 70.8% for
Class C retail. Rental rates per square foot ranged from $25.00 for Class A, to approximately
$15 - $16 per square foot for Class B and C space. Given the profile of retail space within
the District, the Class B and Class C rental and occupancy rates are most pertinent to the
existing inventory of retail within the District. Based on case studies of new retail develop-
ment within the District collected by GCR, new retail space could command rents as high as
$22 per square foot17.

Retail Profile - City of New Orleans, 2009

Source: UNO New Orleans Metropolitan Real Estate Market Analysis

A full list of retail case studies has been provided within the appendix document. The $22 per square foot figure assumes a triple net (NNN) lease.
17

47
DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

New and Proposed Retail Developments within the BioDistrict

Despite the fact that the BioDistrict is not a wealthy neighborhood, there has been a con-
siderable amount of retail development has been completed or proposed in recent years.
Some of this investment has replaced a portion of the pre-Katrina retail inventory that was
damaged by flooding, while other investment has responded to the influx of new multifamily
residential investment in the area.

Based on a survey of the BioDistrict and announced commercial investments, GCR has
compiled a list of new and proposed retail in the District. A full list of new and proposed
retail for both the BioDistrict and the Expanded Area is provided in the accompanying ap-
pendix document.

New and Proposed Retail Within the BioDistrict

Source: Compiled by GCR & Associates, Inc.

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 DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

One of the most significant of the projects listed above is the proposed sports/entertain-
ment district at the site of the shuttered New Orleans Centre Mall adjacent to the Super-
dome. The first phase of this project, an outdoor space called Champions Square, has been
completed, but plans for major retail, restaurant, and entertainment activity remain up in the
air. There are a number of challenges with this particular site. The New Orleans Centre Mall,
which was originally an upscale mall with national retailers and two department stores, was in
decline even before Katrina. One of the two department stores, Lord and Taylor, had closed
months before Katrina. Additionally, sports venues such as the Superdome and New Or-
leans Arena do not provide a consistent, day in, day out market for retail and entertainment
activity. They generate substantial sporadic crowds, but when there is no major sporting or
entertainment event scheduled, the areas adjacent to stadiums and arenas tend to be depopu-
lated. It remains to be seen what the precise retail program and layout will be for this major
redevelopment project that will enable it to capitalize on game day crowds but also attract
shoppers on other days.

Another major retail initiative that is underway is the New Orleans Downtown Development
District’s (DDD’s) on-going efforts to attract major national retailers to Canal Street—long
the retail nucleus for the entire New Orleans region. Their efforts have attracted a number
of small retailers in the past two years, but a critical mass of major national retailers remains
an unfulfilled goal. With substantial investment forthcoming along Canal Street, such as
the renovation of historic theaters, the proposed Hotel Indigo (discussed below), and the
completion of the BioInnovation Center (also discussed below), Canal Street could once
again become a locus of major retail activity.

Another future retail opportunity of note is a concept that was introduced by New Orleans’
recently adopted Master Plan. The land use element of the Master Plan calls for a concen-
tration of attractive, pedestrian oriented big box development along the Earhart corridor,
within and adjacent to the BioDistrict. The concepts put forth by the Master Plan are cur-
rently being translated into an entirely new Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance (CZO) for
the city, and this vision for a revitalized Earhart corridor will likely be codified by the new
zoning regulations. As no imminent plans for big box development in that area have yet been
announced, the concept remains speculative. Private investors—perhaps with the assistance
of government incentives—would have to be lured to the area to make this vision a reality.

Collectively, the ultimate outcome of these three major proposals/initiatives—the sports/

entertainment district, the redevelopment of Canal Street, and a big box retail node along
Earhart Boulevard—will have a profound effect upon the retail landscape of the BioDistrict.

49
DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

BioDistrict New Orleans – An Area of Limited Retail Activity

Based on the data that have been collected as well as extensive physical surveys of the BioDistrict, a
number of conclusions can be drawn about the current retail landscape within the District:

• The District is home to a number of small, independently owned retailers scattered throughout
the expanse of the District. There are an estimated 60 – 70 major retail establishments within the
District, occupying approximately 120,000 square feet.

• There is no single, cohesive retail strip or node within the BioDistrict. Broad Street is the principal
retail thoroughfare while portions of Tulane Avenue, Canal Street, and Carrollton Avenue also have
a number of retail offerings.

• Existing retailers include many auto repair, sales, and service outlets; convenience and small
food stores; drug stores; and gas stations. Notably absent are full service grocery stores, any big
box retail, and stores providing discretionary retail goods, such as electronics, books, clothing,
furniture, and sporting goods.

• Comprehensive data on retail occupancy and rental rates are difficult to obtain for the BioDistrict,
but based on citywide data, retail space within the District likely leases for approximately $15 -
$16 per square foot. Newly completed retail development may obtain rents of approximately $22
per square foot18. Occupancy for Class B and C retail space (the kind that is most prevalent in the
BioDistrict) is at 70 – 77% for the entire city.

• Despite the fact that the BioDistrict is not a wealthy area, there has been a substantial amount
of new retail activity, some of which has replaced the flood damaged retail inventory. Other retail
development, including a number of new retail projects on Tulane Avenue, is in response to the
completion of hundreds of units of multifamily rental housing in the past two years.

• There are three major retail initiatives within and adjacent to the BioDistrict: the sports/entertain-
ment district adjacent to the Superdome, efforts to attract major national retailers to Canal Street,
and the concept of a big box district along Earhart Boulevard. The success or failure of these initia-
tives will have a profound effect on the retail offerings available to residents and workers within
the BioDistrict.

Based on a “triple net” (NNN) lease.

18

50
DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

Restaurants and Bars

 DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

RESTAURANTS AND BARS

Like most areas of New Orleans, the BioDistrict
and its surroundings are home to a significant
number and a wide variety of restaurants and
bars. The vast majority of these establishments
are locally owned and operated. Within the
BioDistrict itself, GCR compiled an inventory of
over 40 restaurants and/or bars. Because of the
geographical extent of the District, this infor-
mation was compiled in the same way that the
inventory of retail establishments was compiled.
Data from Dun and Bradstreet’s business listings
were geo-referenced to either the BioDistrict or
Expanded Areas, and restaurants and bars were
identified by NAICS classification. Based on its
knowledge of the area, GCR then classified these
establishments as “casual dining,” “fast food,”
“bar,” “fine dining,” or “other category.” Most of
the restaurants within the BioDistrict fall into the
casual dining or fast food categories. Currently,
there is no distinct cluster of restaurants and/or Most restaurants within the BioDistrict are indepen-
night life within the District. Instead, individual dently owned, casual dining establishments.
establishments are scattered throughout the area.

