Developer Kevin Nguyen has acquired the 7.1-acre site at 8601 Siegen Lane that is home to a Winn-Dixie supermarket for $5.5 million. In a deal that closed Monday, Siegen-Perkins Plaza LLC, which is owned by Nguyen, acquired the property from Ellis Properties, a California investment firm that has owned the site for several years.
Nguyen believes the acquisition is a good long-term investment. Winn-Dixie spent $1.5 million renovating the 50,000-square-foot store in 2015 and recently renewed its 10-year lease, which has a five-year option to renew. What’s more, Nguyen already owns the adjacent 21,000-square-foot retail strip, whose tenants include such national retailers as GNC, Sally’s Beauty Supply, Supercuts, UPS and H&R Block.
“It’s a great location,” he says. “It’s growing very fast.”
Nguyen, who is currently renovating the 21,000-square-foot strip center, doesn’t have any immediate plans to change anything at the development. But he says there is enough space on the site to potentially develop an outparcel with a coffee shop or some other food-service tenant.
Nguyen says the retail market remains strong in Baton Rouge, though activity has slowed somewhat this fall.
“I think some retailers are waiting on the outcome of the election to make a move,” he says. “They just want to wait to see who is in the White House because that will impact their expansion. But the commercial market is very strong. We hear from a lot of national retailers who want to locate here, especially in busy corridors like Siegen.”
—Stephanie Riegel
