The Economic Development and Special Development Projects Committee met on Tuesday, June 23, 2026, at 10:00 AM to discuss a Payment-In-Lieu-of-Taxes (PILOT) agreement for The Rivana Apartments, an affordable housing development in the River District. The meeting included a presentation from the Office of Economic Development, the development team, public testimony, and extensive council deliberation. No vote was taken; the item was deferred to the full City Council on July 9, 2026.
Ms. Spears, can we get started? Please call the role. We sure can. Council Member Willard. Here. Councilmember Morrell. Here. Councilmember McCarran. Councilmember Green. Councilmember Hughes. We have a four. All right. Thank you, Ms. Spears. Thank you to everybody who's here today for this economic development committee meeting. Today we are going to have a discussion on the pilot agreement for the Ravana apartment. Before we do that, can we move into approval of the last meeting minutes? Second. Second. Move by Council President Morrell, seconded by Council Vice President Willard. All in favor? All right. And for the record, Councilmember Hughes is present. Four years, zero nays. The minutes are approved. At this point, I'll turn the meeting over to Councilmember Harris. Thank you, Chair Willard. I am really excited today because we are moving one step closer to the vision of the river district neighborhood that I've stood behind, a mixed-use neighborhood with affordable housing right in the heart of District B with accessible amenities. As I've said so often, the river district is required to build 900 units of housing, at least 450 of which must be priced with affordable or workforce level rents. The Ravana, which we are discussing today, is the first phase of developing the affordable housing with 220 units that are all required to remain affordable for 40 plus years. Test piles are in the ground, and I know RDI and Providence need to get to financial closing by July 29th in order to maintain their key funding sources, which includes state uh and local braided sources. As folks may remember, the river district has its own unique approval process for pilots involving the RD and I subdistrict, the state body created through the New Orleans Exhibition Hall Authority Economic Development District. State law requires approval of the RD and I subdistrict as well as the council, including a hearing before the Economic Development Committee that we're doing right now. Thank you again to Councilmember Willard for accommodating this hearing today on a schedule that allows this per project to move closer to its July closing. As I mentioned, the Ravana exceeds the standards set for its pilot, and we will meet all other city requirements, including local hire rules, DBE participation, and applicable zoning, including the convention center overlay rules. Uh we have the developers here. If y'all would like to come up and introduce yourselves, I know we have a presentation on the Ravana and the pilot. Thank you, Council Members. Uh good morning, thank you all as Councilmember Harris noted for calling such a uh a meeting on such short notice. Um I'm Jeff Schwartz, I am the Deputy Mayor for Economic Development for the City of New Orleans. Uh I'm joined here by my colleague uh Tracy Jackson, who is the city's Jackson Voice, excuse me, who is the city's uh incentives administrator. He's prepared a report uh to brief uh this committee uh on. Uh and I'm also joined by uh Emily May and Michael Meredith, who are uh some of the uh alchemists uh and lead developers uh behind the uh Ravana uh project. Uh Tracy, do you want to walk us through the presentation and I uh can provide any color commentary and then we can go to uh any any questions. Great, thank you. Absolutely. Good morning, council members. Uh once again, my name is Tracy Jackson Bush with the Office of Economics Development. Uh thank you all for this opportunity.