CEO pay has been going one direction for the past three years: up. The head of a typical large public company made $9.7 million in 2012, a 6.5% increase from a year earlier that was aided by a rising stock market, according to an analysis by The Associated Press using data from Equilar, an executive pay research firm. CEO pay, which fell two years straight during the Great Recession but rose 24% in 2010 and 6% in 2011, has never been higher. But the numbers don't tell the whole story. After years of pressure from corporate governance activists unhappy about big payouts, many companies have revamped their compensation formulas. They have awarded a bigger chunk of compensation in stock to align pay more closely to performance; they've also become more transparent regarding how compensation decisions are made and in some cases promised to claw back pay from fired executives. Shareholder activists say the changes are a step in the right direction, yet they argue that CEO pay is too high...
While daily commuters to East Baton Rouge from outside the parish are often considered the cause of snarled traffic on the city's roadways during rush hours, the parish ranks relatively low compared to other highly populated Louisiana parishes and U.S. counties when it comes to the percentage of commuters among its total workforce. According to a new report from Governing magazine, just 29% of the total workforce in East Baton Rouge—76,728 of the total 264,326 workers—is commuting into the parish. That's nowhere near the 45.1% in Orleans Parish, which leads the state for commuters among the workforce. Even Ascension Parish has a higher rate than East Baton Rouge, at 32.9. In neighboring Livingston Parish, about 6,000 of the total workforce of 27,900—or 21.5%—commutes from outside the parish each day. Arlington County, Va., has the highest percentage of commuters in the U.S., at 76.6%, while the District of Columbia has the second-highest percentage...
A 15.6% increase in goods shipped out of the state during the first quarter placed Louisiana among the top five states in the country for worldwide exporting, according to a new report from the World Trade Center of New Orleans. The overall value of Louisiana's exports totaled $16.5 billion during the first three months of the year, a record for the state during the first quarter. Exports for all 50 states and Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia totaled $383 billion, a less than 1% increase from the first quarter of 2012. Louisiana had the fifth-highest exports in the U.S., up from the seventh-most during the same period last year. The state's exports, however, were down $3.84 billion when compared to the fourth quarter of 2012. Louisiana's principal export markets for the first quarter were China (approximately $2 billion, down 13.5%); Mexico ($1.85 billion, up 29.7%); Singapore ($763.5 million, up 66.8%); as well as Japan, Canada and Egypt. Petroleum...
A $700,000 gap loan for Danny McGlynn to renovate the Darensbourg building on Government Street, as well as upgrade several neighboring buildings on the 2900 block of the Mid City street, will be taken up by the East Baton Rouge Redevelopment Authority board on June 11. An RDA loan review committee today gave McGlynn's plans a favorable review and is recommending the RDA give final approval to the low-interest loan for the project. "It's a loan that will make the project work, and now we just need the full board approval and we're off to the races," says McGlynn, who is calling the project a "model block" project for future Government Street redevelopment. The plan, as Daily Reportfirst reported in September, calls for Ritter Maher to move its headquarters from Bluebonnet Boulevard to the currently dilapidated and vacant Darensbourg building. It also calls for a face-lift...
Lychees have a sweet, floral flavor and translucent flesh. You just have to peel back the thick pinkish skin to find the springy and succulent treat. They're great for snacking and making luscious summer cocktails.
Those behind a years-long effort to bring the Lincoln Theater in Old South Baton Rouge back to its former glory are gearing up for a new run at raising enough private funds to finally restore the historic theater—with a long-term goal of expanding the property to make room for the Louisiana Black History Hall of Fame Museum. A "Restore the Lincoln" fundraising campaign kickoff reception is being held Friday by the black history hall of fame and Foundation for Historical Louisiana. Attendees of the event will be shown plans for the first two phases of the restoration and asked to lend their support—and more important, their money. The first phase includes readying the property for a full renovation and making it environmentally safe, which means removing lead piping and paint, asbestos and mold. The second phase would restore the theater, which was built in 1950 and served as the premiere entertainment venue in Old South Baton Rouge. "This would bring the Lincoln Theater...
The Metro Council is set to take up a measure at Wednesday's meeting that would require all employees operating city-parish vehicles—except those in the police and fire departments—to complete a four-hour driver safety course. Councilman Buddy Amoroso says he's proposing the policy change in an attempt to reduce the number of accidents involving city-parish vehicles. The council takes up settlements on accidents at nearly every meeting, Amoroso says. On Wednesday, the parish attorney's office is asking the Metro Council to allocate almost $50,000 to settle claims in three different accidents, involving two Baton Rouge police officers and a Department of Public Works employee. Read a previous story from Daily Report on the proposal here. Also Wednesday, the council will consider:
With 10,200 more people working in the construction industry in April than were during April 2012—an increase of 8.1%—Louisiana's sector job growth was the third-best in the nation, according to the latest monthly jobs report from the Associated General Contractors of America. Alaska was No. 2 for job growth by percentage on the year, at 9.1%, while Hawaii led the nation with 11.5% year-over-year growth. The 135,600 construction workers in Louisiana in April represented a 0.4% increase, or 600 more jobs, from the month previous. Construction sector employment has now grown in Louisiana every month so far this year. It is one of just 29 states in the country that saw year-over-year growth in April, while 32 states and the District of Columbia posted job losses. Louisiana is also among just 17 states that had construction job growth between March and April. You can find the complete April jobs report from AGCA
When the CATS board meets this afternoon, among the items on its agenda will be the renewal of a public relations and marketing contract with Clay Young Enterprises, a local PR firm that has been representing the transit agency on a temporary basis since December. Clay Young, the firm's owner, says he has a $19,000 contract with CATS that runs through the end of May. That contract has covered work his firm has done on the CATS logo, annual report, and radio and TV spots, Young says, though it has not covered the cost of placing the media buys for the commercials. Young says his firm has also "facilitated an extended dialogue with the media" in an effort to keep the public informed about the progress the beleaguered public transit agency has made toward implementing service upgrades and improvements that were promised in 2012 when voters in Baton Rouge and Baker approved a 10-year, 10.6-mill property tax to fund CATS. The CATS board is today considering a $12,000 contract extension...
Builders received permits Monday from the city-parish to begin construction on homes in The Preserve at Harveston—the 95-acre, first phase of Mike Wampold and John Fetzer's planned 1,200-acre mixed-use development straddling the Bluebonnet Extension. Construction on the homes, which will be priced in the low-to-mid $300,000 range for smaller homes and close to $400,000 for larger properties, is scheduled to begin in the next two weeks. Five local builders have been selected for the project: Colby Constructors, Distinctive Homes by Watson, Dupree Construction, Fetzer Properties of Louisiana, and Unified Construction Group. Each builder will begin with three model homes, and will be required to follow strict design guidelines that detail the coastal/Creole/West Indies-architectural style that will characterize the development. Some 350 homes are planned for The Preserve, 93 of which will be constructed on a 33-acre tract that will be the first part of the first phase. Permits...
HUD offices across the nation will be closed Friday as part of a program to reduce costs through unpaid furloughs. The closure means the offices will be shuttered for four days through the Memorial Day weekend, so anyone with time critical issues should plan accordingly. But the biggest news from HUD on cost savings is the consolidation of several offices into regional hubs, and Louisiana is significantly impacted by these plans. First, the multifamily production activities currently being performed from the New Orleans field office will be consolidated into the existing Fort Worth hub in Texas, representing one of five regions being established in this new plan. According to statements on HUD's website, "this simplified structure will increase national consistency across Multifamily." In addition, they also expect "that the more streamlined field management structure will streamline decision-making and enhance accountability." HUD addresses potential fears that a Fort Worth office...
Bolstered by a strong April, in which home sales in the eight-parish Capital Region were up 28%, 2013 sales are now 16% higher than they were through April a year ago. That's according to the latest monthly sales report from the Greater Baton Rouge Association of Realtors. A total of 2,545 sales have closed through April this year, compared to 2,193 in the first four months of last year. In addition, the region's average sales price in April, at $208,153, was also 12% higher than the $186,352 average price recorded in April 2012. The number of homes on the market during April, 3,938, was down 14% compared to last April, when 4,592 homes were for sale in the region. "The prickliest thorns in our collective side are still lack of inventory and subdued listing activity," reads the GBRAR April report. "In some neighborhoods, consumers have 50 or 60 percent fewer options from which to choose than they did a few years ago. That's causing bidding wars in popular areas." In East Baton Rouge...
In or out: If the East Baton Rouge Library Board of Control does, in fact, decide to pull the plug on the long-planned Rouzan library and relocate the branch elsewhere—as board members indicated last week that they may well do—the traditional neighborhood development is still viable. So says the lender on the project, businessman John Engquist, who acquired the mortgage on Rouzan from BancorpSouth last year. "That is a very viable, vibrant development with or without a library," says Engquist. "Would I rather have the library? Absolutely. But I would not say 'oh, no!' if it fell apart." Daily Report has the full story here.
Hercules Trucking, doing business as Hercules Tec, has purchased a 43.9-acre tract on River Road, just downriver from Bear Industries in Iberville Parish. The sale closed on May 13 for $824,500, or about $18,780 per acre. The property, which includes 4.2 acres of batture with 308 feet of frontage on the Mississippi River, is an assemblage of two tracts. Trey Williams with NAI/Latter & Blum Realtors represented the purchaser in the transaction. The sellers, James Ralph Babin, Jerline Babin Hebert, Rita Delores Babin LeBlanc and Carol Ann Babin Landaiche, were not represented with an agent. Hercules' primary business is transporting propane and natural gas. The property will be used to develop a new facility, which will become the company's main office in the Baton Rouge metro area. (Appraiser Tom Cook owns Cook Moore and Associates. Reach him at 293-7006 or TCook@cookmoore.com.)
Those behind a years-long effort to bring the Lincoln Theater in Old South Baton Rouge back to its former glory are gearing up for a new run at raising enough private funds to finally restore the historic theater—with a long-term goal of expanding the property to make room for the Louisiana Black History Hall of Fame Museum.
Those behind a years-long effort to bring the Lincoln Theater in Old South Baton Rouge back to its former glory are gearing up for a new run at raising enough private funds to finally restore the historic theater—with a long-term goal of expanding the property to make room for the Louisiana Black History Hall of Fame Museum. A "Restore the Lincoln" fundraising campaign kickoff reception is being held Friday by the black history hall of fame and Foundation for Historical Louisiana. Attendees of the event will be shown plans for the first two phases of the restoration and asked to lend their support—and more important, their money. The first phase includes readying the property for a full renovation and making it environmentally safe, which means removing lead piping and paint, asbestos and mold. The second phase would restore the theater, which was built in 1950 and served as the premiere entertainment venue in Old South Baton Rouge. "This would bring the Lincoln Theater...
Whitney Bank has approximately $80 million in pent-up loan demand in the Capital Region, according to Troy Hebert, Baton Rouge market president. That represents about 25% more loan requests than the bank had in its pipeline last year at this time, which suggests the economy is continuing to improve, albeit slowly. "We are starting to see more and more demand," says Hebert, adding that the requests for financing are coming from all sectors—industrial and petrochemical, real estate, and a variety of small and medium-size businesses. "A lot of companies are coming into this market or expanding into this market." Between 60% and 75% of deals in Whitney's pipeline, on average, will receive approval, says Hebert. Included among them will be a small amount of loans for speculative building, something this market hasn't seen in a long time. "We aren't telling builders to go out and build 50 spec homes," Hebert says. "But there are some select projects where it makes sense." In 2011...
Plans for a new 34-lot residential development at the intersection of Pecue Lane and Perkins Road is up for consideration at today's meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission. Audubon Parc, a development by Spear Contractors, is one of several proposals before the commission. Another is for a second 13th Gate Park location, planned as a 75-acre haunted house and recreational park complete with a corn maze, outdoor laser tag field, a zombie run and cemetery, near Joor and Mickens roads. Here's a look at some of the other items up for consideration: • Plans for 100 new homes at The Settlement at Willow Grove
Consumer spending is likely to pick up this year while government spending declines at a faster rate, according to a survey of business economists. The economists predict that the U.S. economy will grow 2.4% this year and 3% next year. That's unchanged from the most recent forecast issued in February. But they are more bullish on consumer spending and housing than they were three months ago, in part because of more positive data on unemployment. The survey was released today by the National Association for Business Economics, which periodically surveys economists for banks, manufacturers and universities. The group of 49 economists who were questioned between April 16 and April 30 predicted that consumer spending will rise 2.3% this year, up from a forecast of 1.9% in February. They were also more upbeat about the auto market, predicting 15.4 million vehicles sales, an increase of 1 million over 2012. The economists predicted home prices will rise 4.4% this year and 4% next year, and...
BRAC is trying to lure far-flung LSU alumni back to Baton Rouge. It's part of a nascent program to develop the region's talent pool and to help draw business to the area. In addition to personalized regional tours to potential employers, BRAC has been attending LSU alumni crawfish boils around the country, telling them, among other things, "Here's a free koozie. … We're trying to get people to move back to Baton Rouge," says Phillip LaFargue, BRAC's senior vice president of marketing. "And then their eyes light up." LaFargue says many of the alumni they meet want to come home; they just don't think the jobs are available. Those who are interested can provide their résumés to be added to a database. The résumés are then matched to employers. BRAC has been using the talent development program for about a year and a half. In addition to working to bring LSU alumni back home, BRAC also signed agreements with alumni associations from Southern University as well as several local high...
In May 2010, state and local officials in Columbia proudly announced one of Missouri's biggest economic development wins in recent history: IBM was coming to town to open a technology service delivery center that would create 800 permanent jobs, put Columbia on the radar of cutting-edge tech companies, and transform the local economy. "Today is a great day for IBM and the state of Missouri," Gov. Jay Nixon said at the time. Sound familiar? Earlier this spring, state and local officials here made a similar announcement when they welcomed IBM to Baton Rouge. As in Columbia, the deal promises to be a so-called game changer that will create 800 jobs, ramp up computer science education at LSU and other universities, and transform the local economy and downtown riverfront at the same time. "This will impact our state's future while continuing to position us as a leader in the global technology sector," gushed Gov. Bobby Jindal at the March 27 announcement. But will IBM really be able to...
If the East Baton Rouge Library Board of Control does, in fact, decide to pull the plug on the long-planned Rouzan library and relocate the branch elsewhere—as board members indicated at Thursday's meeting they may well do—the traditional neighborhood development is still viable. So says the lender on the project, businessman John Engquist, who acquired the mortgage on Rouzan from BancorpSouth last year. "That is a very viable, vibrant development with or without a library," says Engquist. "Would I rather have the library? Absolutely. But I would not say 'oh, no!' if it fell apart." The library board, parish attorney's office and Rouzan developer Tommy Spinosa have been negotiating for months over the scope of infrastructure work Spinosa is responsible for completing within the Southdowns-area TND before construction on the library can begin. Late Thursday, he reached an agreement with the parish attorney. However, library board members were frustrated they did not have...
Completion of the Galvez Plaza sculpture and stage cover has been delayed yet again, this time due to filming in the area. The nearly $1 million, stainless steel sculpture and stage cover at North Boulevard Town Square is now slated to be finished in June, rather than in late May as officials had previously hoped. It has been in the process of being built for months, and workers were recently forced to stop working on it while the Bonnie and Clyde miniseries and Search Party movie were being shot downtown, says Davis Rhorer, executive director of the Downtown Development District. Work to finish the crest can resume next week, he says. Progress on the project previously came to a halt earlier this year because of an ill-fitting piece of the massive overhead crest. The piece was reordered from fabricators in Kansas City. It arrived in April, and developers thought live performances could commence on the stage this month. Before that delay, they had hoped the project...
After taking the four-hour course himself earlier this week, Metro Councilman Buddy Amoroso says he's moving forward with his push to require all city-parish employees who drive municipal vehicles—except those in the police and fire departments—to get the driver safety certification. "I thought it was an excellent class, and I think it would accomplish what I'm trying to do," Amoroso says. What he's trying to do, aside from improving safety, is reduce the number of insurance claims on which the city-parish is paying out due to accidents involving its employees where they're found to be at fault. The course is administered by the city-parish Human Resources Department and certified by the National Safety Council. When completed, the certification is good for two years. Amoroso says the ordinance he's introducing Wednesday would require 671 city-parish employees to take it. The 981 fire and police department employees would be exempt, he says, because they're already...
May is National Burger Month, and the Red Stick has more than a few options if what you want is a great burger. Each week, Maxwell's Market locations have been celebrating the American staple with its Burger of the Week, taking the normal dish and fashioning it into the talk of the town. Maxwell's launched this serial innovation last year. Some of Maxwell's past burgers include the Breakfast Bistro Burger, with a fried egg and bacon; the Wang Chuck Burger, with peanut-Sriracha sauce; and the Blue Apple Burger, with slices of red apple and blue cheese. This week's variation is the Cowboy Burger, dressed with peppered applewood bacon, barbecue sauce, beer-braised onion rings and light mayo. Read the full story on Maxwell's burgers and others around town and get your fill of local culinary news in this week's edition of the 225 Dine e-newsletter here.