Within the area adjacent to the BioDistrict, there are approximately 180 additional restau-
rants, representing a broader array of cuisines and price points. This larger inventory within
the areas adjacent to the District includes well known restaurants within the Central Business
District, Warehouse District, and French Quarter. Including the District itself, the Expanded
Area is home to over 220 restaurants and bars. A full listing of area restaurants is provided
in the appendix.

While there are no imminent plans for a major infusion of restaurants in the District, two of
the major retail initiatives described above—the revitalization of Canal Street and the cre-
ation of a sports/entertainment district adjacent to the Superdome—could have a substan-
tial restaurant component. In the meantime, there is a dearth of restaurant options within
walking distance to some of the major employers and traffic generators within the BioDis-
trict, such as Xavier University, the criminal justice complex, City Hall, and the LSU Health
Sciences Center. With the completion of the VA/UMC hospitals, there should be substantial
additional demand and a substantial opportunity for expanded restaurant offerings within
the BioDistrict.

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DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

BioDistrict New Orleans – Profile of Restaurants

The principal characteristics of the restaurant offerings within the BioDistrict are as follows:

• The District is home to over 40 restaurants and bars, most of which are within the fast food or
casual dining market segments.

• While there are some areas of the District that are home to a number of restaurants, most notably
Broad Street and Carrollton Avenue near Canal Street, there are scant restaurant offerings within
close proximity to some of the District’s major activity centers, such as LSU Health Sciences Cen-
ter, Xavier University, and the criminal justice complex at Tulane and Broad.

52
DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

Commercial Real Estate

 DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE

Within and adjacent to the BioDistrict is the
New Orleans area’s largest concentration of
office space, the New Orleans Central Busi-
ness District (CBD). The CBD is home to
numerous Class A high rise office buildings,
many of which were built during and imme-
diately after the oil boom of the late 1970’s
and early 1980’s. The CBD is also home to a
smaller inventory of Class B space although
much of Downtown’s Class B space has been The BioDistrict is home to many low-rise office buildings,
converted into hotel and residential uses over such as this one on Canal Street, that offer affordable
rents.
the past 10 – 15 years.

The inventory of commercial office space

within the BioDistrict itself is more diverse
than that of the CBD. The District is home to
several Class A office buildings, most notably
at the intersection of Loyola Avenue and Poy-
dras Street and along Poydras across from the
Louisiana Superdome. The District also has
a considerable inventory of mid-rise, lower There are over 13 million square feet of office space
cost office space, predominantly along Canal within the BioDistrict and the Expanded Area.
Street from Claiborne Avenue to Broad Street.
Finally, the BioDistrict has a number of even smaller office buildings, many of which have
been converted from residential use. These boutique offices line Canal Street from Jefferson
Davis Parkway to City Park Avenue, outside of the District’s boundaries.

Cumulatively, the BioDistrict is home to over 7.3 million square feet of office space. An ad-
ditional 6 million square feet are located adjacent to the District. Therefore, the cumulative
amount of office space within the Expanded Area is over 13 million square feet.

Occupancy and Price Points – Class A Office Space

To build an inventory of office space within the BioDistrict and the Expanded Area, GCR
consulted Transwestern, a commercial brokerage firm with a strong presence in the New
Orleans market. Because a number of the requested data points are not readily available
through field surveys, GCR felt that their commercial database would be a logical starting
point for this inventory. Cres Gardner, the Vice President of Transwestern’s Gulf Coast
regional office, provided a variety of key data at the building address level, including:
• Total square feet
• Occupied square feet, vacant square feet, and the occupancy rate

53
DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

• Average rental rate

• Lease type
• Whether the building has medical or medically related tenants
• Description of primary tenants and tenant categories.

Mr. Gardner’s primary data sources included:

• Equity Office Survey, 2nd Quarter 2010

• Corporate Realty Internal Report, 2nd Quarter 2010
• Listed property information found on Louisiana Commercial Database and Loopnet
• Internal information within Transwestern’s database
• The Louisiana Commercial Database’s list of completed deals
• Orleans Parish Assessor’s Office
• Direct surveys conducted by Transwestern staff.

The resulting dataset consisted of detailed, address-level information on over 70 office

buildings within the BioDistrict and nearly 30 buildings in the areas adjacent to the District,
most notably within the CBD.

To ensure that this inventory accurately reflects “on the ground” conditions in the New
Orleans market, GCR complemented Transwestern’s data with additional primary research.
Of particular interest was the average rent per square foot at Class A office buildings. GCR
contacted approximately 20 current and prospective tenants at downtown Class A office
buildings to request information on contract office rents. While many businesses were not
willing to share information on their lease terms, enough did provide lease information so as
to provide a more nuanced picture of rents at downtown office buildings.

This tenant-based information was coupled with interviews with several individuals/entities
that have worked extensively in the downtown market. GCR contacted Bruce Sossaman, the
leasing director of Metairie-based Equity Office Properties; Bobby Talbot of Talbot Realty;
and Corporate Realty. All confirmed that discounts ranging from 5% to 10% of the stated
rent per square foot (i.e. the figures cited within the Transwestern data) were provided to
certain existing or prospective tenants. This is particularly true for large tenants occupying
greater than 50,000 square feet.

This perspective was generally consistent with the data that GCR was able to collect from
individual tenants. Discounts off of the stated per-square-foot rents ranged from approxi-
mately 3% to 10%, with an average discount of approximately 6%. This was especially true
for larger tenants occupying at least 20,000 square feet. The rent per square foot for tenants
occupying smaller office suites (e.g. less than 5,000 square feet) reported leases that were
similar to the prices quoted by Transwestern.

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 DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

As Transwestern’s and Equity Office Properties’ data do provide a solid, address-level foun-
dation for aggregate square footage, occupancy rates, and the stated rent of individual build-
ings, these data have been included within the reported baseline data. Additionally, based on
interviews with downtown real estate brokers and the data compiled by GCR from individu-
al downtown tenants, an average discount rate of 6% has been applied to the stated rents of
individual buildings in order to arrive at a realistic “discounted rent” for potential larger ten-
ants. In addition to the table of major office buildings in Downtown New Orleans (below),
a full inventory of office space within the BioDistrict and Expanded Area is provided in the
accompanying appendix document.

Major Office Buildings In Downtown New Orleans

Source: Transwestern, Equity Office Properties, research conducted by GCR

Medical Office Space

Within the overall inventory of office space, fourteen buildings within the BioDistrict were
identified as having some medical or medically related tenants. Most of these buildings are
relatively small structures of 8,000 square feet or fewer, and all but one are located along Ca-
nal Street. The cumulative square footage of these office buildings is approximately 130,000
square feet, and a typical rental rate per square foot ranges from $14 - $15. Unlike Class A
office space in the CBD where most leases are gross leases, the lease terms of these smaller
buildings vary greatly. Some are gross leases while others are triple net.

