Forte & Tablada has purchased two additional lots on North Boulevard for its planned Downtown East headquarters. The parcels collectively cost $262,144.
The sellers are listed as Arkel International, Homer and Dorothy Goldman Knost and George M. and Elisa Schaffer.
With the purchase, Forte & Tablada now owns the entire strip of land along North Boulevard between 10th and 11th streets, says President and CEO Ann Trappey.
“We’re getting ready to make a major investment on the original piece that we bought,” Trappey says. “We’re going to be building our new headquarters there. We just wanted to have the extra pieces in case we needed it and just as an investment for future development on that property.”
Construction of Forte & Tablada’s new headquarters is expected to begin before the end of this year, Trappey says. The project is still in the planning stage and a timeline has yet to be set.
Forte & Tablada announced its intention to relocate its headquarters from its current location on Interline Drive to Downtown East in 2016, saying the move is strategic to the company’s growth. At that time, the company purchased a 36,555-square-foot vacant lot at 1029 North Blvd. near Interstate-110 for $625,000.
The planned development will be three stories high and span about 30,000 square feet, Trappey says. The company plans to lease between 11,000 and 12,000 square feet inside the building to professional organizations.
The most recent purchase adds slightly less than 0.4 acres to Forte & Tablada’s downtown property, Trappey says. An old gas station on the site is slated to be demolished and should be torn down in the next few weeks.
“We loved the location. Many of our clients are downtown and we’re excited …” Trappey says. “This is Downtown East on the east side of 1-110. And with the Entergy development and other things happening on that side now, we’re excited about growing that area between Mid City and what most people think of as downtown.
