Southeast Louisiana Development Thread

[NCB]

"Olde Covington Pointe" More development in north Covington

A brand new Capital One bank opened up in north Covington on HW. 190.

[NCB]

Ok, just one more Covington development picture...for tonight!

A very large lot off of HW. 190 that will include a car dealership, and retail. I know there will be more, but I don't have any specific info.

[richyb83]

Here it is Nate. It looks like the developer map has this closer to I-10 than I thought. Bedico is great wilderness/wetland refuge closer to Lake Pochartrain. I do hope they preserve this area.

http://www.bedicocreek.com/

http://www.bedicocreek.com/PDFs/bc_directions.pdf

[NCB]

^Thanks Richy.

From the map, it will be built west of Madisonville near I-12. I hadn't even heard about this project, but it looks great. The location is good too, off of I-12, and not far from HW. 1085, which forms somewhat of a loop around SW Covington, Madisonville, and west Mandeville, allowing easy access to all of those cities, plus, it's not far from the lake.

[richyb83]

BR Developer gets OK for Covington condo expansion at Emerald Forest

>scroll down to 2nd article... shown last Wednesday

http://www.businessreport.com/dailyReportArchiveResults.cfm

[NCB]

BR Developer gets OK for Covington condo expansion at Emerald Forest

>scroll down to 2nd article... shown last Wednesday

http://www.businessreport.com/dailyReportArchiveResults.cfm

Hey Richy, the link doesn't seem to be working.

[NCB]

Here is a picture of a brand new movie theater that opened in the new and massive shopping center(forgot the name) on Highway 21 here in Covington. This part of the city is just booming. Just down the road, construction is slated to start soon on a shopping center that is larger than the Lakeside Shopping Center in Metairie, two new smaller shopping centers with retail and restaurants have just been completed, a 3 story bank has just been completed, two other banks, one of which is two storys, were just completed, a Walgreens was just completed, and a three story hotel is under construction. And all of that is happening within a 2 mile radius or so, and on land that only a couple of years ago, was nothing but forest. It's a very exciting time for Covington in terms of growth and development.

I took this picture while I was waiting to park, so I'm sorry for it being pretty bad

[richyb83]

Very impressive. I forgot where I saw this latest population figure, it said Covington was at 40,000. Does that sound right ? Soon we are going to need to start a Northshore development thread. Another article said St. Tammany needs 10,000 new homes built to accomodate everyone.

[NCB]

Very impressive. I forgot where I saw this latest population figure, it said Covington was at 40,000. Does that sound right ? Soon we are going to need to start a Northshore development thread. Another article said St. Tammany needs 10,000 new homes built to accomodate everyone.

Do you know if that population figure was talking about the area, or the city limits itself?

But your right about new homes. I've heard that 10,000 figure quite a bit, and figures as high as 20,000. Subdivisions, office parks, shopping centers, etc. are being built literally everywhere. On highways 1077, and 1085, which are just south and southeast of Covington, and have both been mostly rural and wooded up until now, are seeing a major increase in development. Subdivisions planned and under construction everywhere, and plans were recently released for a new office park on 1085 which will have a central 3 story building, surrounded by other 2 story buildings. That may not sound like much, but literally months ago, nearly nothing was going on in that area. It's quite impressive to see the growth going on, and the fact that it's going on at all parts of the city is very impressive.

[richyb83]

Twins Spans construction to begin soon

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/L/LA_...EMPLATE=DEFAULT

[SlidellWX]

My wife will be so happy the Twin Spans are getting fixed. She works in the CBD and dreads the commute now.

[NCB]

^I can definately understand that. I've never exactly enjoyed having to take the twin spans into New Orleans when the Causeway is closed or backed up, since I have to drive across the whole parish to get there, but post Katrina, the trip just sucks. I'm really looking forward to seeing the new twin spans going up.

[NCB]

Ok, my last post for the night, here is a growth chart for Saint Tammany Parish that originally showed population data from 1960-2000. I edited it to show numbers through 2006, to show the current estimated population of Saint Tammany Parish- 298,000, up from 191,000 in 2000. I couldn't make everything the same, but I tried my best to make it look professional:

[richyb83]

Yeah Nate, that chart looks professional. Good job ! And it's after 4:00 AM for cryin' out-loud. That's insane St.Tammany is almost 300,000. I guess it shouldn't be that big a suprise. That's going to be a big ordeal trying to alleviate all the traffic. I have heard of a few road proposals. What can they do ? Another major east-west route, some more north-south arteries ? Reconfigure existing routes ?

BTW, my wife is a math teacher and said, "your chart was really neat, good for him".

[NCB]

Yeah Nate, that chart looks professional. Good job ! And it's after 4:00 AM for cryin' out-loud. That's insane St.Tammany is almost 300,000. I guess it shouldn't be that big a suprise. That's going to be a big ordeal trying to alleviate all the traffic. I have heard of a few road proposals. What can they do ? Another major east-west route, some more north-south arteries ? Reconfigure existing routes ?

