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Shreveport/Bossier City Development


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Are the latest estimated down to 175,000? Geez... Shreveport may be loosing population, but it seems counter-intuitive to me that a city that's experiencing all this growth is loosing population. What about the the residential developments in southeast Shreveport? Doesn't that count for something?

Also, Bossier City and suburbs included, the metro area HAS to be growing in population, right? Or are the same amount of people just "shifting" around. The way I see it, Shreveport is finally catching up (and in some cases surpassing) the quality of life offered in similarly-sized cities. If the demographics are warranting all of this upscale development in SE Shreveport and Bossier City, something positive is happening. Is it just an increase in avg household income? Something isn't adding up.

I could have gotten it wrong with 175,000... it might have been 185,000. As a matter of fact, I believe it IS 185,000. Little Rock is around 180,000 and is actually expected to pass Shreveport up in the next Census.

I'm with you, it seems strange to have a city that's growing so much residentially and commercially actually losing population! But that's what the latest Census estimate says. The big loss of population shows that all the new home construction in southeast Shreveport isn't slowing things down at all. That shows just how many people are moving out, and it seems the vast majority are moving to any of the following places: Bossier City, Benton, Haughton, Greenwood, Stonewall. This is why Stonewall is experiencing major growing pains right now, because people are moving down there just to be out of the city. Sad, isn't it?

Right now, Jerry Jones is ahead by a narrow margin. Let's all hope to God that he wins and this city is able to change for the better. With the people who are supporting Glover, there is no doubt in my mind the city will stay the way it is right now. I'm watching the election results come in little-by-little on the Times' main page, and it's scary to think it's as close as we all figured it would be!!

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Are the latest estimated down to 175,000? Geez... Shreveport may be loosing population, but it seems counter-intuitive to me that a city that's experiencing all this growth is loosing population. What about the the residential developments in southeast Shreveport? Doesn't that count for something?

Also, Bossier City and suburbs included, the metro area HAS to be growing in population, right? Or are the same amount of people just "shifting" around. The way I see it, Shreveport is finally catching up (and in some cases surpassing) the quality of life offered in similarly-sized cities. If the demographics are warranting all of this upscale development in SE Shreveport and Bossier City, something positive is happening. Is it just an increase in avg household income? Something isn't adding up.

I think you're right, it seems to be shifting around -- not really growing at all really in the big picture. People are just buying nicer homes on the outskirts and leaving a lifeless and crime ridden inner city, a la Detroit. I really hope that doesn't happen.

I've felt that Shreveport and Louisiana as a whole really needs some immigration to increase its population. Places like Texas and California have experienced some growing pains as a result of immigration, but seem to have much less poverty and better economic growth than LA. The problem is finding a way to get people to move there...

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I think you're right, it seems to be shifting around -- not really growing at all really in the big picture. People are just buying nicer homes on the outskirts and leaving a lifeless and crime ridden inner city, a la Detroit. I really hope that doesn't happen.

I've felt that Shreveport and Louisiana as a whole really needs some immigration to increase its population. Places like Texas and California have experienced some growing pains as a result of immigration, but seem to have much less poverty and better economic growth than LA. The problem is finding a way to get people to move there...

The good thing is, Bossier City is still growing and the metro is still growing. That means we do have some new people moving to the area and that's great. Bossier's growth rate is actually higher than the rate of people moving out of Shreveport so there's something really good going on there. We just need this to carry over to Shreveport... and I hope every day that a miracle happens. Shreveport really is a great, beautiful city outside of the ghettos, and it has a LOT to offer.

By the way, good to see you again, baffroom! :)

Edited by SBCmetroguy
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I'm glad you guys are optimistic about it. You probably know more about it since you guys still live there. To me it seems to be following the typical decline.

That area could use some real population growth and some better paying jobs. A real university in the city would be nice too. Most people there don't even know about LSUS and pay more to get an education at NSU or La Tech, which isn't really any better than LSUS.

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I'm glad you guys are optimistic about it. You probably know more about it since you guys still live there. To me it seems to be following the typical decline.

That area could use some real population growth and some better paying jobs. A real university in the city would be nice too. Most people there don't even know about LSUS and pay more to get an education at NSU or La Tech, which isn't really any better than LSUS.

Hmmmm, your post makes me ask: where do you live? I just assumed you lived here in the region!