Occupancy rates also vary greatly for these smaller, medically oriented buildings. Some
report full occupancy while others are awaiting tenants. A complete list of these and other
office buildings is included within the appendix. Note that this list does not include large
medical buildings operated by the major medical institutions in the District, such as Tulane
and LSU Health Sciences Center.

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DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

Warehouse and Industrial Space

In addition to office space, GCR also compiled a list of major warehouse and commercial
properties within the BioDistrict. GCR consulted two sources for this information: Cres
Gardner, the Vice President of Transwestern’s Gulf Coast Regional Office and Max Derbes
of Max J. Derbes, Inc. Realtors—one of the most active industrial real estate brokers in the
Greater New Orleans market.

According to the data provided by these two

commercial brokers, rental asking rates in the
heart of the city are approximately $3.00 per
square foot, although deals are being complet-
ed at about $.50 below the market asking rate,
as a result of available space in the Elmwood
Industrial Park and in other areas19. At the
present, demand for warehouse and industrial
space is relatively soft, likely a result of the
national economic downturn. Within the core There is a wide variety of warehouse and industrial buildings within the
of the city of New Orleans (excluding New BioDistrict, particularly in the area bounded by Broad Street, Jeff Davis
Parkway, Earhart Boulevard, and Howard Avenue.

Orleans East and the West Bank), there was

over 850,000 square feet of available ware-
house and industrial space as of the end of 200920.

In the BioDistrict, 39 major industrial/warehouse buildings were surveyed totaling over

965,000 square feet. Among these 39 structures, 12 were completely vacant, representing
over 257,000 square feet of available warehouse/industrial space21. Within the industrial area
of the BioDistrict (most notably the area bounded by Earhart Boulevard, Howard Avenue, S.
Broad Street, and Jefferson Davis Parkway), little manufacturing activity is evident. Instead,
the predominant uses of industrially zoned buildings in this area include storage, warehous-
ing, wholesale operations, and supply companies. A major project within the District that
was recently announced and that is now underway is a 65,000 square foot restaurant supply
store at the intersection of Earhart Boulevard and South Broad Street. This wholesale store
will provide local restaurateurs with a variety of frozen food and other restaurant supplies.
This major investment represents a vote of confidence in the viability of the industrial area
of the BioDistrict and the ongoing demand for warehouse and industrial space in the core
of the city.

19
At the end of 2009, the warehouse vacancy rate in the Elmwood area was approximately 15%, according to Max J. Derbes, Inc. Realtors.
20
Source: The Derbes Industrial Report, Mid Year Projections for 2010 by Max J. Derbes, Inc. Realtors.
21
For a complete list of the warehouse/industrial buildings that were inventoried, refer to the accompanying appendix document.

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 DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

Laboratory Space
GCR was asked to compile an inventory of research lab space maintained by the major institu-
tions within the District: Tulane, LSU, and Xavier universities. Based on interviews with univer-
sity administrators, the following summary information was provided:

• Tulane University (downtown

campus): 130,000 assignable square
feet of research lab space, 196,000
assignable square feet including
ancillary laboratory functions (e.g.
research offices)

• Xavier University: approximately

80,000 square feet; some of this
square footage may be for class-
room instruction; awaiting clarifica-
tion on this issue
The New Orleans BioInnovation Center (currently under construction) is a 66,000 square
foot lab and office facility that will be home to the city’s growing biotechnology firms.
• LSU Health Sciences Center:
approximately 159,000 square feet
of non-classroom lab space in the downtown campus (excludes the Dental School)

In addition to the lab space maintained by the major institutions within the BioDistrict, The
New Orleans BioInnovation Center, a business incubator for biotechnology firms, will provide
tenants with laboratory and office space. The Center’s executive director provided GCR with
the following estimates for the al-
location of space and the expected Anticipated Bioinnovation Center Offerings
rents per square foot within the
four-story complex. Note that the
rent estimates are gross rent figures.

This summary profile is prelimi-

nary, as the Center currently has no
committed tenants. Rates will be
dependent upon terms negotiated
Source: New Orleans BioInnovation Center
with individual firms. The fourth
floor of the facility will not be built out initially and will eventually be used for some combina-
tion of office and research laboratory space.

Pending Commercial Development

The BioDistrict will be a locus for major commercial and institutional investment in the near
term. These initiatives, which range from cultural to institutional investments and total well
over $2 billion, will be some of the most conspicuous and catalytic projects in the city’s recent

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DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

history. They include the restoration or replacement of major community facilities damaged
during Hurricane Katrina as well as forward-looking economic development projects envi-
sioned to expand some of New Orleans’ potential growth industries.
These projects include major medical and research facilities, such as the University Medi-
cal Center, Veterans Administration Hospital, BioInnovation Center, and Louisiana Cancer
Research Center. They also include a major mixed use project (the aforementioned sports/
entertainment district adjacent to the Superdome), the renovation of a major office building,
and the rehabilitation of an historic theater.

Major Pending Commercial Investments

University

Source: GCR & Associates

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 DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

BioDistrict New Orleans – Overview of Commercial Real Estate

The principal characteristics of the commercial real estate market and inventory within the BioDistrict
are as follows:

• Located within the BioDistrict are over 7,000,000 square feet of office space. This inventory
includes a wide variety of forms and types, ranging from Class A office towers to historic houses
on Canal Street converted to commercial use. The District also has an ample supply of 4 – 6 story
buildings that are at least 30 years old. These structures ensure that there is a supply of affordable
office space in the District.

• Among the major Class A office buildings in the BioDistrict and elsewhere in the Central Business
District, occupancy among major office buildings is in the high 80% range. Some buildings are
entirely leased up while others have occupancy rates in the mid-70% range.

• Rents for major Class A office buildings in Downtown New Orleans can be secured for just under
$17 per square foot, with some buildings being slightly more affordable and others slightly less.
This figure assumes a discount for larger tenants, as major tenants have typically been able to
secure leases that are 3% - 10% below the listed per square foot rental rate.

• Within the BioDistrict, 14 office buildings were identified as having (or having had) some medical
tenants. The condition and the occupancy rate of these buildings vary greatly. While some are fully
leased, others are entirely vacant. Rents per square foot at these buildings tend to be in the $14
- $15 per square foot range. Rents in the Class B and C buildings within the District range from as
low as $12 per square foot to as high as $16.

• Among the major teaching institutions in the District—Xavier, LSU, and Tulane—there are cur-
rently over 435,000 square feet in research lab space. Total lab space will be augmented with the
completion of the BioInnovation Center and the Louisiana Cancer Research Center.

