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John came to Shreveport in January of 1977 when he was transferred to Barksdale AFB.

He’s been active in Shreveport politics since deciding to make Shreveport his home.

John practiced law for 40 years and he now monitors local politics. He regularly attends Shreveport City Council and Caddo Parish Commission meetings.

John is published weekly in The Inquisitor, bi-monthly in The Forum News, and frequently in the Shreveport Times.

He enjoys addressing civic groups on local government issues and elections.

 

HOW ABOUT SOME HARD DATA FROM SHREVEPORT DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY

Shreveport has the Downtown Development Authority (DDA) which is a city agency funded by an extra ad valorem tax on properties within a defined downtown district.
 
The New Orleans Downtown Development District (DDD) is a similar organization in the Big Easy.
 
The NOLA DDD just released is Q3 2025 Market Report . The report provided hard data in several categories.
 
Downtowns’ Physical and Economic footprint

  • 9,4 million square feet of Class A office space

  • 476 retail businesses

  • 98 hotels with 22,680 rooms

  • 8 coworking spaces and 9 businesses incubators/accelerators

  • 6,370 apartments and condominiums

  • A residential population of over 4300 residents.

 
Retail Market

  • Downtown retail inventory of 5.3 million square feet

  • Downtown retail vacancy rate of 6.3% with an

  • Average asking rent of $26.46 per square foot

  • 11 active retail projects totaling 56,894 square feet.

 
Office Sector

  • Total inventory of 16.7 million square feet

  • 9.4 million square feet of Class A space

  • Overall vacancies fell to 12.1%, and Class A vacancy declined 19.2%

  • Under development five active office projects totaling 607,103 square feet with one 500,00 square-foot project.

 
Housing Market

  • 6370 units in inventory

  • Vacancy rate of 7.5%

  • Under development 8 multifamily projects with 365 units

 
Hospitality Market

  • Hotel demand fell to 1.1 million cumulative nights (down 8.5% year-over-year)

  • Occupancy averaged 50.9%

  • 16 active hotel projects totaling 1,116 units.

 
This report is important for New Orleans.
 
A similar report is needed for Shreveport from the DDA. Admittedly, the numbers will be much less than NOLA, but all the same a report is needed for government officials, private developers, bond rating agencies and the general public.
 
DDA has a low profile in the downtown community and the city as a whole.  DDA has an upcoming tax renewal in the fall of next year and a report of this nature would provide a meaningful benchmark to determine if the DDA should continue to exist in 2027.

Shreveport Economic Development Director Earns Prestigious National Certification

Annual public ‘Road Show’ set for DOTD District 04 (Northwest Region)