Mention Cortana Mall in a conversation, and you’ll get a wealth of responses ranging from recollections of the mall’s opening in 1976 at Airline Highway and Florida Boulevard to comments on the new rebranding campaign launched this year.
Percy Singleton, 47, has heard them all. Cortana’s new general manager inherited the position from Norman Landry, who served in that role for 30 years before moving into a semi-retired position as community liaison and an adviser for mall operations. It’s not a responsibility Singleton takes lightly.
Singleton knows each nook and cranny of the mall because of long hours spent in housekeeping and security as well as management. Singleton’s face lights up as he talks about his vision for the decades-old shopping center, and he punctuates his points with hand gestures and an excited tone.
Managing Cortana isn’t just a job. It’s a legacy.
“I’ve been at Cortana for 30 years in some form or fashion,” Singleton says. “Cortana has been in this community for a long time. It’s a part of Baton Rouge, and I foresee it having a brighter future to come.”
Singleton was 17 years old when he began his career at Cortana. Singleton, an all-district and all-parish linebacker at Glen Oaks High School, had big dreams of a career in professional football. But during the fourth quarter of the last game of the season, he was clipped, tearing ligaments in his knee. Doctors said he had played his last game.
His grandfather, the crew chief for Cortana’s housekeeping department, had a solution. He recruited Singleton to work as a housekeeping employee in 1979.
Singleton worked in housekeeping for two years while attending Southern University. One day, he helped mall security with an incident that prompted one of the guards, Calvin Brown, to recruit him for the department—despite Singleton’s initial protests.
Singleton worked Cortana security for several years, pulling triple duty as a guard at the Elayn Hunt Correctional Center in 1981 and as a member of the Baton Rouge Police Department reserves for two years while waiting for a position at the police academy. Singleton joined the police department in 1985, and he served as an officer for almost 13 years.
Even then, Singleton’s path led back to Cortana. He was assigned to be the mall’s liaison officer in 1990. While serving as a police officer, Singleton became security director for Cortana, implementing a camera system and bicycle patrol and also increasing patrol personnel.
One night, Singleton had a revelation while working a shift at 3 a.m. for the police department.
“I had this vision, this realization that my work here is done,” Singleton says. “It was just this peaceful feeling that came over me. It was really about faith. I just kept being drawn back here.”
Singleton stayed on as Cortana’s security director while he ran his own security company, which he discontinued in 2006. He also held a position on the Louisiana Board of Private Security Examiners.
Meanwhile, Landry was considering retirement and looking for someone to replace him as general manager. Singleton immediately came to mind.
“He’s worked with me all these years,” Landry says. “I wanted to give him the opportunity to become assistant general manager, to be my understudy, so to speak.”
Singleton accepted the job in 2003, and with it began a crash course in mall management.
“I’m a security guy, but I knew a lot about the shopping center,” Singleton says. “They felt that with my leadership in the security department and my management background, that it would be a good fit.”
Landry stepped down at the beginning of the month with no qualms about Singleton filling his shoes, especially since he’s still around to offer advice if necessary.
“I had no reservations about turning the reins over to Percy,” Landry says. “It was the right thing to do at this point in my life. It was time to get some new juices flowing.”
Although Cortana has seen the development of other high-profile shopping districts that have drawn traffic away, Singleton firmly believes that Cortana has a place in the community.
In light of the economic recession, the way to compete, Singleton says, is to focus on brands and value. In March, the mall reverted to its original name after calling itself the Mall at Cortana for the previous decade. The change tied in with a new marketing campaign.
“We have an opportunity to succeed in this market,” Singleton says. “Baton Rouge can sustain the amount of retail here currently, and I don’t think that anybody should count Cortana out.”
Singleton also wants to help develop the shopping district surrounding Cortana as well as the interior of the mall. The economy, he says, is what will drive not only Cortana’s future, but also the future of the entire retail community.
“National and regional retail establishments have reduced employment, filed for bankruptcy or closed their companies,” Singleton says. “This is not a Cortana problem. It’s a national problem that we are all dealing with.”
Singleton is not the only longtime employee at Cortana, and he credits his family and the mall environment for shaping him into the individual he is today. As for any lingering dreams of the NFL?
“God does everything for a reason,” Singleton says. “The 14 days I work in a row, I choose to do that and I’m happy with it. I don’t regret it.”