• In addition to the BioInnovation Center and Cancer Center, there are a number of major proposed
commercial and institutional projects within the District. Foremost among these are the VA and
University Medical Center (UMC) hospitals. There is also one major office project that is nearing
completion—the renovated Dominion Tower (now named the Benson Tower) that will house ap-
proximately 900 state workers and a number of private tenants.

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DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

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DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

Hospitality and Special Events

 DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

HOSPITALITY AND SPECIAL EVENTS

The BioDistrict encompasses and is proximate to many of New Orleans’ largest special event
venues and cultural attractions. To establish baseline information on conventions, major sport-
ing and cultural events, and hotel capacity, GCR consulted the following data sources:

• New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau (historical data on recent medical conven-
tions)
• Smith Travel Research (information on location and capacity of hotels)
• PFK Hospitality Research (estimates for hotel occupancy rates)
• Primary data collection conducted by GCR (information on hotel amenities and extended
stay options)
• Various sources, including The Times-Picayune, the Louisiana Superdome Commission,
and the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau (attendance data for major events at
the Louisiana Superdome and New Orleans Arena)

Inventory of Hotels
Much of New Orleans’ inventory of hotel rooms is located within the Central Business Dis-
trict. Many of these hotels also serve as venues for conventions, corporate gatherings, social
events, and other functions. Based on data from Smith Travel Research and corroborated by
primary research, the number of hotel rooms and square footage of meeting space within each
area is as listed in the table below.

As with other location-specific data referenced throughout this report, GCR geo-processed
and aggregated the information provided by Smith to each of the geographical sub-areas. GCR
also performed quality control against an internally maintained inventory of hotels and hotel
rooms. Note that the room and meeting space inventory for the “Buffer Area” excludes the
BioDistrict itself. Thus, the combined inventory of hotel rooms within the BioDistrict and
Expanded Area is 7,300 rooms.

Hotel Rooms, Rates, and Meeting Space

Source: GCR & Associates and Smith Travel Research

Approximately 30% of all of the hotel rooms and hotel meeting space in the City of New Orleans
is located within the BioDistrict and Expanded Area. Furthermore most of the remaining hotel
rooms within the city are immediately adjacent to the Expanded Area. However, there is a major
discrepancy between the inventory of hotels within the BioDistrict itself and within the Expanded
Area and beyond. This is clearly illustrated in the following map of hotel locations. Simply put,
relatively few hotels and relatively few rooms are located within the BioDistrict proper.

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DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

Locations of Hotels in the City of New Orleans

BioDistrict

Expanded Area

Note: Does not include bed and breakfasts

Source: Smith Travel Research and GCR & Associates

Furthermore, the range of accommodations within the BioDistrict is limited. Of its 600+
rooms, over 200 are located at the Canal Street Hotel, which has experienced code violations
and occasional criminal activity. As a result, it has had difficulty remaining open in recent
years. With the exception of the Clarion Inn & Suites, all of the other accommodations
within the District are motels along Tulane Avenue. The significant discrepancy in room
rates in the BioDistrict relative to the city as a whole underscores the limited inventory of ac-
commodations in the District. Within the District, the average peak season room rate is well
under half that of the city as a whole. The Expanded Area, by contrast, offers both a greater
inventory of hotels and a wider variety of price points and amenities.
Hotel Rooms, Rates, and Meeting Space - BioDistrict

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 DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

Extended Stay Hotels

Ten hotels, according to research conducted by GCR,
offer extended stay packages or short-term apartments
for business travelers. These amenities are available at
the following locations:

• Downtown and surrounding areas:

o Embassy Suites (315 Julia St.)
o French Quarter Suites (1119 N. Rampart St.)
o Staybridge Suites (501 Tchoupitoulas St.)
o Homewood Suites (901 Poydras St.)
o Clarion Inn (1300 Canal St.)
o Residence Inn (345 St. Joseph St.)
o Marriott ExecuStay (925 Common St.)
o Marriott ExecuStay (837 Gravier St.)
o Union Lofts (334 Carondelet St.)

• New Orleans East: The Clarion is the only hotel within the BioDistrict that
currently offers extended stay options.

o Comfort Suites (7015 Bullard Ave.)

Of these hotels, one is located within the BioDistrict—the Clarion Inn at 1300 Canal Street.
Most of the remaining extended stay options are located within close proximity of, though
not necessarily walking distance to, the District.

Hotel Occupancy, Room Rates, and Revenues

GCR has also compiled historical,
citywide information on the average
occupancy rate, the Average Daily Rate
(ADR), and the Revenue Per Available
Room (RevPAR) for New Orleans ho-
tels. All three statistics show a decline
from pre-Katrina levels in 2005. On
the other hand, there have been some
improvements in hotel performance
since the immediate post-Katrina
period.

Occupancy has increased from 57% Most of the existing hotels within the BioDistrict provide budget accommodations.

to 60% since 2006, despite the fact that many more hotel rooms have been restored to the
market since then. The Average Daily Rate has decreased by 2% since 2006, perhaps as a re-
sult of an increased inventory of rooms; but the Revenue Per Available Room has increased
slightly over the same period.

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DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

Historical Data - New Orleans Hotel Market

Source: GCR & Associates, Inc.

Pending Hotel Developments

As investment continues to accelerate in and around Downtown New Orleans, a number of
redevelopment projects will offer hotel rooms as all or part of their program. Based on reports
in local news outlets and conversations with local developers, GCR has determined that approxi-
mately 1,600 new hotel rooms could come online as a result of the projects listed below.
Pending Hotel Developments In BioDistrict Area and Buffer

Source: GCR & Associates, Inc.

Of these projects, the only certainty is the redevelopment of the Hyatt, where construction
has commenced. The 180-room Hotel Indigo was just announced in June of 2010, and con-
struction should begin in the near term. The other two projects listed in the table appear to
have stalled as no recent development or construction activity has been reported.

Conventions and Major Cultural Events

New Orleans has long been one of the
country’s premier convention and travel
destinations, and the city relies heavily on
tourism for employment, tax revenue, and
economic development. Data from the
New Orleans Convention and Visitors
Bureau indicates that between 2004 and
2010, the economic impact of medical-re-
lated conventions and meetings alone was
over $1 billion. From 2007 to 2010, New
Orleans has averaged 76 medical-related
conventions per year. In 2009, the last full New Orleans has averaged 76 medical-related conventions per year from 2007 to 2010.
New Orleans’ Morial Convention Center has hosted many of the larger conventions.
year for which data are available, approxi-
mately 122,000 people attended medical-
related conventions in New Orleans.

