Final development plans for Towne Center Business Park were among the plans submitted to the city-parish Planning Commission in time for today’s application deadline.
The plans include renderings of a Starbucks Coffee and a Newk’s Eatery—a Mississippi-based café chain—both of which will occupy the 6,350-square-foot, two-suite building on an approximately 1.7-acre plot between Chase Bank and Carrabba’s Italian Grill on the corner of Commerce Circle and Corporate Boulevard. According to the application, the Starbucks will be 1,850 square feet with a 400-square-foot outdoor patio, while the Newk’s will be 4,500 square feet with a 500-square-foot outdoor dining area.
Gary Brem, director of development for Newk’s Eatery, says that while Newk’s has yet to sign the lease for the Towne Center Business Park space, it will likely be finalized within the next 30 days.
Brem couldn’t confirm Newk’s plans to open a location in the former Gatti’s Pizza at 3332 Lake St., however, though his name was on the application to rezone the restaurant building from C1 to CAB1 for restaurant alcohol zoning.
“We’re exploring it,” Brem says of the Lake Street space, which is between Chimes and State streets adjacent to the LSU campus. “But the rezoning is something that would help the property owner regardless if it’s Newk’s or [not].”
Newk’s has locations in 12 Southern states, including Louisiana, where it has restaurants in Monroe, Bossier City and Shreveport. In 2011, the eatery signed deals to open four locations in Baton Rouge and Lafayette.
Other applications filed with the commission for today’s deadline were Lakeview Properties, a 12-unit, four-story apartment building at 635 East State St. near Dalrymple Drive, and a six-building office park—totaling roughly 75,000 square feet—on an approximately 4-acre plot at 6700 Jefferson Highway adjacent to Millennium Towne Center Apartments.
