Baton Rouge Developbits

[dan326]

Mall unveils Santa plans

The Mall of Louisiana is revamping the department store Santa experience this Christmas with "Santastic", a new interactive holiday wonderland coming to Center Court Nov. 16. The brainchild of Doug Johnson, a student of Walt Disney, Santastic features a hand-on activities for children while they wait to meet that jolly old elf. The Santastic sets are currently being designed and built in Chicago by Disney and Nickelodeon and will require 35 employees to operate. Baton Rouge is one of only three General Growth Properties sites in the country, along with Park Place Mall in Tucson and Mall in Columbia in Baltimore, to host the display. The three properties will serve as test sites and Brent A. Sims, marketing director for Mall of Louisiana, says the goal of GGP is to roll out 25 more at mall sites across the country next year.

[dan326]

The Boulevard, which is scheduled to open in March, will include a G by Guess, Pottery Barn; make up and skin care store Sephora; Ann Taylor and Ann Taylor Loft; Chicos and Soma; Coach; a Bravo restaurant; and B.J.

[dan326]

Developer Richard Preis said Monday he sold a 37-acre tract at Howell Place off Harding Boulevard for $6.2 million to a company that plans to build a variety of commercial projects there.

Preis said Affordable Housing LLC plans to start work by the end of the year on an assisted living facility, mini-warehouse complex, medical offices and a health facility.

State records show Affordable Housing is held by Charles V. Ladell of Metairie.

Preis said the latest project is among 10 that Howell Place developers have closed over the past three months, including four new hotels.

[BRPJ]

The Boulevard, which is scheduled to open in March, will include a G by Guess, Pottery Barn; make up and skin care store Sephora; Ann Taylor and Ann Taylor Loft; Chicos and Soma; Coach; a Bravo restaurant; and B.J.

[dan326]

"Wells Fargo opening Perkins Rowe call center

Wells Fargo Bank, which announced this summer it would shut down its Essen Lane subprime lending office, is opening an online customer service center in the Perkins Rowe development this month. The bank has already started training workers and a spokesman says the plan is to hire as many as possible of the 170 employees affected by the Essen closing. Wells Fargo signed a lease for 60,000 square feet of office space Perkins Rowe, but the call center isn't taking up that much space. Officials say one floor in the building will remain empty."

"Office Depot opening Sherwood Forest location

Office Depot has leased part of the old Sav-A-Center grocery store at Sherwood Forest and Coursey boulevards and plans to open a store early next year. The office supply chain is leasing about 19,800 square feet of the store in the Lake Sherwood Mall, which became vacant in April when The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. decided to exit the Baton Rouge grocery market. The Office Depot lease leaves 17,200 square feet empty; Commercial Properties Development Trust, which owns the retail center, is looking for additional tenants."

"MIE Properties says it will build a 60,500-square-foot office and retail building at the Barringer Foreman Technology Park.

MIE Properties said the office component is almost completely leased, while the retail component is about 65 percent leased.

The business park is being developed on a 27-acre tract near Airline Highway. MIE Properties said that upon completion of the new building it will include nearly 300,000 square feet of office, research and development, and retail space.

MIE Properties said tenants in the retail portion include a fitness center and an upscale Italian restaurant.

About 30 office tenants include Siemens, Emerson, ProLogix, the U.S. Marshals service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Based in Baltimore, MIE Properties also is developing an office and retail development near Pelican Point in Ascension Parish."

"Swarovski, the upscale crystal retailer, is set to open a location Friday at the Mall of Louisiana on Bluebonnet Boulevard.

The Swarovski store offers a variety of crystal home-decorating products, as well as jewelry and optical instruments such as riflescopes and binoculars."

[dan326]

"Grace & Hebert looking to head downtown

Another design firm is moving its offices downtown. Grace & Hebert Architects has a purchase agreement to buy the I.M Causey and Co. furniture building on Government Street. The firm plans to close the purchase in early December and begin renovating the 16,000-square-foot building, says Jerry Hebert, managing partner. "It's a great opportunity for us to really kind of bring a new face to that part of Government Street," he says. Grace & Hebert has its offices on Bluebonnet Boulevard, and the company purchased an acre of land near its current site last year. But Hebert says the firm had "practically outgrown" the site. "We always kind of thought we wanted to be in the fabric of downtown," he says. Grace & Hebert, which has designed high-profile projects such as the renovations and addition to the LSU Union and Amedisys' new headquarters, has about 35 employees"

