Ryan Mouledous, president and CEO of Broadmoor, is a third-generation New Orleans builder with a deep sense of the history and cultural significance of the Crescent City’s landmark buildings.
Since it was founded in 1973 as an extension of the Boh Brothers’ construction empire, Broadmoor has been the lead contractor on projects that have included the restoration of the Saenger Theater, the Freeman School of Business at Tulane University and the tower at the Ochsner West campus in Jefferson Parish.
But no project has meant more to Mouledous and the firm than its involvement with Caesars Superdome, including the $450 million upgrade for which Broadmoor was the construction manager at risk, responsible to deliver it within cost. The work went on from 2018 until the final phase was completed last summer ahead of Super Bowl LIX.
“When we pursued that project, we were doing it on the heels of Boh Brothers, our parent company, having driven the first pile during the original construction,” Mouledous said.
Broadmoor was started by Boh Brothers as an independent affiliated company in 1973 to pursue “vertical” building contracts, while the parent company continued to concentrate on big civil engineering projects — Boh Brothers, for example, was part of the consortium that built the $1 billion North Terminal at Louis Armstrong International Airport, which opened in 2019.
Broadmoor led the effort to repair the extensive damage to the Superdome after Hurricane Katrina, which included a new Teflon-coated fiberglass roof, upgrades to the electrical systems, plumbing and air conditioning systems, as well as improvements to seating, concessions and public spaces.
“It created this iconic, cathartic moment when we all went back into that building in ’06,” said Mouledous, 49, who was Broadmoor’s director of preconstruction services at the time. His father, Roy Mouledous Jr., 72, was a superintendent at Broadmoor for the post-Katrina project and played a key role in overseeing that rebuild.
Mouledous recounts how his father, like many other New Orleanians, was flooded after Katrina and renting in Baton Rouge while he traveled back to the city every day to work, overseeing the Superdome repairs and renovation.
“From a family perspective, that’s in our history. So, this was not just another construction project,” Moueldous said. “To watch it function during the Super Bowl in a way that represented the town, the project, the league, the Saints, all the stakeholders, so well visually … There’s just no place more symbolic for the city than that building.”
Here Mouledous talks further about the Superdome and other projects on Broadmoor’s slate.
The interview was edited for brevity and clarity.
What’s next for the Superdome? I mean, Las Vegas, which is now a serious competitor for Super Bowls after 2024, spent $1.9 billion on their new Allegiant Stadium. How does our $450 million upgrade stack up?
There are so many layers to peel there. I went to a symposium by the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation about what it takes to win a Super Bowl. When you compare New Orleans to some of the cities we’re competing against for this event, it gives you some really interesting perspectives on what the playing field looks like. I mean, 25 years ago if you’d said stadiums will need to have 40-yard-long bars with multiple point of sale locations to make sure people can get beverages in a timely manner, I don’t that would have been on people’s radar screen.
I’m not an architect or a designer, but if I had to guess, and I’ve heard this from some different people, but with all the recapture and repurposing of square footage that this project was able to achieve, the project probably adds 25 years of lifespan to the Superdome.
Were there any things you still wanted to do at the Superdome?
I’m not sure that the next expenditure of money goes inside the building. I think engagement of that Claiborne Avenue side to make more of a tailgate area, an outside gathering area. I think there’s probably some opportunities there to reprogram that, similar to what we did at Champions Square. Maybe some sort of park, some sort of engagement in that parking garage area to celebrate the Sugar Bowl.
What about the Smoothie King Center? Is there scope there to redesign and repurpose to get more out of that arena?
The Smoothie King Center is roughly 25 years old and the way revenue is generated by the NBA is different now than when that building was designed. So, they’re going to have to figure some things out. I don’t know what those are or where that sits in terms of the state’s order of priority or in terms of the Benson family’s order of priority, but I would tell you there are some things that are going to need to be thought through.
Turning to some other projects in the city, you’re lead contractor on the effort to turn the former Naval Support Activity base in Bywater into 1,000 affordable apartments. It’s been well over a decade since that was first floated. Do you think it’ll finally get built this year?
I do. It’s been a very long runway on that project but based on what I know at this moment I would hope that before the middle of the year there’s some action out there. I feel like they’re much closer now than at any other interval.
You’re also involved in Shell Plaza, the anchor building/tenant for the new River District neighborhood near the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. Do you expect that to be an historic milestone for the city?
There’s a lot of buzz around that project. Here’s this parcel of land that’s been so underutilized and there’s an opportunity to break ground and put an anchor tenant in a beautiful building in that location and then start the process of seeing what this grows up to be. What an interesting opportunity for Broadmoor to play a role on a team who’s trying to make something out of nothing in a location that’s never met its full potential.
Generally, is it a better environment for construction now after that period of high inflation and high interest rates?
I think people are still a bit of a wait and pause mode.Â
But I will say this: The way our town interacts with the public, like it did (during Super Bowl week) is a positive for outside investment. It doesn’t always present that level of attractiveness. But if we can capture that and be more consistent then the questions about cost to build aren’t as big a concern anymore. Because investors see a much more consistent travel schedule, convention schedule, more flights coming into town. They see all that stuff and then they understand that they’re going to get a return on their investment.