Despite healthy local market dynamics, the greater New Orleans industrial market did not perform as strongly as insiders expected it to perform over the past 12 months, which is indicative of wider economic factors suppressing a market with pent-up demand. The Port of New Orleans and its access to major shipping routes along the Mississippi River has long been the principal component for industrial real estate in the area. The recent 2024 regular session of the Louisiana Legislature committed $230.5 million to Port of New Orleans infrastructure projects, including allocations to the Louisiana International Terminal, a $1.8 billion project in Violet, La., scheduled to be operational in 2028, which will be the Gulf South’s premier container shipping gateway able to accommodate New Panamax- and Post New Panamax-sized vessels. A bit further up the Mississippi River but still in the greater New Orleans region, Canadian company Woodland Biofuels announced a $1.35 billion investment at the Port of South Louisiana in Reserve, La., to establish the largest renewable natural gas plant in the world. The facility will take waste wood and sugar cane and turn it into natural gas. The process will be carbon-negative, leaving less carbon in the atmosphere than before …
