Canal Place Welcomes PJ’s Coffee
O’Connor Capital Partners Signs Deal with PJ’s Coffee for 2021 Opening.
O’Connor Capital Partners today announced that PJ’s Coffee would open a new location this year at Canal Place, New Orleans’ premier luxury retail destination.
PJ’s Coffee will open their Canal Place location this Summer in a 527-square-foot space on the first level of the center fronting Iberville Street.
“We are very excited to welcome local favorite, PJ’s Coffee, to Canal Place,” said Winter Warren, Marketing Director of Canal Place. “Both institutions have a long-standing heritage of serving New Orleans residents and visitors, and we are thrilled to now have PJ’s Coffee as part of the Canal Place family.”
Stirling Properties’ commercial advisors Carly Plotkin and Lauren Ryan serve as the leasing agents for the property and worked with the team at O’Connor Capital Partners to secure the location for PJ’s Coffee at Canal Place.
“Our goal is to target best-in-class local and regional tenants to complement the strong national tenancy already present at Canal Place—and there is no better brand to represent the local culture than PJ’s Coffee, a New Orleans original,” said Plotkin. “Stirling Properties is proud to continue our partnership with O’Connor Capital Partners, and we look forward to welcoming even more great retailers to the tenant mix at Canal Place soon.”
PJ’s Coffee delivers a unique coffee experience by sourcing the top 1% of Arabica beans from over 14 origins around the world. Their Southern hospitality, superior roasting techniques, and passion for making coffee are what make PJ’s Coffee so special. PJ’s Coffee at Canal Place will serve a wide variety of hot, iced and frozen coffee beverages, as well as organic tea and fresh breakfast pastries, including its new beignet program.
“PJ’s Coffee of New Orleans is excited to open at Canal Place as we extend our reach within our community. Providing New Orleans food, beverage and hospitality at the most preeminent shopping venue in the city is something we are absolutely looking forward to,” said David Mesa, Chief Development Officer.
Canal Place is Downtown New Orleans’ premier destination for luxury fashion and beauty brands, boutique clothing stores, home goods and much more. Canal Place is home to the notable WITH LOVE FROM nola moss wall, one of New Orleans’ most Instagrammable spots. Additionally, the lush landscaping and modern renovations have begun to evolve the experience that distinguishes shopping at Canal Place from the rest of the city.
About Canal Place
Situated on the edge of the historic French Quarter, Canal Place is home to many notable, exclusive designer boutiques. An on-site, four-star hotel, The Westin New Orleans, and a convenient covered parking facility add to Canal Place’s unique offerings. Anchored by Saks Fifth Avenue, this world-class shopping center boasts a superb mix of stores including Louis Vuitton, Tory Burch, MCM, Anne Fontaine, Brooks Brothers, Tiffany & Co., lululemon, and vineyard vines, to name a few. For more information, visit www.canalplacestyle.com. Connect with Canal Place on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (@canalplacestyle).
About O’Connor Capital Partners
Founded in 1983, O’Connor Capital Partners www.oconnorcp.com is an institutional real estate investment, management, and development firm based in New York City and run by CEO Bill O’Connor. The firm pursues acquisitions, developments and residential conversions on behalf of its institutional funds, separate accounts, and own account. O’Connor primarily targets retail and residential opportunities throughout the United States and Mexico. Since inception, O’Connor has acquired or developed over $30 billion of property, including over 55 million square feet of retail space and over 30,000 residential units globally.
About Stirling Properties
Stirling Properties is one of the most diversified full-service commercial real estate companies in the country. Regionally focused and nationally acclaimed, we specialize in Advisory Services, Commercial Brokerage, Development & Redevelopment, Asset & Property Management and Investments over a wide array of property types across the Gulf South. Connect with Stirling Properties on the web at www.stirlingproperties.com, “like” us on facebook.com/stirlingproperties, follow us @StirlingProp on twitter.com/StirlingProp or subscribe to our Stirling Insights blog.
