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News & Publications |
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Bass Pro Shops
After three years of working through a sales tax incentive issue, Missouri-based Bass Pro Shops is anticipated to begin site development this month in preparation for the construction of its 150,000 square foot store in Denham Springs. The store will anchor a 75-acre development including an additional 200,000 square feet of restaurants and retail shopping, and a hotel. The location in the Denham Springs Economic Development District allows sales tax revenue generated from the project to finance the construction of the store and surrounding infrastructure.
The city of Denham Springs, Livingston Parish Council, Livingston Parish Sheriff’s Office, Drainage District 1, the Livingston Parish School Board and state of Louisiana will provide contributions to retire $50 million in bonds.
The citizens of Livingston Parish also supported the sales tax financing for the project with their vote in April 2005.
Bass Pro Shops is widely known as a destination location for outdoor enthusiasts and others who travel from surrounding areas to shop for items often not found locally. Hence, the appeal to other companies for the services needed to support the retail shoppers.
The project will bring 300-350 permanent jobs; $7 million in annual wages; $60-$65 million in annual sales; and two million visitors per year to Livingston Parish.
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Juban Crossing
The much anticipated Juban Road Interchange is scheduled to open in early 2007, promising traffic relief at the highly congested area, and just in time for the parish’s largest multi-use land development.
Juban Crossing, a 471-acre mixed-use community being developed by Creekstone Companies of Baton Rouge, will become a destination for shopping, dining and entertainment in addition to its business and residential components.
The first phase of construction, breaking ground in summer 2007, will primarily include the retail center of national anchors flanked by specialty stores in an open air environment. This part is a joint venture with Montgomery, AL real estate company Jim Wilson & Associates. Professional office space, entertainment venues, restaurants, hotels and residences will soon follow, forming the “hometown” community of Juban Crossing.
Anticipated annual retail sales are over $500 million and an estimated 4,000 people may ultimately work at Juban Crossing’s 1.2 million square feet of retail space and 385,000 square feet of medical and office space. Restaurants, movie theaters, and other such establishments, along with 1,150 homes are planned.
The site, which has been held by the Juban family since the 1920s, is located on Interstate-12 at Juban Road. The community will have more than one mile of interstate frontage and will be accessed by the Juban Road interchange.
A site map of Juban Crossing can be found at www.ledc.net.
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Denbury Resources
Denbury Resources, an oil and gas company based in Plano, TX, will invest $88 million to recover petroleum from gas wells from the Lockhart Crossing field.
Denbury estimates production beginning in early 2007 will tap six million barrels from 52 wells at a top rate of 2,500 barrels of crude per day, producing more than $60 million a year for the Livingston Parish economy.
According to Denbury officials, about half of the royalty checks from production will go to local residents who have retained mineral rights over the years. The company expects to employ dozens of workers at its site off Duff Road near Walker.
Denbury Resources, Inc., the largest oil and natural gas operator in Mississippi, owns the largest reserves of CO2 used for tertiary oil recovery east of the Mississippi River.
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Shaw APP, a division of Shaw Group
Livingston Parish’s Fortune 500 company announced expansion plans again in 2006, to place their distribution center for metal fabricated products into a new 65,000 square foot building in the Livingston Industrial Park. They invested $1.7 million in that building.
In addition, Shaw Sunland Fabricators, located in the Park, invested $500,000 in equipment with state-of-the-art technology, including a pipe induction bender machine that can create curves in pipes up to 48 inches across using induction heating. Carbon steels, stainless steels and a variety of alloys can be bent, and the strength of the bend is even greater than the strength of the straight pipe. This expansion created 75 new jobs.
The Shaw Group is a world renowned, vertically integrated provider of complete piping systems and other fabricated metal products, and also provides comprehensive engineering, procurement and construction services for the energy, environmental, chemical and infrastructure industries.
The local plant has grown from about 350 employees and an $8 million payroll to 520 employees and a payroll over $18 million since it became the industrial park’s first tenant in 1987.
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LIGO Education Center
The Livingston Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) expanded its education program with the state-of-the-art LIGO Science Education Center. The 8,200 sq. ft. addition to the observatory features 40 interactive physics-related exhibits sure to be popular for school field trips.
LIGO is the brainchild of U.S. Rep. Richard Baker, an amateur astronomer. He played a key role in obtaining $296 million in federal funds supporting the project and a sister observatory in Washington state.
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Parish Libraries
Yet another sign of the progress in Livingston Parish is the expansion of the main library and the four new branches throughout the parish. The expanded, main 19,300 square foot Denham Springs-Walker library opened in December, and the four new regional branches are scheduled to open in early 2007 in Albany, Springfield, Watson and South Livingston with an investment totaling $11 million.
