New Orleans officials plan to extend a financial lifeline to French Quarter businesses battered by the construction-related road closures that have constricted lower Decatur and St. Peter streets for nearly a year.
Mayor Helena Moreno said Wednesday that several nonprofit groups and public bodies have offered to partner with the city to assemble and distribute $200,000 in funding to affected businesses, many of which have seen steep drops in foot traffic and revenue since Decatur Street was closed to vehicular traffic and lined with chain-link fencing last August.
“We can provide them with a little bit of funding so that they can get assistance with rent or help pay utilities and so that they can sustain until the project finally wraps up in the fall,” Moreno said a day earlier.
Moreno said in a news release that businesses with fewer than eight employees will receive a one-time payment of $2,500, while those with eight or more will receive twice that.
To qualify, businesses must face the construction project street boundaries and must have owned and continuously operated a business or commercial enterprise since January 1, 2025.
They must also have lost revenue that can be reasonably blamed on the construction project.
The Business Stabilization Fund can only be tapped by businesses located along the 900, 1000, and 1100 blocks of Decatur Street and the 600 block of Peter Street.
Sewerage and Water Board project continues on Decatur Street to replace 115-year-old water mains in the French Quarter in New Orleans, Wednesday, June 10, 2026.
The Greater New Orleans Foundation will administer the grants, while the state-created French Quarter Management District and city-owned French Market Corporation are assisting.
“The French Quarter Management District Board has expressed its support for the Mayor’s proposed French Quarter Business Relief Fund,” FQMD Executive Director Michelle Courseault said in an email Tuesday. “The matter is currently under review by the district’s legal counsel. Until that review is complete, FQMD has no further comment.”
Meanwhile, Greater New Orleans Inc., the regional economic development nonprofit with experience establishing business continuation funds, has offered to provide advice on how to make the program effective.
The announcement of the relief effort comes as the Sewerage & Water Board’s project to replace the 115-year-old water mains below Decatur between Esplanade Avenue and Dumaine Street approaches its second year.
The $9.8 million project was originally scheduled for completion in May. S&WB officials have blamed high river levels last year for delaying the start of the project and the discovery of historical artifacts below St. Peter Street that triggered a federal review.
The possibility of one-time financial assistance follows months of escalating complaints over barricades, fenced-off sidewalks and stop-and-start contractor work. Moreno has repeatedly faulted the S&WB for tearing up several blocks at once rather than working block by block. This week, she said city officials would be keeping a close eye on the progress of the road work.
“We’re going to be using our camera system to also monitor the work on the street, to make sure that contractors are doing the work when they’re supposed to be doing the work, to make sure that there’s accountability there,” Moreno said.
Construction fences are close against the sidewalk along the 1100 block of Decatur Street, shown on May 11, 2026, as road work continues. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
So far, the closures of at least three Decatur Street businesses — the restaurants Cafe Sbisa and LUFU NOLA and the handicraft shop Dead on Decatur — have been attributed to the road closures and sidewalk restrictions.
A co-owner and executive chef of LUFU Nola, the Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant that shuttered its Decatur Street location earlier this month, said he would welcome any opportunity for financial relief.
“We would love to be a part of it,” Shan Samantary said. “The reason why we closed down the restaurant was because of the construction.”
In a separate endeavor, District C Councilmember Freddie King III has been working to help secure low-interest loans for affected businesses, though nothing has been finalized.
King said distributing grants for businesses harmed by the SW&B’s construction project is a good opportunity for a public-private partnership.
“Small businesses are the economic lifeline of the city, no matter where they are,” King said. “And this is an example of the administration, the Council and the businesses community — private, non-private — coming together to help out small businesses.”
Cane & Table owner Neal Bodenheimer said his restaurant continues to lose out on both day-to-day and event-related business as the closure drags on, with a large event tied to next month’s Tales of the Cocktail convention having just been canceled due to the construction.
Though a one-time grant is unlikely to make up for all the sales that have been lost, Bodenheimer said it would nonetheless be much appreciated amid the annual summer slowdown for the service industry.
“It’s an acknowledgement from the city, and particularly from the mayor, that goes a long way to say ‘Hey, we are paying attention, finally,'” Bodenheimer said.
“To know that that there may be some sort of lifeline — I can’t imagine it’ll be a big one but anything to acknowledge that this has been a horrific stretch for the businesses on Decatur — means something to everybody.”
Staff writer Joni Hess contributed to this report.