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 DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

Finally, New Orleans’ two largest event venues—the Superdome and the New Orleans
Arena—are also major economic and tourism drivers. Both facilities host a variety of sport-
ing events, concerts, and exhibitions throughout the year. These venues are being posi-
tioned as the centerpieces of an expanding sports and entertainment district, which includes
the recent completion of “Champions Plaza,” the renovation of the Dominion Tower as a
hub for state offices, the renovation of the Hyatt hotel, and planned entertainment and retail
venues at the site of the old New Orleans Centre mall.

Attendance data gathered from various sources provide a glimpse of the impact of events
held at these two venues in 2009, the last full year for which data are available. Between the
two facilities, over two and a half million people attend sporting, cultural, and entertainment
events within the BioDistrict in a typical year.

New Orleans Arena Events and Attendance (2009)

Louisiana Superdome Events and Attendance (2009)

Source: GCR & Associates, Inc.

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DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

BioDistrict New Orleans – Profile of Hospitality Infrastructure

The following are the key characteristics of the hospitality sector in the BioDistrict:

• The BioDistrict is currently home to approximately 650 hotel rooms, comprising a relatively small
percentage (less than 3%) of the city’s over 24,000 hotel rooms.

• However, in the adjacent Expanded Area, there are many more hotels (over 6,600 rooms) and a
much greater variety than in the BioDistrict. Within the District, the hotel offerings consist almost
entirely of budget, auto-oriented hotels. Underscoring the affordability of hotel rooms within the
District, their average peak season room rate is less than half that of the citywide average room
rate during the peak season.

• There is only one extended stay hotel within the BioDistrict, the Clarion Inn and Suites on Canal
Street. This hotel is not located in particularly close proximity to the two proposed hospitals in the
District (the VA and UMC facilities).

• Along a number of measures, the hotel market in New Orleans is not as strong as it was before
Katrina. Average occupancy, the average daily room rate (ADR), and revenue per available room
(RevPAR) have all declined since 2005, though occupancy and RevPAR have increased slightly
since the period immediately after Katrina (2006).

• There are a significant number of proposed hotel rooms (approximately 1,600) within the BioDis-
trict and Expanded Area. The overwhelming majority of these rooms are in the Hyatt, whose reno-
vation is underway. Construction will soon be underway at the 180-room Hotel Indigo on Canal
Street.

• New Orleans, one of the top 10 busiest convention destinations in the United States22, has hosted
a considerable number of medical and medically related conventions in recent years—76 per year
from 2007 to 2010. According to the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau, the cumulative
economic impact of medical conventions in New Orleans since 2004 is over $1 billion.

• The Superdome and New Orleans Arena draw an enormous population to Downtown New Orleans
and the BioDistrict every year. In 2009 alone, the two facilities drew an estimated 2.5 million
people to entertainment events such as Essence Fest and sporting events such as Saints games.

Source: Morial Convention Center

22

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DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

Major Institutions
 DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

MAJOR INSTITUTIONS
The economy, the physical character, and the overall profile of the BioDistrict are defined by
the presence of a number of major government, educational, and medical institutions. One
cannot understand the economic dynamics of the BioDistrict without appreciating the scale
of each of these facilities—the number of individuals they employ, the research dollars they
attract, the patient base they serve, and the students they educate. This section will attempt
to outline the key characteristics of each of these institutions.

GCR was asked to obtain key data for ten institutions within the BioDistrict. They are:

• The downtown campus of Tulane University

• The LSU Health Sciences Center
• Xavier University
• Tulane Hospital
• The existing Interim LSU Public Hospital
• The proposed University Medical Center (UMC) Hospital
• City of New Orleans, City Hall
• The criminal justice complex, including Criminal District Court and the Orleans Parish
Criminal Sheriff ’s Office
• Union Passenger Terminal, New Orleans’ train/bus terminal

GCR collected information on enrollment, employment, size of facilities, and other impor-
tant attributes from correspondence and interviews with administrators at each of these
institutions

Educational Institutions
The largest of the educational institutions within the Bi-
oDistrict, in terms of number of students served, is Xavier
University. Located in the northwest corner of the BioDis-
trict adjacent to the Gert Town neighborhood, Xavier has
a student enrollment of over 3,300. Xavier is a compre-
hensive, four-year university with a wide range of under-
graduate programs and noted graduate degree programs in
education, counseling, and theology. At the undergraduate
level, Xavier has become particularly well known for train-
ing its students to matriculate in graduate programs in the
health sciences. Xavier also has a very well regarded College
of Pharmacy and trains many of the pharmacists within the
New Orleans region. Xavier is also a major economic pres-
ence in New Orleans as it has a payroll of nearly 800 indi- Tulane University’s downtown campus serves over 2,000
students and is a hub for medical research, attracting over
viduals of whom approximately 700 are fulltime employees. $40 million in NIH grant funding in 2009 alone.

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DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

The second largest academic institution within the District is the LSU Health Sciences campus,
which serves over 2,200 students. The LSU Health Sciences Center trains students in a variety of
medical and medically related disciplines. The individual schools that fall under the umbrella of
the Health Sciences Center are the School of Medicine, School of Public Health, School of Allied
Health, Nursing School, and School of Graduate Studies. Of these, the largest programs are Nurs-
ing with approximately 950 students enrolled and Medicine with approximately 750 students. The
LSU Health Sciences Center campus is situated within a cluster of buildings roughly bounded by
Tulane Avenue, Claiborne Avenue, Poydras Street, and Galvez Street. This campus will be situ-
ated directly across Tulane Avenue from the proposed University Medical Center hospital. LSU
also provides substantial employment within the District. It employs over 2,000 people, of whom
nearly 1,700 are full time employees.

The final major academic institution within the District that GCR was asked to profile is the down-
town campus of Tulane University23. Enrolling just over 2,000 students, there are two principal
divisions of the downtown campus: the School of Medicine and the School of Public Health and
Tropical Medicine. Tulane’s health sciences campus is located in a cluster of buildings roughly
bounded by Loyola Avenue/Elks Place, Canal Street, Claiborne Avenue, and Gravier Street.
Tulane’s downtown campus employs approximately the same number as the LSU Health Sciences
Center—over 2,000 employees, of whom nearly 1,700 are full time.
Profile of Educational Institutions within the BioDistrict

Source: Data collected by GCR & Associates

NIH and Venture Capital Funding

Federal research dollars issued by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are a major source
of research funding and a major driver of economic development in the biosciences. In
2009, the NIH issued nearly $22 billion to researchers across the country to study a wide
variety of medical and health related issues. Because NIH dollars are issued to research
institutions across the country and because the same peer-reviewed process governs their
distribution, aggregate NIH funding serves as a good measure of the relative strength and
importance of cities’ biomedical and bioscience industries.