The most pressing problem facing our great state, says Business Report Executive Editor JR Ball in his latest column, is "preserving every penny of tax credits, tax exemptions, tax loopholes and direct cash subsidies as well as every other corporate welfare program required to keep every business in this state from fleeing to Texas or Florida—the cost to Louisiana's bloated and unbalanced books be damned." The most recent case of this "corporate welfare," he says, is the Metro Council's approval of a $7.8 million tax incentive deal for Costco so it will locate a warehouse store at the intersection of Airline Highway and Interstate 12. The warehouse retailer will "soon ring up an estimated $150 million to $200 million in annual area sales," thanks to the Metro Council, Ball says. "The move into retail is new for Baton Rouge, which historically reserves its largesse for the hotel industry. Ever since tax increment financing made the rebirth of the downtown Capitol House...
Under a new bill making its way through the state Legislature, oil producers would be able to resume work, for a two-year, initial exemption period beginning in July, on inactive wells that had been deemed inactive prior to July 1, 2010. During that initial period, oil and gas production from the wells would face a lower severance tax. The (Lafayette) Advertiser reports that the legislation filed by second-year lawmaker Rep. Stuart Bishop, R-Lafayette, may prove to be one of the most important bills of the 2013 session, as it would benefit both state coffers and the interests of the state's oil and gas industry. House Bill 474 essentially restores some incentives for oil and gas producers to return to work on inactive wells, which produce no or little oil and, hence, no revenue for the state or the producer, says Don Briggs, president of the Louisiana Oil and Gas Association. Previous state severance tax exemptions lapsed in 2010. Oil and gas industry representatives say the...
In recent years, viewers across the nation have seen reality TV shows about Louisiana alligator trappers, exterminators, sheriffs, prisoners, brides, shrimpers, nutria hunters, mixed martial arts fighters, garbage collectors, "bad girls," overnight millionaires, run-of-the-mill rednecks, and pawnshop owners (about whom there are multiple shows). And there's more on the way, including former Gov. Edwin Edwards' show, which begins airing this summer. Which has led The New York Times in a new feature story to wonder if "there actually are any interesting people left in Louisiana." "There's more material to be found in Louisiana; it's just going to be harder to find," David McKillop, executive vice president for programming at A&E, tells the newspaper. To find the next reality TV stars in Louisiana, casting agents are scouring the state, cold calling people with promisingly colorful occupations. Producers are hosting pig roasts to get to know potential subjects, and local contacts...
As CATS faces a firestorm of criticism over poor operations and services—despite benefiting from last year's dedicated tax approval in Baton Rouge and Baker—Business Report Publisher Rolfe McCollister says the public transit system is making a mistake by not hiring contract management as a consulting firm has recommended. "CATS has gone through several leadership changes, and its problem is more than just the top spot," writes McCollister in his latest column, noting the recent resignation of CEO Brian Marshall. "TMG Consulting issued a report to the board saying basically that CATS is understaffed, overspends, and ranks 15th out of 16 peer systems in service efficiency. To fix things, the report recommended replacing everyone in the CATS C-suite with better-qualified experts from a private company." Some members of the board, as well as BRAC and the Center for Planning Excellence, are in favor of contract management, McCollister notes. "The mayor, Metro Council...
Family Road of Greater Baton Rouge is hosting a whimsical gala for the entire family this weekend. The fifth annual Storybook Ball kicks off at 5 p.m. Saturday at the Baton Rouge River Center. The event will feature classic stories, such as The Jungle Book, Where the Wild Things Are, Harry Potter and more. Each book will have its own station full of interactive activities. The Young Band Nation Blues Project, Tim the Magician, stilt walkers and more will also be on hand. Proceeds benefit Family Road. Children's tickets are $20; adult tickets are $60. Specials and reserved tables are also available for purchase here. Get the lowdown on more local happenings taking place this weekend in the new 225 Weekender e-newsletter here.
If the long-planned Rouzan branch library falls through, could the campus of the newly rebuilt Lee High School be a fallback location? It's an option the East Baton Rouge Library Board of Control is exploring, and a spokeswoman for the East Baton Rouge Parish School System says Superintendent Bernard Taylor likes the idea. "The [library board] staff reached out to us and I presented the idea to Dr. Taylor and … we are absolutely open to conversations with them," says EBR schools spokeswoman Susan Nelson. "Obviously, we would need to get board approval … but we want Lee High to be a community school and a community center." Preliminary discussions between the staffs of the library board and school system took place a couple of weeks ago—before the library board and Rouzan developer Tommy Spinosa hit the latest impasse in their long-running negotiations over construction of the Rouzan branch library. Though it appeared earlier this week that Spinosa and the board had...
Celebrities and state politicians walked the red carpet Tuesday night for the Louisiana Film and Entertainment Association's Laissez Louisiana Film Rouler event at the Celtic Media Centre. While the affair brought a Hollywood vibe to Baton Rouge, its purpose was simple: to show support for Louisiana's film industry tax incentives. Currently, a bill approved by the House would reduce the tax credits for nonresident workers hired from 30% to 20%, while the credit for resident workers would remain at 35%. The event was dubbed Scott Niemeyer's "baby." Niemeyer is the chief financial officer of Gold Circle Films, the production company behind Pitch Perfect and the upcoming Search Party, both of which were filmed in Baton Rouge. "The Legislature has a big job cut out for them to balance the budget," he says. "We recognize that's not an easy task. We also want to mention the significance of our industry—the 15,000-plus jobs, the billions of dollars of in-state spending.
Family Road of Greater Baton Rouge will host a whimsical gala perfect for the entire family. The fifth annual Storybook Ball kicks off at 5 p.m. Saturday at the Baton Rouge River Center. The event will feature classic stories such as The Jungle Book, Where the Wild Things Are, Harry Potter and more coming to life. Each book will have its own station full of interactive activities. The Young Band Nation Blues Project, Tim the Magician, stilt walkers and more will also be on hand. Proceeds benefit Family Road. Children's tickets are $20; adult tickets are $60. Specials and reserved tables are also available for purchase online.
One week from today, the Red Stick Mobile Farmers Market will begin bringing locally grown, farm-fresh produce to areas in north Baton Rouge lacking access to grocery stores and other outlets for healthy food. City-parish officials are holding a grand opening event at 1 p.m. today to provide details on the new initiative as well as to cooking demonstrations; they'll also hand out food samples, recipes, nutrition cards, and tips for buying fresh produce. The event takes place at Star Hill Baptist Church, 1400 North Foster Dr., which is among the locations at which the mobile market will make stops starting May 22. Each Wednesday, the market will be open from 9 to 11 a.m. at Scotlandville Branch Library, 7373 Scenic Hwy., and will then be at Star Hill Baptist Church from 1 to 3 p.m. Officials hope to increase the number of weekly stops to between six and eight locations this year. The produce offered at the mobile market will come from the same local farmers who participate in the Red...
Construction on a $28 million movie production complex in New Orleans is slated to begin this fall, following approval Tuesday of a property tax break for Starlight Studios by the New Orleans Industrial Development Board. The project, to be built on a 32-acre vacant plot of land across from the Michoud Assembly Facility, is projected to include four soundstages with 96,000 square feet of space and a 30,000-square-foot office building. The Times-Picayune reports the industrial development board has agreed to assume title to the property for 10 years, during which time it will lease the land back to the Starlight developers in exchange for an annual PILOT, or payment in lieu of taxes. Starlight's first payment to the board in 2014 will be based on the current tax rate and the assessed value of the vacant property, which is approximately $10,000. Subsequent payments will be based on the projected value of the property upon the project's completion, determined to be $444,000. The...
The Marriott Courtyard and Marriott Residence Inn, both on North Mall Drive near Siegen Lane, have been acquired for $15.6 million by the Lightstone Group, a privately held real estate company that owns and manages a diverse portfolio of office, retail, residential and industrial properties around the U.S. The motels were previously owned by Olshan Hotel Management, a San Marcos, Fla.-based company that built the Courtyard and Residence motels in 1997 and 2000, respectively, and has managed them since. Both motels will continue to operate under the Marriott flag, which is the No. 1 brand in the industry based on reservations. Earlier this spring, Olshan's John Dougherty told Daily Report his company's decision to sell was not based on the performance of the properties, both of which have average occupancy rates of between 75% and 80%. "Rather, it's part of an overall strategic plan that we're getting out of that market and moving into other opportunities," Dougherty said at...
If the Metro Council approves amending this year's capital improvement budget to free up $11 million for the purchase of the former Woman's Hospital campus on Airline Highway, the Baton Rouge Police Department's headquarters could be relocated there by the end of the year, says William Daniel, Mayor Kip Holden's chief administrative officer. While the former hospital building itself is outdated, has no use and will need to be demolished, Daniel says, the Physician's Tower on-site can be renovated with relative ease. "We can move the police in there pretty quickly," he says. The Metro Council will consider the budget amendment at its May 22 meeting, during which a public hearing will also be held on the matter. Daniel says it's important that the Metro Council approve the plan at its next meeting because the purchase agreement the city-parish signed in December for the 24-acre campus expires in early June—before the council would meet again following the May 22 meeting. "We're...
Actors, actresses and politicians—including former Gov. Edwin Edwards and his wife, Trina—will be among those attending a private event in Baton Rouge tonight to promote the positive effect the film industry has in the state. And while the event was originally organized by the Louisiana Film and Entertainment Association to rally, at least in part, against a budget proposal that would have seen the film industry's tax credit cut by 15%, the shelving of that plan means there will be more fun and less politics tonight. Nonetheless, LFEA President Will French says the deal reached Monday in the House—which would result in a much smaller cut to the film tax credit—could still reduce Louisiana's competitiveness in relation to other states vying for film business via tax credits. "The question is, what exactly will it mean for us? Are we going to lose a little business, maybe a movie or two a year, or are we going to start to lose dozens of films, or worse?" French...
Prices paid by U.S. importers fell in April for the second straight month, pushed lower by another decline in imported petroleum. The Labor Department says import prices—which when decreasing help keep inflation in check—fell 0.5% last month compared with March, when prices had fallen 0.2%. It was the largest decline since a 0.6% drop in December. Imported petroleum products decreased 1.9% in April. Excluding petroleum, import costs dropped only 0.1%. Import prices have now fallen 2.6% over the 12 months ending in April. The prices charged by U.S. exporters, meanwhile, fell 0.7% in April compared with March. The decline was propelled by a 2.2% drop in U.S. farm exports. Over the past year, export prices have decreased 0.9%.
Pipelines in North America spilled three times as much crude oil as trains for comparative distances over an eight-year period, the International Energy Agency reports in a study it based on U.S. Department of Transportation data. However, as Bloomberg reports, the Paris-based energy adviser also says that the risk of a train spill was six times greater than a pipeline incident over the period between 2004 and 2012. The calculation included an estimate that the average load of crude carried by train travels 1,000 miles, which the organization says is conservative, since most Bakken crude, for example, is shipped 1,700 miles from North Dakota to St. James, La. The analysis of the eight-year period didn't include a spill of 715 barrels of crude from a derailment in Minnesota in 2013 that was more than double the amount spilled by trains in the previous four years, the report notes.
Paper and ink: After years of delays and negotiations, it appears the East Baton Rouge Parish Library Board of Control and developer Tommy Spinosa have reached an agreement over construction plans for the Rouzan branch library. Board President Travis Woodard tells Daily Report the board and the parish attorney's office expect to sign off on a revised cooperative endeavor agreement with Spinosa before the board's regular monthly meeting, which is Thursday. Read the full story here.
I sometimes get asked about using the popular Fannie Mae permanent loan for an apartment complex featuring commercial space, such as office or retail. As we try to develop more infill or downtown properties that mix commercial uses on the first floor with residential uses on upper floors, I expect the question to come up more frequently. And the good news is that Fannie Mae does allow for such financing, so long as special underwriting approaches are taken. First off, the two income streams need to be underwritten separately, such that residential expenses match up with residential income and commercial accounts also match up. The current Fannie Mae policy requires commercial income to be no more than 20% of the overall effective gross income of the total project, and also stipulates that the commercial income be underwritten at a minimum 10% vacancy. This arrangement is tougher with smaller properties but works fine with a larger property containing a higher ratio of residential to...
A converted residence at 601 St. Charles St., originally known as The Holt House and now included on the National Register of Historic Places, has sold for $193,000. It was purchased by NCP Properties LLC, which is represented by Lexlee Overton Roccaforte and Clay Roccaforte; the seller was Whitney Bank. The converted single-family residence, which contains 2,370 square feet and includes two parking spaces, had been listed for as much as $249,000. The actual sale price works out to $81.44 per square foot. The deal closed on April 22. The property is at the corner of St. Charles and France streets in Beauregard Town. The new owners intend to use the building as an office for their law practice. The seller was represented by Mathew Laborde with Beau Box Commercial Real Estate. The purchaser was represented by Danny Watts at Saurage Rotenberg Commercial Real Estate.
Just two months ago, the long-stalled Walmart Supercenter planned at Bluebonnet Boulevard and Burbank Drive finally seemed ready to get off the ground. Now it appears the 160,000-square-foot store, first announced in 2008, has hit another snag. In March, Daily Report obtained a DataFax construction report stating that the Bentonville, Ark.-corporation had put the project out to bid. According to that report, the estimated cost of construction was $7 million, and three pre-qualified contractors had been invited to bid: Clark Construction of McComb, Miss.; Crossland Construction of Columbus, Kan.; and Ewing Construction Co. of Corpus Christi, Texas. But sources familiar with the project confirm that Walmart rejected all three bids and now plans to put the project back out to bid. It is unclear whether price alone was the sole factor in the decision to rebid or if there were other considerations. It is also unknown whether the latest delay will affect that most recently announced...
Russell Mosely is looking to open a second filing of his still under-construction Long Farm development. Mosely filed an application for the building permits last week, seeking permission from city-parish regulators to develop 56 lots on the 11-acre second phase of his TND off Barringer Foreman Road. The addition would be called Long Farm Village and could be under construction by late summer, Mosely says. National developer D.R. Horton will build the homes, Mosely says. The Long Farm Village will have a "pocket park" with seating, sidewalks and landscaping. "Just another place for people to go relax," Mosely says. Homes in the second phase will be varied in size and will be built along tree-lined streets. Construction on a clubhouse and a 1,700-square-foot pool are set to begin in the next couple of weeks, he says. "The pool is going to have fountains and it's going to have a tanning ledge; it's going to be nice," Mosely says. Construction on the entryway and sidewalks around a pond...
If the Metro Council approves amending this year's capital improvement budget to free up $11 million for the purchase of the former Woman's Hospital campus on Airline Highway, the Baton Rouge Police Department's headquarters could be relocated there by the end of the year, says William Daniel, Mayor Kip Holden's chief administrative officer.
If the Metro Council approves amending this year's capital improvement budget to free up $11 million for the purchase of the former Woman's Hospital campus on Airline Highway, the Baton Rouge Police Department's headquarters could be relocated there by the end of the year, says William Daniel, Mayor Kip Holden's chief administrative officer. While the former hospital building itself is outdated, has no use and will need to be demolished, Daniel says, the Physician's Tower on-site can be renovated with relative ease. "We can move the police in there pretty quickly," he says. The Metro Council will consider the budget amendment at its May 22 meeting, during which a public hearing will also be held on the matter. Daniel says it's important that the Metro Council approve the plan at its next meeting because the purchase agreement the city-parish signed in December for the 24-acre campus expires in early June—before the council would meet again following the May 22 meeting. "We're...
In his 1997 book The Twenty-First Century City, former Indianapolis Mayor Stephen Goldsmith proposed what he called the “Yellow Pages test”: “If the phone book lists three companies that provide a certain service,” he wrote, “the city probably should not be in that business.” Makes sense to me.
This section provides an overview of the steps most businesses must take to get started in Louisiana. You'll find the basic steps as well as contact information for local, state and federal resources.
In the business world, “adapt or die” is a truism. The ubiquity of the Internet is altering—in some cases, radically upending—the models for all sorts of industries. Exhibit A: the current turmoil in print journalism.
The three great issues of our time in the Capital Region are these: 1) protecting our turf in the global economy by using any government means necessary to score jaw-dropping wins in the retail and hotel sectors; 2) whether the luring of big-box behemoth Costco secures Baton Rouge a much-coveted seat at the exclusive table of world-class cities (out of our way, Venice!); and 3) the future of City Park— more specifically, its par-32 golf course.
Selling your business can be exciting and daunting at the same time, says Linda Perez Clark, a co-owner of Bin 77 and a partner in Kean Miller’s Baton Rouge office, which recently hosted a briefing on the topic.
