The inexpensive housing portion of the River District challenge cleared a key hurdle on Thursday because the New Orleans Metropolis Council accredited a 40-year tax incentive for Rivana Flats, a 220-unit, $100 million residential growth deliberate on Conference Middle-owned property.

The Cost in Lieu of Taxes, or PILOT, incentive permits the builders to make annual funds starting at $5,000 and growing by 3% every year over the 40-year time period, as a substitute of paying conventional property taxes.

The measure handed 6-1 with the lone exception being from Council President J.P. Morrell. Councilmember Lesli Harris stated the PILOT incentive “is a normal a part of inexpensive housing financing and is an important instrument to assist ship the inexpensive properties New Orleans wants.”

“At the moment’s vote is the fruits of a decade of labor to deliver a considerable inexpensive housing funding to this new neighborhood on the River District,” Harris stated. “The PILOT decision was the ultimate piece of the puzzle for the Rivana housing growth.”

Designed by Trapolin Peer Architects in partnership with Studio Kiro and Gensler, the mixed-use constructing is about to incorporate inexpensive and workforce housing models for households incomes between 20% and 80% of the realm median revenue. Plans additionally name for ground-floor retail area. Rents can be legally capped for 40 years, with some models priced as little as $1,000 monthly. The challenge will embrace one- and two-bedroom residences, a design centered round shared inexperienced area, and a retail-lined ground-level porch.

Rivana Flats is a part of the bigger River District growth, which regained momentum in January 2026 when River District Neighborhood Buyers LLC and the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Conference Middle finalized a revised settlement.
Underneath that deal, RDNI retained its lease with the Conference Middle for the land the place it’s creating Shell Oil’s new regional headquarters, a 142,000-square-foot Class A workplace constructing set for completion by April 2027. Further Conference Middle-owned parcels that might be included into the River District have been designated as buy choices for future growth, together with the land deliberate for Rivana Flats.

The settlement additionally features a buyback provision that permits the Conference Middle to reclaim the Rivana web site if RDNI is unable to develop the land inside 5 years. The Conference Middle additionally agreed to mortgage RDNI $6.5 million to assist help development of the residential challenge.

In 2025, the RDNI housing workforce secured Design Advisory Committee approval for the mixed-income housing plans.