Not comprehensively profiled is the Delgado Charity School of Nursing, a division of Delgado Community College, which has an enrollment of just under 800 students.
23

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 DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

Among all American cities, New Orleans currently Top Cities for NIH Funding, 2009
ranks 55th in the country in the quantity of NIH
grant funding that it receives—over $82 million in
2009. Due to the displacement of researchers and
research dollars from Hurricane Katrina, New Or-
leans’ rank has fallen from its pre-Katrina position
when it ranked 49th in the country and 43rd in fiscal
year 2005. More striking, however, than the decline in
New Orleans’ rank among major research cities has
been the decline in actual research dollars. New Or-
leans currently attracts approximately $35 million less
in NIH research grants than it did in 2004 and nearly
$50 million less than in fiscal year 2005.

Of the $82 million in NIH funding that New Orleans

received in 2009, Tulane Medical Center received
approximately $45 million; LSU Medical Center re-
ceived approximately $25 million; and Xavier received
approximately $6 million. These figures are all sub-
stantially lower than the pre-Katrina NIH funding at
the three institutions.

Annual NIH Funding by Institution, 2004 and 2009

Source: NIH
Note: Figures are rounded totals.

Source: NIH

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DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

Another engine for economic development Venture Capital by State 2009-2010

in the biosciences is venture capital funding.
Venture capital data are regularly published by
region and by state by a joint venture of Pricewa-
terhouseCoopers, the National Venture Capi-
tal Association, and Thomson Reuters. Their
“MoneyTree” Report aggregates the number of
venture capital deals and the quantity of venture
capital invested at different time periods and
within certain geographical areas. Their data are
culled from a quarterly survey of venture capital
entities conducted by Thomson Reuters.

For the most recent period for which data were

available, Louisiana ranked 31st in the country in
the amount of venture capital invested24 . Be-
tween the beginning of the third quarter of 2009
and the end of the second quarter of 2010, over
$21 million were invested in Louisiana start ups.
While not at the bottom of the list, Louisiana
recorded less than half of the venture capital
activity of the next most active state, Nevada,
which had nearly $44 million in venture capital
investments during the same period. To put
Louisiana’s venture capital activity in perspective,
Colorado, which has only 12% more residents
than Louisiana, recorded over 16 times the level
of venture capital invested over the past year.

According to the MoneyTree report, most of

the venture capital activity in Louisiana in recent
years has occurred in the New Orleans area. The
most granular level at which MoneyTree re-
ports venture capital investment is by area code.
Between the beginning of the third quarter of Source: MoneyTree Report
Note: Figures are rounded totals.
2009 and the end of the second quarter of 2010,
$17.43 million in venture capital was invested
in the 504 area code (out of $21 million total for the state of Louisiana over the same period).
From the beginning of 2008 through mid-year 2010, the total amount of venture capital invest-
ed in the 504 area code was $26.25 million.

The New Orleans area appears to be driving venture capital activity throughout the state, but the
aggregate venture capital investment in Louisiana is fairly modest by national standards.

Louisiana was the 25th most populous state in the country in 2009.
24

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 DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

Healthcare Institutions
Affiliated with the BioDistrict campuses of Tulane and LSU are two major hospitals. Tulane
University Medical Center is a full service hospital located primarily along Tulane Avenue at the
southeast corner of the BioDistrict. Tulane Medical Center houses over 350 patient beds and
admits over 15,000 inpatients and over 300,000 outpatients in a given year. Approximately 15% of
its patient base comes from outside Southeast Louisiana. The hospital is also a major economic
generator, as it has over 1,700 employees, the overwhelming majority of whom are full time em-
ployees.

The second major hospital within the BioDistrict is the Interim LSU Hospital. Reopened after
Hurricane Katrina to meet the community’s pressing need for health care in general and for emer-
gency room care in particular, the hospital is a 260-bed facility. The facility welcomes over 13,000
inpatients and over 200,000 outpatients in a given year. A relatively small percentage of its patient
base (5%) comes from outside southeast Louisiana. The interim LSU facility has a payroll of nearly
2,600 employees.

The existing LSU Hospital carries the “interim” label because its operations will be folded into the
proposed University Medical Center (UMC) when that facility is completed in 2016. The UMC, to
be financed through a combination of federal, state, and private financing, will occupy a 15 block
area bounded by Canal Street, Galvez Street, Tulane Avenue, and Claiborne Avenue. This state of
the art facility will be substantially larger than the existing Interim LSU hospital; and while it will be
a state run facility, its operations plan is predicated upon attracting a significant number of privately
insured patients25. It is anticipated that the UMC will be home to approximately 420 patient beds
and over 3,500 employees and that it will attract over 260,000 outpatient visits per year. The financ-
ing of the facility has not yet been finalized although hundreds of millions of dollars in state and
federal funding have already been committed. An official groundbreaking ceremony will likely be
held before the end of 2010.

Construction of a second new hospital complex

within the BioDistrict is recently underway. The
Veterans Administration (VA) Hospital on Perdido
Street suffered extensive damage as a result of Ka-
trina. The replacement VA hospital will be situated
within a 12 block footprint immediately northwest
of the planned UMC hospital in an area bounded
by Galvez Street, Tulane Avenue, Rocheblave Street, The new VA hospital will incorporate both new construction and the
and Canal Street. The new VA facility will double rehabilitation of historic buildings, such as the 100-year old Dixie
Brewery, seen here.
the number of people currently employed by VA
clinics—from 900 employees to 1,800 employees. The new hospital will accommodate approxi-
mately 500,000 clinic visits per year, and it is anticipated that 50,000 veterans will have their “lives
managed” at the new VA hospital in a given year. This latter figure serves as a rough approximation
for the total number of inpatients that will be served by the new VA hospital.

The patient base of the UMC’s pre-Katrina predecessor, Medical Center of Louisiana at New Orleans (Charity Hospital) had an overwhelmingly low income patient base
25

and served few privately insured patients.

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DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

Profile of Hospitals Within the BioDistrict

Source: Data collected by GCR & Associates

Other Institutions
There are a number of additional institutions within the BioDistrict. The largest employer among
them is the City of New Orleans. According to the City’s Assistant Chief Administrator, there are
4,079 employees at City Hall. This employee count does not include employees who work offsite
at the City’s libraries, fire stations, police stations, and other facilities. This figure does represent the
overwhelming majority of City workers who work for a variety of City departments and agencies,
such as Public Works, Code Enforcement, and Safety and Permits.

