Impact of housing bill expected to be felt in several months

The impact of the housing rescue bill, signed into law by President Bush last week, should be felt locally in about a week or two, says Joe Didier, president of the Capital Region Builders Association. "The Realtors are going to jump on it right now in marketing to potential clients, but it will take a little while," says Didier, who owns Didier Homes. Didier says the selling point will be a $7,500 tax credit for first-time homebuyers. "That's got to help the inventory status," he says.

The bill contains two measures that have special significance for Louisiana residents. One eliminates the Jan. 31, 2007 deadline for starting projects eligible to receive the GO Zone bonus depreciation tax credit. That's expected to have more of an impact in metro New Orleans and metro Lake Charles, since the deadline to finish GO Zone eligible projects in those parishes is Dec. 31, 2010. The deadline in East Baton Rouge is Dec. 31 of this year.

The bill also contains another hurricane-related change long sought by members of the state's Congressional delegation, eliminating a penalty the IRS charged to Road Home grant recipients who claimed a casualty loss in their 2005 income taxes. Eliminating the penalty is expected to help Road Home recipients save more than $1 billion in their taxes.

Work starts at Perkins Road sites

Demolition is well under way at two Perkins Road sites that will be the spots for high-profile, mixed-use developments. The Acadian Village Shopping Center at Perkins and Acadian Thruway is starting to come down, and demolition is almost complete at Perkins Road Hardware location. What will go into those two locations is still sort of unknown: Officials with Commercial Properties Realty Trust, which owns Acadian Village, and Donnie Jarreau Companies, which owns Perkins Road Hardware, are holding back on some details. Perkins Road Hardware will contain apartments and two restaurants, one a fine dining establishment owned by a New Orleans operator, the other a casual pizza parlor run by Zippy's owner Neal Hendrick. Acadian Village will contain the Acme Oyster House, which is scheduled to open this fall, and the State Bond Commission has approved $4 million for a Robert Fresh Market grocery store.

MAPP will build new Regions branch

MAPP Construction has been awarded a contract to build a Regions Bank branch at Essen Lane and Summa Avenue, across from Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center. The branch, scheduled to open in early 2009, will be the fifth Regions location MAPP has built.

Poll: Just under half say bailout won't help local housing market

Forty-nine percent of the people who responded to a Real Estate Weekly poll say the housing bailout plan signed by President Bush last week won't help the local real estate market. Thirty-seven percent say the move will help, and 14% are unsure. More than 100 people participated in the poll.

This week's question: What sort of business would you most like to see in a redeveloped Acadian Village Shopping Center?

Tom Cook: Brookwood Self-Storage acquires site

Brookwood Self-Storage has acquired a 4.58-acre site that wraps around the northwest quadrant at the intersection of Plank Road and Harding Boulevard for $530,452, or $2.66 per square foot. Brookwood will build a 115,000-square-foot, climate-controlled, self-storage facility on the site. This project had been in the works for a while; Brookwood had a tract just west of this location under contract with the Airport Commission. The Metro Council had to approve the deal with the Airport Commission, and negotiations broke down over market value for a long-term lease agreement.

(Appraiser Tom Cook owns Cook Moore and Associates. Reach him at 293-7006 or TCook@cookmoore.com.)

Brian Andrews: Are Louisiana banks sound?

It seems that we read about a bank being taken over every weekend these days, and that presents us with a question about Louisiana banks: How are they doing? It is a simple question that carries a complex answer for the layperson who does not follow the capital requirements, liquidity and management strength of our banks. But it is a fair question, given this rash of bank failures in other parts of the country, and one that should be addressed.

The good news is that the vast majority of our banks are doing well. That is the position of John Ducrest, commissioner of the Louisiana Office of Financial Institutions. In a July 16 financial update, Ducrest wrote that "the overall financial condition of the banks and thrifts in Louisiana remains extremely sound at this time." To read the update, click here.

The commissioner bases his statement on extensive examinations of the banks and something called a CAMELS rating, which, as I teach my finance students at LSU, is a composite rating of six major categories of bank performance: capital adequacy, asset quality, management, earnings, liquidity and sensitivity to market risk. According to the update, "a great majority (97%) of the banks and thrifts domiciled in Louisiana are rated in the highest two categories under the regulatory CAMELS ratings system." So our banks do appear to be sound, which is important for the continued growth of our communities and the continued funding of our real estate projects.

As to the bankers themselves, Ducrest says, "Management is experienced, capable, and operated under extremely adverse economic conditions in the mid-to-late 80's and early 90's." I remember those days quite well and agree that the lessons learned during those hard times are serving bankers and their customers well in these current times.

Bottom line: The banks are fine and the bankers are old. OK, not all of them are old, but they all do seem to be applying wise and prudent underwriting to keep the flow of funds stable. And that really is good news.

(Brian Andrews is a certified mortgage banker specializing in the financing of commercial real estate. His business is Andrews Commercial Mortgage and he can be reached at brian.andrews@acmla.com.)

Real estate recap: Steak, sushi restaurant coming to Essen; People moving into Perkins Rowe

New tenant for Vincent's location: Guang Ming Lin, who owns China One restaurant on Government Street, plans to open a high-end steak and sushi restaurant in the former Vincent's location at Essen Lane and Interstate 10. A long-term lease has been signed, and a Nov. 1 opening date has been targeted, says Mark Hebert of Kurz & Hebert Commercial Real Estate, who brokered the deal. Jim Tanner's Country Club Development owns the Vincent's building.Condo closings moving along at Perkins Rowe: Closings for condominiums in Perkins Rowe have started, and more than 60% of the units should be sold by mid-August. Tommy Spinosa Jr. says there are contracts for more than 50 of the 87 units in Perkins Rowe. Perkins Rowe got caught in the national credit crunch and a number of liens were filed against the mixed-use development, but Spinosa says the financing has been worked out. Despite the holdups, pricing at Perkins Rowe has increased over the past nine months, with condo units going for $318 a square foot.