CEOs nationwide rank Louisiana the 11th-best state for business, according to Chief Executive magazine’s 2013 survey, released May 6. That’s a jump of two spots for Louisiana since last year and the highest ranking the state has ever received in the survey, Gov. Bobby Jindal’s office says. “The report continues the state’s ascent in national business climate rankings, with Louisiana showing the greatest improvement of any state in the U.S. over the past four years,” reads a release from the governor’s office. Since 2009, Louisiana has improved a nation-best 33 spots in the Chief Executive survey. In the survey, Louisiana is given 3.5 out of 5 stars when it comes to taxation and regulations; 3.5 stars for workforce quality; and 4 stars for living environment. Chief Executive Editor-in-Chief J.P. Donlon, who last year described Louisiana as “the Cinderella of business improvement,” writes this year that...
The Baton Rouge METRO area continued its strong start to the year in March in the construction employment sector. According to the latest metro jobs report from the Associated General Contractors of America, Baton Rouge had 5,900 more people employed in the industry in March—an estimated 46,000 total—than it did during the month a year previous.
In May 2010, state and local officials in Columbia, Mo., proudly announced one of Missouri's biggest economic development wins in recent history: IBM was coming to town to open a technology service delivery center that would create 800 permanent jobs, put Columbia on the radar of cutting-edge tech companies, and transform the local economy.
A camera captured the proud moment two decades ago: Then-Commissioner of Agriculture Bob Odom and a handful of executives from Louisiana's most prominent food manufacturing firms joined forces to launch the “Certified Cajun” logo in hopes of collectively distinguishing authentic Louisiana products on grocery store shelves.
In an effort to lure Costco to town, East Baton Rouge Parish has green-lighted what will be the parish's first economic development district for a retailer, triggering protests from critics who futilely proclaimed, “Retail is not economic development.”
The East Baton Rouge Redevelopment Authority is asking Mayor Kip Holden for $425,000 to begin clearing land and doing site preparation work on the 40-acre, first phase of Smiley Heights, a 200-acre mixed-use development in Mid City that the RDA is developing. The funding request will be contained in the mayor's midyear, supplemental budget, which is currently being compiled by the administration and will likely be presented to the Metro Council either later this month or in early June. RDA President and CEO Walter Monsour says the first phase of Smiley Heights—which has been described as "an urban traditional neighborhood development"—will include a new Baton Rouge Community College campus with an automotive training facility as well as a Career Academy for EBR Schools. "This initial funding will be to clear and grub and start preparing the site," Monsour says. "We will also be doing some master planning as well as a housing survey so we can determine what type of housing...
A Metairie-based developer is hoping to move forward with a 600-acre, environmentally friendly, mixed-use development on River Road south of LSU. Charles Lambert, the property owner and developer, is awaiting approval from regulators to start clearing the site for the Village at Riverwood, which could ultimately include 1,550 homes. Lambert says he hopes to start developing the property, which he purchased in 1992, by early next year. About 130 acres between Elbow Bayou and River Road would be developed as part of the first phase, including residential lots and some commercial space. In addition to full-size homes, the draft plan filed with the Planning Commission also details more compact town and garden homes. Lambert says the project has been on hold for at least five years as market conditions slumped. But, he says, the Baton Rouge economy looks strong and "we're back on track." Plans call for a pedestrian-friendly urban village with 200,000 square feet of retail space and 18,000...
After years of delays and negotiations, it appears the East Baton Rouge Parish Library Board of Control and developer Tommy Spinosa have reached an agreement over construction plans for the Rouzan branch library. Board President Travis Woodard tells Daily Report the board and the parish attorney's office expect to sign off on a revised cooperative endeavor agreement with Spinosa before the board's regular monthly meeting, which is Thursday. Under the terms of the agreement—which is an amended version of a document first signed in 2010—Spinosa will agree to complete by November all the infrastructure work that's needed to begin construction of the library. The infrastructure work includes constructing roads, parking lots and utilities within the area of the TND on which the library will be situated, as well as turn lanes and signal modifications on Perkins Road. Previously, Spinosa had agreed to post a performance bond, but the parish attorney's office did not think...
For the second straight week, the average price of a gallon of regular, unleaded gasoline has risen slightly in Baton Rouge, according to the AAA Daily Fuel Gauge. Nonetheless, at $3.29 as of this morning—an increase of 5 cents on the week, following a penny rise the week previous—motorists in the Capital Region are still enjoying some of the lowest prices in the country. Just four states in the U.S. have a slightly lower average than Baton Rouge: Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee. The increases over the past two weeks were preceded by price declines for nine consecutive weeks. The Baton Rouge average one month ago was 4 cents higher than today, and the average a year ago was 25 cents higher. The Louisiana average this morning is $3.31, up 4 cents from a week ago but down 6 cents from a month ago. A year ago, the average price in Louisiana was $3.55. The U.S. average today is $3.57, up 5 cents on the week and 3 cents on the month—but down 15 cents...
Hampton Inn guests who park in the state-owned LaSalle Garage need not worry about getting towed. The downtown hotel is leasing 137 parking spaces in the facility, which provides unreserved parking spaces for state employees and YMCA patrons. "There is no public parking in this garage, so there is no anticipated need for towing," says Division of Administration spokesman Michael DiResto. Towing became an issue in another of the state-owned garages on Third Street when Republic Parking, which manages the state's five parking garages, hired Riverside Towing for enforcement. The company—known for its aggressive tactics—towed the vehicles of several patrons attending events downtown who had parked in spaces they assumed were reserved only during normal business hours. The state has since suspended the practice. The agreement between the Hampton Inn and the state is a 20-year base lease, with two 10-year renewal options. The hotel is paying $164,400 annually in the first five...
Filming of the History Channel's Bonnie & Clyde in downtown on Monday will force some road closures in the area and will include "loud simulated gunfire," city officials announced today. Filming is scheduled to take place between noon and midnight along Third Street, between its intersections with Laurel and Convention streets. During filming, police will be stopping traffic intermittently while the cameras are rolling to ensure no modern cars slip into the frame of the period feature. Along with partial street closures, parking will also be restricted on portions of Third, Laurel, Florida and Convention streets. The four-hour mini-series, distributed by Sony Entertainment, is being directed by Bruce Beresford and is based on the true story of legendary bank robber, Clyde Barrow. The cast includes Emile Hirsch, William Hurt, Holly Hunter and Holliday Grainger.
Edging closer to 1,000 signatures, an online petition is bringing the debate about City Park's golf course back into the limelight. Should the 9-hole course be maintained and City Park grow around it, or should it be eliminated and the grounds added to the park's existing green space?
Last In Concepts, the restaurant group behind Walk-On's, The Roux House, Happy's and others, has hired Chef Jeremy Coco as its director of culinary operations and training. Coco will primarily focus on developing the menu and training the staff at all Walk-On's locations. Coco has an impressive background: He has worked at Juban's and was formerly the executive chef at Cafe Vermilionville in Lafayette as well as at Fleming's in Baton Rouge, in addition to serving as the dean of education at the Louisiana Culinary Institute. Walk-On's co-owner Jack Warner says Coco will improve patrons' experience. "We want to build a better team to grow [Walk-On's]. To take that to the next level, we needed to bring in [someone to] teach, coach, train and lead our staff," he says. Coco says he wants to concentrate on fixing the small things now before developing any new menu items and that he thinks the future is bright for Walk-On's. "This company has great growth potential," Coco says. "I have a...
The announcement Monday that Southwest Airlines is adding new nonstop flights this fall between New Orleans and Austin, Texas, is good news for travelers not only in the Crescent City but also in Baton Rouge, which is just an hour's drive from Louis Armstrong International Airport. But it's not a cause for celebration at Baton Rouge Metro Airport, which struggles—like most smaller airports—to increase service and attract new carriers. "Anytime a competing airport gets something new like that, it doesn't help us," says Jim Caldwell, the airport's marketing director. That said, sources tell Daily Report BTR is in talks with a small, regional airline that is considering adding flights from Baton Rouge to other destinations in the South. Caldwell confirms negotiations are under way but will not disclose the name of the airline involved. He also says the airport continues to reach out to other airlines but concedes it's a hard sell because of market conditions...
Livingston Parish officials have set a pair of meetings later this month to give a review of a proposed comprehensive master plan and to get feedback from residents. It's the second round of meetings on the plan; meetins were also held in April. The first meeting this month will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Livingston Parish Council Chambers, 20355 Government Blvd., in Livingston. The second meeting will take place at 8 p.m. on Thursday, May 23, also at the council chambers. Parish officials began working on Livingston's first master plan in March 2011. It is intended to help the parish prioritize needs and improvements for the next 10 to 20 years in areas such as transportation, water and sewer, recreation, housing, and economic development. Key recommendations in the proposed plan include utilizing a land-use map as a guide for development and infrastructure decisions; adopting zoning and basic design guidelines along U.S. 90 and Interstate 12; and adopting a Major Street Plan...
Chef and 225 contributor Jay D. Ducote and Chef Chris Wadsworth hosted the Bad Guys, Good Eats! dinner at Restaurant IPO Wednesday night. The dinner was themed around famous movie villains, pairing cocktails and ales with plates of food resembling famous baddies like The Joker, Lord Voldemort, Hannibal Lector, and many others. The highlights of the night were the three middle courses—a black bean soup laced with blood sausage to signify Lord Voldemort, a brace of coneys on black eyed peas resembling Sauron, and lamb medallions atop a fava bean puree to pay homage to the famous favorite of Hannibal Lector. Check out photos of the dishes from Collin Richie here.
Developer Mike Wampold has filed for site plan approval to tear down One Lakeshore Place apartments on Stanford Avenue and build a new, upscale 240-unit apartment complex called Lakeshore Place on Stanford, says Ryan Holcomb, Planning Commission planning project coordinator. The aging apartment complex, built in 1963 on a roughly 5.5-acre site, is located next to the Crescent at University Lakes condos—also developed by Wampold—across the street from the LSU lakes. Because Wampold plans to build more than 100 residential units on the site, Holcomb says, he is required to get site plan approval for the project. Wampold's new plan is slated to go before the Planning Commission on June 17. Approval from the Metro Council is not required for the site plan, nor does Wampold need any permission to demolish One Lakeshore Place. —Steve Sanoski
For nearly three years, BancorpSouth "willfully refused to comply" with discovery requests made by developer Windy Gladney in his protracted court battle with the bank over $2 million in construction loans. So says 19th Judicial District Judge William Morvant, who delivered a major blow to BancorpSouth's case late Tuesday, when he threw out the bank's claim against Gladney and also dismissed its defense to allegations contained in a countersuit he filed against the bank. "The Court has lost confidence in the ability of [Gladney] to properly defend this matter based on the number and the extent of discovery abuses by the plaintiff … and when I say 'plaintiff' I mean the bank," Morvant says in a written transcript of his ruling, obtained by Daily Report. "The record in this case … is replete with instances that go beyond simple inadvertence or negligence. There are too many to write this off as a simple oversight or a slip up on the part of the bank." Gladney's...
Clean out your closet for a cause! A clothing swap to benefit the NOLA Fashion Council is slated for Saturday evening at the Kenneth Brown Design office on Lafayette Street. The event is hosted by Think Twice Style and NOLAFC. Here's how it works: Participants drop off a minimum of four clothing or accessory items between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. Saturday, at which time they receive a ticket for every item contributed. Then, at 5 p.m., the event kicks off. Each ticket serves as currency for another item. Other perks on the agenda include an Aveda giveaway, door prizes and cocktails. Tickets are $20 in advance, or $30 for a two-person pass. Any leftover items will be donated to Dress For Success and other charitable organizations. For more information, click here.
Jack Warner has heard all the stories about the inconsistency at Walk-On's. Warner will be the first to admit that the food has been an afterthought in the restaurant and bar's decade-long run. "If you liked our étouffée or gumbo one day, you might get something completely different the next day," Warner says. "We messed up so many things repeatedly. Now, we've figured out a lot of things, but we have an opportunity to grow on the food side." To improve on the kitchen and culinary aspects of Walk-On's, Warner and Brandon Landry's Last in Concepts have hired Chef Jeremy Coco as its director of culinary operations and training. Coco will primarily focus on developing the menu and training staff at all Walk-On's locations. Coco has an extensive résumé—he has worked at Juban's, was the executive chef at Café Vermilionville in Lafayette and Fleming's in Baton Rouge, and served as the Dean of Education at the Louisiana Culinary Institute (LCI).
A planned Costco Wholesale store in Baton Rouge took a step toward fruition on Wednesday when the Metro Council approved a roughly $7.8 million incentive package for the retailer, a move supporters say is critical to making Baton Rouge a world-class city. "I don't know that you can have a world-class city, in my mind right now, without a Costco," says Patrick Mulhearn, director of studio operations at Raleigh Studios Baton Rouge at Celtic Media Centre. "And I know this because the California people and the people that come in from all over the country, they always ask me, 'Where's your Costco?' Well, we don't have one." The members-only warehouse retailer plans to build a 150,000-square-foot warehouse at the intersection of Airline Highway and Interstate 12 on the site of a former Coca-Cola bottling plant. The project had been on hold as Costco pushed for the incentive deal to help with road and infrastructure improvements at the site. William Daniel, chief administrative officer for...
Interior Secretary Sally Jewell delivered a blunt message to some of the nation's top oil industry executives during an inaugural meeting with the group on Wednesday: Don't cast blame our way. "I did poke them a little bit about not throwing the regulators under the bus or blaming us when there is actually shared responsibility, perhaps, when something doesn't move forward," Jewell tells The Houston Chronicle. "We don't want to be in the way of development, but we have a job to do protecting the assets of the American people." The closed-door gathering at the Offshore Technology Conference included top representatives from oil companies Anadarko, BP and Marathon Oil, as well as contractors FMC Technologies, Halliburton, Transocean and Schlumberger, and the trade groups American Petroleum Institute and National Ocean Industries Association. Some oil industry leaders have loudly complained about the pace of regulatory changes coming from the nation's capital and pleaded for a...
Filming of Jurassic Park 4 has been delayed, the studio confirmed to trade publications on Wednesday. While Universal Pictures has not said so publicly, it has been widely believed that much of the film would be shot in Baton Rouge. Universal reserved stage space at Raleigh Studios Baton Rouge at the Celtic Media Centre, and had been working toward a June 2014 release. Patrick Mulhearn, director of Studio Operations at Raleigh Studios, tells Daily Report he has not received any official word from Universal, but says their production office and construction mill on the lot have been told to shut down and pack up. "It wouldn't surprise me one bit if they were at least somewhat spooked by what the Louisiana House of Representatives is proposing," Mulhearn says in an email, referring to possible cutbacks to the state's film incentives. "For Baton Rouge and the studio, it is devastating to lose a huge production that was just in its infancy. I think there is still hope that...
Developer George Robinson is suing the city-parish and the East Baton Rouge Parish Planning Commission for denying preliminary approval of his planned subdivision, Mallard Trails, off Hoo Shoo Too Road. In a suit filed Tuesday, Robinson argues the Planning Commission acted arbitrarily and capriciously, and abused its discretion, when it denied his request last month to put 90 single-family lots on 57 acres on the south side of Hoo Shoo Too Road, east of Wood Duck Drive. Residents of the area largely opposed the planned subdivision, citing fears of increased traffic, road safety and drainage problems. Robinson's suit says that public opinion should not have factored into the Planning Commission's decision at this stage of the preliminary approval process. In contrast to, say, a requested zoning change, the suit argues that the preliminary approval process for a subdivision should not be influenced by public opinion, provided the applicant has complied with the city-parish Unified...
Developer Windy Gladney won a significant victory late Tuesday in his long-running legal dispute with BancorpSouth, when 19th Judicial District Court Judge William Morvant dismissed the bank's $2 million claim against Gladney and his partnership, Kleinpeter-Trace. In his ruling, Morvant also threw out BancorpSouth's defense to claims filed against it by Gladney in a countersuit. Morvant issued his ruling from the bench after a lengthy hearing over the production of bank records, emails and documents that Gladney's attorneys have been trying unsuccessfully for months to obtain from the bank. In a late December ruling, Morvant warned BancorpSouth was facing sanctions for failing to turn over the documents, but said the bank was entitled to an evidentiary hearing on the matter. That hearing was Tuesday. "We were very pleased with the outcome because the discovery in this case has been nothing but a struggle since the suit was filed," says Gladney's attorney Mary Olive Pierson. "You...
