Under-retailed

New Orleans has so many problems.  People here are under-employed, under-housed, under-insured.  There's a lot of stuff our elected persons could be working on.  Jason Williams is trying to help the Motwanis and Sonder make a little more money off of the "under-retailed" though.

On Monday, City Council President Jason Williams expressed optimism that Sonder’s approach would help efforts to bring more big-box retailers, such as an Apple store or Pottery Barn, to Canal.

“New Orleans is significantly under-retailed, but it’s not because we don’t have people with resources who want to spend money,” he said. “It’s because of our lack of investment over a period of time.”

Sonder operates about 350 commercial short-term rental units in the city, according to Bowen.

It's good to see someone is finally looking out for "people with resources" in this city.  You know it's been really hard for them ever since their special money club went under.

Aaron Motwani, CEO of Quarter Holdings, the Motwani family company that owns 1016 Canal, said the work there was “a long time coming,” partly due to financing that collapsed after First NBC Bank failed in April 2017. But now, partnering with Sonder on a 10-year lease offered a new option for using the building's space, he said.

“Canal Street has always been tough to attract retail and residents,” he said.

It's so tough to get "retail and residents" to the most valuable high ground property in the city.  Probably a good idea to put in a 200 STR virtual hotel, then. That will help a lot.  Maybe Jason isn't very bright about how this stuff works.  He was quoted last week as saying the luxury hotel will "help pull short term rentals out of the neighborhoods." Because building nice things for rich people has done a fantastic job of relieving the affordable housing crisis so far.  But this is the same guy who told us the rules passed two years ago would allow the city to use STR operators' "disruptive technology to disrupt them," so it seems he is likely to believe just about anything. 

Or maybe he's just likely to repeat whatever bullshit line the "people with resources" are pushing . It's probably that.