The former Kaiser Aluminum site is being redeveloped for new users. Tony DeMarco, industrial specialist with NAI/Latter and Blum, has been working with the property for many years. After Kaiser closed, DeMarco sold the site to Formosa Plastics in 1999. In January, he brokered a 15-acre portion of the site for $3.5 million to a CEMUS LLC, a company represented by Gary Lewis and Cary Goss. On July 25, he brokered a second site containing 65 acres for $11 million. The total purchase was $14.5 million for the 90-acre former plant site, which calculates to about $3.70 per square foot.
The property at the base of the U.S. 190 bridge is one of the better industrial sites on the river. It is on what is called the Baton Rouge Crest and has access to the Mississippi River that is unrestricted by a levee. The site has approximately 2,000 square feet of river frontage. The improvements on site include a deepwater pier and a large storage warehouse. According to Lewis, they will spend about $5 million repairing the pier and warehouse.
DeMarco has secured two new users for the site. Southern Ionics will invest $11 million in plant construction on a 9.5-acre portion of the site and intends to hire 30 new local employees. River Mountain Quarries has leased a 13-acre parcel but has not released details of its redevelopment. Lewis says an additional tenant was interested in the site that would bring another $250 million liquid and dry bulk storage facility.
The site has a long history from when it was used as a bauxite plant to make product that helped win WWII to when it was occupied by Kaiser, at one time one of the area’s a major employers. “It is an older site,” DeMarco says, “but one of the best locations on the river.”
It has rail, river and interstate access, not to mention multiple pipelines available to it. “You don’t change the significance of this type river frontage for industrial users,” DeMarco says.
There are about 65 acres left to redevelop, and DeMarco says we have had strong interest from major companies across the nation.
Shopping center planned
Tower Capitol Holdings, a local real estate development company, acquired a site just off La. 30 near Interstate 10 several years ago for about $1.50 per square foot. Another developer, Carlisle Resorts, later purchased an adjoining site, a portion of which was sold for the construction of Cabela’s. A portion of Tower Capitol’s ownership fronts on the entrance to Cabela’s, and now Tower Capitol has acquired additional acreage from Carlisle to construct a shopping center. Tower Capital Holdings purchased about 7.14 acres for a total price of $2,566,244 or about $8.25 per square foot. Collier Thornton and Christopher Dozier with Thornton, Harvison and Rhodes Real Estate represented Tower Capitol and Brent Rhodes with the same firm represented Carlisle Resorts.
Preliminary plans call for about 90,000 square feet of retail space to be constructed and two out parcels to be sold off. “We have had significant interest from major retailers,” Dozier says, “and we are close to signing several.”
Plaquemine site sells
William Middleton with Sealy Falgoust Realtors brokered a 118-acre site on Choctaw Road in Plaquemine. According to Middleton, the July 31 sale passed for a price of $1.2 million, or about $10,170 per acre. The seller was Nicholas Cage, and the purchaser was Dr. Adam Campo. The new owner will develop a residential rehabilitation facility, modeled after one in North Louisiana. The plan is to have a low-density development with nature trails so the residents can enjoy the wooded areas on the rear of the site. The site was rezoned after it was placed under contract to be purchased. The sale price indicates rising land prices in the Plaquemine area.
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