Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants Returns to the Big Easy

SAN FRANCISCO (October 29, 2019) -- Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants announced today a new property in New Orleans scheduled to open in early 2020. The Kimpton Hotel Fontenot will pay homage to the city’s rich musical history and the inspirational musicians behind it.  

With a prime location just blocks from the Central Business District and the French Quarter, the project will take an existing hotel and turn it into a 202-room property with a signature restaurant and bar and a corner café serving up specialty coffee and snacks. The hotel, at the intersection of Poydras and Tchoupitoulas Streets, will attract a broad spectrum of travelers with its proximity to the Convention Center, Mercedes Benz Superdome, Smoothie King Center, Harrah’s casino, and the many other popular destinations in the Arts/Warehouse District. This property allows Kimpton to re-establish a presence in New Orleans after a fifteen-year absence from the market.

“Returning to New Orleans has been a priority for us for more than a decade,” said Mike DeFrino, Chief Executive Officer at Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants. “This is one of the most vibrant and exciting cities in the country, drawing people from all over the world to its incredible music, culture and food scene. We’re very excited our long-time partner JMI Realty LLC will help us bring our signature brand of Kimpton hospitality back to the heart of it all.”

“We’re thrilled to grow our presence in New Orleans,” said Greg Clay, president of JMI Realty LLC. “Last year we acquired the Staybridge Suites and the three adjacent historic buildings located in what we consider to be the best location in the city – Poydras and Tchoupitoulas.  We have spent the last 12 months re-inventing those buildings and we can’t wait to introduce Hotel Fontenot to the market in early 2020.  Our history of successful partnerships with Kimpton proves that together we can create something very special around all that New Orleans has to offer.”

The reconfiguration includes an adaptive reuse of former Historic New Orleans buildings, allowing Kimpton to continue its commitment to historical preservation of celebrated structures. Recent projects that highlight Kimpton’s leadership in this arena include the Gray Hotel in Chicago, the Schofield in Cleveland and the Cardinal in Winston-Salem.

MarkZeff Architecture and Interior Design and Delawie Architecture are leading the design work on the project. 

Kimpton and JMI opened the Kimpton Hotel Van Zandt in Austin in 2015.
In 2017 and 2018, the Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards voted the Hotel Van Zandt the number one hotel in Texas.

The Kimpton brand continues to grow in the US and internationally with over 25 Kimpton hotels across 20 new global destinations including Mexico City, Paris, Barcelona, Bali and Shanghai, scheduled to open in the next three to five years.

ABOUT JMI REALTY
JMI Realty is a hospitality focused private real estate investment and development company that was organized in 1992 as the real estate investment subsidiary of JMI Services, Inc.. the investment vehicle of the John J. Moores family. In 1998, JMI Realty was appointed by the City of San Diego and the San Diego Padres to act as the Master Developer of the Ballpark District. JMI Realty’s successful planning and implementation of the Ballpark District Master Plan resulted in over $3.0 billion of redevelopment, and is viewed nationally as a template for successful urban revitalization. Over the last two decades, JMI Realty has continued to be active in developing and acquiring hotel projects. JMI Realty currently manages a real estate investment portfolio valued at approximately $800 million, and has sold approximately $550 million of land, office, hotel and multifamily investments over the last decade. JMI is partnering on this project with a division of Goldman Sachs.