New Orleans own and original Big Freedia is about to take their dreams to a whole new level in the Faubourg Marigny.
Freedia is getting ready to build an entertainment venue on the corner of Frenchman and Decatur Streets.
The property will include a bar, restaurant, music club, pool, and a micro-boutique hotel.
According to the Times-Picayune/New Orleans Advocate, the doors are expected to open sometime in 2024.
The location is at 2114 Decatur Street, which is owned and developed by Zach Kupperman.
He bought the property in 2021, price undisclosed. Kupperman is working with Freedia on the concept and is said to have a number of local investors.
Now the hotel isn't going to be a very boutique sized property, said to be five rooms.
“The hotel is not the economic driver of it,” Freedia's manager Reid Martin told the paper. “It’s primarily a music venue and a pool party spot. Think of a country club with a music venue.”
Freedia will be the in-house entertainer and base out of the venue.
“Obviously, Frenchman Street is all about local music so we want to have a lot of local music going on, but we’re also interested in having some national music coming in,” Martin said.
Freedia has said the idea came to her while cooking at home during the pandemic.
“Not being able to go out and work during the pandemic, cooking brought so much light and creativity it just really got me interested in doing a restaurant,” Freedia tells the TP/NOA. “And I always had a dream of opening a hotel, so it just kind of came together that way.”
Freedia and Kupperman have been working on the idea for at least the last two years.
Freedia went public with the concept during a meeting of The Nieux, which is the former Eiffel Society on St.
Charles Avenue.
Freedia and Martin have talked about offering memberships to the public through sales of Non-Fugible Tokens, or NFTs. The NFT could serve as an entry token to the property's music venue, pool and clubhouse.
