Just about everyone who has ever visited South Louisiana will tell you that you can find some of the best food in the world in just about any city or town in the region. If all commerce revolved around food, there is little doubt that businesses would flock here. But all kidding aside, there are some very good reasons to do business in this great s...

Construction continues on Commerce Centre 42 Retail, the 34,000-square-foot shopping center going up on Airline Highway in Prairieville, between Commerce Centre Drive and Market Place Drive. The most recent lease agreement in the center was made by the owners of the La Caretta Mexican restaurants, who will open a Tex-Mex concept on the end cap spac...

The building that houses Frankie Marcello’s restaurant and five adjoining office condos in the the Bois de Chene office park at 7520 Perkins Road, near the Staring Lane intersection, have transferred hands from one investor to another in a deal that closed Thursday. The restaurant’s operations are not expected to be affected by the sale, and the co...

After more than 20 years in business at 9555 Airline Highway, Kirk's Tires and Accessories has sold its 58,000-square-foot property and is relocating to a new site on Airline, south of Interstate 12. Brewster Holdings Baton Rouge LLC, acquired the property from Kirk's in a transaction that closed Tuesday. The sale price was $3 million. Kirk's owner...

It's a market situation that gets real estate professionals excited: As supply and demand begin to converge, deals happen quickly and prices start to rise. The market for industrial space is approaching that point in parts of greater Baton Rouge as big plant expansions generate the first ripples of new business activity. "Demand is extremely high,"...

Event Holdings LLC, an affiliate of the Louisiana Culinary Institute, has purchased an office warehouse on a 1 acre site at the corner of Jefferson Highway and Arnold Road. The seller, Topaz of Louisiana Inc., was represented by Scot Guidry of Mike Falgoust & Associates Commercial Real Estate. The culinary institute was represented by Bobby Smi...

Louisiana led all U.S. states in the value of industrial construction projects during 2013 and was ranked second overall for all commercial construction, according to a new report released Tuesday. Nearly $4.9 billion in direct industrial construction spending happened in Louisiana last year, well ahead of Iowa, which was second with just over $2 b...

Central's City Market Shopping Center, located at 18564 Magnolia Bridge Road, has been sold for approximately $2.47 million, says Justin Langlois of Mike Falgoust & Associates Commercial Real Estate, who represented the seller in the deal. Built in 2007 and patterned off of a shopping center in Destin, Florida, City Market is located 2.5 miles ...

Baton Rouge Real Estate More commercial and residential projects in East Baton Rouge Parish received permits to proceed last month compared to the same period last year. According to new figures out from the city-parish Department of Public Works, a total of 64 commercial projects received permits in May, up from 60 last year. Residential permits, ...

Walmart, through its real estate business trust, has purchased a roughly 5.8-acre tract at the corner of La. 16 and Vincent Road in Denham Springs, on which it plans to develop one of its neighborhood market stores, which are smaller than its usual retail stores. Walmart also plans to develop a gas station on the site. The retail giant paid $1,392,...

In a deal that closed this afternoon, Baton Rouge-based Investar Bank purchased a 0.8-acre lot at Commerce Centre––a commercial park in Prairieville located on the southwest corner of Airline Highway and Commerce Centre Drive, across from La. 42––for $550,000. The bank intends to immediately begin construction on a full-service branch at the site, ...

The developers of Bluebonnet Palms Office Park will soon break ground on its sixth office building, which will be owned and occupied by a law firm, says Chris Pike, an investment and development specialist at Mike Falgoust & Associates who represents the office park. Under Bluebonnet HP Holdings LLC, the firm has filed its plan review applicati...

The third office building at Market Plaza Office Park on Coursey Boulevard has been sold, says Chris Pike, an investment and development specialist at Mike Falgoust & Associates who represents the speculative development. The same limited liability company that purchased the office park's first two buildings—Coursey Condos LLC—purchased the mos...

In a disturbing new finding from the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), the risk of purchase loan defaults under stressful economic conditions hit an all-time high in April. The "flash release" put out on Monday showed the National Mortgage Risk Index (NMRI), climbed to 11.89 last month, meaning that nearly 12 percent of loans would be at risk of...

As the purchase and sale of single tenant NNN space continues its torrid pace into the first quarter of 2014, the financing for such transactions is also at record production levels. The number of 1031 exchanges has been on the rise over the past few years, and the the NNN space has become a favored place for exchange buyers to park their money due...

Last year saw the return of a thriving office investment market, so much so in fact, that several local markets saw significant chunks of their overall stock of buildings change hands in 2013. Analyzing such office inventory turnover can provide a good barometer of where office investment dollars are flowing, and also reveal markets that offer oppo...

In the equivalent of an NFL referee throwing a penalty flag and then picking it up and saying "never mind," the IRS has notified three firms seeking to reorganize their real property holdings into new REITs that it will resume working on their conversion requests. The three companies in the process of REIT conversions - Lamar Advertising Co., Iron ...

When showing office space to tenants, we are often asked questions regarding the classification of the office space. The most often asked question is, " What is the difference between Class A office space, Class B office space and Class C office space?" There is no simple answer because national organizations across the country define it differentl...

Good news for Baton Rouge businesses and residents...according to the Baton Rouge Business Report, sales tax revenues increased 5.8% in the month of September. City and parish sales tax revenues increase 5.8% Sales tax collections in the city and parish, excluding vehicle taxes, rose to $12.8 million in August from $12.1 million a year ago-an incre...

According to a recent article on the Baton Rouge Business Report's Daily Report, Louisiana is doing better than a majority of the country as it climbs out of the recession. More good news for Louisiana and Baton Rouge! Louisiana compares well to most other states, economic data shows A new index of indicators of state economic momentum shows state ...