Shell has announced that it will recommit to New Orleans as headquarters for its Gulf of Mexico operations.  As a foundation of this strategy, Shell will be relocating its New Orleans office into the new River District project, located near the Convention Center along the Mississippi River.

The terms of the deal include a 12-year lease of a custom-designed, 142,000-square-foot multi-floor building, scheduled to open by early 2025.

The announcement by Shell is one of the biggest economic development wins for New Orleans in a decade.  The impact includes the retention of over 850 office jobs, as well as over 2,000 offshore jobs (many of whom live in Greater New Orleans).  Further, Shell will serve as the anchor catalytic tenant for the new River District — one of the most promising new mixed-use neighborhoods in the country — occupying the first Class A office building to be constructed in New Orleans since 1989.  Shell has also been a lead community partner to Greater New Orleans, especially since Hurricane Katrina, when it anchored the reestablishment of Jazz Fest.

GNO, Inc. has been working with Shell for many years, not only to sustain the company’s presence in the region, but also partnering on an “all-of-the-above clean energy future” strategy that includes wind, carbon capture, and Shell’s conversion of their Convent site to a sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel production facility.  GNO, Inc. has also been a supporter of the River District project since its inception.

Several GNO, Inc. partners were involved in this announcement, including Shell, Governor John Bel Edwards, Mayor Cantrell, Senator Royce Duplessis, Lesli Harris and the New Orleans City Council, the Convention Center, Louisiana Economic Development, and the entire River District team, led by Lauricella Land, Cypress Equities, JCH Properties+, AMG Properties, Webre Consulting, CLB Porter, VPG Enterprise, Boh Bros. Construction, Gibbs Construction, and Broadmoor.