Parish voters approved a 4.86 mill property tax in 2003 to build a network of modern regional libraries, including the expansion of the main library in Livingston, which had been the only one specifically designed and built as a library.
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Hotel/Motel Development
With all the new and anticipated retail, entertainment, education, banking, manufacturing, and residential growth expected to attract millions to the parish, the growth of the hotel/motel sector in the form of several new developments was sure to follow.
A 65-room, three-story LaQuinta in Walker, is scheduled to open spring 2007 at the I-12 Walker exit just behind the Waffle House, employing 20 staff. A new Hampton Inn will be built in Denham Springs during 2007. Visitors looking for higher-end accommodations can stay at Carter Plantation’s new Preferred Hotel, which will soon open with 60 rooms, or at The Villas, which has 63.
These developments will bring the number of hotels/motels in the parish to ten.
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Dixie Business Center
Dixie Business Center, a wholly-owned subsidiary of DEMCO Electric, grew again in 2006 with the addition of Ashley Furniture.
Ashley Furniture executive Jay Inzenga located a new showroom in an available 23,000 square foot warehouse behind the LEDC office on Range Avenue, while the market is strong and he searches for a 40,000 square foot facility. Ample parking and easy access off the major roadway into the community make this transitional location ideal, according to Inzenga. Ashley Furniture has 57 employees and expects to make a significant contribution to the local economy in taxes from its sales and operations.
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Retail Surge
In addition to what the Bass Pro Shops and Juban Crossing will offer in the near future, there has been a huge surge in retail development from large national chains offering a myriad of products and services to residents of and visitors to Livingston Parish. Sales tax revenue continues to grow, but is anticipated to increase greatly in the next several years as residents and visitors spend their dollars locally rather than in neighboring parishes.
Names such as IHOP, Walgreen’s, Office Depot, CVS, and Murphy Oil are at the forefront of the retail market.
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Livingston is Louisiana’s Fastest Growing Parish
Statistics recently released by the U.S. Census Bureau ranks Livingston Parish as the fastest growing parish in Louisiana. From 2000 to 2005, the parish population grew 19 percent to 109,206 persons. This moves the parish from 3rd place growth (30.2%) from 1990 to 2000. “The parish has become very attractive for those wanting the comforts of a metropolitan area along with a high-ranking and growing school system, affordable housing, and amenities such as two top notch golf communities,” said John Ware, Livingston Economic Development Council Executive Director.
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Juban
Road/Interstate 12 Interchange Near Completion
The much anticipated Juban Road Interchange at a busy segment of Interstate-12 in Denham Springs is near completion. The area has seen significant residential and commercial development over the last decade, and was in great need of the interchange for traffic congestion relief. A top goal of Livingston Parish’s Economic Development Strategic Plan, the Juban Road Interchange will allow traffic to flow much easier for residents and visitors to the Denham Springs area. The project was a joint project between Livingston Parish and the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development.
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Juban Road Multi-Use Development
Local developers are planning a large multi-use complex at the Juban Road/Interstate-12 Interchange. The development includes 450 acres of retail, residential, parks, offices, hotels and more.
Click here for a rendering of the planned complex.
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Livingston Parish Garners Interest from the Film Industry
Location scouts from Hollywood descended upon Livingston Parish in early December to tour potential locations for upcoming filming of feature films. LEDC Executive Director, John Ware, and other parish officials took them to sites such as Carter Plantation, and they were pleased with the unique beauty of Livingston Parish.
“This interest came out of our trip with the Capital Area Economic Development Allies to the American Film Market convention in Los Angeles in October,” said Ware. Ware reported that over 300 attendees from the film industry visited the Louisiana booth initially to express concern, but walked away in amazement at what they unexpectedly heard — Louisiana is resilient and moving forward.
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Greystone Country Club Golf Community
The new Juban Road/Interstate-12 interchange in Denham Springs is already home to much residential and commercial development including the Greystone Country Club Golf Community, a 500-acre, 500-plus home development located on 16 lakes. With each new day it becomes clearer to the casual observer that the development will indeed fulfill its promise to home buyers anticipating a serene and satisfying environment.
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Carter
Plantation's Toms Course Ranked in the Top 10
The David Toms Signature Golf Course and residential development, Carter Plantation, a 7,000 plus-yard, par-72 course, has been named among the “Top 10 Courses You Can Play” by Golf Magazine, “Best in State” by Golf Digest, and “America’s Best” by Golf Week. The residential resort and golf community surrounds a plantation home that dates back to the early 19th Century and presently offers home sites, accommodations, meeting space, a first-class restaurant and recreation facilities. Phase II of the development will soon be completed with a 1,500 square foot swimming pool, a full-service spa, a fitness center, and tennis courts.
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Annual Reports
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
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