In an effort to increase the safety of both city-parish employees and the public—as well as cut down on the number of insurance claims the city is paying out for auto accidents—Metro Councilman Buddy Amoroso is proposing that employees who drive municipal vehicles be required to take a driver safety course. "Every meeting, we're paying out on some pretty costly settlements for automobile accidents that city-parish drivers have gotten into and they're at fault," Amoroso says. "Tonight, actually, we have one that is for $450,000, and it's not the only one on the agenda." Amoroso is asking the council at today's meeting to set a public hearing on May 22 to discuss the issue. Amoroso says he intends on taking the course himself before the public hearing to ensure it's worth employees' time and the $2 per participant fee it would cost the city-parish. The police department, Amoroso says, would not be included in the requirement. Also at today's meeting, the council will take...
It is bus service as usual in the city of Zachary. Although the community isn't paying the additional property taxes to the Capital Area Transit System that Baton Rouge and Baker are, its routes have remained the same. Documents obtained by Business Report through a public records request indicate that buses still run through Zachary almost hourly 16 times a day, from 5:35 a.m. to 8:15 p.m., just as they did before the April 2012 election. "Here we have an example of Zachary voting not to pay the tax still getting the service," says Elizabeth Dent of Taxbusters.us, which opposed the 10.6-mill property tax. "What's wrong with that picture?" Zachary rejected the additional millage with a whopping 79% of the vote, while voters in Baton Rouge and Baker approved it. The election excluded Central and the unincorporated areas of East Baton Rouge Parish. CATS officials didn't respond to questions about why routes for Zachary have not changed since the tax election, or whether there...
June 19 is the new date scheduled for the foreclosure sale of Perkins Rowe. A U.S. district judge this afternoon granted KeyBank National Association's request to postpone the auction, which was supposed to be held Wednesday. But sources familiar with the 3.5-year-old court battle between the Ohio lender and developer Tommy Spinosa say the June sale may also be postponed, as were previously scheduled foreclosure sales set for dates in March and May. That's because the bank keeps putting them off, which suggests the bank is trying to negotiate a deal with Spinosa. Why Spinosa would want the property is a no-brainer. If he can find investors willing to partner with him on the project—and sources say he has found them—he gets back a mixed-use development that has proven to be a financially viable and popular retail destination, while also getting out from under the more than $200 million he owes KeyBank and several smaller banks. Why KeyBank—which has fought Spinosa...
Owners of the Bluffs Golf Resort in St. Francisville have been quietly working to bring the once-troubled country club back to life. So far, the efforts appear to be paying off. Businessman Clyde DuBois, who joined Claude Penn as managing partner in January, helped guide the resort's cash flow from red to black within two weeks of taking over the club's management. Under his stewardship, new home construction, golfing and two restaurants on the resort grounds are booming, DuBois says. Play at the Arnold Palmer-designed golf course has increased by 30%, and membership is up almost as much since DuBois "reversed the nine," or reversed the direction of play of the first 10 holes, in April. The public 18-hole course is getting top rankings in national golf publications; and for the first time, later this month, it will host a U.S. Open qualifying event. That's a big turnaround for a course that was temporarily closed by an insolvent owner in 2009. —April Castro...
The incentive deal that the Metro Council is considering approving for a proposed Costco Wholesale store in Baton Rouge is about $1 million larger than the roughly $6 million deal the store got from the New Orleans City Council last year. "It's very similar," says William Daniel, Mayor Kip Holden's chief administrative officer. "I think they had a location that had [fewer] challenges than we have, so New Orleans may not have had to do as much in infrastructure improvements." Like the $7 million deal the Baton Rouge council is considering, New Orleans officials approved a deal for Costco that rebated local sales taxes and provided for infrastructure improvements. Costco had requested as much as $9 million in incentives in New Orleans. If the deal is approved Wednesday by the Metro Council, the city-parish will provide a $7 million sales tax rebate, $5.5 million of which would go toward infrastructure and road improvements in the area. The other $1.5 million would go toward the $4.5...
In the frantic days and weeks after BP's Macondo well exploded on April 20, 2010, blame was focused on a piece of equipment to which, under ideal circumstances, people don't give much thought. Bulky, heavy and designed for redundancy rather than beauty, blowout preventers are the last line of defense against a runaway well. But the collection of valves and shears sitting atop the BP well on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico failed to stop the flow of oil in 2010. Three years later, Pete Miller, CEO of National Oilwell Varco, still bristles at the suggestion that the blowout preventer was at fault. Never mind that his company didn't make it—competitor Cameron International built the device—and wasn't involved with the Macondo well. As The Houston Chronicle reports, Miller has staked a piece of his company's future on expanding production of blowout preventers and exporting them around the world. So he takes criticism of the blowout preventer used on the Macondo well...
CEOs nationwide rank Louisiana the 11th-best state for business, according to Chief Executive magazine's 2013 survey, released Monday. That's a jump of two spots for Louisiana since last year and the highest ranking the state has ever received in the survey, Gov. Bobby Jindal's office says. "The report continues the state's ascent in national business climate rankings, with Louisiana showing the greatest improvement of any state in the U.S. over the past four years," reads a release from the governor's office. "Since 2009, Louisiana has improved a nation-best 33 spots in the Chief Executive survey. In the survey, Louisiana is given 3.5 out of 5 stars when it comes to taxation and regulations; 3.5 stars for workforce quality; and 4 stars for living environment. Chief Executive Editor-in-Chief J.P. Donlon, who last year described Louisiana as "the Cinderella of business improvement," writes this year that "Louisiana has come a long way since 2006 when it ranked...
Work crews are putting the finishing touches on the fourth-floor space in Essen Centre that will be the temporary office of IBM Services Center: Baton Rouge, and the space is almost ready for its new tenants. But the company won't be moving in until sometime in June, and even then it is unclear how large the local operation will be. As part of its cooperative endeavor agreement with the state, city-parish and BRAF's Wilbur Marvin Foundation, IBM is getting temporary office space in the building at 5353 Essen Lane while its permanent office tower on the downtown riverfront—due to be completed in mid-2015—is under construction. The temporary space will total some 20,000 square feet on the fourth and sixth floors of the building, and will be configured to accommodate about 200 employees, says building manager Norman Bacon. For now, though, only the fourth floor—which has offices and workstations for about 160 employees, as well as a training room, conference space and...
In the oven: Gambino's Bakery plans to move from its Essen Lane location to Panache Plaza at 8342 Perkins Road, between Essen and Bluebonnet Boulevard, by the end of the summer, says manager Paul Scelfo. The new 2,100-square-foot space will be "more suitable to our customers' wishes, as well as our needs," he says. That means a bigger retail area and a smaller kitchen. "The location we're in now is equipped for a lot more than what we do," Scelfo says. The New Orleans-based bakery has been in the Essen Lane location for almost three years.
Warren Buffett, the CEO and chairman of Berkshire Hathaway—in addition to being a really rich guy who got that way by being right about business investments most of the time—says in a recent CNBC interview that bonds are a "terrible investment" right now. His rationale for this position is pretty simple and time-tested: You buy things when they're priced low and sell when they increase in value. And at the moment, he says, bonds don't seem to have much upside potential. Buffett's thought is that bonds are already high right now because of the Federal Reserve's policy of buying up $85 billion in bonds each and every month, and that when the Fed stops buying, the prices should drop. How does this impact those of us who deal in real estate rather than bonds? If Buffett is correct, and remember that he has a pretty impressive track record, bond prices will fall and yields on bonds will increase. Since we get our pricing for permanent commercial real estate loans based on bond...
The Gulf Coast Research building at 7049 Perkins Road, situated next door to Spectrum Fitness Center, has sold for $780,000. The buyer was DB LeBlanc Properties. Ty Gose with NAI/Latter & Blum represented both the purchaser and seller, Gulf Coast Research, in the deal, which closed April 25. The building contains about 12,000 square feet, so the sale price calculates to roughly $65 per square foot. This is a free-standing office facility with 40 parking spaces. The purchaser bought it as a speculative investment and has made the building available for lease. (Appraiser Tom Cook owns Cook Moore and Associates. Reach him at 293-7006 or TCook@cookmoore.com.)
Gonzales-based Broussard Paper is building a warehouse and distribution center on a 6.75-acre lot in the Sherwood Common Office Park. Broussard closed on the lot last week for $2.05 million and plans to complete the new warehouse by April 2014. The 45,000-square-foot warehouse and 7,500 square feet of office, showroom and training space will allow Broussard to consolidate two current locations—one in Gonzales and another on Choctaw Drive—into one, says Chuck Edwards, company president. The project is still in the design phase but will likely have a price tag of about $3.5 million, Edwards says. Broussard, which has been in operation since 1987, sells paper as well as janitorial, industrial and food service supplies. Broussard bought the property from Property Services Inc. —April Castro
The Baton Rouge metro area continued its strong start to the year in March in the construction employment sector. According to the latest metro jobs report from the Associated General Contractors of America, Baton Rouge had 5,900 more people employed in the industry in March—an estimated 46,000 total—than it did during the month a year previous. The 15% year-over-year increase made Baton Rouge the 11th-best-performing metro of the 339 tracked by AGCA. It follows a No. 13 ranking in February, when 45,300 people reportedly held construction jobs in the area, and a No. 11 ranking in January, when total construction employment was at 43,200. The Baton Rouge area also had a strong finish to last year, with a No. 8 ranking in the December jobs report and a No. 11 ranking in November. AGCA reports Baton Rouge is among 152 metros to see construction jobs increase in March, while 126 posted a decline and 61 saw stagnant employment levels. The March jobs report highlights "the...
Owners of the Bluffs Golf Resort in St. Francisville have been quietly working to bring the once-troubled country club back to life. So far, the efforts appear to be paying off. Businessman Clyde DuBois, who joined Claude Penn as managing partner in January, helped guide the resort's cash flow from red to black within two weeks of taking over the club's management. Under his stewardship, new home construction, golfing and two restaurants on the resort grounds are booming, DuBois says. Play at the Arnold Palmer-designed golf course has increased by 30% and membership is up almost as much since DuBois "reversed the nine," or reversed the direction of play of the first 10 holes, in April. The public 18-hole course is getting top rankings in national golf publications; and for the first time, later this month, it will host a U.S. Open qualifying event. That's a big turnaround for a course that was temporarily closed by an insolvent owner in 2009. Interest from potential homebuyers has...
For the second time this year, a scheduled foreclosure sale of Perkins Rowe will be postponed. Daily Report has learned that KeyBank National Associates, the Ohio lender that is owed more than $200 million on the project by developer Tommy Spinosa, plans to file documents Tuesday in U.S. District Court asking that the sale, scheduled for Wednesday, be postponed. Neither officials with KeyBank nor Spinosa will comment. The move suggests, however, that a deal involving Spinosa, could be in the works. The mixed-use development was originally scheduled to be auctioned in late March, but the bank asked the U.S. Marshal at that time to put off the sale until May 8. No explanation was given then, either. —Stephanie Riegel
According to a report in USA Today citing data from real estate tracker Lender Processing Services, Baton Rouge is among a handful of housing markets in the country that are at or near previous price peaks. Like most of the cities at or near a peak, the report says, Baton Rouge never saw prices plummet during the recession. Of the cities within 5% of their previous peaks, none saw more than an 11% decline in home values from mid-2006 to the market's bottom in early 2012, LPS data shows. Nationally, prices fell almost 28% during that time. Baton Rouge is also said to be among a number of cities in which job growth in particular is fueling home price increases. The report notes that the Capital Region "posted stronger annual job growth than the national average of 1.4%," citing Bureau of Labor Statistics data. You can find the full story here. According...
After posting decreases in each of the nine weeks previous, the average price of a gallon of regular, unleaded gas ended its downward trend last week, according to the AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report. At $3.24 as of this morning, the average price is one penny more than it was a week ago. However, it's still 15 cents lower than a month ago, and about 40 cents lower than it was when it started a period of steady reduction more than two months ago. One year ago this week, the Baton Rouge price was $3.61. The Baton Rouge average is now 3 cents lower than the Louisiana average and 28 cents lower than the national average. You can check out the complete AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report here.
Ryan Simpson moved to Baton Rouge five months ago from Kalamazoo, Mich. The BRAC policy and research project manager didn't know what to expect when he relocated, and was a bit nervous about the culture shock. On Saturday morning, Simpson was one of many new Baton Rouge residents taking part in a half-day event called Conquer the Learning Curve. It was a part of BRAC's Capital Region 101 series of events that welcomes new residents to the Baton Rouge area with a meet-and-greet breakfast, presentations, and a trivia trolley ride before ending at the Red Stick Farmers Market. While Simpson attended as part of BRAC's talent program, he also wanted to take advantage of the event for personal reasons. The dual purpose of Capital Region 101 is to bring newcomers together to form new social circles and to get them acclimated to the region, says Julie Laperouse, Director of Talent Development for BRAC. Read the full story from 225 on the Capital Region 101 event
As a student, Matthew Valiollahi noticed the many styles and varieties of T-shirts his peers were wearing. Inspired by those designs—and also by Garden and Gun magazine, which celebrates Southern culture—he decided to create a brand of high-quality T-shirts and casual wear with a distinctly Southern style and flair. While still in his senior year at LSU, he approached friend Stephen Smith to design the Southern Marsh brand, with its trademark mallard logo. At first, the pair simply sold their designs. As they began to investigate the quality of fabrics, they came up with a better idea: "That's when we decided to build the T-shirt from the yarn stage and create quality garments from the ground up," Valiollahi says. When the idea first struck, the pair went to adjunct professor Walter Morales, who helped them refine their business plan. "We talked to everyone we could find," Valiollahi says of the early days in 2007. "We couldn't find any capital or backers. I put...
Louisiana restaurateurs and retailers who have been holding off on a renovation could soon get some encouraging news. A measure is winding its way through Congress that would permanently extend the 15-year recovery period for qualified improvements on restaurant and retail properties. Proponents, including local restaurant owner Jim Urdiales, say the extension would spur construction. "If you guarantee a 15-year schedule over 30 years, we'll see some restaurants who were putting this off from last year go ahead and do it now," says Urdiales, who owns Mestizo Restaurant. The 15-year depreciation schedule would otherwise expire at the end of this year, giving some restaurant owners heartburn about moving forward with needed renovations. The National Restaurant Association estimates that restaurants undergo renovations every six to eight years just to stay current and combat the effects of daily high traffic. Sen. Robert Casey, a Pennsylvania Democrat, filed the measure last month.
Median CEO pay rises to $9.7 million in 2012
CEO pay has been going one direction for the past three years: up. The head of a typical large public company made $9.7 million in 2012, a 6.5% increase from a year earlier that was aided by a rising stock market, according to an analysis by The Associated Press using data from Equilar, an executive pay research firm. CEO pay, which fell two years straight during the Great Recession but rose 24% in 2010 and 6% in 2011, has never been higher. But the numbers don't tell the whole story. After years of pressure from corporate governance activists unhappy about big payouts, many companies have revamped their compensation formulas. They have awarded a bigger chunk of compensation in stock to align pay more closely to performance; they've also become more transparent regarding how compensation decisions are made and in some cases promised to claw back pay from fired executives. Shareholder activists say the changes are a step in the right direction, yet they argue that CEO pay is too high...
EBR has relatively low percentage of daily commuters, report says
While daily commuters to East Baton Rouge from outside the parish are often considered the cause of snarled traffic on the city's roadways during rush hours, the parish ranks relatively low compared to other highly populated Louisiana parishes and U.S. counties when it comes to the percentage of commuters among its total workforce. According to a new report from Governing magazine, just 29% of the total workforce in East Baton Rouge—76,728 of the total 264,326 workers—is commuting into the parish. That's nowhere near the 45.1% in Orleans Parish, which leads the state for commuters among the workforce. Even Ascension Parish has a higher rate than East Baton Rouge, at 32.9. In neighboring Livingston Parish, about 6,000 of the total workforce of 27,900—or 21.5%—commutes from outside the parish each day. Arlington County, Va., has the highest percentage of commuters in the U.S., at 76.6%, while the District of Columbia has the second-highest percentage...
Louisiana exports reach record high in first quarter
A 15.6% increase in goods shipped out of the state during the first quarter placed Louisiana among the top five states in the country for worldwide exporting, according to a new report from the World Trade Center of New Orleans. The overall value of Louisiana's exports totaled $16.5 billion during the first three months of the year, a record for the state during the first quarter. Exports for all 50 states and Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia totaled $383 billion, a less than 1% increase from the first quarter of 2012. Louisiana had the fifth-highest exports in the U.S., up from the seventh-most during the same period last year. The state's exports, however, were down $3.84 billion when compared to the fourth quarter of 2012. Louisiana's principal export markets for the first quarter were China (approximately $2 billion, down 13.5%); Mexico ($1.85 billion, up 29.7%); Singapore ($763.5 million, up 66.8%); as well as Japan, Canada and Egypt. Petroleum...
