New Orleans News | Press

HOTELS

Caesars Hotel/Nobu Hotel 

• Caesars Entertainment, Inc. is investing $435 million to expand, renovate and rebrand the 450-room Harrah’s Hotel and Casino with the 340-room hotel tower under construction expected to be completed by 2024.  

• Prepare for a new level of luxury as Caesars continues to make its mark in New Orleans. This multimillion-dollar transformation of the former Harrah's New Orleans will elevate the city's luxury offerings, promising an unforgettable stay. Nobu Hotel New Orleans and restaurant are also set to open within the Caesars Hotel New Orleans. 

• Nobu Restaurant is a high-end sushi concept, whose New York and Los Angeles presence bodes well for New Orleans’ emerging reconsideration nationally.   

Dew Drop Inn Hotel and Lounge 

• The Dew Drop Inn Hotel and Lounge, on Lasalle Street in Central City, will reopen in December 2023. The boutique hotel will include 17 hotel rooms, a live music venue and a resort style pool. 

• First opened in 1938 by Frank Painia, the Dew Drop was a hotel, music venue and barber shop. Legendary musicians played on its stage including Ray Charles, Little Richard, Deacon John and Irma Thomas.   

Hotel Freedia  

• Big Freedia is realizing a longtime dream of opening up a boutique nightclub/hotel in New Orleans. The groundbreaking on the Hotel Freedia took place in Spring 2024, with the aim of opening for business by Mardi Gras 2024.    

• The hotel will be located on Decatur and Frenchmen streets in the Faubourg Marigny neighborhood. The space will only have five rooms and operate more as a nightclub with food, drinks, music, and an outdoor pool space.  

Copper Vine Winepub & Inn 

• Copper Vine’s expansion will evolve the brand into Copper Vine Winepub & Inn, a ‘restaurant-first’ take on a traditional bed-and-breakfast with 11 rooms and increased restaurant floor plan for expanded dining and private events. Opening is scheduled for early 2024.  

Restaurant R’evolution at the Royal Sonesta 

• Restaurant R’evolution is in a new season of vitality after 10 years. Sonesta International invested $1.5 million to refresh Restaurant R’evolution, including final kitchen touches coming in 2024. With the refresh also came a return of many tenured team members as well as new talent in the restaurant brigade: chefs, waitstaff, sommeliers, bartenders, and management. The team brims with vitality, fresh ideas, and exceptional creativity. 

• In Chef John Folse’s fifty-year culinary odyssey around the globe, nuance of flavors influenced his palate and crept into his culinary melting pot. Restaurant R’evolution is the epitome of diverse tastes and flavors; the Holy Grail of dining experiences; my magnum opus. 

For a full list of renovated hotels in New Orleans, visit neworleans.com. 

VENUES 

New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center 

• The LEED Gold-certified New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center (NOENMCC) continues forging ahead with its ambitious $557 million improvement plan. An energy-efficient 1.9 million square foot roof is set for full installation by mid-2024. Renovations are underway in lobbies, 140 meeting rooms and pre-function areas with upcoming enhancements planned for entrances. The Convention Center and River District Neighborhood Investors (RDNI) recently broke ground on the River District—a dynamic mixed-use development spanning 39 acres of prime riverfront land adjacent to the Center. The project has been hailed as a generational opportunity to activate undeveloped urban riverfront land as a transformative asset for the New Orleans region and the state of Louisiana. This brand-new neighborhood will further solidify New Orleans’ reputation as a city that’s “Built to Host.” 

Common House  

• Common House will open in New Orleans in early summer 2024. In partnership with Adventurous Journeys Capital Partners, Common House will take over the former Louisiana Children’s Museum space at 420 Julia Street.   

• The 20,000 square-foot “modern social club” will feature a social hall, restaurant, rooftop pool, fitness center, courtyard, open co-working space and conference rooms. In addition, there will be multiple spaces for private events that can accommodate weddings, cocktail receptions, and corporate events of up to 300 guests. 

NEW DEVELOPMENTS

Audubon Aquarium and Insectarium  

• The Audubon Nature Institute completed its renovation of the Audubon Aquarium and Insectarium reopening on June 8, 2023 – World Ocean’s Day. This project was the biggest renovation of the Aquarium since it opened on Canal Street in 1990. The renovation makes the Audubon campus the only aquarium/insectarium under one roof in the world. 

National WWII Museum – Liberation Pavilion 

• The National WWII Museum opened the highly anticipated Liberation Pavilion, its final permanent exhibit hall, and officially dedicate the Col. Battle Barksdale Parade Ground, an outdoor gathering space in the heart of the New Orleans campus, on November 3, 2023. 

• The November celebration will mark the completion of the $400 million Road to Victory Capital Campaign that has propelled the extraordinary growth of the Museum’s campus from one exhibit hall to seven pavilions over the past two decades. Liberation Pavilion explores the end of World War II, the Holocaust, the postwar years and how the war continues to impact our lives today. 

Riverfront Facelift 

• There also is big facelift coming to the riverfront near the French Quarter. Audubon Nature Institute has proposed a new park that has been an industrial site for years. Riverfront For All, a project of Audubon, New Orleans & Company and the Morial Convention Center, aims to create one of the largest contiguous riverfront parks in the nation.  

• The Mississippi River is being dubbed the city’s front porch, and the redevelopment of the Governor Nicholls and Esplanade wharves will offer 2.25 miles of waterfront access. 

• This historic project will unlock a key stretch of land, expanding access for locals and visitors to enjoy riverfront access in a way that honors the original design of the city. Transforming the last two industrial wharves on New Orleans downtown riverfront will create 2.25 miles of open space and will increase access for the community to enjoy the ‘front porch’ of the city of New Orleans. The project will extend from Crescent Park in the Bywater neighborhood to Spanish Plaza at the foot of Canal Street. Once we are finished developing this park, people will be able to walk, bike, jog all the way from Spanish Plaza all the way through Crescent Park. 

River District Neighborhood  

• The River District Neighborhood will activate undeveloped urban riverfront land as a transformative asset for the New Orleans region and the state of Louisiana. It will include dining, retail, housing, and entertainment options- Top Golf announced, and incorporate the latest trends in urban planning with a focus on creating green spaces and community gathering places. 

• Shell will be relocating its New Orleans office into the new River District project, located near the Convention Center along the Mississippi River. Shell will serve as the anchor tenant for the new River District — one of the most promising new mixed-use neighborhoods in the country — occupying the first Class A office building to be constructed in New Orleans since 1989. 

DISNEY

Disney World and Disneyland - Tiana’s Bayou Adventure  

• Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, based off the New Orleans-set movie “The Princess and the Frog”, will take the place of Splash Mountain in the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World and Disneyland. 

Media Contact
MaryBeth Romig
Associate Vice President, Communications & Public Relations
mbromig@neworleans.com, 504-556-5050