Aside from Gov. Bobby Jindal making his presidential bid official this week and historic rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the Affordable Care Act and same-sex marriage, plenty of big local stories made headlines in Daily Report this week.
The week kicked off with news of East Baton Rouge Parish’s largest home sale ever. As first reported by Daily Report, Paula Pennington de la Bretonne’s estate at 11001 Highland Road sold for $6 million after more than two and a half years on the market.
Dr. Andre Bruni and his wife, Dr. Jessica Bruni—who together own Sensible Dental Family Dentistry—acquired the property, which sits on 12.5 rolling acres in one of Baton Rouge’s most desirable locations. Though the deal marks the highest priced residential sale ever in the local market, the sale price is just one third of the $18 million the home was listed for when it went on the market in October 2012. The asking price was later reduced to $12 million.
Meanwhile, over at City Hall on Wednesday, an early adjournment the Metro Council due to a lack of a quorum stalled a number of significant projects, including the creation of a special taxing district to help finance construction of a new downtown Courtyard Marriott.
Another item delayed was the appropriation of $1 million in traffic impact fees that will help fund the environmental and planning phase of the proposed Nicholson corridor streetcar. The city-parish received a $1.76 million federal TIGER grant earlier this year to begin planning for the streetcar along three miles of Nicholson Drive between the LSU campus and downtown, and it is required to put up $1 million in matching funds.
Also this week, the Greater Baton Rouge Association of Realtors reported that for the second straight month, home sales in the eight-parish Capital Region fell in May, compared to the same month last year. Home sales were down 7.6% in May.
Here’s a rundown some of the other top stories making headlines in Daily Report this week:
- Ochsner Health Systems has been in discussions with officials from Baton Rouge General Medical Center regarding a possible collaboration between the institutions that, at the very least, could involve Baton Rouge General joining a newly created Ochsner Health Network.
- Among the investors interested in acquiring Perkins Rowe is the Atlanta-based development company Songy Highroads, whose owner, David Songy, is a Louisiana native and close friend of local developer Mike Wampold.
- Officials with the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport are working on ways to engage the business community and help corporate customers understand the importance of supporting the local airport as a way of, ultimately, increasing flight service here.
- Baton Rouge area homebuilders say a combination of pent-up demand for new housing, increased consumer confidence in the economy, easier financing options and an influx of new jobs has sent the number of new housing starts in East Baton Rouge Parish through the roof this spring.
- Developer Kevin Nguyen closed on a $3.2 million deal to acquire 61.5 acres of vacant land on Ben Hur Road, just south of the intersection of Burbank Drive, clearing the way for the start of a new subdivision called Lake Villas.
- Baton Rouge-based Pod Pack International, which manufactures and distributes single-serve coffee pods, recently completed a facility expansion at its 11800 Industriplex Blvd. headquarters, but continues to look for a larger space to meet the needs of its rapidly expanding business.
- Baton Rouge-based Walk-On’s Bistreaux & Bar announced the rapidly growing restaurant chain will see its first location open outside of Louisiana in Lubbock, Texas.
- Kimberly Matsko, who founded Yoga Bliss in 2008, has ended her partnership in the business to focus on her other business, The Big Squeezy, a cold-pressed juice bar near the Perkins Road overpass.
- Developer Larry Jordan is suing the Planning Commission and the city-parish over Heritage Oaks, his proposed subdivision off Highland Road near Pecue Lane.
- Bengal Industries has purchased its recently constructed, 6,100-square-foot headquarters building at 16260 Airline Highway in Prairieville for $2.1 million.
- After operating for about 25 years at at 722 Jefferson Highway, Capital Heights Veterinary Clinic is set to move its operations to a larger space at 7662 Goodwood Blvd. later this summer.
- Valero has acquired a 1.7-acre tract in Dutchtown at the intersection of La. 73 and La. 621, just off Interstate 10 in Ascension Parish, and plans to develop a 19,000-square-foot convenience store and gas station on the site.
- It has taken nearly 10 years of trying and failing, but local FedEx Freight technician Mark Galliand has finally earned a spot to compete among the nation’s best truck technicians in an industry-wide competition that will be held later this year in Orlando.
—Steve Sanoski