About PJ’s Coffee of New Orleans
PJ’s Coffee of New Orleans was founded in 1978 by Phyllis Jordan, a pioneer in the coffee industry that demonstrated that better beans, superior roasting techniques, and pure passion for the art of coffeemaking mattered. In 2008, the company was purchased by New Orleans natives and brothers, Paul, Steven, and Scott Ballard. PJ’s Coffee serves a wide variety of hot, iced and frozen coffee beverages using only the top 1% of Arabica beans, as well as organic tea and fresh breakfast pastries. PJ’s Original Cold Brew™ Ice Coffee is brewed daily using a special cold-drip process that protects the flavor and strength of the beans, while producing a coffee that is 2/3 less acidic – a process and technique pioneered by our founder and used for more than 30 years at all PJ’s locations. Bags of whole bean coffee, single serve cups of PJ’s Coffee and PJ’s Iced Coffee Concentrate are available for sale in-store and online. With over 126 operating stores, including four international locations, PJ’s Coffee continues to expand across the U.S. and abroad and is slated to open 45 more stores throughout 2021.
Stirling Properties awarded leasing of Canal Place shopping center in New Orleans
Targeting high-end local & regional retailers to join strong national retail presence.
Stirling Properties, in partnership with O’Connor Capital Partners, has been awarded the leasing assignment for Canal Place, Downtown New Orleans’ premier shopping destination, located at 333 Canal Street on the edge of the historic French Quarter.
Anchored by Saks Fifth Avenue, Canal Place is a 3-story, 260,000-square-foot upscale shopping center featuring more than 30 retailers, including luxury fashion and beauty brands, boutique clothing stores and home goods, as well as restaurants, a food court and theater. The Canal Place tenancy boasts a dynamic mix of high-end national stores such as Louis Vuitton, Tory Burch, MCM, lululemon, Anne Fontaine, Anthropologie, Tiffany & Co., J Crew, Brooks Brothers, and vineyard vines, to name a few.
Stirling Properties’ commercial advisors Carly Plotkin and Lauren Ryan are serving as the leasing agents for the property. Working with the team at O’Connor Capital Partners, they are targeting best-in-class local and regional tenants to complement the strong national tenancy already present at Canal Place.
“We are excited to work with Canal Place, one of the most prestigious, renowned shopping centers in our region. As part of our marketing and leasing efforts for the property, we are focused on bringing the best local and regional retailers to the center, further expanding its great retail mix, while also highlighting the local flair of New Orleans and our surrounding region,” said Plotkin.
“With its proximity and walkability to New Orleans’ CBD, French Quarter, Riverwalk area, and all the exciting new developments coming on-line this year, Canal Place is uniquely positioned in the heart of everything, making it the perfect location for high-quality brands looking to expand their customer base,” said Ryan.
Canal Place also offers direct frontage to the Canal streetcar line, cruise line terminal access and is connected to Westin New Orleans Canal Place Hotel, creating opportunities to capture local and visiting customers. Multiple leasing opportunities range from 8,860 square feet to 385 square feet, including retail and second generation restaurant space and food court stalls. Short term operators can be accommodated, as well as long-term tenancies.
For leasing information on Canal Place, contact Carly Plotkin at cplotkin@stirlingprop.com / (504) 620-8120 or Lauren Ryan / lryan@stirlingprop.com / (504) 620-8124.
New Orleans Retail is on the Rise
Mark Twain once quipped “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme”. The Crescent City has been America’s boomtown before, but this time, something is different. Aided by tech, medical and digital media job growth, infrastructure improvements, rising tourism and political reform, the City has become a magnet for young educated professionals, and retailers have noticed.