[richyb83]

Starting to see more of the businesses moving from the burbs into downtown; always good to see

[dan326]

"Borders coming to Mall of Louisiana

Borders will open its first Baton Rouge bookstore this spring at the Mall of Louisiana. The nation's second-largest bookstore chain has applied for a permit to build a 25,000-square-foot store in the mall's open-air expansion, The Boulevard. Borders had planned on opening a store further down Bluebonnet Boulevard; the chain said it signed letters of intent to move into the Perkins Rowe development and sued developer Tommy Spinosa after he signed a lease with Barnes & Noble. Borders joins a growing list of tenants in The Boulevard, including Apple, Pottery Barn and Sephora."

[dan326]

"Local developer Kevin Nguyen has purchased 2.35 acres on the east side of Siegen Lane next to Capital One for about $20 per square foot. Longtime Baton Rougeans will remember the site as the "chicken farm,

[richyb83]

Very active times all across the city! Good to see It will be cool to see the rowhouses out on Coursey Blvd.a.k.a SE BR Exressway. That little area looks cool with Chimes East; new ultra modern small office bldgs. and a cool looking new Nutri-Sport. Can't think whats at that open-air restuarant across the street??

Pinnacle needs to go to Plan B seriously in WBR.

[dan326]

Summa's not dead yet!

"B.R. projects receive Bond Commission approval

The State Bond Commission approved GO Zone funding for nine Baton Rouge projects after an eight-hour meeting that ended at 10:30 p.m. Wednesday. The vote came as a huge relief for Mike Wampold, who received $60 million for the II City Plaza office building. Work started on the downtown office building in late August after Wampold received preliminary approval for the project and had contracts with tenants such as Regions Bank and Phelps Dunbar. "I'm not sure what we would have done if we didn't get those bonds," Wampold says. Other projects to get funding included $250 million for the Perkins Rowe development, $60 million for a Stupp Brothers pipe mill in north Baton Rouge, $45 million for Baton Rouge Coca-Cola's new bottling plant, $35 million for the Celtic Group's film studio near Airline Highway, $20 million for Summa Associates new office building on Essen Lane, $10 million for Southern Ionics' chemical plant on Airline Highway, $7.5 million for improvements at the Price LeBlanc dealership and $4.5 million for a new office building for Starmount Life Insurance on Goodwood Boulevard."

[richyb83]

Good news! The Summa Tower can now get started! At 8-stories it's gonna look kind of crazy in that small tract of land. And right next to the 13-story Jacobs Plaza. And between those and cool looking 12-story Shaw Plaza (down about 1/2 mile) the 7-story Drury Inn Suites should also be starting anytime now! The Essen corridor will have a nice collection of multi-story buildings.

II City Plaza was still rollin' forward despite those delays; now it's full steam ahead!!!!

[twstdndmntd]

Good news! The Summa Tower can now get started! At 8-stories it's gonna look kind of crazy in that small tract of land. And right next to the 13-story Jacobs Plaza. And between those and cool looking 12-story Shaw Plaza (down about 1/2 mile) the 7-story Drury Inn Suites should also be starting anytime now! The Essen corridor will have a nice collection of multi-story buildings.

II City Plaza was still rollin' forward despite those delays; now it's full steam ahead!!!!

Don't know if I would count on that Drury Inn just yet. That was one of the projects that didn't get GO Zone bonds. Whats going on with the Renaisance Hotel on BB? Is Wampold gonna get started on that? Wasn't he trying to get GO Zone funding for that project as well? I agree that with the Summa Tower, Jacobs Plaza and Shaw Plaza, Essen will have a cute little skyline going on.

[richyb83]

This mornings Advocate newspaper included the Drury Inn. Looks like the tract of land of Essen is primed and ready to go.

I posted the Renaissance on Bluebonnet in Upscale Project thread; the start was delayed til Dec. or Jan. because...you guessed it...unexpected $ticker shock. My question is? will construction cost with building materials, steel, concrete, etc. go back down to normal prices?? The demand with hurricanes + China jacked prices up!

More Third Street activity; it will be interesting to see the completed renovations BRAC

Convention Bureau buys office building

The Baton Rouge Area Convention and Visitors Bureau has signed closing documents on a new office building at 359 Third St. for $1.1 million. The 7,508-square-foot building was owned and occupied by the Louisiana Homebuilders Association.