Another major civic institution within the BioDistrict is the criminal justice complex at the intersec-
tion of Tulane and Broad Street in the heart of the District. Housed in a sprawling campus that
covers approximately 9 square blocks, the complex includes Criminal District Court and the prison
facilities administered by the Orleans Parish Criminal Sheriff ’s Office. Collectively, these criminal
justice institutions employ over 1,100. Major investments are underway or have been proposed for
the criminal justice complex. Replacement of outdated prison facilities is underway, although ques-
tions remain about the ultimate size of the facilities and the ultimate number of beds. Additionally,
at one point, the City had proposed moving Orleans Parish Civil District Court from its present
location at the intersection of Poydras Street and Loyola Avenue to the justice complex. This pro-
posal encountered significant opposition from the Downtown legal community, and the present
outlook for the proposal is unclear, especially in light of a new mayoral administration.

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 DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

Another institutional employer within the District represents a key piece of New Orleans’ present
and future transportation infrastructure: Union Passenger Terminal (UPT). Completed in the late
1950’s to consolidate the city’s many passenger rail lines into a single rail station, the facility employs
approximately 270. Three Amtrak trains, the Crescent, City of New Orleans, and Sunset Limited
serve the station. In 2009, there were over 150,000 boardings and alightings of Amtrak trains at
UPT. UPT also accommodates Greyhound buses. The significance of Union Passenger Terminal
is expected to grow in future years. It will soon be served by a new streetcar line to be completed
by the end of 2012; it is the logical destination for a proposed high speed rail line between New
Orleans and Baton Rouge; and it would also be served by a proposed light rail line from Down-
town New Orleans to the airport26.

These three major institutions—City Hall, the criminal justice complex, and Union Passenger
Terminal—are not the only government employers within and around the BioDistrict. Within and
immediately adjacent to the District are other court facilities such as the federal Fifth Circuit Court
of Appeals, major federal employers such as the FBI and U.S. Postal Service, a number of state of-
fices, and other branches of local government such as the Regional Transit Authority and Orleans
Parish School Board. The three governmental institutions that have been discussed in detail thus
do not represent a full inventory of government/institutional employees, but they do represent the
largest and most prominent government facilities within the BioDistrict.

Profile of Other Institutions Within the BioDistrict

Source: Data collected by GCR & Associates

While the streetcar line that will serve Union Passenger Terminal has received ample federal funding and will soon break ground, the other two rail proposals—high
26

speed rail and a light rail line to Louis Armstrong airport—are at the conceptual stage at the present.

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DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

BioDistrict New Orleans – Major Institutions

The following are the key characteristics of the major institutions within the BioDistrict:

• The BioDistrict is home to three major research universities: LSU, Tulane, and Xavier. Also located
within the BioDistrict is a clinical training institution, the Delgado Charity School of Nursing.

• The three major academic research institutions have a collective enrollment of over 7,500 stu-
dents, and they employ nearly 5,000 individuals.

• These universities account for the overwhelming majority of the $82 million that the New Orleans
area received in NIH grant funding in 2009, placing New Orleans 55th among all cities in the Unit-
ed States in NIH funding awards. This is about $50 million less than what New Orleans attracted in
fiscal year 2005, prior to Hurricane Katrina, when the city ranked 43rd in total NIH grants.

• For the most recent period for which data are available (mid-year 2009 through mid-year 2010),
Louisiana ranked 31st among the 50 states and District of Columbia in the total amount of venture
capital investment). Of the $21 million in V.C. funding in the state over this period, over $17 million
occurred in the New Orleans area.

• The two existing hospitals in the BioDistrict, Tulane Medical Center and the Interim LSU Hospital,
welcome over 500,000 outpatients and nearly 30,000 inpatient admissions in a given year.

• Tulane and the Interim LSU hospital employ over 4,300 people.

• The medical infrastructure of the BioDistrict is poised for a major expansion and upgrade with the
future completion of the University Medical Center (UMC) and VA Hospital. These two hospitals,
which will replace and augment some existing medical services in the BioDistrict, will employ over
5,300 individuals and will add a net 364 beds to the City’s medical infrastructure.

• The District is also home to a number of major governmental institutions, most notably City Hall,
the criminal justice complex at Tulane Avenue and Broad Street, and Union Passenger Terminal.
Collectively, these three institutions employ nearly 5,500 people.

• The cumulative employment total of all of the major institutions in the BioDistrict (university, med-
ical, government) is approximately 14,500 jobs. With the completion of the UMC and VA Hospitals,
institutional employment will rise to nearly 17,500 jobs.

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DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

Employment
 DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

EMPLOYMENT
While major institutions account for much of the employment within the BioDistrict, there
are many more employers within the BioDistrict—and many more jobs—that are not affiliated
with these institutions. The BioDistrict is home to a wide range of public and private employ-
ers, ranging from fast food establishments to public schools. Capturing all of the jobs within the
District and the Expanded Area is one of the most critical tasks of this baseline analysis. Be-
cause one of the fundamental goals of the BioDistrict is to catalyze economic development, job
data will serve one of the most important and succinct metrics of the District’s overall effective-
ness. Therefore, a comprehensive and geographically nuanced inventory of jobs is essential.

To conduct this analysis, GCR consulted three sources. The first source was Dun and Brad-
street’s business listings database. Individual, address-level business records were purchased
from Dun and Bradstreet and then geo-referenced by GCR to the BioDistrict and Expanded
Area. Each business listing within the Dun and Bradstreet database includes information on the
total number of employees and the number of employees at that particular site. GCR summed
the number of on-site employees and assumed an average employment figure for the few busi-
ness records for which employment data were not available. The resulting total employment
figure for the BioDistrict is an estimated 34,034 employees. For the Expanded Area (inclusive
of the BioDistrict itself), the total employment figure is an estimated 66,969. As the data were
purchased in 2010 and as each business is surveyed regularly, GCR is confident that these data
are current.

The second data source that GCR consulted is an interface developed by the Census Bureau
entitled “Local Employment Dynamics (LED) OnTheMap.” This data tool enables the user to
query employment data for customized geographical areas, such as the BioDistrict and Ex-
panded Area. The sources of the data are the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Quarterly Census of
Employment and Wages (QCEW), Unemployment Insurance (UI) wage data from state-level
departments of labor/workforce, and the Census Bureau’s Quarterly Workforce Indicators
(QWI) data profiles. This data source also has the added advantage of disaggregating employ-
ment totals into employment by industry type27. Thus, one can determine not only aggregate
employment within a particular area but also the number of health care workers, for example.
The only limitation to the Census employment data is their age. The most recent data are from
the second quarter of 2008. They indicate a total employment figure of 26,238 within the Bi-
oDistrict and 57,941 within the Expanded Area, as of the summer of 2008. The breakdown of
employment by industry type is provided in the charts below.

