The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local Union 995 has purchased a 21,497-square-foot office/warehouse at 8188 Tom Drive, with plans to relocate its electrical worker apprenticeship program there.
The union bought the building for $750,000, or $34.89 per square foot, from Illinois-based industrial supply company W.W. Grainger Inc. in a deal that closed Friday.
The new site will place the apprenticeship program, known as the Baton Rouge Area Electrical Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee, closer to the IBEW Local Union 995’s headquarters.
Leon Audibert III, a broker for Metairie-based Property One Inc., says the building is situated on a 1.35-acre site directly across the street from the Local Union 995’s headquarters. Audibert represented the IBEW Local Union in the deal. Ryan Greene, of Latter & Blum, represented the seller.
Tim Overmier, the union’s president, says the organization has wanted to move the training program closer to its hall for sometime now.
“The opportunity just happened with the Grainger building opening,” he says.
BRAEJATC is a five-year education and training program that’s a joint venture between IBEW Local 995 and the Baton Rouge Chapter of the National Electrical Contractors.
The program, Overmier says, aims to train the best electrical workers by having students work directly with qualified craftsman electricians. Classroom instruction occurs one night during the week, he says. Students are compensated as they learn, and they can earn college credit.
Roughly 90 to 100 students are enrolled in in the program, Overmier says, adding that applications for the August 2017 class are being accepted until June.
And while the apprenticeship program won’t operate out of the new Tom Drive site this year, it is hoped the building will be converted for the program’s use in time for next year’s class, Overmier says.
Get more information about the program.
—Alexandria Burris
