Hotel Indigo to open 2nd location in New Orleans

Rendering courtesy of IHG Hotels & Resorts

A newly renovated and branded hotel is set to join the New Orleans hospitality landscape soon.

The former Royal St. Charles Hotel at 135 St. Charles Ave. in the Central Business District has been transformed into the Hotel Indigo New Orleans – French Quarter. The hotel’s general manager, Taylor McInerney, said the property is expected to open by the end of January; an exact date has not been confirmed.

The $2 million renovation included upgrades to the interior of the property and its 143 guest rooms, along with a new restaurant, bar and coffee shop called Common Interest that offers “elevated southern comfort food,” craft cocktails, wine and local beers.

McInerney said the hotel has four meeting rooms, for a total of 3,000 square feet of meeting space. Nightly rates begin at $169 per night, with rooms ranging from 300 to 500 square feet. The hotel will have a 24-hour fitness center as well as a gift and sundry shop.

The former Royal St. Charles Hotel was purchased in September 2020 for $14 million, according to the Orleans Parish Assessor’s Office. Renovations began in April 2021, and Campo Architects served as the architect and interior designer for the project.

Hotel Indigo’s downtown location will join its other hotel in the Garden District at 2203 St. Charles Ave. Hotel Indigo also has a property in downtown Baton Rouge.

The company announced last year it has 29 new hotels in its pipeline, with locations in downtown Vancouver, Washington; downtown Omaha, Nebraska; Houston and New York City.

The New Orleans hospitality sector hasn’t fully rebounded since the COVID-19 pandemic forced its shutdown nearly two years ago. Many major conventions haven’t returned, and larger festivals have also been on hiatus.

Occupancy numbers for the five-parish region stood at 58.6% in December 2021 – above December 2020’s rate of 28.6% but below the December 2019 rate of 60.9%, according to industry analyst STR.

But the industry remains active, with multiple transactions and renovation projects within the past year. The Four Seasons Hotel and Private Residences opened in the former World Trade Center last August, along with the Virgin Hotels New Orleans, built from the ground up at 550 Baronne St. Boutique hotels including Kimpton Hotel Fontenot opened downtown and Hotel Saint Vincent in the Lower Garden District; in the Warehouse District, a portion of the Economy Iron Works property is being converted into a Mint House.

This year looks to also be busy. The former Oil & Gas Building in downtown New Orleans is set to reopen as a 176-room canopy by Hilton early this year, according to developers. Meanwhile workers are driving piles at Harrah’s New Orleans Hotel & Casino, where a new 340-room hotel tower will be built over the casino and renovations made to the existing property.

Robert Thompson, a Mississippi native who is a newcomer to the New Orleans hotel industry, said he plans to reopen the 27-room Frenchmen Hotel at 417 Frenchmen Street on Feb. 1. The property underwent six months of renovations that include a new bar and Live entertainment space to go along with refurbished guest rooms.

Thompson, along with Cleveland-based redevelopment firm GBX Group, closed on a deal to acquire the Whitney Hotel at 610 Poydras St. in the Central Business District for $16.9 million from local hotelier Joe Jaeger in December. Thompson plans top-to-bottom renovations of the property and will add a restaurant, craft cocktail bar and flower shop.

Jaeger sold the Bourbon Orleans to Maryland-based investment firm Diamond Rock Hospitality Company for $81 million last July.

Lenny Wormser of HREC – Hospitality Real Estate Counselors, who represented Jaeger in the Whitney Hotel and Bourbon Orleans deals, said the leisure aspect of tourism – Mardi Gras, Jazz Fest, Essence Fest and French Quarter Fest – will be the first to rebound from the pandemic, with group and convention business to return later. He said he expects business to return to 75% to 80% of 2019 numbers, and predicts a full recovery for the industry in 2023.

Wormser said transactions in the industry slowed in New Orleans for a few months after Hurricane Ida in August, but are now occurring at a brisk pace. He expects this trend to continue in 2022.

“I think the transaction market is ready to rebound into the recovery of COVID at the end of this year,” he said.