Towne Center listed for sale

A Dallas company is listing the Towne Center at Cedar Lodge retail center as an investment opportunity. Holliday Fenoglio Fowler is marketing the 358,000-square-foot shopping center as a trophy asset, noting that the retailers in Towne Center such as Whole Foods, American Eagle Outfitters and Coldwater Creek are consistently bringing in sales from $375 to $500 per square foot. The shopping center is nearly 97% occupied, HFF says.

Stephen Keller of Creekstone Companies, which owns Towne Center, was out of the country and unavailable for comment this morning. The first Towne Center stores opened in 2005, and the center has attracted a mix of upscale national retailers and New Orleans-area businesses that wanted to set up Baton Rouge locations after Hurricane Katrina. Since developing Towne Center, Keller has started work on two new projects: Juban Crossing, a shopping center/TND at the Interstate 12/Juban Road intersection in Livingston Parish, and a 125-acre TND in Lafayette.

Estimates are the center could sell for between $54 million and $72 million, depending on how high the average rents are. With the dollar being so weak there's speculation Towne Center could end up in the hands of European investors. --Timothy Boone

LRA-Regents report pushes for innovation alliance

The Louisiana Recovery Authority and the Louisiana Board of Regents have issued a report urging the state to create a partnership between universities in order to spur research and economic development. The partnership should be led by a private, nonprofit group—the Louisiana Innovation Alliance—that would work with businesses, research universities and state government to move ideas from the lab to the marketplace. A similar program in Georgia has led to the creation of 125 new companies and more than 4,000 jobs since 1992. To read the report, click here.

IEM receives FEMA disaster planning contract

IEM, a Baton Rouge-based emergency and disaster management consulting firm, has been awarded a $4.5 million contract by FEMA for earthquake preparedness in the New Madrid Seismic Zone, which includes more than 600 counties in eight states: Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee, the company announced. Wayne Thomas, IEM’s vice president of homeland security and emergency management, called the project “the single largest disaster planning effort ever undertaken by FEMA.”

La. Politics by John Maginnis: Big field taking shape in 6th District

With the 6th District Democratic primary getting more crowded, the talk at Washington Mardi Gras is that Baton Rouge attorney Jason Decuir, who lost a close state Senate race last fall, might qualify next week to run as an independent. Decuir has hired Kitchens Group to conduct a poll before he decides on the race.

As an independent, Decuir would bypass the Democratic primaries and go straight to the May 3 general election, which could be decided by a plurality. He did not return a call for comment.

Announced Democratic candidates are Reps. Don Cazayoux and Michael Jackson and Andy Kopplin, former head of the Louisiana Recovery Authority.

Announced Republican candidates are former Rep. Woody Jenkins, governmental consultant Laurinda Calongne and former Baker chief of staff Paul Sawyer. Metro Councilman David Boneno and BESE member Chas Roemer still are considering the race. Qualifying runs Tuesday through Thursday.

—A political source in the 1st Congressional District says that Dave Treen told him he would not qualify for the special election next week. The top Republican candidates south of the lake, Sen. Steve Scalise and Jefferson Parish Councilman John Young, are working the crowds at Washington Mardi Gras. Staying home are the two Northshore contenders, Rep. Tim Burns and Slidell Mayor Ben Morris.

—After Chancellor Sean O'Keefe's forced resignation, LSU sources say the next campus leader to come under critical review could be Tim Ryan, chancellor of the University of New Orleans. Though no change is imminent, Ryan won no friends on the Board of Supervisors when he showed support for a possible realignment of higher education that would move UNO from under LSU to the University of Louisiana System. Those talks went nowhere. As for job performance, Ryan will have to answer for UNO's success or lack of winning competitive research grants.

John Maginnis publishes the Louisiana Political Fax Weekly and Lapolitics.com.

Cox promotes Vines to senior vice president

Jacqui Vines has been named the senior vice president and general manager for Cox Greater Louisiana. Vines, who has led the company's Baton Rouge offices since 2001, had been the vice president and region manager for Cox. Vines will continue to oversee daily cable and communications operations for the Cox offices in Baton Rouge and Lafayette.

Woman's Hospital doctor chosen as online panel expert

Dr. Kenneth Brown, medical director and chief medical officer for Woman's Hospital, has been chosen by Destination Maternity to be an expert panelist on the company's Web site. Brown, an OB-GYN who's practiced medicine for 25 years, will offer prenatal health advice and information through DestinationMaternity.com's Q&A feature. The company, which bills itself as the world's largest maternity retailer, opened a Baton Rouge location at Bluebonnet Parc Shopping Center in June. --Steve Clark

Arkansas columnist: Blame facilities, not Brady, for LSU basketball woes

LSU basketball coach John Brady is on the hot seat, with the Tigers sitting at the bottom of the SEC West. But Wally Hall of The Arkansas Democrat Gazette says the problem isn't the coach, but the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. "LSU doesn't need a new coach. It needs to build a new Pete Maravich Assembly Center, or at least update the 37-year-old facility," Hall says. That Brady has been able to recruit players such as Brandon Bass, Tyrus Thomas and Glen Davis while being handicapped by such poor facilities is amazing, Hall says. Read the column here. The Tigers (7-11, 0-4 SEC) play host to Arkansas (13-5, 2-2) at 8 p.m. Saturday.

Meanwhile, Seth Davis, who covers college basketball for Sports Illustrated, says Anthony Grant, the head coach at Virginia Commonwealth, could be headed to LSU if Brady is fired. Grant, a former Florida assistant, nearly became the Gators’ coach after last season, when Billy Donovan briefly took a job with the NBA’s Orlando Magic. Read a New York Times profile of Grant here.

News roundup: Study says the more successful you are, the more you drink; Teen reportedly wanted to crash plane into the Cajundome; Site shows walkable neighborhoods

Sip up the ladder: A British study shows that men who hold the highest positions in big companies are drinking the equivalent of nearly three bottles of wine a week—slightly above the weekly recommended amount of alcohol. The report from the Office of National Statistics, which was cited in The Independent, also shows that doctors, lawyers, accountants and other professionals are consuming above-average amounts of alcohol. British men were also drinking twice as much as women. Read the article here. Hijacking plot aimed at Hannah Montana: A California teenager was arrested by the FBI in Nashville, Tenn., after FBI agents said he planned to commandeer and crash a plane headed to Nashville, Tenn. The teen, 16, from Novato in northern California, had handcuffs, duct tape, rope and other suspicious items on a flight from Los Angeles on Tuesday, but FBI spokesman George Bolds wouldn’t say what led to a tip about the teenager. Nashville-area media reported the teen intended to crash or divert the plane to Lafayette during the Hannah Montana concert in the Cajundome. The concert is scheduled for tonight, not Tuesday, the day of the teen’s flight. The teen reportedly once lived in Louisiana. Walk the line: A new Web site provides the walkability of homes and apartments, by looking at the distance to nearby grocery stores, schools, churches, movie theaters and other attractions. WalkScore.com calculates the proximity and assigns a score for the address, based on a scale of 0 to 100. The site notes that living in a walkable neighborhood is good for your health and the environment.