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/business/...436.htmlMartini bar to open at downtown site

[dan326]

To help alleviate the parking crunch, the airport is moving ahead with a $19 million plan to build a new five-story parking garage at the end of the Rental Car Center, and build a roof over the top level of the existing parking garage.

[dan326]

A strip center is going up on O'Neal right past Centurion/The Woodlands called Centurion Plaza. I don't know why because it's not aligned with either of the entraces to the neighborhood.

Small Red: Strip center which will include a Starbucks

Large Red: Bass Pro Complex

Light Blue: Retail Complex, 18-36 acres

Yellow: IHOP

Pink: Hampton Inn

Small Green: Cane's

Large Green: Petco, Stage, Office Depot, addition

[richyb83]

Nice work Dan. The Range Ave. exit in Denham Springs is really growing!

They need to widen O'Neal really bad. I try to avoid driving it if possible.

[dan326]

"The Boulevard

[dan326]

Apartments are poppoin' up FAST!

• 
  

• Every building has it's first floor completed and some their second in the Camden Lake Apartments on O'Neal Lane.
  
• All the foundations are poured and the clubhouse and one of the buildings is two stories at the Canteberry Apartments on Sherwood Forest Boulevard
  
• All the buildings are completed at Tuscany Village in Siegen Marketplace
  
• Another complex on Siegen between I-10 and Airline Highway is moving along with buildings in various stages of completion
  

Other bits...

• Construction has begun on something just north of the Cortana Mall on Airline Highway
  
• Land for The Grove by the Mall of Louisiana has been cleared and leveled as well as land for the power center
  
• The Lakes at Stonehenge near Old Hammond Highway and Flannery is starting to build houses
  
• Cambria Suites on Constitution Avenue is on it 5th floor
  
• The exterior of Red Lion Inn at the I-10/ Acadian Thruway is almost complete
  
• Almost everything at the Gonzales exit looks new, with the new Home Depot, Cabela's Sonic and renovated /ing Tanger Outlet Mall and Supreme Inn
  
• The first half of the Red Stick Urban Loft at Airline and Old Hammond Highway are near completion and construciton on the next half are about to begin
  
• Sedona Pine at O'Neal Lane/Old Hammond Highway will have 87 lots
  
• A Neighborhood Walmart, anchored strip mall has opened at Highland Road/Lee Drive
  

Edited November 6, 2007 by dan326

[richyb83]

Thanks for the updates, you have a good eye for development. I always enjoy seeing BR grow and the gaps filing up with all the new projects!

The entire Bluebonnet/Picardy corridor is becoming an "edge-city" with nearby Siegen!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edge_city

Is Tuscany Village going to be 3 or 4 stories?? 3-story condo's seem like they are going up everywhere. At that location at Siegen Marketplace, I figured they could add a floor w/o opposition from the NIMBY's.

*Also a large tract for the new Federal Express regional distribution center has been cleared and looks to start soon on No.Harrel's Ferry Rd. off I-12 near those new Canteberry Apts. Amazing how much growth continues to take place along the BR Interstates!!! BR's version of "Main Street".

Edited November 6, 2007 by richyb83

[cajun]

Camden is in BR? That's cool....they have decent apartments for the price.

[twstdndmntd]

WOOHOO!!!! Filling in the sprawl......... I love it. Now we can look like a bigger "burb" LOL

[dan326]

"Developer seeks rezoning for townhome development: A developer wants to rezone 13.34 acres at River Road and Brightside Lane for a townhome development. Kelly Sills has filed plans for the 110-unit Riviera Townhomes with the City-Parish Planning Department. The plans include a clubhouse and pool. The project could face some changes, because the planning commission staff says it will not recommend the rezoning for a small planned unit development until traffic improvements are made on Brightside. "

[dan326]

From Bidclerk:

"Site work and new construction of a mixed-use development in Baton Rouge. Design drawings call for the demolition of an existing shopping center to make way for the construction of an 11-acre retail and residential complex to include 30 townhouses over 130,000 square feet of retail space. The townhouse units will range from 1,100 to 1,200 square feet, and a parking deck will also be built.

Construction is expected to begin first quarter 2008."

[richyb83]

Is that Acadian Village?? Sounds like it! Can't wait for that to start. A huge improvement from the old Wal-Mart. I like this mixed-use trend BR has been embracing.