Howard Hughes unloading the Riverwalk to small Houston based shopping center owner

Howard Hughes withdrawing from the New Orleans mark is a substantial loss for the city. It is also very indicative of the business environment and their outlook on the tourism sector for New Orleans. Clearly the outlook is so negative that they sold the mall to a 4rd tier shopping center owner because they couldn't find anyone else to take this property over.

The City had a major corporation that was looking to invest a billion plus dollars in New Orleans until politics got in the way two times so they pulled their money out of the city and reallocated it to New York.

NOLA: "Houston firm to buy Riverwalk outlets in shakeup of local mall's ownership"

A decade after a $70 million renovation and expansion turned the Riverwalk Marketplace along the Mississippi River into an outlet mall, a Houston-based shopping center operator is set to purchase the property from its long time owner Howard Hughes Corp.

As it redeveloped the mall, Howard Hughes Corp. also looked to expand its footprint in New Orleans. It made an unsuccessful attempt to acquire the nearby World Trade Center, which recently reopened as the Four Seasons Hotel and Residences. It also came up short in attempts several years ago to develop the upriver "entertainment district" on land owned by the Convention Center.

More recently, Howard Hughes Corp., has turned its focus towards building master-planned communities. In 2020, the Dallas-based public company embarked on a huge $1.4 billion project to develop various parts of the Seaport area of Lower Manhattan.

Rockstep began as a chain of discount clothing stores decades ago before morphing into a shopping mall developer. It is currently headed by Andy Weiner, grandson of the company's founder.

Rockstep owns 21 malls and shopping centers and is focused on smaller cities, known as "tertiary markets." It controls four other shopping centers in Louisiana: Plaquemine Marketplace, located about 15 miles south of Baton Rouge; Lagniappe Village and Iberia Plaza, both in New Iberia; and St. Landry's Plaza in Opelousas.

The Riverwalk was hit hard by COVID-19 restrictions, especially given its reliance on tourists from nearby hotels and the cruise ships. Howard Hughes Corp. wrote off $49 million of Riverwalk's value on its balance sheet in 2020.