BTW, my wife is a math teacher and said, "your chart was really neat, good for him".

Tell your wife I said thanks!

And yea, it's even hard for me to imagine Saint Tammany with 300,000 people right now too. You can see Saint Tammany had some serious growth in the last 40 years or so before Katrina, but now it's just crazy. HW 190 is being widened to 6 lanes of traffic, as well as two sidelanes that become turning lanes in Covington north of the Tchefuncte River, so the entire highway in Covington from I-12 up to the Bogue Falaya River will be 6 lanes of traffic. HW 21, which is flat out exploding with growth will soon be widened to 5 lanes(7 lanes by I-12), and could very well be epaned to 7 lanes all the way into Covington soon after that. HW 25 in north Covington, which is also booming with residential and retail growth, will be widened from 2 lanes of traffic to 4 lanes of traffic, with turning lanes on both sides of the road. With all of the infrastructure improvement projects taking place, it helps that is an area with a lot of money, inside of a parish with a lot of money. I believe the Covington/Mandeville area is the 10th or 11th richest area in the state, and Saint Tammany Parish is the richest parish in the state. And the majority of richer communities in front of Covington/Mandeville are towns with 1-2 thousand people, not areas with at least 25,000 people-pre-Katrina.

Hey Richy, have you been over here to see Covington since Katrina?

[richyb83]

Well that should offer some relief. That's good St. Tammany has $money to widen those roads. I knew the Norhshore area was one of the most affluent as well as fastest growing. My mother has some art shows around Covington/Slidell; and her husband has a sailboat in Mandeville. And St.Tammany pays their teachers the most $ in the Sate too; Livingston was # 2 paying teachers.

No, I have not been to Covington since Katrina. Traffic was already a mess then, I can only imagine what it's like now.

I'm thinking about heading to the beach sometime this month. Destin seems too expensive. My other choices are Orange Beach AL, Pesacola, Ft. Walton. And we are thinking about going to see my wife's grandma in Chattanooga.

[NCB]

My mother has some art shows around Covington/Slidell; and her husband has a sailboat in Mandeville. And St.Tammany pays their teachers the most $ in the Sate too; Livingston was # 2 paying teachers.

No, I have not been to Covington since Katrina. Traffic was already a mess then, I can only imagine what it's like now.

I'm thinking about heading to the beach sometime this month. Destin seems too expensive. My other choices are Orange Beach AL, Pesacola, Ft. Walton. And we are thinking about going to see my wife's grandma in Chattanooga.

A sailboat huh? Cool! Do you know if he is a member of the Ponchartrain Yaht Club?

And you're right about Saint Tammany, we also have the highest rated school district in the state. I believe Livingston isn't far behind in that category either, is it?

Oh, and if you end up going to the beach, take a few minutes to drive around Hw 21, downtown Covington, and HW 190, which will form a loop and bring you back to I-12 at HW 190 if you get off at the HW 21 exit. I think you'll be impressed to see everything that's going on.

[SlidellWX]

Over here in east St. Tammany they are widening Brown Switch road to add a turn lane. This is the main link to I-12 from the the Robert Road corridor. The Fremaux interchange is finally being built and they are going to start building the new I-10 bridge in mid-July. They are also repaving I-10 from the I-59/I-12 interchange to the lake. A new connector road will also be built from Airport Rd. to Highway 11 on the northwest side of Slidell and Airport Rd. will be extended to Highway 36. All of these improvements were needed yesterday...at least they are being worked on.

[NCB]

^I hope those projects help alleviate some of the traffic in EST, because it's not exactly non existant over there either. If I have to use the Twinspans to get into New Orleans in the mornings, the majority of the time, the longest part of my trip is in east Saint Tammany.

[NCB]

Well I'll post this rendering seriously here this time. This is the Colonial Nor du Lac Lifestyle Center about to start construction in Covington. It will have nearly every store imaginable, and will become one of the largest shopping centers in south Louisiana.

[NCB]

Just to throw in some development info, the satellite image that the shopping center is fitted into is about two years old. Hwy 21, which is labeled, is now lined with brand new developments ranging from 3 story banks, to large shopping centers and many other developments all the way down to I-12 and the "Target Center" The Target Center in that photo is still under construction, but now that shopping center extends all the way to I-12 on the right side, and extends off of the photo entirely to the left side. And the land across from it has been developed into smaller shopping centers and banks as well. I'll try to find a more up to date photo if I can.

[SlidellWX]

I can't wait for that shopping center to open.

[NCB]

I can't wait for that shopping center to open.

Is the shopping center recieving a lot of press in EST? I would imagine the fight against it that took place would have recieved attention, but I'm not sure about the actual center itself.

[richyb83]

I will have to check out all the new developments on Hwy. 21 in booming Covington.

[NCB]

I will have to check out all the new developments on Hwy. 21 in booming Covington.

You should definately try to check it out when you can. It's quite a change from a few years, and honestly even a few months, ago.