A dispute is brewing over two outparcel buildings shopping center owner Jon Claitor is planning to develop in the parking lot of his Acadian-Perkins Plaza shopping center. An attorney for Juban’s Restaurant, which is located in an adjacent building to Claitor’s shopping center and shares a parking lot with it, says the two outparcel buildings, which will total 6,600 square feet, will eat up too much space in an already crowded parking lot and violate an agreement the Jubans and Claitors have over shared parking at the center.
“We have an agreement that requires them to maintain a minimum number of parking spaces on their tract,” says attorney Loren Kleinpeter, who represents Juban Properties. “I don’t think they will be able to meet the parking requirements for the current uses.”
Claitor broke ground last week on the two buildings, which will be perpendicular to the main building of his shopping center and wedged next to a separate outparcel that is the site of a Red River Bank branch currently under construction. Kleinpeter says he tried to stop work on the project by notifying the permits division of the city-parish Department of Development that Claitor did not have a building permit. Steve Shurtz, a plan reviewer for the department, says Claitor did not have a permit last week but confirms one was issued Monday.
Kleinpeter says his clients remain undaunted and will seek an injunction.
“Most good developers want to make sure they have plenty of parking so their customers and the customers of the their tenants can utilize the property and visit the building,” Kleinpeter says. “But the Claitors don’t look at it that way.”
Parking woes have long been an issue at the shopping center, and the Claitors and Jubans have tussled over it for years. They lie at the heart of the wall that separates the Juban’s building from yet another Claitor-owned building in the development.
Claitor declines to comment on Kleinpeter’s actions, but he previously told Daily Report he has adequate parking at the center. Two years ago he paved and striped a parcel in the rear of the development to accommodate 100 cars.
Shurtz says the shopping center does meet the required number of parking spaces required by the city-parish. However, there are vacancies in the existing portion of the shopping center. If those are filled, Shurtz says Claitor will be required to build a parking garage before he can get an occupancy permit for his new buildings.