RDA committee recommends loan approval for Government Street 'model block' project
A $700,000 gap loan for Danny McGlynn to renovate the Darensbourg building on Government Street, as well as upgrade several neighboring buildings on the 2900 block of the Mid City street, will be taken up by the East Baton Rouge Redevelopment Authority board on June 11. An RDA loan review committee today gave McGlynn's plans a favorable review and is recommending the RDA give final approval to the low-interest loan for the project. "It's a loan that will make the project work, and now we just need the full board approval and we're off to the races," says McGlynn, who is calling the project a "model block" project for future Government Street redevelopment. The plan, as Daily Report first reported in September, calls for Ritter Maher to move its headquarters from Bluebonnet Boulevard to the currently dilapidated and vacant Darensbourg building. It also calls for a face-lift...
Lychees are in season—it's martini time.
Lychees have a sweet, floral flavor and translucent flesh. You just have to peel back the thick pinkish skin to find the springy and succulent treat. They're great for snacking and making luscious summer cocktails.
'Real Estate Weekly': New fundraising effort for Lincoln Theater restoration begins
Those behind a years-long effort to bring the Lincoln Theater in Old South Baton Rouge back to its former glory are gearing up for a new run at raising enough private funds to finally restore the historic theater—with a long-term goal of expanding the property to make room for the Louisiana Black History Hall of Fame Museum. A "Restore the Lincoln" fundraising campaign kickoff reception is being held Friday by the black history hall of fame and Foundation for Historical Louisiana. Attendees of the event will be shown plans for the first two phases of the restoration and asked to lend their support—and more important, their money. The first phase includes readying the property for a full renovation and making it environmentally safe, which means removing lead piping and paint, asbestos and mold. The second phase would restore the theater, which was built in 1950 and served as the premiere entertainment venue in Old South Baton Rouge. "This would bring the Lincoln Theater...
Metro Council to consider driver safety course, old Woman's Hospital buy
The Metro Council is set to take up a measure at Wednesday's meeting that would require all employees operating city-parish vehicles—except those in the police and fire departments—to complete a four-hour driver safety course. Councilman Buddy Amoroso says he's proposing the policy change in an attempt to reduce the number of accidents involving city-parish vehicles. The council takes up settlements on accidents at nearly every meeting, Amoroso says. On Wednesday, the parish attorney's office is asking the Metro Council to allocate almost $50,000 to settle claims in three different accidents, involving two Baton Rouge police officers and a Department of Public Works employee. Read a previous story from Daily Report on the proposal here. Also Wednesday, the council will consider:
La. posts third-highest construction job growth last month
With 10,200 more people working in the construction industry in April than were during April 2012—an increase of 8.1%—Louisiana's sector job growth was the third-best in the nation, according to the latest monthly jobs report from the Associated General Contractors of America. Alaska was No. 2 for job growth by percentage on the year, at 9.1%, while Hawaii led the nation with 11.5% year-over-year growth. The 135,600 construction workers in Louisiana in April represented a 0.4% increase, or 600 more jobs, from the month previous. Construction sector employment has now grown in Louisiana every month so far this year. It is one of just 29 states in the country that saw year-over-year growth in April, while 32 states and the District of Columbia posted job losses. Louisiana is also among just 17 states that had construction job growth between March and April. You can find the complete April jobs report from AGCA
CATS board considers marketing, public relations contract today
When the CATS board meets this afternoon, among the items on its agenda will be the renewal of a public relations and marketing contract with Clay Young Enterprises, a local PR firm that has been representing the transit agency on a temporary basis since December. Clay Young, the firm's owner, says he has a $19,000 contract with CATS that runs through the end of May. That contract has covered work his firm has done on the CATS logo, annual report, and radio and TV spots, Young says, though it has not covered the cost of placing the media buys for the commercials. Young says his firm has also "facilitated an extended dialogue with the media" in an effort to keep the public informed about the progress the beleaguered public transit agency has made toward implementing service upgrades and improvements that were promised in 2012 when voters in Baton Rouge and Baker approved a 10-year, 10.6-mill property tax to fund CATS. The CATS board is today considering a $12,000 contract extension...
Construction on Harveston expected to begin in coming weeks
Builders received permits Monday from the city-parish to begin construction on homes in The Preserve at Harveston—the 95-acre, first phase of Mike Wampold and John Fetzer's planned 1,200-acre mixed-use development straddling the Bluebonnet Extension. Construction on the homes, which will be priced in the low-to-mid $300,000 range for smaller homes and close to $400,000 for larger properties, is scheduled to begin in the next two weeks. Five local builders have been selected for the project: Colby Constructors, Distinctive Homes by Watson, Dupree Construction, Fetzer Properties of Louisiana, and Unified Construction Group. Each builder will begin with three model homes, and will be required to follow strict design guidelines that detail the coastal/Creole/West Indies-architectural style that will characterize the development. Some 350 homes are planned for The Preserve, 93 of which will be constructed on a 33-acre tract that will be the first part of the first phase. Permits...
Andrews: Big changes coming to HUD
HUD offices across the nation will be closed Friday as part of a program to reduce costs through unpaid furloughs. The closure means the offices will be shuttered for four days through the Memorial Day weekend, so anyone with time critical issues should plan accordingly. But the biggest news from HUD on cost savings is the consolidation of several offices into regional hubs, and Louisiana is significantly impacted by these plans. First, the multifamily production activities currently being performed from the New Orleans field office will be consolidated into the existing Fort Worth hub in Texas, representing one of five regions being established in this new plan. According to statements on HUD's website, "this simplified structure will increase national consistency across Multifamily." In addition, they also expect "that the more streamlined field management structure will streamline decision-making and enhance accountability." HUD addresses potential fears that a Fort Worth office...
Capital Region home sales 16% higher than last year through April
Bolstered by a strong April, in which home sales in the eight-parish Capital Region were up 28%, 2013 sales are now 16% higher than they were through April a year ago. That's according to the latest monthly sales report from the Greater Baton Rouge Association of Realtors. A total of 2,545 sales have closed through April this year, compared to 2,193 in the first four months of last year. In addition, the region's average sales price in April, at $208,153, was also 12% higher than the $186,352 average price recorded in April 2012. The number of homes on the market during April, 3,938, was down 14% compared to last April, when 4,592 homes were for sale in the region. "The prickliest thorns in our collective side are still lack of inventory and subdued listing activity," reads the GBRAR April report. "In some neighborhoods, consumers have 50 or 60 percent fewer options from which to choose than they did a few years ago. That's causing bidding wars in popular areas." In East Baton Rouge...
Real estate recap: Rouzan viable with or without a library, representatives say … MAPP, architects in settlement talks over Baton Rouge High … Marriott Residence Inn to get new look
In or out: If the East Baton Rouge Library Board of Control does, in fact, decide to pull the plug on the long-planned Rouzan library and relocate the branch elsewhere—as board members indicated last week that they may well do—the traditional neighborhood development is still viable. So says the lender on the project, businessman John Engquist, who acquired the mortgage on Rouzan from BancorpSouth last year. "That is a very viable, vibrant development with or without a library," says Engquist. "Would I rather have the library? Absolutely. But I would not say 'oh, no!' if it fell apart." Daily Report has the full story here.
Cook: River Road industrial site sells
Hercules Trucking, doing business as Hercules Tec, has purchased a 43.9-acre tract on River Road, just downriver from Bear Industries in Iberville Parish. The sale closed on May 13 for $824,500, or about $18,780 per acre. The property, which includes 4.2 acres of batture with 308 feet of frontage on the Mississippi River, is an assemblage of two tracts. Trey Williams with NAI/Latter & Blum Realtors represented the purchaser in the transaction. The sellers, James Ralph Babin, Jerline Babin Hebert, Rita Delores Babin LeBlanc and Carol Ann Babin Landaiche, were not represented with an agent. Hercules' primary business is transporting propane and natural gas. The property will be used to develop a new facility, which will become the company's main office in the Baton Rouge metro area.
(Appraiser Tom Cook owns Cook Moore and Associates. Reach him at 293-7006 or TCook@cookmoore.com.)
New fundraising effort for Lincoln Theater restoration begins
Those behind a years-long effort to bring the Lincoln Theater in Old South Baton Rouge back to its former glory are gearing up for a new run at raising enough private funds to finally restore the historic theater—with a long-term goal of expanding the property to make room for the Louisiana Black History Hall of Fame Museum.
New fundraising effort for Lincoln Theater restoration begins
Those behind a years-long effort to bring the Lincoln Theater in Old South Baton Rouge back to its former glory are gearing up for a new run at raising enough private funds to finally restore the historic theater—with a long-term goal of expanding the property to make room for the Louisiana Black History Hall of Fame Museum. A "Restore the Lincoln" fundraising campaign kickoff reception is being held Friday by the black history hall of fame and Foundation for Historical Louisiana. Attendees of the event will be shown plans for the first two phases of the restoration and asked to lend their support—and more important, their money. The first phase includes readying the property for a full renovation and making it environmentally safe, which means removing lead piping and paint, asbestos and mold. The second phase would restore the theater, which was built in 1950 and served as the premiere entertainment venue in Old South Baton Rouge. "This would bring the Lincoln Theater...
Loan demand rising in Capital Region, Whitney market president says
Whitney Bank has approximately $80 million in pent-up loan demand in the Capital Region, according to Troy Hebert, Baton Rouge market president. That represents about 25% more loan requests than the bank had in its pipeline last year at this time, which suggests the economy is continuing to improve, albeit slowly. "We are starting to see more and more demand," says Hebert, adding that the requests for financing are coming from all sectors—industrial and petrochemical, real estate, and a variety of small and medium-size businesses. "A lot of companies are coming into this market or expanding into this market." Between 60% and 75% of deals in Whitney's pipeline, on average, will receive approval, says Hebert. Included among them will be a small amount of loans for speculative building, something this market hasn't seen in a long time. "We aren't telling builders to go out and build 50 spec homes," Hebert says. "But there are some select projects where it makes sense." In 2011...
New residential development planned at Pecue and Perkins
Plans for a new 34-lot residential development at the intersection of Pecue Lane and Perkins Road is up for consideration at today's meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission. Audubon Parc, a development by Spear Contractors, is one of several proposals before the commission. Another is for a second 13th Gate Park location, planned as a 75-acre haunted house and recreational park complete with a corn maze, outdoor laser tag field, a zombie run and cemetery, near Joor and Mickens roads. Here's a look at some of the other items up for consideration:
• Plans for 100 new homes at The Settlement at Willow Grove
Economists predict increase in consumer spending
Consumer spending is likely to pick up this year while government spending declines at a faster rate, according to a survey of business economists. The economists predict that the U.S. economy will grow 2.4% this year and 3% next year. That's unchanged from the most recent forecast issued in February. But they are more bullish on consumer spending and housing than they were three months ago, in part because of more positive data on unemployment. The survey was released today by the National Association for Business Economics, which periodically surveys economists for banks, manufacturers and universities. The group of 49 economists who were questioned between April 16 and April 30 predicted that consumer spending will rise 2.3% this year, up from a forecast of 1.9% in February. They were also more upbeat about the auto market, predicting 15.4 million vehicles sales, an increase of 1 million over 2012. The economists predicted home prices will rise 4.4% this year and 4% next year, and...
BRAC working to bring more local alumni back home
BRAC is trying to lure far-flung LSU alumni back to Baton Rouge. It's part of a nascent program to develop the region's talent pool and to help draw business to the area. In addition to personalized regional tours to potential employers, BRAC has been attending LSU alumni crawfish boils around the country, telling them, among other things, "Here's a free koozie. … We're trying to get people to move back to Baton Rouge," says Phillip LaFargue, BRAC's senior vice president of marketing. "And then their eyes light up." LaFargue says many of the alumni they meet want to come home; they just don't think the jobs are available. Those who are interested can provide their résumés to be added to a database. The résumés are then matched to employers. BRAC has been using the talent development program for about a year and a half. In addition to working to bring LSU alumni back home, BRAC also signed agreements with alumni associations from Southern University as well as several local high...
'Business Report': Impact of IBM deals in Midwestern cities debated
In May 2010, state and local officials in Columbia proudly announced one of Missouri's biggest economic development wins in recent history: IBM was coming to town to open a technology service delivery center that would create 800 permanent jobs, put Columbia on the radar of cutting-edge tech companies, and transform the local economy. "Today is a great day for IBM and the state of Missouri," Gov. Jay Nixon said at the time. Sound familiar? Earlier this spring, state and local officials here made a similar announcement when they welcomed IBM to Baton Rouge. As in Columbia, the deal promises to be a so-called game changer that will create 800 jobs, ramp up computer science education at LSU and other universities, and transform the local economy and downtown riverfront at the same time. "This will impact our state's future while continuing to position us as a leader in the global technology sector," gushed Gov. Bobby Jindal at the March 27 announcement. But will IBM really be able to...
Rouzan viable with or without a library, representatives say
If the East Baton Rouge Library Board of Control does, in fact, decide to pull the plug on the long-planned Rouzan library and relocate the branch elsewhere—as board members indicated at Thursday's meeting they may well do—the traditional neighborhood development is still viable. So says the lender on the project, businessman John Engquist, who acquired the mortgage on Rouzan from BancorpSouth last year. "That is a very viable, vibrant development with or without a library," says Engquist. "Would I rather have the library? Absolutely. But I would not say 'oh, no!' if it fell apart." The library board, parish attorney's office and Rouzan developer Tommy Spinosa have been negotiating for months over the scope of infrastructure work Spinosa is responsible for completing within the Southdowns-area TND before construction on the library can begin. Late Thursday, he reached an agreement with the parish attorney. However, library board members were frustrated they did not have...
Galvez Plaza stage sculpture completion delayed again
Completion of the Galvez Plaza sculpture and stage cover has been delayed yet again, this time due to filming in the area. The nearly $1 million, stainless steel sculpture and stage cover at North Boulevard Town Square is now slated to be finished in June, rather than in late May as officials had previously hoped. It has been in the process of being built for months, and workers were recently forced to stop working on it while the Bonnie and Clyde miniseries and Search Party movie were being shot downtown, says Davis Rhorer, executive director of the Downtown Development District. Work to finish the crest can resume next week, he says. Progress on the project previously came to a halt earlier this year because of an ill-fitting piece of the massive overhead crest. The piece was reordered from fabricators in Kansas City. It arrived in April, and developers thought live performances could commence on the stage this month. Before that delay, they had hoped the project...
Nearly 700 city-parish employees could be made to take driver safety course
After taking the four-hour course himself earlier this week, Metro Councilman Buddy Amoroso says he's moving forward with his push to require all city-parish employees who drive municipal vehicles—except those in the police and fire departments—to get the driver safety certification. "I thought it was an excellent class, and I think it would accomplish what I'm trying to do," Amoroso says. What he's trying to do, aside from improving safety, is reduce the number of insurance claims on which the city-parish is paying out due to accidents involving its employees where they're found to be at fault. The course is administered by the city-parish Human Resources Department and certified by the National Safety Council. When completed, the certification is good for two years. Amoroso says the ordinance he's introducing Wednesday would require 671 city-parish employees to take it. The 981 fire and police department employees would be exempt, he says, because they're already...
'225 Dine': Chow down for National Burger Month
May is National Burger Month, and the Red Stick has more than a few options if what you want is a great burger. Each week, Maxwell's Market locations have been celebrating the American staple with its Burger of the Week, taking the normal dish and fashioning it into the talk of the town. Maxwell's launched this serial innovation last year. Some of Maxwell's past burgers include the Breakfast Bistro Burger, with a fried egg and bacon; the Wang Chuck Burger, with peanut-Sriracha sauce; and the Blue Apple Burger, with slices of red apple and blue cheese. This week's variation is the Cowboy Burger, dressed with peppered applewood bacon, barbecue sauce, beer-braised onion rings and light mayo. Read the full story on Maxwell's burgers and others around town and get your fill of local culinary news in this week's edition of the 225 Dine e-newsletter here.
Editor: Costco just the latest beneficiary of B.R. 'corporate welfare'
The most pressing problem facing our great state, says Business Report Executive Editor JR Ball in his latest column, is "preserving every penny of tax credits, tax exemptions, tax loopholes and direct cash subsidies as well as every other corporate welfare program required to keep every business in this state from fleeing to Texas or Florida—the cost to Louisiana's bloated and unbalanced books be damned." The most recent case of this "corporate welfare," he says, is the Metro Council's approval of a $7.8 million tax incentive deal for Costco so it will locate a warehouse store at the intersection of Airline Highway and Interstate 12. The warehouse retailer will "soon ring up an estimated $150 million to $200 million in annual area sales," thanks to the Metro Council, Ball says. "The move into retail is new for Baton Rouge, which historically reserves its largesse for the hotel industry. Ever since tax increment financing made the rebirth of the downtown Capitol House...
