Corporate sponsorship possible for Town Square

When the North Boulevard Town Square project comes to fruition, and construction is expected to start within a year, it might be called the Capital One Town Square, featuring the Shaw Plaza and the Turner Fountain. Corporate branding, tastefully done, of course, could help the project team stretch its $4.5 million budget.

“The only reason for doing this is to get more bang for the public buck,” said project manager Dana Brown of Brown + Danos landdesign, during the project team’s first meeting with its oversight committee Tuesday afternoon. No one at the table objected to the idea of seeking corporate sponsorships; Downtown Development District Executive Director Davis Rhorer said he would check with the mayor and parish attorney’s offices to find out their policies on private sponsorships.

The initial discussions focused less on the physical design of the place than on coming up with every imaginable activity the square might host, including concerts, plays, video game tournaments, Mardi Gras parades and dog shows. Those ideas will then drive the redesign of the area, which includes all of North Boulevard from River Road to Fifth Street, along with Galvez Plaza. The project team plans to come back to the committee Sept. 2 with some actual design ideas. “This project is about what happens there, as much as where it happens and how it’s configured,” said Joey Furr of Joseph Furr Design Studio.—David Jacobs

Lamar reports 22% drop in profits

Lamar Advertising Co., which owns and operates outdoor advertising and logo sign displays, said this morning it earned a lower second-quarter profit as operating expenses rose. For the quarter ended June 30, profit declined 22% to $14.3 million, or 15 cents per share, compared with $18.4 million, or 19 cents per share, a year ago. Sales rose 3% to $323.8 million from $315.2 million. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial estimated a profit of 15 cents per share on sales of $319.4 million. For the third quarter, the company expects revenue to decline 5% to $309 million. Analysts expect higher sales of $320.9 million.

Two companies studying Haynesville pipeline

Two companies have agreed to pursue the development of a large pipeline to move natural gas from the Haynesville shale in northwestern Louisiana, considered potentially to be one of the largest domestic gas finds in years. The pipeline—to be known as the Haynesville Connector—would extend about 150 miles from western DeSoto Parish to several major pipelines that cross in the Delhi area of northeastern Richland Parish. The deal was announced by Denver-based DCP Midstream Partners LP and Houston-based M2 Midstream LLC, both of which are involved in the transportation of petroleum. A price was not disclosed. If the pipeline is built, completion is expected during the third quarter of 2009. The pipeline will have an estimated 1.5 billion cubic feet per day of capacity, the companies said.

La. salary budgets increasing at same rate as U.S.

Louisiana employers plan to increase their salary budgets by 3.9% next year, the same rate as the projected national increase. The WorldatWork Salary Budget Survey says Louisiana is one of nine states that will match the national increase. Salary budgets went up by 3.9% nationally and in Louisiana this year. WorldatWork says 90% of employees in the U.S. and Canada can expect to receive pay raises this year, with high performers getting 5% or more and below average workers getting less than 2%.

Jetson getting out of government

Raymond A. Jetson, the former Democratic state representative from Baton Rouge, is finally taking a bow from politics and government. He first entered the fray in 1984, when he won a special election to the House to replace his late father, Louis, who passed away shortly before that year’s regular session convened. Jetson served 16 years in the House before stepping down to focus on his work as pastor of Star Hill Baptist Church and other government work. He went on to serve as the deputy secretary for the Department of Health and Hospitals and, most recently, as CEO of the Louisiana Family Recovery Corps. But he officially relinquishes the latter position on Dec. 31—and enters retirement.

The recovery corps was created in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. When he was hired in April 2006, Jetson told the board of directors that he would serve no longer than three years. Ralph Stephens, director of the Baton Rouge office of Postlethwaite & Netterville and a recovery corps board member, says the board is “currently assessing the best path to take to name a successor,” but says it’ll be a tough job to replace the institutional wisdom possessed by a man like Jetson. “Those that have recovered or are still recovering from hurricanes Katrina and Rita are in a much better place today because of his leadership,” Stephens says.—Jeremy Alford

Cox adding HD channels for the Olympics

The 2008 Beijing Olympics start Friday, and Cox Communications is adding two new high-definition channels to provide specialized coverage. During the games, Cox subscribers will have access to the NBC Olympic Basketball Channel and the NBC Olympic Soccer Channel. The Sports Zone channel will also be converted to all Olympic events during the two weeks the games are going on. NBC plans to televise 3,600 hours of Olympics coverage, spread across its main broadcast channel, CNBC, MSNBC, USA, Oxygen and Telemundo—more hours than all previous Summer Olympics combined.

Poll: Most say they're not ready for hurricane season

Seventy-eight percent of respondents to a Daily Report poll say they haven't made preparations for the hurricane season. Twenty-two percent say they have. More than 1,200 people participated in the survey. Tropical Storm Edouard paralleled the Louisiana coast on Sunday and Monday before making landfall Tuesday morning on the upper Texas coast between Galveston and Port Arthur with 65 mph winds.

Today's question: Do you like the idea of corporate sponsorship for the North Boulevard Town Square?

News roundup: Pinnacle reports quarterly loss; majority of homeowners say their home value is insulated from real estate crisis; Freddie Mac swings to second-quarter loss

Casino operator spent $1.8 million on future Louisiana casinos: Pinnacle Entertainment says it lost $18.1 million in the second quarter because of casino closures and the cost to ramp up its new St. Louis resort. The company's L'Auberge du Lac casino in Lake Charles generated $90.2 million in revenue during the quarter, a 10% jump over the previous year. L'Auberge recently opened a 252-room hotel tower. Pinnacle says it spent $1.8 during the quarter on pre-opening and development costs for its Riviere casino resort on River Road and Sugarcane Bay casino in Lake Charles. Perception, meet reality: While preliminary results show that 77% of U.S. homes lost value in the past year, 62% of homeowners surveyed say their properties are either worth more or holding steady. Zillow, the online real estate community that conducted the survey, says Southerners have the worst perception of home values, while Westerners, who have been most impacted by the declining housing market, have the best. Dismal financial results: Freddie Mac on Wednesday posted a second-quarter loss that was more than three-times larger than Wall Street expected as a huge number of borrowers with good credit fell behind on their exotic and risky mortgages. The losses were concentrated in a handful of states—California, Florida, Nevada, and Arizona—where home prices shot up the most and are now falling precipitously. Freddie lost $821 million, or $1.63 a share, for the quarter that ended June 30, compared with a profit of $729 million, or 96 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Revenue fell to $1.69 billion from $2.34 billion.