What will it take to create a vibrant new BioDistrict in New Orleans, one that would attract anchor companies that are developing important drugs and treatments, and where hundreds of successful startups would be spawned, hiring thousands of people into high-paying jobs?
Fostering such a sector has been a dream of the city’s economic promoters for decades, with a string of failed attempts stretching from long before the current BioDistrict agency was created as a Louisiana political subdivision in 2005. The BioDistrict in its current form stalled initially as New Orleans recovered from Hurricane Katrina, and then it was starved for money – receiving only $2 million over its 15-year life, which was spent primarily on developing a strategic plan in 2013 – and for political backing.
On Friday, however, the agency’s current chairman, Andy Kopplin, made the case to the City Council’s economic development committee to give it the secure stream of taxpayer funding it needs.
Kopplin, chief deputy to former Mayor Mitch Landrieu and now CEO of the Greater New Orleans Foundation, argued that making the district a success will require millions of dollars. Tha would allow the district’s leaders to take concrete steps to build the dreamed-of biosciences community around the $2 billion public investment already made to erect University Medical Center and Veterans Affairs Medical Center in the heart of the district’s 1,500 acres.
The BioDistrict stretches from Carrollton Avenue in Mid-City to Loyola Avenue in the Central Business District, between Iberville Street and the Gert Town neighborhood on the Mississippi River side of Xavier University.
The new proposal, called a tax increment financing district, or TIF, would give the BioDistrict…
Read More: Seeking public money, New Orleans BioDistrict paints picture of a vibrant