Legislation would allow drilling to resume at inactive La. wells
Under a new bill making its way through the state Legislature, oil producers would be able to resume work, for a two-year, initial exemption period beginning in July, on inactive wells that had been deemed inactive prior to July 1, 2010. During that initial period, oil and gas production from the wells would face a lower severance tax. The (Lafayette) Advertiser reports that the legislation filed by second-year lawmaker Rep. Stuart Bishop, R-Lafayette, may prove to be one of the most important bills of the 2013 session, as it would benefit both state coffers and the interests of the state's oil and gas industry. House Bill 474 essentially restores some incentives for oil and gas producers to return to work on inactive wells, which produce no or little oil and, hence, no revenue for the state or the producer, says Don Briggs, president of the Louisiana Oil and Gas Association. Previous state severance tax exemptions lapsed in 2010. Oil and gas industry representatives say the...
Reality TV casting crews widening search for next La. stars
In recent years, viewers across the nation have seen reality TV shows about Louisiana alligator trappers, exterminators, sheriffs, prisoners, brides, shrimpers, nutria hunters, mixed martial arts fighters, garbage collectors, "bad girls," overnight millionaires, run-of-the-mill rednecks, and pawnshop owners (about whom there are multiple shows). And there's more on the way, including former Gov. Edwin Edwards' show, which begins airing this summer. Which has led The New York Times in a new feature story to wonder if "there actually are any interesting people left in Louisiana." "There's more material to be found in Louisiana; it's just going to be harder to find," David McKillop, executive vice president for programming at A&E, tells the newspaper. To find the next reality TV stars in Louisiana, casting agents are scouring the state, cold calling people with promisingly colorful occupations. Producers are hosting pig roasts to get to know potential subjects, and local contacts...
Publisher: CATS needs to outsource management
As CATS faces a firestorm of criticism over poor operations and services—despite benefiting from last year's dedicated tax approval in Baton Rouge and Baker—Business Report Publisher Rolfe McCollister says the public transit system is making a mistake by not hiring contract management as a consulting firm has recommended. "CATS has gone through several leadership changes, and its problem is more than just the top spot," writes McCollister in his latest column, noting the recent resignation of CEO Brian Marshall. "TMG Consulting issued a report to the board saying basically that CATS is understaffed, overspends, and ranks 15th out of 16 peer systems in service efficiency. To fix things, the report recommended replacing everyone in the CATS C-suite with better-qualified experts from a private company." Some members of the board, as well as BRAC and the Center for Planning Excellence, are in favor of contract management, McCollister notes. "The mayor, Metro Council...
'225 Weekender': Be a part of the story at the Storybook Ball
Family Road of Greater Baton Rouge is hosting a whimsical gala for the entire family this weekend. The fifth annual Storybook Ball kicks off at 5 p.m. Saturday at the Baton Rouge River Center. The event will feature classic stories, such as The Jungle Book, Where the Wild Things Are, Harry Potter and more. Each book will have its own station full of interactive activities. The Young Band Nation Blues Project, Tim the Magician, stilt walkers and more will also be on hand. Proceeds benefit Family Road. Children's tickets are $20; adult tickets are $60. Specials and reserved tables are also available for purchase here. Get the lowdown on more local happenings taking place this weekend in the new 225 Weekender e-newsletter here.
Lee High campus a possible option for library if Rouzan falls through
If the long-planned Rouzan branch library falls through, could the campus of the newly rebuilt Lee High School be a fallback location? It's an option the East Baton Rouge Library Board of Control is exploring, and a spokeswoman for the East Baton Rouge Parish School System says Superintendent Bernard Taylor likes the idea. "The [library board] staff reached out to us and I presented the idea to Dr. Taylor and … we are absolutely open to conversations with them," says EBR schools spokeswoman Susan Nelson. "Obviously, we would need to get board approval … but we want Lee High to be a community school and a community center." Preliminary discussions between the staffs of the library board and school system took place a couple of weeks ago—before the library board and Rouzan developer Tommy Spinosa hit the latest impasse in their long-running negotiations over construction of the Rouzan branch library. Though it appeared earlier this week that Spinosa and the board had...
Hollywood and local celebrities team up to promote tax incentives
Celebrities and state politicians walked the red carpet Tuesday night for the Louisiana Film and Entertainment Association's Laissez Louisiana Film Rouler event at the Celtic Media Centre. While the affair brought a Hollywood vibe to Baton Rouge, its purpose was simple: to show support for Louisiana's film industry tax incentives. Currently, a bill approved by the House would reduce the tax credits for nonresident workers hired from 30% to 20%, while the credit for resident workers would remain at 35%. The event was dubbed Scott Niemeyer's "baby." Niemeyer is the chief financial officer of Gold Circle Films, the production company behind Pitch Perfect and the upcoming Search Party, both of which were filmed in Baton Rouge. "The Legislature has a big job cut out for them to balance the budget," he says. "We recognize that's not an easy task. We also want to mention the significance of our industry—the 15,000-plus jobs, the billions of dollars of in-state spending.
Be a part of the story
Family Road of Greater Baton Rouge will host a whimsical gala perfect for the entire family. The fifth annual Storybook Ball kicks off at 5 p.m. Saturday at the Baton Rouge River Center. The event will feature classic stories such as The Jungle Book, Where the Wild Things Are, Harry Potter and more coming to life. Each book will have its own station full of interactive activities. The Young Band Nation Blues Project, Tim the Magician, stilt walkers and more will also be on hand. Proceeds benefit Family Road. Children's tickets are $20; adult tickets are $60. Specials and reserved tables are also available for purchase online.
Mobile farmers market gets ready to roll
One week from today, the Red Stick Mobile Farmers Market will begin bringing locally grown, farm-fresh produce to areas in north Baton Rouge lacking access to grocery stores and other outlets for healthy food. City-parish officials are holding a grand opening event at 1 p.m. today to provide details on the new initiative as well as to cooking demonstrations; they'll also hand out food samples, recipes, nutrition cards, and tips for buying fresh produce. The event takes place at Star Hill Baptist Church, 1400 North Foster Dr., which is among the locations at which the mobile market will make stops starting May 22. Each Wednesday, the market will be open from 9 to 11 a.m. at Scotlandville Branch Library, 7373 Scenic Hwy., and will then be at Star Hill Baptist Church from 1 to 3 p.m. Officials hope to increase the number of weekly stops to between six and eight locations this year. The produce offered at the mobile market will come from the same local farmers who participate in the Red...
With tax break OK'd, New Orleans set to get $28M movie studio
Construction on a $28 million movie production complex in New Orleans is slated to begin this fall, following approval Tuesday of a property tax break for Starlight Studios by the New Orleans Industrial Development Board. The project, to be built on a 32-acre vacant plot of land across from the Michoud Assembly Facility, is projected to include four soundstages with 96,000 square feet of space and a 30,000-square-foot office building. The Times-Picayune reports the industrial development board has agreed to assume title to the property for 10 years, during which time it will lease the land back to the Starlight developers in exchange for an annual PILOT, or payment in lieu of taxes. Starlight's first payment to the board in 2014 will be based on the current tax rate and the assessed value of the vacant property, which is approximately $10,000. Subsequent payments will be based on the projected value of the property upon the project's completion, determined to be $444,000. The...
Local Marriott hotels sold for $15.6 million
The Marriott Courtyard and Marriott Residence Inn, both on North Mall Drive near Siegen Lane, have been acquired for $15.6 million by the Lightstone Group, a privately held real estate company that owns and manages a diverse portfolio of office, retail, residential and industrial properties around the U.S. The motels were previously owned by Olshan Hotel Management, a San Marcos, Fla.-based company that built the Courtyard and Residence motels in 1997 and 2000, respectively, and has managed them since. Both motels will continue to operate under the Marriott flag, which is the No. 1 brand in the industry based on reservations. Earlier this spring, Olshan's John Dougherty told Daily Report his company's decision to sell was not based on the performance of the properties, both of which have average occupancy rates of between 75% and 80%. "Rather, it's part of an overall strategic plan that we're getting out of that market and moving into other opportunities," Dougherty said at...
'Real Estate Weekly': Police could be relocated into former Woman's Hospital by year's end
If the Metro Council approves amending this year's capital improvement budget to free up $11 million for the purchase of the former Woman's Hospital campus on Airline Highway, the Baton Rouge Police Department's headquarters could be relocated there by the end of the year, says William Daniel, Mayor Kip Holden's chief administrative officer. While the former hospital building itself is outdated, has no use and will need to be demolished, Daniel says, the Physician's Tower on-site can be renovated with relative ease. "We can move the police in there pretty quickly," he says. The Metro Council will consider the budget amendment at its May 22 meeting, during which a public hearing will also be held on the matter. Daniel says it's important that the Metro Council approve the plan at its next meeting because the purchase agreement the city-parish signed in December for the 24-acre campus expires in early June—before the council would meet again following the May 22 meeting. "We're...
LFEA president: Industry can survive latest proposed cut to film tax credit
Actors, actresses and politicians—including former Gov. Edwin Edwards and his wife, Trina—will be among those attending a private event in Baton Rouge tonight to promote the positive effect the film industry has in the state. And while the event was originally organized by the Louisiana Film and Entertainment Association to rally, at least in part, against a budget proposal that would have seen the film industry's tax credit cut by 15%, the shelving of that plan means there will be more fun and less politics tonight. Nonetheless, LFEA President Will French says the deal reached Monday in the House—which would result in a much smaller cut to the film tax credit—could still reduce Louisiana's competitiveness in relation to other states vying for film business via tax credits. "The question is, what exactly will it mean for us? Are we going to lose a little business, maybe a movie or two a year, or are we going to start to lose dozens of films, or worse?" French...
American importer costs fall, pushed by cheaper oil
Prices paid by U.S. importers fell in April for the second straight month, pushed lower by another decline in imported petroleum. The Labor Department says import prices—which when decreasing help keep inflation in check—fell 0.5% last month compared with March, when prices had fallen 0.2%. It was the largest decline since a 0.6% drop in December. Imported petroleum products decreased 1.9% in April. Excluding petroleum, import costs dropped only 0.1%. Import prices have now fallen 2.6% over the 12 months ending in April. The prices charged by U.S. exporters, meanwhile, fell 0.7% in April compared with March. The decline was propelled by a 2.2% drop in U.S. farm exports. Over the past year, export prices have decreased 0.9%.
Pipelines spill three times as much oil as trains, IEA says
Pipelines in North America spilled three times as much crude oil as trains for comparative distances over an eight-year period, the International Energy Agency reports in a study it based on U.S. Department of Transportation data. However, as Bloomberg reports, the Paris-based energy adviser also says that the risk of a train spill was six times greater than a pipeline incident over the period between 2004 and 2012. The calculation included an estimate that the average load of crude carried by train travels 1,000 miles, which the organization says is conservative, since most Bakken crude, for example, is shipped 1,700 miles from North Dakota to St. James, La. The analysis of the eight-year period didn't include a spill of 715 barrels of crude from a derailment in Minnesota in 2013 that was more than double the amount spilled by trains in the previous four years, the report notes.
Real estate recap: Library board and Spinosa appear to reach deal on Rouzan … Large, long-stalled development south of LSU 'back on track' … RDA to seek $425,000 from city-parish for Smiley Heights
Paper and ink: After years of delays and negotiations, it appears the East Baton Rouge Parish Library Board of Control and developer Tommy Spinosa have reached an agreement over construction plans for the Rouzan branch library. Board President Travis Woodard tells Daily Report the board and the parish attorney's office expect to sign off on a revised cooperative endeavor agreement with Spinosa before the board's regular monthly meeting, which is Thursday. Read the full story here.
Andrews: A look at Fannie Mae financing for apartments with commercial space
I sometimes get asked about using the popular Fannie Mae permanent loan for an apartment complex featuring commercial space, such as office or retail. As we try to develop more infill or downtown properties that mix commercial uses on the first floor with residential uses on upper floors, I expect the question to come up more frequently. And the good news is that Fannie Mae does allow for such financing, so long as special underwriting approaches are taken. First off, the two income streams need to be underwritten separately, such that residential expenses match up with residential income and commercial accounts also match up. The current Fannie Mae policy requires commercial income to be no more than 20% of the overall effective gross income of the total project, and also stipulates that the commercial income be underwritten at a minimum 10% vacancy. This arrangement is tougher with smaller properties but works fine with a larger property containing a higher ratio of residential to...
Cook: Beauregard property sells, to become law office
A converted residence at 601 St. Charles St., originally known as The Holt House and now included on the National Register of Historic Places, has sold for $193,000. It was purchased by NCP Properties LLC, which is represented by Lexlee Overton Roccaforte and Clay Roccaforte; the seller was Whitney Bank. The converted single-family residence, which contains 2,370 square feet and includes two parking spaces, had been listed for as much as $249,000. The actual sale price works out to $81.44 per square foot. The deal closed on April 22. The property is at the corner of St. Charles and France streets in Beauregard Town. The new owners intend to use the building as an office for their law practice. The seller was represented by Mathew Laborde with Beau Box Commercial Real Estate. The purchaser was represented by Danny Watts at Saurage Rotenberg Commercial Real Estate.
Walmart rejects bids for Supercenter at Bluebonnet
Just two months ago, the long-stalled Walmart Supercenter planned at Bluebonnet Boulevard and Burbank Drive finally seemed ready to get off the ground. Now it appears the 160,000-square-foot store, first announced in 2008, has hit another snag. In March, Daily Report obtained a DataFax construction report stating that the Bentonville, Ark.-corporation had put the project out to bid. According to that report, the estimated cost of construction was $7 million, and three pre-qualified contractors had been invited to bid: Clark Construction of McComb, Miss.; Crossland Construction of Columbus, Kan.; and Ewing Construction Co. of Corpus Christi, Texas. But sources familiar with the project confirm that Walmart rejected all three bids and now plans to put the project back out to bid. It is unclear whether price alone was the sole factor in the decision to rebid or if there were other considerations. It is also unknown whether the latest delay will affect that most recently announced...
Mosely makes second filing for Long Farm
Russell Mosely is looking to open a second filing of his still under-construction Long Farm development. Mosely filed an application for the building permits last week, seeking permission from city-parish regulators to develop 56 lots on the 11-acre second phase of his TND off Barringer Foreman Road. The addition would be called Long Farm Village and could be under construction by late summer, Mosely says. National developer D.R. Horton will build the homes, Mosely says. The Long Farm Village will have a "pocket park" with seating, sidewalks and landscaping. "Just another place for people to go relax," Mosely says. Homes in the second phase will be varied in size and will be built along tree-lined streets. Construction on a clubhouse and a 1,700-square-foot pool are set to begin in the next couple of weeks, he says. "The pool is going to have fountains and it's going to have a tanning ledge; it's going to be nice," Mosely says. Construction on the entryway and sidewalks around a pond...
City-parish hopes to have police relocated into former Woman's Hospital by year's end
If the Metro Council approves amending this year's capital improvement budget to free up $11 million for the purchase of the former Woman's Hospital campus on Airline Highway, the Baton Rouge Police Department's headquarters could be relocated there by the end of the year, says William Daniel, Mayor Kip Holden's chief administrative officer.
City-parish hopes to have police relocated into former Woman's Hospital by year's end
If the Metro Council approves amending this year's capital improvement budget to free up $11 million for the purchase of the former Woman's Hospital campus on Airline Highway, the Baton Rouge Police Department's headquarters could be relocated there by the end of the year, says William Daniel, Mayor Kip Holden's chief administrative officer. While the former hospital building itself is outdated, has no use and will need to be demolished, Daniel says, the Physician's Tower on-site can be renovated with relative ease. "We can move the police in there pretty quickly," he says. The Metro Council will consider the budget amendment at its May 22 meeting, during which a public hearing will also be held on the matter. Daniel says it's important that the Metro Council approve the plan at its next meeting because the purchase agreement the city-parish signed in December for the 24-acre campus expires in early June—before the council would meet again following the May 22 meeting. "We're...
A cautious comeback
The days of “if you build it, they will come” are pretty much over.
Let’s use Yellow Pages test
In his 1997 book The Twenty-First Century City, former Indianapolis Mayor Stephen Goldsmith proposed what he called the “Yellow Pages test”: “If the phone book lists three companies that provide a certain service,” he wrote, “the city probably should not be in that business.” Makes sense to me.
Rising tide
Like everywhere else, the Baton Rouge area had a recession. But, as local elites will constantly remind you, our recession wasn't as bad as most.
Setting up shop: Steps to a solid start
This section provides an overview of the steps most businesses must take to get started in Louisiana. You'll find the basic steps as well as contact information for local, state and federal resources.
Brave new world
In the business world, “adapt or die” is a truism. The ubiquity of the Internet is altering—in some cases, radically upending—the models for all sorts of industries. Exhibit A: the current turmoil in print journalism.
In Costco we trust
The three great issues of our time in the Capital Region are these: 1) protecting our turf in the global economy by using any government means necessary to score jaw-dropping wins in the retail and hotel sectors; 2) whether the luring of big-box behemoth Costco secures Baton Rouge a much-coveted seat at the exclusive table of world-class cities (out of our way, Venice!); and 3) the future of City Park— more specifically, its par-32 golf course.