Anyway, people are still moving into the metro, just not to Shreveport. Bossier City is where all the population growth, having gone from 52,000 people at the 1990 Census to 56,000 at the 2000 Census, and now over 60,000 today. The 2010 Census will most likely have Bossier City somewhere between 60,000 and 65,000 while Shreveport could bottom out around 185,000 if the latest estimates are correct.

Shreveport has got to change in order for the entire metro to prosper. Otherwise, just some areas of Caddo Parish, particularly Greenwood, will prosper. DeSoto Parish and Bossier Parish will also continue to prosper at Shreveport's expense.

Also, on the subject of large colleges, I know I can't be the only one who recalls the stories in the Shreveport Times about the possibility of Louisiana Tech and LSUS merging and building a large university campus in Shreveport. It's being looked at constantly as a possibility.

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Hmmmm, your post makes me ask: where do you live? I just assumed you lived here in the region!

Anyway, people are still moving into the metro, just not to Shreveport. Bossier City is where all the population growth, having gone from 52,000 people at the 1990 Census to 56,000 at the 2000 Census, and now over 60,000 today. The 2010 Census will most likely have Bossier City somewhere between 60,000 and 65,000 while Shreveport could bottom out around 185,000 if the latest estimates are correct.

Shreveport has got to change in order for the entire metro to prosper. Otherwise, just some areas of Caddo Parish, particularly Greenwood, will prosper. DeSoto Parish and Bossier Parish will also continue to prosper at Shreveport's expense.

Also, on the subject of large colleges, I know I can't be the only one who recalls the stories in the Shreveport Times about the possibility of Louisiana Tech and LSUS merging and building a large university campus in Shreveport. It's being looked at constantly as a possibility.

I live in San Antonio currently.

The numbers seem to show a shift, not necessarily growth. Louisiana's population has possibly leveled off. It was in decline for a long time according to what I've read. I'm curious how much of that population growth is actually from out of the local area (and not shifts from nearby rural areas, or barksdale)

Yeah, Ive read about the LSUS/La Tech deal. To me it seems like a possibility that might not be justifiable. LSUS's student population has hovered around 4000 for a very long time with no signs of growth. Also, a large LSUS campus with dorms might hurt the economies of Ruston and Natchitoches as well, and those towns would have a tough time diversifying. Building univerisites in those small towns instead of Shreveport was probably a bad idea, but one made long ago. I went to school at NSU for a year, and lemme tell ya, it's boring down there. Next to nothing to do. Shreveport as a college town would be a lot more interesting, but I have my doubts it'd work

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I live in San Antonio currently.

The numbers seem to show a shift, not necessarily growth. Louisiana's population has possibly leveled off. It was in decline for a long time according to what I've read. I'm curious how much of that population growth is actually from out of the local area (and not shifts from nearby rural areas, or barksdale)

Yeah, Ive read about the LSUS/La Tech deal. To me it seems like a possibility that might not be justifiable. LSUS's student population has hovered around 4000 for a very long time with no signs of growth. Also, a large LSUS campus with dorms might hurt the economies of Ruston and Natchitoches as well, and those towns would have a tough time diversifying. Building univerisites in those small towns instead of Shreveport was probably a bad idea, but one made long ago. I went to school at NSU for a year, and lemme tell ya, it's boring down there. Next to nothing to do. Shreveport as a college town would be a lot more interesting, but I have my doubts it'd work

Oh wow, I had no idea you were living so far away!

Well, larger universities are draws in themselves, and Louisiana Tech does draw a lot of students. While LSUS draws only 4,000 or so students, I've always chalked that up to it just being a satellite campus.

In any event I'd love to see it tried. I'd hate to take something from Ruston, but I'd love to try a larger university in Shreveport. It definitely has a nightlife scene, and one that would grow tremendously larger if there were a larger university here.

The growth in the metro from outside the area is small, but it's still positive rather than negative. I posted the growth numbers somewhere a while back, and there are actually more people moving to Bossier City alone than are leaving Shreveport. Which tells me that the people moving from Shreveport to Bossier, Benton, Haughton, Greenwood, and North De Soto are spread out so much that Bossier's growth has to be somewhat outside. Bossier has become a draw in itself.

