2024 business headlines dominated by insurance, policy changes and data centers

The ongoing insurance crisis, policy changes implemented by Gov. Jeff Landry and the burgeoning artificial intelligence data center industry dominated Louisiana’s business headlines in 2024.

Businesses and homeowners around the state continued to deal with high premiums and a dwindling number of insurers. A series of bills aimed at attracting more insurers to the market by making it easier for them to drop policyholders, raise rates and have more time to pay claims after storms was passed by the Legislature and signed by Landry. But so far, the measures have borne little fruit. 

In south Louisiana, many homeowners have been forced to get coverage from Citizens, the state-created insurer of last resort. The whammy of rising interest rates and insurance premiums that have tripled over recent years has put a crimp in the housing market, with year-to-year sales decreasing. And hurricane-ravaged areas have seen steep population declines over the past three years, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates. 

Dan Stein, a well-known New Orleans deli owner, said the rent for his Magazine Street property went up 30% in the last year, largely due to insurance costs. At the same time, his mortgage rose by $1,400 a month.  

“Back in the day, I used to see the bank account gradually build, build, build,” Stein said. “Now it’s up and back down. It seems like I’m treading water. And I’m probably lucky.”

In an effort to keep businesses in the state and attract new companies to Louisiana, Landry backed changes to the tax system and to Louisiana Economic Development. 

As part of a sweeping overhaul of the tax system approved in a November special session, the top corporate income tax rate was cut from 7.5% to 5.5%. The state’s business inventory tax credit program, which reimburses businesses for paying the inventory tax to local governments, will be phased out beginning July 2026.

The measures were aimed at changing a tax code that many critics call unnecessarily convoluted, inconsistent, and filled with special-interest carveouts that have accumulated over the years. 

The tax changes will create a pro-business environment that will “usher Louisiana into a new industrial South,” Landry said. 

The Legislature passed a bill to restructure LED and give the agency more autonomy and stability. A group of well-known business leaders was named to the Louisiana Economic Development Partnership, a new private-sector committee to help promote growth across the state.

The board’s goal is to set a long-term strategic plan with performance metrics and hold LED and other state agencies accountable. 

New LED Secretary Susan Bonnett Bourgeois said the agency wants to focus on opportunities in industries such as oil and gas, along with clean renewables and carbon capture. 

Attracting artificial intelligence data centers is a new sector in which LED has already seen some wins.

Data centers are airport-sized buildings filled with computer servers and other IT infrastructure that allow companies to store, process and send out data. They are a critical part of the AI boom rapidly transforming the global tech industry.

In late November, Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta revealed plans to build a $10 billion center in north Louisiana to process data for the tech behemoth. The center, which will be the size of 70 football fields, is one of the largest private investments in the state’s history.

The Meta center is expected to create more than 5,000 construction jobs while the facility is built over the next 5 years and 500 permanent jobs when it is up and running. In addition, Entergy said it plans to spend $3.2 billion to build three new power plants to meet the massive amounts of electricity the centers need to power computers and keep them cool.

One of the power plants could also generate electricity for a $2.5 billion facility in West Feliciana Parish. Hut 8, which develops data centers and Bitcoin mining facilities across the U.S. and Canada, has proposed two 450,000-square-foot buildings on a parcel at the southern end of the parish.

West Feliciana officials are set to vote on a rezoning for the development the first week of January. Plans are to complete the first building by the end of 2025 and the second before the end of 2026.

West Feliciana Parish President Kenny Havard said the facility will be “life-changing for the region.”  

In cities around the state, there were other developments that made news.

Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux announced it was moving its corporate headquarters from Baton Rouge to Atlanta. Over 21 years, the business grew from a single sports bar in the shadow of Tiger Stadium to a nationwide chain with nearly 80 restaurants across the Southeast and Midwest. Brandon Landry, Walk-On’s co-founder and board chairman, said the move was needed to bring in top restaurant talent so the company could become more of a national brand.

Waitr Holdings, the parent company of Lafayette-based delivery service ASAP, filed for bankruptcy and liquidated the business. The company was one of the crown jewels of Louisiana start-ups, operating in 230 cities, with more than 8,000 drivers delivering meals from 6,200 restaurants. Houston billionaire Tilman Fertitta bought the business in 2018 and took it public later that year. But the 2019 acquisition of another food delivery service, Bite Squad, doomed Waitr. The company was saddled with debt and facing competition from Uber Eats and DoorDash. Despite an uptick in business during the COVID-19 pandemic and an attempt to rebrand as a broader delivery service, it was forced to cease operations.

Buc-ee’s, the wildly popular convenience store chain, bought 42 acres in Lafayette for its first south Louisiana location. The company plans to build a 74,000-square-foot store with about 120 gas pumps at the corner of Interstate 10 and Louisiana Avenue. Buc-ee’s is set to open in second quarter 2026.

Elevance Health’s controversial $2.5 billion purchase of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana fell through in February, less than 12 hours before state insurance regulators were going to start a two-day hearing on the sale. The deal was opposed by a wide range of groups, including doctors, hospitals, some policyholders and elected officials, including Landry. Blue Cross officials argued that the deal was the best way to navigate a rapidly changing health care industry. Critics raised concerns about how the deal was structured, the track record of Elevance in other states and the political considerations made in a $3 billion foundation that would have resulted from the sale.