The final data source that was consulted was the Louisiana Workforce Commission’s Unem-
ployment Insurance (UI) database. The Commission was able to provide employment totals
at the level of the Expanded Area. As with the Census Data, these data are particularly rich in
that they disaggregate the total employment figure into various industry categories. According
to the Workforce Commission, total employment within the BioDistrict at the end of 2009 was
approximately 70,000.
Industry type is denoted by a two digit NAICS code classification.
27

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DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

Obtaining a single, authoritative count on employment for a small geographical area is a chal-
lenging task. There are strengths and weaknesses to each data source. For example, excluded
from the Census’ employment tallies are civilian employees of the federal government and self
employed individuals. In the case of the BioDistrict, these limitations could exclude two signifi-
cant sources of health care employment: those employed by the federal Veterans Administra-
tion and doctors with an individual private practice. Because of these and other data limitations,
GCR has presented these data as a range of estimates. Note in the table below that the Ex-
panded Area includes the entirety of the BioDistrict.
Estimated Total Employment, BioDistrict and Expanded Area

Note: The composite estimate is merely an average of the estimates from the sources presented in this table.
Sources: Listed within table.

Employment by Industry
Because two of the data sources—the Employment by Industry, BioDistrict
Census’ Local Employment Dynam-
ics and the Louisiana Workforce
Commission data—classify job totals
by industry type, the data also allow
for a more nuanced examination of
employment. Of particular interest is
employment in the “Health Care and
Social Assistance” category. Within
the BioDistrict, total employment in
this field stood at approximately 6,500
persons in the summer of 2008, mak-
ing it by far the largest single employer
within the District as it accounts for
nearly a quarter of all BioDistrict jobs.
Of these 6,500 jobs, the vast majority
are within the major hospitals, Tulane
Medical Center and the Interim LSU
hospital. The next largest employment
category, not surprisingly, is “Educa-
Sources: Listed within table.
tional Services” with over 3,200 em-
ployees as of the summer of 2008. This category accounted for over 12% of all employment
within the BioDistrict.

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At the level of the BioDistrict, the industry-specific employment data are only available from
the Census Bureau. At the level of the Expanded Area, these data are both from the Census
Bureau and the Louisiana Workforce Commission. There is some discrepancy between the two
data sources, most likely owing to methodology and to the date of collection. The Census data
are from the summer of 2008 while the Workforce Commission data are from year end, 2009.
In spite of some differences, the employment patterns by industry are generally consistent for
both data sources.

Employment by Industry, Expanded Area

Sources: Listed within table.

Within the Expanded area, “Health Care and Social Assistance” is a major employment catego-
ry as well, accounting for 10.9% to 12.4% of all jobs in the area. Depending on the data source,
it is the second or third largest industry within the Expanded Area. “Accommodation and Food
Services” is the largest industry within the area; and according to the Workforce Commission
data, “Public Administration” is the second largest employer. Note that the Expanded Area
employment estimates include the entirety of the BioDistrict.

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DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

Overall Employment and Institutional Employment

within the BioDistrict
In addition to providing an overall employment baseline, these employment estimates are also
valuable in that they help to frame the importance of the major institutions to the economy
of the BioDistrict. The eight major existing institutions within the BioDistrict that were dis-
cussed in the previous section (City Hall, the Interim LSU Hospital, Xavier University, etc.)
employ over 14,500 individuals. Thus, these institutions alone account for approximately 50%
of all of the jobs within the BioDistrict. It is estimated that the completion of the two new
institutions—the VA Hospital and the University Medical Center—will increase the institutional
employment figure to over 17,000 employees in the coming years. Furthermore, in support of
the long range Master Plan of the BioDistrict, AECOM Economics has developed a future
“program” for the District based on forthcoming institutional investment in the BioDistrict as
well as case studies from other biosciences districts around the country. This program conserva-
tively predicts nearly 5,000 additional jobs within the BioDistrict in complimentary fields such as
research and development, medical/pharmaceutical manufacturing, and medical practice. Thus,
completely aside from any indirect job effects, the major institutions and ancillary medical, re-
search, and manufacturing uses are likely to account for over 22,000 jobs in the coming years26.

Clearly, the major research, medical, and governmental institutions are already the primary eco-
nomic drivers in the BioDistrict. The forthcoming investments in the VA and UMC hospitals
and the anticipated spinoff activity will further magnify the importance of these institutions to
the economy and overall well-being of the BioDistrict.

Estimated Total Employment and Institutional Employment in the BioDistrict

Sources: Census Bureau Local Employment Dynamics, Dun and Bradstreet Business Data, Insitutional Data Collected by GCR, Spinoff Employment Projections by
AECOM and CB Richard Ellis

The 5,000 jobs associated with spinoff medical, R & D, and manufacturing activity are expected to be fully realized over a 20-year horizon.
28

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 DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

BioDistrict New Orleans – Employment Profile

Based on the myriad datasets that have been collected and analyzed, the following key conclusions
can be drawn about the current employment profile of the BioDistrict:

• There is no single, definitive source of employment estimates at the small area, sub-parish level.
Three sources were consulted—the Census’ Local Employment Dynamics, the Louisiana Workforce
Commission, and Dun and Bradstreet’s business database. All of these sources have their own
inherent strengths and weaknesses.

• Based on these resources, total employment within the BioDistrict is in the range of 26,000 –
34,000 employees. This employment total includes all types of jobs—ranging from a doctor at
Tulane Medical Center to a server at a local restaurant in the District.

• Total employment within the Expanded Area is estimated to range from 57,000 to approximately
70,000 employees. As with the BioDistrict, these are all-inclusive figures, comprising all types of
jobs.
• Within the BioDistrict, jobs in the “Health Care and Social Assistance” category comprise a tre-
mendous percentage of all jobs in the District—nearly a quarter of total jobs. Health care is already
the major economic driver in the District.

• The second largest employment category within the District is in education—not surprising given
the presence of so many academic institutions.

• Institutional employment accounts for a tremendous share of overall employment in the District—
just under 50% of all jobs. As the VA and UMC facilities are completed, this percentage will
increase.

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DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

Conclusion
 DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC BASELINE REPORT

CONCLUSION
The fundamental purpose of this report has been to provide a comprehensive baseline assess-
ment that will help to measure future progress in the BioDistrict. It is impossible to gauge the
success of policy efforts and investments without first having a detailed understanding of what
the community was like at the outset of those efforts. With the information that is provided
within this document, private investors, major institutions, policy makers, and other community
stakeholders now have a wealth of data that they can use to make more informed decisions
about the future of BioDistrict New Orleans.

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Prepared For: Prepared By:
BioDistrict New Orleans GCR & Associates, Inc.
P 504.593.6443 P 504.304.2500
134 LaSalle Street 2021 Lakeshore Drive, Suite 500
New Orleans, LA 70112 New Orleans, LA 70122
www.biodistrictneworleans.com www.gcrConsulting.com