There is a big oil and natural gas business in Bossier, as well as Barksdale. In addition, I'm sure you're familiar with its low crime rate and its schools are ranked among the best in the state, often competing on a national level. These quality of life issues, I believe, are bringing the new people to Bossier. But these same people will just take one look at the crime in Shreveport and choose to settle in Bossier. I've also seen on other online forums where people are talking about relocating to this region and everyone tells them to move to Bossier.

I just hope it picks up more. Like I said, the numbers aren't high but they are positive. I just wish Shreveport could get its act together so that the entire region is a draw, not just Bossier and the smaller towns. The urban core is suffering, regardless of developments downtown. And as long as crime surrounding the core is among the highest in the city, it's going to continue to suffer.

This is why I desperately hope that Cedric Glover will do something in Shreveport. He's never been a mayor before, so he's never had an opportunity to prove himself in that arena. This is his chance, and an entire city of nearly 200,000 is depending on him. But with Shreveport being the center of this region, the entire region is truly dependant upon it.

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LSUS lack of population comes from the lack of dorms (which I believe was done on purpose so it wouldn't hurt the smaller college towns nearby -- poor planning imo). Probably a dwindling younger population from wealthier families plays a part too. LSUS also could use more degree programs, but obviously is hard to justify with a small student population.

A lot of kids want to move away from home when they go to college, and LSUS doesn't offer dorms for that. They have those apartments, but not all kids are ready to move to an apartment right out of high school. I believe LSUS can do well, that "LSU" part of its name gives it credibility. When I tell people I got my degree from LSU Shreveport, they immediately recognize the LSU portion of it. LSUS is a very important part of SBC, and more people should utilize that great resource.

Louisiana seems like its being left behind. Other southern states are gaining new population from the north, and the southwest has strong immigration from Latin America to sustain them (though many don't seem to like it much). The economies of places like Texas and Alabama seem to be a lot healthier as a result

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I ended up at Strawn's for lunch... the one in the SuperTarget shopping center on Youree. After lunch the traffic was so bad inside the shopping center's parking lot that we decided to go right when leaving rather than left. This took us down Youree Drive and I could see the work going on the new shopping center. Man, they are MOVING! I saw it yesterday and they had stripped a little bit in the back, but today they had a huge chunk stripped all the way up toward the road. They're rockin and rollin... they're SERIOUS about this project and I'm excited about their enthusiasm.

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I ended up at Strawn's for lunch... the one in the SuperTarget shopping center on Youree. After lunch the traffic was so bad inside the shopping center's parking lot that we decided to go right when leaving rather than left. This took us down Youree Drive and I could see the work going on the new shopping center. Man, they are MOVING! I saw it yesterday and they had stripped a little bit in the back, but today they had a huge chunk stripped all the way up toward the road. They're rockin and rollin... they're SERIOUS about this project and I'm excited about their enthusiasm.

Going bck to the Regal Court discussion for a second, two large sporting goods stores (that have a big presence here in CA) that could possibly open a location in the development are SportMart and Sports Chalet. I think both would be new to the SBC market - even the South.

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Going bck to the Regal Court discussion for a second, two large sporting goods stores (that have a big presence here in CA) that could possibly open a location in the development are SportMart and Sports Chalet. I think both would be new to the SBC market - even the South.

I've heard of the Sports Chalet and even seen one, but not sure where. Maybe Chicago? Anyway, I have been thinking it will probably be Dick's, because they've been expanding heavily into Louisiana lately.

Speaking of Dick's, a few years ago we were supposed to get a Dick's Last Resort restaurant in the Red River District. I wish we'd ended up with one of those. I always liked the one in Dallas' West End.

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I drove by the new Stirling Bossier center being built at Airline/220 this evening and was impressed. Infrastructure construction is coming along very quickly. The roads are almost completely finished, and the light posts are up along the roads. The bayou that runs through the middle of the center has a VERY nice, decorative bridge crossing it. They're working on that bridge now, and from what I could see it's VERY classy. Target, Best Buy, and PetSmart site work is coming along also. The parking lots and foundations appear close to being poured. After that it's all steel, baby! :D

Across the street from this center, the Starbucks Plaza center is popping up quickly. Then around the corner from that, on the other side of McAlister's, what I believe to be the site of Texarkana-based TaMolly's Mexican restaurant is coming along nicely as well. And it looks like walls are finally being begun right behind there on the new 4-floor expansion of Willis-Knighton Bossier Medical Center.

