What retailers need to realize is that, while the city is getting some negative press due to crime, Nagin said, a lot of young, educated individuals are moving to the locale and investing in the area. "This is a city of incredible opportunity, and I don't think that retailers around the country know that it is here," he said. "The market is underserved."

James Maurin, the chairman of Covington, LA-based Stirling Properties, agreed. His firm has three shopping centers in excess of 500,000 sf under construction in Covington and two other Louisiana cities, Hammond and Baton Rouge.

"A lot of people have left this region," he said. "But not as many as most people think." The area is now experiencing what Maurin called a "post-Katrina boom."