Roughly four years after announcing the project, veteran real estate broker Chris Shaheen says he expects to break ground soon on his long-planned recreational retail development called The Oasis on Burbank.
Shaheen, sales manager at Marcus & Millichap, says he’s building The Oasis, a sand volleyball and sports bar development, on six of the roughly 10 acres he owns on Burbank Drive, southeast of the LSU campus. The planned development is located on Burbank between Lee Drive and Bluebonnet Boulevard, across from Lakeside Daiquiri & Grill.
Shaheen says sewer work is being completed. Building permits will be pulled once the city-parish Department of Public Works grants approval, he says. Site work and building construction will start soon after.
Sheehan expects to begin construction no later than next week and hopes to have the project done by summer 2017 in time to work out any “kinks” before football season begins.
Shaheen purchased the land in 2012, and was held up for years as he sought financing and a viable restaurant partner. He also waited for Sammy’s Grill owner Sammy Nagem to complete a buyout deal.
Nagem will open a smaller sports bar concept similar to Sammy’s Grill in The Oasis, Shaheen says, and will decide a name in late November.
The Oasis on Burbank will feature five sand volleyball courts and a 5,000-square-foot covered patio with a 20-foot screen for sports games and a virtual golf machine, as well as stage area for live music.
“It’s going to be a lot of live music, a lot of private parties, family reunions, high schools reunions,” Shaheen says. “It will be a multifaceted place.”
Shaheen envisions sand volleyball leagues, tournaments and special events there.
He says he saw an opportunity for a good land buy with the site, and developed the retail recreation idea after seeing people drive all the way across town to Mango’s Beach Volleyball, a local volleyball club, bar and restaurant located off Sherwood Forest Boulevard.
He expects the city-parish to eventually extend Kenilworth Parkway from where it currently ends at Highland Road to Burbank Drive, and plans to develop more commercial real estate on the site’s remaining acres when that happens.
Shaheen’s vision for The Oasis has been scaled back over the years. Originally, he planned to construct a recreational area with batting cages, a virtual golf center, outdoor sand volleyball courts and a large patio and deck area surrounding a family-friendly bar and restaurant. The development also was to include townhomes, which were scrapped more than a year after the Planning Commission OK’d the project’s zoning.
Shaheen told Daily Report that he scrapped the townhomes after receiving more interest from potential realtors.
—Sam Karlin