Selected New Orleans Rankings
In recent history, aging infrastructure and crime crippled economic development. While Hurricanes Katrina and Rita were physically devastating to the region, they also uncovered social and political issues that needed to be rectified. Federal funds flowed to improve infrastructure. With that came oversight and political reform. The private sector rolled up their sleeves and made bold choices to invest in the city and its unique culture.
Together this created a higher demand than the current supply of Retail can absorb. As reported by The New Orleans Business Alliance, the city currently is losing $1.9 Billion in retail sales annually to neighboring parishes where traditional retail development has flourished. While some sections of the city still are recovering, the city’s core has experienced a great demand for development and re-development. “New Orleans was once considered a market that offered the worst to retailers. Today retailer activity and interest are at an all-time high,” stated Townsend Underhill, Senior Vice President at Stirling Properties.
Luxury retail is on the rise. The Shops at Canal Place, anchored by Saks Fifth Avenue, has experienced double digit sales growth in each of the last four years. Recent openings include J. Crew, Allen Edmonds, Michael Kors and Lululemon, with Tiffany and Company slated to open in November. “It is clear that New Orleans is experiencing nothing short of a Renaissance,” stated Brandon Berger of The Berger Company, owner of Canal Place. “Canal Place is well positioned as the only Luxury Mall between Houston and Atlanta. The higher end the item the retailer carries, the higher their sales volume.” In addition H&M will open a 32,000 square-foot French Quarter location in late October, their first in the United States outside of New York and Boston to offer home goods as well as soft goods.
The Outlet Collection at the Riverwalk – Rendering
The Outlet Collection at the Riverwalk, an upscale outlet center downtown near the French Quarter and Warehouse district, is scheduled to open in 2014. At 250,000 square feet, it will serve both locals and tourists and is billed as the only Outlet Center in a downtown setting in the U.S. Mark Bulmash, Vice President of Development at the Howard Hughes Corporation and Developer at Riverwalk added, “A few years ago, retailers would ask the question, ‘Why New Orleans?’ Today the question is, ‘Why aren’t we in New Orleans?’”
South Market District – Rendering
The Warehouse District in the CBD has transformed from blighted space into a vibrant neighborhood. The 40,000 square-foot Rouses Grocery opened in 2011 and was influential in making the area a true neighborhood. While condominium conversion is still underway, new construction mixed-use projects are also taking shape. The South Market District by the Domain Companies is under construction. Phase I will open late 2014 featuring 209 residential units and 22,000 square feet of Retail. Once complete, the project will include over 600 residential units and 170,000 square feet of retail located along the streetcar line and walkable from downtown Class A office buildings and the Superdome.
Mid-City Market
The 107,000 square foot Mid-City Market developed by Stirling Properties opened in July. Anchored by Winn Dixie, the site marks the entry into New Orleans for some notable restaurant chains like Panera Bread, Pei Wei, and Five Guys, and filled the void for much needed goods and services in the Mid-City neighborhood. Whole Foods will enter Mid-City as well with a store currently under construction on Broad Street that will mark their third location in the New Orleans metro.
Big box stores and Jr. Anchors that traditionally were kept out of the city for lack of developable land have found a limited opportunity to penetrate the market. Costco has completed its first Louisiana location with a 148,000 square foot store located near the population center. Wal-Mart has two Supercenters under construction in Gentilly and New Orleans East, 110,000 square feet and 180,000 square feet respectively. Magnolia Marketplace, scheduled to break ground in January 2014, will be the only true Power Center on the Eastbank of New Orleans and will offer Jr. Anchors the chance to gain access to the local market for the first time.
Development projects in virtually all areas of the city will allow retailers to penetrate a market previously thought impenetrable. Additional growth of mixed-use and street retail projects will offer more opportunities for the growing retail sector and will cater to the urban population and tourists. From luxury to discount, retail is hot in New Orleans and investors, lenders, developers and retailers are working hard to gain a presence.
This article was submitted to Southeast Real Estate Business magazine. An edited version appeared in the October 2013, Volume 14, Issue 7 print edition.
