New Orleans’ top real estate professionals share what excites and challenges them about the upcoming year.
Michael Merideth & Andre Lewis
CEO & Co-Founder, VPG Enterprise COO & Co-Founder, VPG Enterprise
VPG Enterprise is a real estate development, construction and management group with a portfolio that includes over $12 million in residential real estate assets.
Upcoming Project: 37 Hundred, a luxury townhome development in Mid-City.
Most excited about…
We are extremely excited to see how the continued development of the Lafitte Greenway will affect Mid-City and the landscape of New Orleans. We are thrilled to see the affect it will have on New Orleans based on previous case studies of other cities like Austin, Dallas, Houston and Atlanta. With the addition of rental housing, luxury condominiums, retail, and simply the elimination of blight that is slated over the next year in this corridor, we have no doubt Mid-City will continue to be one of the most desirable neighborhoods in New Orleans.
Biggest anticipated challenge…
One of the biggest challenges is going to be managing affordability and market correction. New Orleans has been blessed over the last several years with record breaking real estate trends on both the rental and sales market; however, we are starting to see a correction in sales, rental rates and occupancy. Even with this correction, there has not been a decrease in development costs, i.e. construction costs, insurance premiums and infrastructure implementation. Managing these conditions, along with creating solutions for the overall affordability crisis in our city, will be a major strategic item for VPG over the next year. It will be our charge to look at creative development solutions around construction methods, deal structures and financing mechanisms to continue to provide high quality housing.