Donnie Jarreau-led group buys Drusilla Shopping Center, plans $2 million renovation

A group of investors led by Donnie Jarreau has purchased the Drusilla Shopping Center from Gary and Gayle Lewis for $10.5 million. The shopping center, which is located at the busy intersection of Drusilla Lane and Jefferson Highway, near Interstate 12, is in a prime location with high visibility, says Jarreau. Plus, with 140,000 available square feet spread across five separate buildings, he says the price was right. “We paid $72 per square foot,” says Jarreau. “Those are warehouse prices.” The shopping center, whose tenants include Hi Nabor Supermarket, Hancock Fabrics and Drusilla Seafood, is currently 90% occupied. Jarreau says his group plans to begin $2 million in renovations and upgrades to the shopping center immediately, much as it did to Southdowns Shopping Center several years ago. That center was only 60% occupied at the time Jarreau bought it. Since then, he says, a facelift, renovation and new tenant mix has helped revenues to double. Renovation plans for Drusilla call for putting a new façade on the buildings, updating signage, repairing the parking lot, replacing and upgrading the lighting, adding new landscaping, and adding awnings, many of the same upgrades that were received so well at Southdowns Village. Jarreau says some new tenants will be announced at a later date. The Lewises had owned Drusilla since 1999, when they bought it for $6.2 million. —Stephanie Riegel