Planning an exit
Selling your business can be exciting and daunting at the same time, says Linda Perez Clark, a co-owner of Bin 77 and a partner in Kean Miller’s Baton Rouge office, which recently hosted a briefing on the topic.
Sunny climate
CEOs nationwide rank Louisiana the 11th-best state for business, according to Chief Executive magazine’s 2013 survey, released May 6. That’s a jump of two spots for Louisiana since last year and the highest ranking the state has ever received in the survey, Gov. Bobby Jindal’s office says. “The report continues the state’s ascent in national business climate rankings, with Louisiana showing the greatest improvement of any state in the U.S. over the past four years,” reads a release from the governor’s office. Since 2009, Louisiana has improved a nation-best 33 spots in the Chief Executive survey. In the survey, Louisiana is given 3.5 out of 5 stars when it comes to taxation and regulations; 3.5 stars for workforce quality; and 4 stars for living environment. Chief Executive Editor-in-Chief J.P. Donlon, who last year described Louisiana as “the Cinderella of business improvement,” writes this year that...
Building jobs
The Baton Rouge METRO area continued its strong start to the year in March in the construction employment sector. According to the latest metro jobs report from the Associated General Contractors of America, Baton Rouge had 5,900 more people employed in the industry in March—an estimated 46,000 total—than it did during the month a year previous.
Big Blues?
In May 2010, state and local officials in Columbia, Mo., proudly announced one of Missouri's biggest economic development wins in recent history: IBM was coming to town to open a technology service delivery center that would create 800 permanent jobs, put Columbia on the radar of cutting-edge tech companies, and transform the local economy.
Hot and spicy
A camera captured the proud moment two decades ago: Then-Commissioner of Agriculture Bob Odom and a handful of executives from Louisiana's most prominent food manufacturing firms joined forces to launch the “Certified Cajun” logo in hopes of collectively distinguishing authentic Louisiana products on grocery store shelves.
The cost of Costco
In an effort to lure Costco to town, East Baton Rouge Parish has green-lighted what will be the parish's first economic development district for a retailer, triggering protests from critics who futilely proclaimed, “Retail is not economic development.”
RDA to seek $425,000 from city-parish for Smiley Heights
The East Baton Rouge Redevelopment Authority is asking Mayor Kip Holden for $425,000 to begin clearing land and doing site preparation work on the 40-acre, first phase of Smiley Heights, a 200-acre mixed-use development in Mid City that the RDA is developing. The funding request will be contained in the mayor's midyear, supplemental budget, which is currently being compiled by the administration and will likely be presented to the Metro Council either later this month or in early June. RDA President and CEO Walter Monsour says the first phase of Smiley Heights—which has been described as "an urban traditional neighborhood development"—will include a new Baton Rouge Community College campus with an automotive training facility as well as a Career Academy for EBR Schools. "This initial funding will be to clear and grub and start preparing the site," Monsour says. "We will also be doing some master planning as well as a housing survey so we can determine what type of housing...
Large, long-stalled development south of LSU 'back on track'
A Metairie-based developer is hoping to move forward with a 600-acre, environmentally friendly, mixed-use development on River Road south of LSU. Charles Lambert, the property owner and developer, is awaiting approval from regulators to start clearing the site for the Village at Riverwood, which could ultimately include 1,550 homes. Lambert says he hopes to start developing the property, which he purchased in 1992, by early next year. About 130 acres between Elbow Bayou and River Road would be developed as part of the first phase, including residential lots and some commercial space. In addition to full-size homes, the draft plan filed with the Planning Commission also details more compact town and garden homes. Lambert says the project has been on hold for at least five years as market conditions slumped. But, he says, the Baton Rouge economy looks strong and "we're back on track." Plans call for a pedestrian-friendly urban village with 200,000 square feet of retail space and 18,000...
Library board and Spinosa reach deal on Rouzan
After years of delays and negotiations, it appears the East Baton Rouge Parish Library Board of Control and developer Tommy Spinosa have reached an agreement over construction plans for the Rouzan branch library. Board President Travis Woodard tells Daily Report the board and the parish attorney's office expect to sign off on a revised cooperative endeavor agreement with Spinosa before the board's regular monthly meeting, which is Thursday. Under the terms of the agreement—which is an amended version of a document first signed in 2010—Spinosa will agree to complete by November all the infrastructure work that's needed to begin construction of the library. The infrastructure work includes constructing roads, parking lots and utilities within the area of the TND on which the library will be situated, as well as turn lanes and signal modifications on Perkins Road. Previously, Spinosa had agreed to post a performance bond, but the parish attorney's office did not think...
B.R. gas prices rise but remain among lowest in U.S.
For the second straight week, the average price of a gallon of regular, unleaded gasoline has risen slightly in Baton Rouge, according to the AAA Daily Fuel Gauge. Nonetheless, at $3.29 as of this morning—an increase of 5 cents on the week, following a penny rise the week previous—motorists in the Capital Region are still enjoying some of the lowest prices in the country. Just four states in the U.S. have a slightly lower average than Baton Rouge: Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee. The increases over the past two weeks were preceded by price declines for nine consecutive weeks. The Baton Rouge average one month ago was 4 cents higher than today, and the average a year ago was 25 cents higher. The Louisiana average this morning is $3.31, up 4 cents from a week ago but down 6 cents from a month ago. A year ago, the average price in Louisiana was $3.55. The U.S. average today is $3.57, up 5 cents on the week and 3 cents on the month—but down 15 cents...
Hampton Inn leasing state garage spaces for guests
Hampton Inn guests who park in the state-owned LaSalle Garage need not worry about getting towed. The downtown hotel is leasing 137 parking spaces in the facility, which provides unreserved parking spaces for state employees and YMCA patrons. "There is no public parking in this garage, so there is no anticipated need for towing," says Division of Administration spokesman Michael DiResto. Towing became an issue in another of the state-owned garages on Third Street when Republic Parking, which manages the state's five parking garages, hired Riverside Towing for enforcement. The company—known for its aggressive tactics—towed the vehicles of several patrons attending events downtown who had parked in spaces they assumed were reserved only during normal business hours. The state has since suspended the practice. The agreement between the Hampton Inn and the state is a 20-year base lease, with two 10-year renewal options. The hotel is paying $164,400 annually in the first five...
'Bonnie & Clyde' filming to close downtown streets Monday
Filming of the History Channel's Bonnie & Clyde in downtown on Monday will force some road closures in the area and will include "loud simulated gunfire," city officials announced today. Filming is scheduled to take place between noon and midnight along Third Street, between its intersections with Laurel and Convention streets. During filming, police will be stopping traffic intermittently while the cameras are rolling to ensure no modern cars slip into the frame of the period feature. Along with partial street closures, parking will also be restricted on portions of Third, Laurel, Florida and Convention streets. The four-hour mini-series, distributed by Sony Entertainment, is being directed by Bruce Beresford and is based on the true story of legendary bank robber, Clyde Barrow. The cast includes Emile Hirsch, William Hurt, Holly Hunter and Holliday Grainger.
City Park, sans golf course?
Edging closer to 1,000 signatures, an online petition is bringing the debate about City Park's golf course back into the limelight. Should the 9-hole course be maintained and City Park grow around it, or should it be eliminated and the grounds added to the park's existing green space?
'225 Dine': New direction, chef coming to Walk-On's
Last In Concepts, the restaurant group behind Walk-On's, The Roux House, Happy's and others, has hired Chef Jeremy Coco as its director of culinary operations and training. Coco will primarily focus on developing the menu and training the staff at all Walk-On's locations. Coco has an impressive background: He has worked at Juban's and was formerly the executive chef at Cafe Vermilionville in Lafayette as well as at Fleming's in Baton Rouge, in addition to serving as the dean of education at the Louisiana Culinary Institute. Walk-On's co-owner Jack Warner says Coco will improve patrons' experience. "We want to build a better team to grow [Walk-On's]. To take that to the next level, we needed to bring in [someone to] teach, coach, train and lead our staff," he says. Coco says he wants to concentrate on fixing the small things now before developing any new menu items and that he thinks the future is bright for Walk-On's. "This company has great growth potential," Coco says. "I have a...
New airline eyeing Baton Rouge
The announcement Monday that Southwest Airlines is adding new nonstop flights this fall between New Orleans and Austin, Texas, is good news for travelers not only in the Crescent City but also in Baton Rouge, which is just an hour's drive from Louis Armstrong International Airport. But it's not a cause for celebration at Baton Rouge Metro Airport, which struggles—like most smaller airports—to increase service and attract new carriers. "Anytime a competing airport gets something new like that, it doesn't help us," says Jim Caldwell, the airport's marketing director. That said, sources tell Daily Report BTR is in talks with a small, regional airline that is considering adding flights from Baton Rouge to other destinations in the South. Caldwell confirms negotiations are under way but will not disclose the name of the airline involved. He also says the airport continues to reach out to other airlines but concedes it's a hard sell because of market conditions...
Public meetings set for discussion on Livingston Parish master plan
Livingston Parish officials have set a pair of meetings later this month to give a review of a proposed comprehensive master plan and to get feedback from residents. It's the second round of meetings on the plan; meetins were also held in April. The first meeting this month will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Livingston Parish Council Chambers, 20355 Government Blvd., in Livingston. The second meeting will take place at 8 p.m. on Thursday, May 23, also at the council chambers. Parish officials began working on Livingston's first master plan in March 2011. It is intended to help the parish prioritize needs and improvements for the next 10 to 20 years in areas such as transportation, water and sewer, recreation, housing, and economic development. Key recommendations in the proposed plan include utilizing a land-use map as a guide for development and infrastructure decisions; adopting zoning and basic design guidelines along U.S. 90 and Interstate 12; and adopting a Major Street Plan...
Bad Guys, Good Eats!
Chef and 225 contributor Jay D. Ducote and Chef Chris Wadsworth hosted the Bad Guys, Good Eats! dinner at Restaurant IPO Wednesday night. The dinner was themed around famous movie villains, pairing cocktails and ales with plates of food resembling famous baddies like The Joker, Lord Voldemort, Hannibal Lector, and many others. The highlights of the night were the three middle courses—a black bean soup laced with blood sausage to signify Lord Voldemort, a brace of coneys on black eyed peas resembling Sauron, and lamb medallions atop a fava bean puree to pay homage to the famous favorite of Hannibal Lector. Check out photos of the dishes from Collin Richie here.
Wampold plans to tear down, rebuild Stanford Avenue apartments
Developer Mike Wampold has filed for site plan approval to tear down One Lakeshore Place apartments on Stanford Avenue and build a new, upscale 240-unit apartment complex called Lakeshore Place on Stanford, says Ryan Holcomb, Planning Commission planning project coordinator. The aging apartment complex, built in 1963 on a roughly 5.5-acre site, is located next to the Crescent at University Lakes condos—also developed by Wampold—across the street from the LSU lakes. Because Wampold plans to build more than 100 residential units on the site, Holcomb says, he is required to get site plan approval for the project. Wampold's new plan is slated to go before the Planning Commission on June 17. Approval from the Metro Council is not required for the site plan, nor does Wampold need any permission to demolish One Lakeshore Place. —Steve Sanoski
Judge rips BancorpSouth in ruling
For nearly three years, BancorpSouth "willfully refused to comply" with discovery requests made by developer Windy Gladney in his protracted court battle with the bank over $2 million in construction loans. So says 19th Judicial District Judge William Morvant, who delivered a major blow to BancorpSouth's case late Tuesday, when he threw out the bank's claim against Gladney and also dismissed its defense to allegations contained in a countersuit he filed against the bank. "The Court has lost confidence in the ability of [Gladney] to properly defend this matter based on the number and the extent of discovery abuses by the plaintiff … and when I say 'plaintiff' I mean the bank," Morvant says in a written transcript of his ruling, obtained by Daily Report. "The record in this case … is replete with instances that go beyond simple inadvertence or negligence. There are too many to write this off as a simple oversight or a slip up on the part of the bank." Gladney's...
Wardrobe refresh
Clean out your closet for a cause! A clothing swap to benefit the NOLA Fashion Council is slated for Saturday evening at the Kenneth Brown Design office on Lafayette Street. The event is hosted by Think Twice Style and NOLAFC. Here's how it works: Participants drop off a minimum of four clothing or accessory items between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. Saturday, at which time they receive a ticket for every item contributed. Then, at 5 p.m., the event kicks off. Each ticket serves as currency for another item. Other perks on the agenda include an Aveda giveaway, door prizes and cocktails. Tickets are $20 in advance, or $30 for a two-person pass. Any leftover items will be donated to Dress For Success and other charitable organizations. For more information, click here.
New direction coming to Walk-On's
Jack Warner has heard all the stories about the inconsistency at Walk-On's. Warner will be the first to admit that the food has been an afterthought in the restaurant and bar's decade-long run.
"If you liked our étouffée or gumbo one day, you might get something completely different the next day," Warner says. "We messed up so many things repeatedly. Now, we've figured out a lot of things, but we have an opportunity to grow on the food side."
To improve on the kitchen and culinary aspects of Walk-On's, Warner and Brandon Landry's Last in Concepts have hired Chef Jeremy Coco as its director of culinary operations and training. Coco will primarily focus on developing the menu and training staff at all Walk-On's locations.
Coco has an extensive résumé—he has worked at Juban's, was the executive chef at Café Vermilionville in Lafayette and Fleming's in Baton Rouge, and served as the Dean of Education at the Louisiana Culinary Institute (LCI).
Costco said to help B.R. become 'world-class city'
A planned Costco Wholesale store in Baton Rouge took a step toward fruition on Wednesday when the Metro Council approved a roughly $7.8 million incentive package for the retailer, a move supporters say is critical to making Baton Rouge a world-class city. "I don't know that you can have a world-class city, in my mind right now, without a Costco," says Patrick Mulhearn, director of studio operations at Raleigh Studios Baton Rouge at Celtic Media Centre. "And I know this because the California people and the people that come in from all over the country, they always ask me, 'Where's your Costco?' Well, we don't have one." The members-only warehouse retailer plans to build a 150,000-square-foot warehouse at the intersection of Airline Highway and Interstate 12 on the site of a former Coca-Cola bottling plant. The project had been on hold as Costco pushed for the incentive deal to help with road and infrastructure improvements at the site. William Daniel, chief administrative officer for...
Interior secretary to oil industry: Don't throw regulators under the bus
Interior Secretary Sally Jewell delivered a blunt message to some of the nation's top oil industry executives during an inaugural meeting with the group on Wednesday: Don't cast blame our way. "I did poke them a little bit about not throwing the regulators under the bus or blaming us when there is actually shared responsibility, perhaps, when something doesn't move forward," Jewell tells The Houston Chronicle. "We don't want to be in the way of development, but we have a job to do protecting the assets of the American people." The closed-door gathering at the Offshore Technology Conference included top representatives from oil companies Anadarko, BP and Marathon Oil, as well as contractors FMC Technologies, Halliburton, Transocean and Schlumberger, and the trade groups American Petroleum Institute and National Ocean Industries Association. Some oil industry leaders have loudly complained about the pace of regulatory changes coming from the nation's capital and pleaded for a...
'Jurassic Park 4' shoot in doubt
Filming of Jurassic Park 4 has been delayed, the studio confirmed to trade publications on Wednesday. While Universal Pictures has not said so publicly, it has been widely believed that much of the film would be shot in Baton Rouge. Universal reserved stage space at Raleigh Studios Baton Rouge at the Celtic Media Centre, and had been working toward a June 2014 release. Patrick Mulhearn, director of Studio Operations at Raleigh Studios, tells Daily Report he has not received any official word from Universal, but says their production office and construction mill on the lot have been told to shut down and pack up. "It wouldn't surprise me one bit if they were at least somewhat spooked by what the Louisiana House of Representatives is proposing," Mulhearn says in an email, referring to possible cutbacks to the state's film incentives. "For Baton Rouge and the studio, it is devastating to lose a huge production that was just in its infancy. I think there is still hope that...
Mallard Trails developer sues city-parish
Developer George Robinson is suing the city-parish and the East Baton Rouge Parish Planning Commission for denying preliminary approval of his planned subdivision, Mallard Trails, off Hoo Shoo Too Road. In a suit filed Tuesday, Robinson argues the Planning Commission acted arbitrarily and capriciously, and abused its discretion, when it denied his request last month to put 90 single-family lots on 57 acres on the south side of Hoo Shoo Too Road, east of Wood Duck Drive. Residents of the area largely opposed the planned subdivision, citing fears of increased traffic, road safety and drainage problems. Robinson's suit says that public opinion should not have factored into the Planning Commission's decision at this stage of the preliminary approval process. In contrast to, say, a requested zoning change, the suit argues that the preliminary approval process for a subdivision should not be influenced by public opinion, provided the applicant has complied with the city-parish Unified...