The North Airline corridor is BOOMING right now. Next to the brand new Walgreen's, between it and Asbury Methodist Church, is supposed to be Red River Bank. Red River Bank is building there, and Chase and Capital One are building in the Stirling Bossier center.

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Wow! Didn't you say once that the amount of land Bossier has left to grow on is limited? If that's true, when Bossier builds out will it build up or will another area like Haughton began to take off even more?

Bossier City has very little land left within its city limits, though there is some land, especially out Swan Lake Road and out Barksdale Blvd, that they could annex. But they don't want to annex, so their guess is that the surrounding towns will likely see a pretty good boom in the near future. I hope so.

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Bossier City has very little land left within its city limits, though there is some land, especially out Swan Lake Road and out Barksdale Blvd, that they could annex. But they don't want to annex, so their guess is that the surrounding towns will likely see a pretty good boom in the near future. I hope so.

Do you think towns like Sibley, Filmore and Doyline will see a boom anytime soon? Also, since I'm sure a lot of people in Harrison County, Texas, which is directly adjacent to Caddo Parish, shop and work in Shreveport shouldn't it be part of the SBC Metro? Marshall is in Harrison County and I know Marshall is already in the Longview MSA so if SBC was thrown into the mix it would become the Shreveport/Bossier City-Longview/Marshall MSA. I think the possibility of that happening in the future would be pretty good. What do you think?

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Do you think towns like Sibley, Filmore and Doyline will see a boom anytime soon? Also, since I'm sure a lot of people in Harrison County, Texas, which is directly adjacent to Caddo Parish, shop and work in Shreveport shouldn't it be part of the SBC Metro? Marshall is in Harrison County and I know Marshall is already in the Longview MSA so if SBC was thrown into the mix it would become the Shreveport/Bossier City-Longview/Marshall MSA. I think the possibility of that happening in the future would be pretty good. What do you think?

I don't want too much sprawl, but I do want to see the towns on the fringe of the cities share in the prosperity. Fillmore will likely build up, as it's basically part of Haughton. I don't think it's an incorporated area.

Doyline is a little further out so I think any major growth for them is pretty far away, but I won't say never. Most of Haughton's growth is centered around far east Bossier City, Red Chute, Bellevue, etc. There's another pocket of growth near where I live, where there are two new subdivisions building and one fairly new subdivision that's still expanding out. But between my interstate exit and the first exit for Bossier City there's not much. There is a lot of land available and I know some of the property owners are readying their properties for someone to buy. I'd like to see Industrial Drive Extension in Bossier extended out a little more toward I-220, and possibly underneath it as well. I know down at the end of Industrial Extension there is land being prepared for the possibility of commercial development, so this could ultimately be the catalyst to extending that road further east.

Yeah, Marshall is a bit odd. It's obviously part of the Longview-Marshall MSA, but there are some people who commute from there to Shreveport rather than Longview. The local real estate guides also advertise Marshall homes and the city of Marshall as an easy commute to/from Shreveport. It seems that is catching on, but I;m not sure how much. Minden/Webster Parish was dropped from the Shreveport-Bossier MSA a while back, and DeSoto Parish was added. I never expected that to happen but it did. And with all the people who drive from the Waskom area every day (and I know quite a few myself) I could see Harrison county eventually being added to the Shreveport-Bossier MSA but I'd never be able to speculate how soon that would be. Definitely more people from Marshall would need to be commuting over here on a daily basis, because in order to add a parish or county to a MSA, at least 25% of the population must commute to Shreveport-Bossier on a daily basis. This is why I was surprised to see Webster Parish dropped, because there is typically a flood of traffic into Bossier Parish from Webster Parish every morning.

I'd say it's possible for the Shreveport-Bossier MSA to absorb Marshall and Harrison County, but I don't see it absorbing Longview and Gregg County any time in the near future.

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You know what something similar happened to Texarkana's MSA. Little River County directly north of Miller County used to be part of our metro in the 70's but was later dropped. There are a lot of people from Little River County who shop and work here. Also Cass County, Texas has a lot of people who come here for the same reasons. Maybe one day both of those counties will be added to the metro.

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You know what something similar happened to Texarkana's MSA. Little River County directly north of Miller County used to be part of our metro in the 70's but was later dropped. There are a lot of people from Little River County who shop and work here. Also Cass County, Texas has a lot of people who come here for the same reasons. Maybe one day both of those counties will be added to the metro.

