Canal Street in New Orleans is iconic.
Older residents of the Crescent City will recall its heyday as the spot to be for the finest dining and shopping the city had to offer. Over the decades, there has been a steady decline along the corridor. Businesses have been shuttered, graffiti and trash line the streets, and other issues have kept many people away from what used to be a main attraction in the Crescent City.
Plenty of people who fondly remember family trips along Canal Street when they were young now say they wouldn’t bring their kids to the CBD. Hopefully, that will all change in the near future as city and business leaders look to collaborate on a revitalized Canal Street corridor that will attract new businesses and new people back to the historic street. There are also plans in place to create a family-friendly district with shopping and attractions specifically geared toward children in an effort to bring families back to Canal Street and change the perception of the area.
Sandra Herman is the President and CEO of the Celebrate Canal Coalition and emphasizes how important Canal Street is to the city of New Orleans and how vital it is to the region as a whole.
“This is the most important initiative we have going … to get this street revitalized and built back up,” Herman noted. “New Orleans is the economic engine for the state, and Canal Street is the front door and public face of New Orleans and the state. This is critical to get Louisiana as a whole back on the upswing,” she went on to say.
While the plan will ultimately take several years to take shape and be fully implemented, Herman believes more high-end tenants will flock to the area as Canal Street becomes re-imagined. She hopes that clusters of investors can pool together to bring some of these projects to life and bring crowds back to the iconic thoroughfare, and stop the state of attrition that has been taking place there.
With condos coming, child-friendly areas, and brand new shopping and dining along Canal Street, Herman hopes that young professionals will choose New Orleans as a place to live and work. That, she says, is crucial for the long-term prospects of the city and state of Louisiana as a whole.
As far as timelines go, Herman expects major projects to break ground within the next five years and says that, as more prominent businesses open along Canal Street, that will naturally attract more high-end shops to flock to the area as well. She adds that there are already investors in place who will be investing in clusters of projects together to help to ensure the success of Canal Street's plans going forward.