Judge throws out BancorpSouth claims against Gladney
Developer Windy Gladney won a significant victory late Tuesday in his long-running legal dispute with BancorpSouth, when 19th Judicial District Court Judge William Morvant dismissed the bank's $2 million claim against Gladney and his partnership, Kleinpeter-Trace. In his ruling, Morvant also threw out BancorpSouth's defense to claims filed against it by Gladney in a countersuit. Morvant issued his ruling from the bench after a lengthy hearing over the production of bank records, emails and documents that Gladney's attorneys have been trying unsuccessfully for months to obtain from the bank. In a late December ruling, Morvant warned BancorpSouth was facing sanctions for failing to turn over the documents, but said the bank was entitled to an evidentiary hearing on the matter. That hearing was Tuesday. "We were very pleased with the outcome because the discovery in this case has been nothing but a struggle since the suit was filed," says Gladney's attorney Mary Olive Pierson. "You...
Amoroso wants city-parish drivers to take safety course
In an effort to increase the safety of both city-parish employees and the public—as well as cut down on the number of insurance claims the city is paying out for auto accidents—Metro Councilman Buddy Amoroso is proposing that employees who drive municipal vehicles be required to take a driver safety course. "Every meeting, we're paying out on some pretty costly settlements for automobile accidents that city-parish drivers have gotten into and they're at fault," Amoroso says. "Tonight, actually, we have one that is for $450,000, and it's not the only one on the agenda." Amoroso is asking the council at today's meeting to set a public hearing on May 22 to discuss the issue. Amoroso says he intends on taking the course himself before the public hearing to ensure it's worth employees' time and the $2 per participant fee it would cost the city-parish. The police department, Amoroso says, would not be included in the requirement. Also at today's meeting, the council will take...
'Business Report': Despite rejecting CATS tax, Zachary retains service
It is bus service as usual in the city of Zachary. Although the community isn't paying the additional property taxes to the Capital Area Transit System that Baton Rouge and Baker are, its routes have remained the same. Documents obtained by Business Report through a public records request indicate that buses still run through Zachary almost hourly 16 times a day, from 5:35 a.m. to 8:15 p.m., just as they did before the April 2012 election. "Here we have an example of Zachary voting not to pay the tax still getting the service," says Elizabeth Dent of Taxbusters.us, which opposed the 10.6-mill property tax. "What's wrong with that picture?" Zachary rejected the additional millage with a whopping 79% of the vote, while voters in Baton Rouge and Baker approved it. The election excluded Central and the unincorporated areas of East Baton Rouge Parish. CATS officials didn't respond to questions about why routes for Zachary have not changed since the tax election, or whether there...
Judge sets new date for sale of Perkins Rowe
June 19 is the new date scheduled for the foreclosure sale of Perkins Rowe. A U.S. district judge this afternoon granted KeyBank National Association's request to postpone the auction, which was supposed to be held Wednesday. But sources familiar with the 3.5-year-old court battle between the Ohio lender and developer Tommy Spinosa say the June sale may also be postponed, as were previously scheduled foreclosure sales set for dates in March and May. That's because the bank keeps putting them off, which suggests the bank is trying to negotiate a deal with Spinosa. Why Spinosa would want the property is a no-brainer. If he can find investors willing to partner with him on the project—and sources say he has found them—he gets back a mixed-use development that has proven to be a financially viable and popular retail destination, while also getting out from under the more than $200 million he owes KeyBank and several smaller banks. Why KeyBank—which has fought Spinosa...
'Real Estate Weekly': Bluffs Golf Resort getting its game back
Owners of the Bluffs Golf Resort in St. Francisville have been quietly working to bring the once-troubled country club back to life. So far, the efforts appear to be paying off. Businessman Clyde DuBois, who joined Claude Penn as managing partner in January, helped guide the resort's cash flow from red to black within two weeks of taking over the club's management. Under his stewardship, new home construction, golfing and two restaurants on the resort grounds are booming, DuBois says. Play at the Arnold Palmer-designed golf course has increased by 30%, and membership is up almost as much since DuBois "reversed the nine," or reversed the direction of play of the first 10 holes, in April. The public 18-hole course is getting top rankings in national golf publications; and for the first time, later this month, it will host a U.S. Open qualifying event. That's a big turnaround for a course that was temporarily closed by an insolvent owner in 2009. —April Castro...
B.R. Costco deal slightly larger than what wholesaler got in N.O.
The incentive deal that the Metro Council is considering approving for a proposed Costco Wholesale store in Baton Rouge is about $1 million larger than the roughly $6 million deal the store got from the New Orleans City Council last year. "It's very similar," says William Daniel, Mayor Kip Holden's chief administrative officer. "I think they had a location that had [fewer] challenges than we have, so New Orleans may not have had to do as much in infrastructure improvements." Like the $7 million deal the Baton Rouge council is considering, New Orleans officials approved a deal for Costco that rebated local sales taxes and provided for infrastructure improvements. Costco had requested as much as $9 million in incentives in New Orleans. If the deal is approved Wednesday by the Metro Council, the city-parish will provide a $7 million sales tax rebate, $5.5 million of which would go toward infrastructure and road improvements in the area. The other $1.5 million would go toward the $4.5...
B.R. gets the Gun
Our food critic responds to Rien Fertel's "City Portrait" of Baton Rouge, published in the March/April edition of Garden & Gun magazine
Company sees big business in blowout preventers
In the frantic days and weeks after BP's Macondo well exploded on April 20, 2010, blame was focused on a piece of equipment to which, under ideal circumstances, people don't give much thought. Bulky, heavy and designed for redundancy rather than beauty, blowout preventers are the last line of defense against a runaway well. But the collection of valves and shears sitting atop the BP well on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico failed to stop the flow of oil in 2010. Three years later, Pete Miller, CEO of National Oilwell Varco, still bristles at the suggestion that the blowout preventer was at fault. Never mind that his company didn't make it—competitor Cameron International built the device—and wasn't involved with the Macondo well. As The Houston Chronicle reports, Miller has staked a piece of his company's future on expanding production of blowout preventers and exporting them around the world. So he takes criticism of the blowout preventer used on the Macondo well...
La. ranked 11th-best state for business
CEOs nationwide rank Louisiana the 11th-best state for business, according to Chief Executive magazine's 2013 survey, released Monday. That's a jump of two spots for Louisiana since last year and the highest ranking the state has ever received in the survey, Gov. Bobby Jindal's office says. "The report continues the state's ascent in national business climate rankings, with Louisiana showing the greatest improvement of any state in the U.S. over the past four years," reads a release from the governor's office. "Since 2009, Louisiana has improved a nation-best 33 spots in the Chief Executive survey. In the survey, Louisiana is given 3.5 out of 5 stars when it comes to taxation and regulations; 3.5 stars for workforce quality; and 4 stars for living environment. Chief Executive Editor-in-Chief J.P. Donlon, who last year described Louisiana as "the Cinderella of business improvement," writes this year that "Louisiana has come a long way since 2006 when it ranked...
With office almost ready, IBM moving in next month
Work crews are putting the finishing touches on the fourth-floor space in Essen Centre that will be the temporary office of IBM Services Center: Baton Rouge, and the space is almost ready for its new tenants. But the company won't be moving in until sometime in June, and even then it is unclear how large the local operation will be. As part of its cooperative endeavor agreement with the state, city-parish and BRAF's Wilbur Marvin Foundation, IBM is getting temporary office space in the building at 5353 Essen Lane while its permanent office tower on the downtown riverfront—due to be completed in mid-2015—is under construction. The temporary space will total some 20,000 square feet on the fourth and sixth floors of the building, and will be configured to accommodate about 200 employees, says building manager Norman Bacon. For now, though, only the fourth floor—which has offices and workstations for about 160 employees, as well as a training room, conference space and...
Real estate recap: Gambino's moving into Panache Plaza … Ruffino's buys Cochon Lafayette for $3.3 million … Katrina hero undertaking residential development in B.R.
In the oven: Gambino's Bakery plans to move from its Essen Lane location to Panache Plaza at 8342 Perkins Road, between Essen and Bluebonnet Boulevard, by the end of the summer, says manager Paul Scelfo. The new 2,100-square-foot space will be "more suitable to our customers' wishes, as well as our needs," he says. That means a bigger retail area and a smaller kitchen. "The location we're in now is equipped for a lot more than what we do," Scelfo says. The New Orleans-based bakery has been in the Essen Lane location for almost three years.
Andrews: What Buffett's bearish bond forecast may mean for lending
Warren Buffett, the CEO and chairman of Berkshire Hathaway—in addition to being a really rich guy who got that way by being right about business investments most of the time—says in a recent CNBC interview that bonds are a "terrible investment" right now. His rationale for this position is pretty simple and time-tested: You buy things when they're priced low and sell when they increase in value. And at the moment, he says, bonds don't seem to have much upside potential. Buffett's thought is that bonds are already high right now because of the Federal Reserve's policy of buying up $85 billion in bonds each and every month, and that when the Fed stops buying, the prices should drop. How does this impact those of us who deal in real estate rather than bonds? If Buffett is correct, and remember that he has a pretty impressive track record, bond prices will fall and yields on bonds will increase. Since we get our pricing for permanent commercial real estate loans based on bond...
Cook: Gulf Coast Research sells Perkins Road office
The Gulf Coast Research building at 7049 Perkins Road, situated next door to Spectrum Fitness Center, has sold for $780,000. The buyer was DB LeBlanc Properties. Ty Gose with NAI/Latter & Blum represented both the purchaser and seller, Gulf Coast Research, in the deal, which closed April 25. The building contains about 12,000 square feet, so the sale price calculates to roughly $65 per square foot. This is a free-standing office facility with 40 parking spaces. The purchaser bought it as a speculative investment and has made the building available for lease.
(Appraiser Tom Cook owns Cook Moore and Associates. Reach him at 293-7006 or TCook@cookmoore.com.)
Broussard Paper purchases lot to build warehouse, distribution center
Gonzales-based Broussard Paper is building a warehouse and distribution center on a 6.75-acre lot in the Sherwood Common Office Park. Broussard closed on the lot last week for $2.05 million and plans to complete the new warehouse by April 2014. The 45,000-square-foot warehouse and 7,500 square feet of office, showroom and training space will allow Broussard to consolidate two current locations—one in Gonzales and another on Choctaw Drive—into one, says Chuck Edwards, company president. The project is still in the design phase but will likely have a price tag of about $3.5 million, Edwards says. Broussard, which has been in operation since 1987, sells paper as well as janitorial, industrial and food service supplies. Broussard bought the property from Property Services Inc. —April Castro
Baton Rouge posts 15% increase in construction jobs in March
The Baton Rouge metro area continued its strong start to the year in March in the construction employment sector. According to the latest metro jobs report from the Associated General Contractors of America, Baton Rouge had 5,900 more people employed in the industry in March—an estimated 46,000 total—than it did during the month a year previous. The 15% year-over-year increase made Baton Rouge the 11th-best-performing metro of the 339 tracked by AGCA. It follows a No. 13 ranking in February, when 45,300 people reportedly held construction jobs in the area, and a No. 11 ranking in January, when total construction employment was at 43,200. The Baton Rouge area also had a strong finish to last year, with a No. 8 ranking in the December jobs report and a No. 11 ranking in November. AGCA reports Baton Rouge is among 152 metros to see construction jobs increase in March, while 126 posted a decline and 61 saw stagnant employment levels. The March jobs report highlights "the...
Bluffs Golf Resort getting its game back
Owners of the Bluffs Golf Resort in St. Francisville have been quietly working to bring the once-troubled country club back to life. So far, the efforts appear to be paying off. Businessman Clyde DuBois, who joined Claude Penn as managing partner in January, helped guide the resort's cash flow from red to black within two weeks of taking over the club's management. Under his stewardship, new home construction, golfing and two restaurants on the resort grounds are booming, DuBois says. Play at the Arnold Palmer-designed golf course has increased by 30% and membership is up almost as much since DuBois "reversed the nine," or reversed the direction of play of the first 10 holes, in April. The public 18-hole course is getting top rankings in national golf publications; and for the first time, later this month, it will host a U.S. Open qualifying event. That's a big turnaround for a course that was temporarily closed by an insolvent owner in 2009. Interest from potential homebuyers has...
News alert: Perkins Rowe sale to be postponed
For the second time this year, a scheduled foreclosure sale of Perkins Rowe will be postponed. Daily Report has learned that KeyBank National Associates, the Ohio lender that is owed more than $200 million on the project by developer Tommy Spinosa, plans to file documents Tuesday in U.S. District Court asking that the sale, scheduled for Wednesday, be postponed. Neither officials with KeyBank nor Spinosa will comment. The move suggests, however, that a deal involving Spinosa, could be in the works. The mixed-use development was originally scheduled to be auctioned in late March, but the bank asked the U.S. Marshal at that time to put off the sale until May 8. No explanation was given then, either. —Stephanie Riegel
Baton Rouge home prices near new peak
According to a report in USA Today citing data from real estate tracker Lender Processing Services, Baton Rouge is among a handful of housing markets in the country that are at or near previous price peaks. Like most of the cities at or near a peak, the report says, Baton Rouge never saw prices plummet during the recession. Of the cities within 5% of their previous peaks, none saw more than an 11% decline in home values from mid-2006 to the market's bottom in early 2012, LPS data shows. Nationally, prices fell almost 28% during that time. Baton Rouge is also said to be among a number of cities in which job growth in particular is fueling home price increases. The report notes that the Capital Region "posted stronger annual job growth than the national average of 1.4%," citing Bureau of Labor Statistics data. You can find the full story here. According...
B.R. gas prices post penny rise to end nine-week slide
After posting decreases in each of the nine weeks previous, the average price of a gallon of regular, unleaded gas ended its downward trend last week, according to the AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report. At $3.24 as of this morning, the average price is one penny more than it was a week ago. However, it's still 15 cents lower than a month ago, and about 40 cents lower than it was when it started a period of steady reduction more than two months ago. One year ago this week, the Baton Rouge price was $3.61. The Baton Rouge average is now 3 cents lower than the Louisiana average and 28 cents lower than the national average. You can check out the complete AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report here.
Capital Region 101 welcomes new residents
Ryan Simpson moved to Baton Rouge five months ago from Kalamazoo, Mich. The BRAC policy and research project manager didn't know what to expect when he relocated, and was a bit nervous about the culture shock. On Saturday morning, Simpson was one of many new Baton Rouge residents taking part in a half-day event called Conquer the Learning Curve. It was a part of BRAC's Capital Region 101 series of events that welcomes new residents to the Baton Rouge area with a meet-and-greet breakfast, presentations, and a trivia trolley ride before ending at the Red Stick Farmers Market. While Simpson attended as part of BRAC's talent program, he also wanted to take advantage of the event for personal reasons. The dual purpose of Capital Region 101 is to bring newcomers together to form new social circles and to get them acclimated to the region, says Julie Laperouse, Director of Talent Development for BRAC. Read the full story from 225 on the Capital Region 101 event
Entrepreneur: Stephen Smith and Matthew Valiollahi
As a student, Matthew Valiollahi noticed the many styles and varieties of T-shirts his peers were wearing. Inspired by those designs—and also by Garden and Gun magazine, which celebrates Southern culture—he decided to create a brand of high-quality T-shirts and casual wear with a distinctly Southern style and flair. While still in his senior year at LSU, he approached friend Stephen Smith to design the Southern Marsh brand, with its trademark mallard logo. At first, the pair simply sold their designs. As they began to investigate the quality of fabrics, they came up with a better idea: "That's when we decided to build the T-shirt from the yarn stage and create quality garments from the ground up," Valiollahi says. When the idea first struck, the pair went to adjunct professor Walter Morales, who helped them refine their business plan. "We talked to everyone we could find," Valiollahi says of the early days in 2007. "We couldn't find any capital or backers. I put...
Restaurateurs, retailers eye legislation to improve access to capital
Louisiana restaurateurs and retailers who have been holding off on a renovation could soon get some encouraging news. A measure is winding its way through Congress that would permanently extend the 15-year recovery period for qualified improvements on restaurant and retail properties. Proponents, including local restaurant owner Jim Urdiales, say the extension would spur construction. "If you guarantee a 15-year schedule over 30 years, we'll see some restaurants who were putting this off from last year go ahead and do it now," says Urdiales, who owns Mestizo Restaurant. The 15-year depreciation schedule would otherwise expire at the end of this year, giving some restaurant owners heartburn about moving forward with needed renovations. The National Restaurant Association estimates that restaurants undergo renovations every six to eight years just to stay current and combat the effects of daily high traffic. Sen. Robert Casey, a Pennsylvania Democrat, filed the measure last month.