cajun

I'm glad someone is using the space.

Drago's lost their lease and likely moving to Perkins Road. This is going in their place. https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/business/loft18-to-take-over-dragos-space-near-i-10-and-college/article_32d3916a-cddf-11ef-b729-cbcdaa3bc651.html

A major liquor distribution center may be coming to Ascension Parish https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/business/glazers-ascension-parish/article_5c79406c-cd23-11ef-a8cc-a783c6e02697.html The largest wine and spirit distributor in the country is in the process of opening a distribution center in Geismar. Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits, a Miami-based distributor, is setting up a nearly 375,000-square-foot warehouse at 6602 Industrial Drive, according to documents filed with the Ascension Parish Clerk of Court’s office. The company emerged from a merger between Glazer’s Wholesale Distributors and Southern Wine & Spirits of America in 2016, according to its website. Glazer’s was founded in Dallas in 1933, while Southern Wine & Spirits was founded in Miami in 1968, the company's website states. It is the 10th largest private company in the U.S., with 24,000 employees and $26 billion in revenue for 2024, according to Forbes. The company did not respond to requests for comment.

$2.5 billion West Feliciana data center approved with 'aggressive timeline to build' https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/business/25-billion-west-feliciana-data-center-approved/article_d6dce702-cc45-11ef-8ff0-1fd2550a45e5.html West Feliciana Parish officials approved a zoning change Monday evening that will allow for the construction of a $2.5 billion data center. The parish Planning & Zoning Commission easily voted in favor of the Hut 8 artificial intelligence data center. Parish President Kenny Havard said the center will create "several hundred" permanent jobs. Riley Trettel, senior vice president of data center development for Hut 8, said the plan is to lease the center to an undisclosed tenant, which will then buy computers and equipment. Trettel said Hut 8 serves as a developer for technology companies that need more computer infrastructure than they can build. The tenants of the data center will purchase $10 billion worth of computers and equipment, Havard said.

Hyundai planning new multibillion dollar steel mill in south Louisiana https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/business/hyundai-plans-to-build-steel-mill-in-south-louisiana/article_88c2c01a-f989-5774-8c14-e43cc5dccd8c.html Korean auto giant Hyundai is planning to build a multibillion dollar steel mill in Ascension Parish to supply its Hyundai and Kia vehicle assembly plants in the U.S., creating roughly 1,300 full-time jobs and notching a potential major economic development opportunity for south Louisiana, according to sources familiar with the project. Hyundai and Louisiana officials agreed on tax and other incentives in December, according to one of the sources, and Hyundai could break ground as soon as 2026. The project will require approvals from state and local regulators. If approved, it could be up and running by 2029, according to several sources with knowledge of the project. The new facility would be built on several hundred acres of sugar cane fields near Donaldsonville, about 30 miles south of Baton Rouge. The land was re-zoned by the parish several years ago for industrial use and is part of an industrial “megapark” that state and local economic development officials have promoted to companies in search of land for new chemical or manufacturing plants.

Wait....Assumption was moved out? It was only in for like 20 minutes.

Couldn't agree more. Broom was a disaster.

It's coming up quickly. Their only regret will be that that they didn't build it bigger.

This is a big deal for the St. Francisville, New Roads, and even Zachary areas. There are actually rumors about another data center almost immediately across the river from this one too. And both the RiverBend station and Big Cajun powerplants are about to start permitting for expansions. The bulk of the jobs these data centers bring are actually in power generation (they draw a LOT of energy).

https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/communities/west_feliciana/west-feliciana-parish-data-center/article_3fc5d1e6-a1f0-11ef-a8e3-c732ea418884.html Pretty big data center in the works for St. Francisville/New Roads area near the power plants. Could be a nice boost to the northern side of the metro, which is still heavily reliant on power generation and agriculture for their economy. Could be up to 1,000 construction jobs and several hundred high paying sustainment jobs. The buildings for these tend to be fairly low slung and will likely be masked by a tree buffer and heavy security.

What retailers are expanding in this economy? They'd better scale this back significantly and have a greater portion of it allocated to residential and healthcare.

I think they are going to put materials engineering, industrial engineering, and construction science in that building. It's needed. Those are huge areas for LSU. There is a shocking amount of industrial construction, chemical processing, and facility design going on here in Louisiana. It's very much a huge part of our economy that could potentially be at risk depending on who is in office (in both Baton Rouge and DC).

Looks like the footprint of the building OLOL wants to build for the cancer center is going to be between 35,000-40,000 square feet. I doubt it's more than 2 levels.

Anyone know whey they will get started on the Airline Highway widening? The locals have put up money to do it. Is the state dragging tail on this or is the parish just failing to organize anything properly? neither would surprise me really. EBR taxpayers voted to fund a variety of projects, including widening Airline between Florida Blvd and Plank Road - that's a very critical stretch of highway.

Didn't realize this earlier, but a friend of ours works at the company that's constructing these giant manufacturing buildings in Pointe Coupee Parish (New Roads/Morgana area). It's being done for a company called Industrial Fabrics, which is based in Baton Rouge. 160,000+ square feet, but it will only net about 25 permanent direct jobs - maybe + 5 or 10 indirect jobs with trucking, maintenance, etc. Nothing to sneeze at in a smaller town/distant suburb. I guess every little bit helps in this economy. This place will build and fabricate geotextiles that are used in silt fencing, road construction, etc. Materials will be produced here and shipped out to clients in Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas. I think this is the exact type of building that's in demand here in the Baton Rouge metro area and I think we'll see more pop up within industrial parks that have available space. This one pictured below is light manufacturing, but they can easily serve as distribution centers, processing centers, or even office flex space. They also tend to be steel frame, so it's pretty much termite proof and can handle the hurricane force winds this area periodically experiences. If we developed our highway network a little better, you'd see smaller job creators like this scattered about the metro area where land is affordable. I'm not even talking about major highways - just upgrading routes like LA30, US190, LA22, LA1, LA19, LA10, etc. to make them more suitable and efficient for heavy truck traffic would open up a lot of the state to economic development. Usually all it takes are additional lanes or even just turn lanes and higher speed limits.