Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to reflect that Donny Rouse, and not Donnie Jarreau, is representing Rouses Supermarket. An earlier version of this story was incorrect. Daily Report regrets this error.
Rouses Supermarket is planning its third Baton Rouge store at Burbank and West Lee drives, and it will anchor a large development called Arlington Marketplace that will feature around 10 to 12 small retailers, quick service restaurants and a midsized box store.
“It’s a great area,” says Donny Rouse, the chief executive officer of Rouses. “We felt like it was one of the holes in our market we could take advantage of.” Rouse adds that the company will purchase and not lease its space.
Justin Langlois, managing director of SVN | Graham, Langlois & Legendre, is negotiating leases for the development. He says the developer—Jason Eisenberg—will finish the permitting process in early 2017, and plans to sign leases with the businesses that will occupy the space in March. Construction will be finished and the shopping center operational in late 2018, Langlois says.
The 128,750-square-foot site is directly in front of Arlington Cottages and Townhomes, an off-campus student housing complex around two miles from Tiger Stadium.
Langlois says he has received letters of intent from several restaurants and small retailers.
Rouses will occupy a 55,000-square-foot anchor building. Connected to that will be a 6,000-square-foot restaurant and 25,400-square-foot junior anchor on one side, and a 12,000-square-foot retail store or restaurant on the other side.
Fronting West Lee Drive will be a 10,000-square-foot building and an 8,400-square-foot building, each of which will house several retailers. The development will have another 8,400 square feet of retail space adjacent to an unnamed side street.
Langlois says he has received interest from pet supply companies, local and national fast casual restaurant chains, coffee shops and a sushi concept. He has also received interest from gourmet burger concepts, which he notes are a big trend in the area right now.
The development is across the street from a shopping center that includes Winn-Dixie, Fuzzy’s Taco Shop and Raising Cane’s, among other retailers. Several residential developments have popped up in the area, especially for student housing.
“There is a very strong appetite for retail in this corridor,” he says. “It’s maybe even stronger when you announce you have a grocery store coming.”
Rouses’ presence in the Capital Region continues to grow. It already has stores at Juban Crossing near Denham Springs and off Airline Highway near Antioch Road in Baton Rouge. It also announced a deal earlier this year to buy all of LeBlanc’s nine Capital Region stores.
—Sam Karlin