You're right, there are quite a few people from Cass County who shop and work in Texarkana. Some people from the southern part of Cass County, however, work and shop in Longview. That county is very similar to Harrison county in that I'd consider it what I call a "swing county," meaning it could go either way as in a "swing state" in the Presidential elections.

There are actually some people from Texarkana who work in Atlanta, though, for TxDot. I'm not sure how many exactly, but I know a couple of them. I also know a couple of people from Texarkana who work out at Domtar in Little River County. If the big TxDot office, the International Paper plant, and the Domtar plant were all inside the city limits of Texarkana, imagine the commuters going into Texarkana every day.

Anyway that's a very similar scenario to here. I actually know some people who work for the railroad, and while they live in Shreveport-Bossier, they commute to Harrison County, TX every day. I also know people who work for larger industries in Minden and have to commute there every day as well. If only those industries were all in Shreveport-Bossier proper, the people from those parishes and counties who work at those plants would be commuting in on a daily basis.

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Question for Mudbugger (or anyone else who might know...)

One day last week or the week before I saw they were clearing land and burning off brush right at the intersection of Bert Kouns and I-49, behind Regional Urology. Any ideas as to what is going on this site?

I'll be glad when that church gets going on its new building on the other side of I-49, behind the Comfort Inn.

Edited by SBCmetroguy
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Question for Mudbugger (or anyone else who might know...)

One day last week or the week before I saw they were clearing land and burning off brush right at the intersection of Bert Kouns and I-49, behind Regional Urology. Any ideas as to what is going on this site?

I'll be glad when that church gets going on its new building on the other side of I-49, behind the Comfort Inn.

yeah I was driving down I-49 yesterday thinking the same thing! what could they be doing on that land? That was originally the land that Brookwood Baptist was going to build on.. but they got the better property. I've also noticed that there are a lot of nice homes near where that new church is going to be.. those things seem to pop up over night!

It would be awesome if they could build a nice modern looking office building there or something..

Edited by woob
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yeah I was driving down I-49 yesterday thinking the same thing! what could they be doing on that land? That was originally the land that Brookwood Baptist was going to build on.. but they got the better property. I've also noticed that there are a lot of nice homes near where that new church is going to be.. those things seem to pop up over night!

It would be awesome if they could build a nice modern looking office building there or something..

Are the new homes you're talking about over on Fluornoy-Lucas? If so I saw those too. Some of them are almost identical to what I live in because the same builder is building out there who built mine.

I had no idea Brookwood was originally going to build on that land, but I do like their new church. It's not conventional but it's got a cool look to it instead.

Well, I guess we'll find out what they're building huh? Looks like quite a bit of land, it's piqued my interest for sure.

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Mudbugger here.

Nope, i have no idea about that land.

I barely remember my own name lately as i told SBC, my wife and i have bought our first house recently.

We looked at it on Nov. 4 and they accepted our bid later that day, we close on it the 22nd. So, needless to say we have much to be thankful for.

We decided not to run from our neighborhood and bought a nice little house on a large lot in Southern Hills. It is easy to assume that we will be the youngest property owners on our street. The previous owners are the ones who built the house and they have taken immaculate care of it. They are pleased that a young couple bought it and plan to have their family there.

Southern Hills as a neighborhood isn't lost, it just needs more good, hardworking people living there to take care of it. We hope that we aren't the only people around here who think this way.

Mudbugger

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Mudbugger here.

Nope, i have no idea about that land.

I barely remember my own name lately as i told SBC, my wife and i have bought our first house recently.

We looked at it on Nov. 4 and they accepted our bid later that day, we close on it the 22nd. So, needless to say we have much to be thankful for.

We decided not to run from our neighborhood and bought a nice little house on a large lot in Southern Hills. It is easy to assume that we will be the youngest property owners on our street. The previous owners are the ones who built the house and they have taken immaculate care of it. They are pleased that a young couple bought it and plan to have their family there.

Southern Hills as a neighborhood isn't lost, it just needs more good, hardworking people living there to take care of it. We hope that we aren't the only people around here who think this way.

Mudbugger

I know how you feel.. my wife and I are in our 20's I think the average age here in ole southern gardens is about 60! We will probably be moving in about a year or so.. sadly maybe out of state.

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