Subcontractors protest at Perkins Rowe

The owners of a local painting and drywall business were picketing at Perkins Rowe on Monday afternoon, saying they are owed more than $7,800. Teresa and Manuel Sanchez of J&M Painting Contractors, say they've been owed the money since March. "We need this money to live on," says Teresa Sanchez, who was holding a sign that read, "Where is our money?" J&M was working as subcontractors for Omega Construction, which was working for MAPP Construction on the Fish City Grill restaurant. The couple says they plan to protest until they get paid for their work.

Mike Polito, who owns MAPP Construction, says his company was waiting on payment from Fish City Grill. Paul Carlson, general manger of Perkins Rowe, says J&M's problems are "entirely between them and Fish City Grill" and don’t involve developer JTS.

There are liens on file against JTS, which developed the mixed-use project at Bluebonnet Boulevard and Perkins Road. The problems stem from the national credit crunch, which dried up some of the funding sources for JTS. The contractors contacted by Real Estate Weekly didn’t want to discuss their problems on the record, saying that they were hopeful a resolution could be reached.

Carlson says the amount of liens was not unusual and are part of doing a project the size of Perkins Rowe. Also, not every liens was filed because of nonpayment; in some cases they involved disputed work that had to be resolved. The project is working toward getting a new source of funding for the permanent loans. "Everybody is going to get paid," he says. "This has nothing to do with Perkins Rowe running out of money. That isn't the case."--Timothy Boone

Port Allen property sold for bank branch

Investar Bank has purchased a .73-acre site along La. Highway 1 in Port Allen and plans to open its second branch there in early 2009. The Baton Rouge-based community bank paid $265,000 for the property. Investar plans to build a 2,700-square-foot branch on the site, with drive-thru lanes and an ATM. Investar moved into its permanent home on Perkins Road at the end of May. Patrice Theriot, assistant vice president, says more locations in Baton Rouge and surrounding cities are being considered.

Number of million dollar listings continuing to rise

In January 2005, when former LSU football coach Nick Saban put his home on the market for $3.25 million, there were 15 homes in metro Baton Rouge with an asking price of more than $1 million. At the time, local Realtors said it wasn't that long ago that a million asking price was rare for the market.

Now, fast-forward to July 2007. There are 67 houses currently in the Greater Baton Rouge Association of Realtors' Multiple Listing Service with asking prices of more than $1 million. That doesn't include the upscale homes that are for sale outside of MLS channels. Naturally, upscale neighborhoods such as the Country Club of Louisiana and Bocage Lakes are represented with properties. But there are houses in Zachary, Prairieville and Springfield where the asking price is more than a million.

The top dog is an estate in the Country Club of Louisiana that has an asking price of just under $4 million. That will get you a 6,300-square-foot West Indies-style estate with a great view of the golf course. The rise in local home prices, even in the face of a market that is slowing down a little bit, might end up being the biggest mark Hurricane Katrina leaves on Baton Rouge.—Timothy Boone

Poll: Readers split on Briarwood use

Real Estate Weekly readers are split on what Woman's Hospital should do with the part of Briarwood Golf Course that won't be taken up by its new medical campus. Thirty-seven percent of the people who responded to an online poll say a TND/smart-growth development should be put on the land. That was two votes ahead of the 36% who say the course should remain open as a 9-hole golf course. Eleven percent say a shopping center/big-box store should be built on the land, while 16% chose something other than the three listed options. More than 200 people participated in the survey.

This week's question: Will the Federal Reserve raise interest rates before the end of the year?

Tom Cook: Select Building Systems buys land

Select Building Systems, the parent company of Big Eazy Development, purchased a 1.92-acre site on La. Highway 30, just south of the Tanger Outlet Center in Gonzales. The sale price was $425,000, or just over $5 per square foot. Jonathan Starns with Donnie Jarreau Real Estate Company listed the property. The seller was Sherwood Pointe, which had purchased the property a year and a half ago for about $3 per square foot, Starns says. Austin Earhart of Beau Box Commercial Real Estate represented the buyer. Earhart says Select Building Systems recognized a growing light industrial construction market in the Ascension Parish area and decided to purchase the site for development of a branch office.

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

Brian Andrews: Bad news not over for large banks

It was hoped that the large New York and other money center banks had recognized their losses and found the bottom of the profit barrel, but it now looks like there is another wave coming. Lehman Brothers, UBS and other big players are announcing new rounds of write-offs as the credit and liquidity crunches drag on. So look for more bad news coming from the national press on banking.

But what about banks in South Louisiana? Recent information still indicates that our banks are doing well and still have plenty of capital and liquidity. Are they experiencing a slowdown in lending and are credit problems increasing? Sure, but not nearly the extent being experienced with their distant relations in other markets. And our banks were quicker to respond by tightening underwriting standards and returning to credit basics, so they are still in a

position to provide needed capital for active and growing businesses.

The hot buttons for banks looking at commercial real estate deals are old standards: stable cash flow, experienced and well capitalized sponsorship, and solid collateral values. Money is still available for good deals and deals with good stories. It just takes a little more persistence than in years gone by.

(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: Two LSU-area apartment complexes change hands; Kress filling up; Southdowns Village gets artsy

New owner for University Crescent and Burbank Commons: An Austin, Texas-based student housing developer has taken over the University Crescent and Burbank Commons apartment complexes as part of a $1.4 billion deal. American Campus Communities acquired the complexes as part of its merger with GMH Communities trust. ACC paid $30.8 million for University Crescent, which has 192 units, and $21.3 million for Burbank Commons, which has 440 units. Seafood restaurant, boutique, coffee shop, urgent care clinic in the works for downtown: The owners of the popular Little Village restaurant are planning to open a second downtown fine-dining spot this fall in the refurbished Kress at Third & Main building. A letter of intent is in place for the Little Village Fish House to move into a spot along Third Street, says John Schneider, president of Cyntreniks of Baton Rouge, which is redeveloping the Kress building. Cyntreniks is negotiating with several other retail tenants, including a deli, which would sell breakfasts and light lunches and then serve desserts and cordials at night, a movie theater and a regional women's clothing store. The plan would be to have the restaurants, women's store and theater on Third Street. On the Main Street side, potential tenants include a pharmacy, an urgent care clinic and a credit union, Schneider says. Tenants moving into Southdowns Village: Four tenants are moving into Southdowns Village as part of an art and design section of the Perkins Road shopping center. Interior design firm Interiors 2, architectural hardware retailer The Front Door, Jeannie Frey Rhodes Photography and a second location for Ann Connelly Fine Art are scheduled to open in the center over the next few months, says Sage Roberts, a spokeswoman for Donnie Jarreau Companies, which is redeveloping Southdowns Village.