Lamar could move into new building by late 2010

Lamar Advertising could open a new headquarters building on Corporate Boulevard in 18 months if all goes well with an insurance claim from Hurricane Gustav. The company bought the old Chase bank building on Corporate, just down the street from its current location in 2006, with plans on turning the 110,000-square-foot building into its new offices. In the meantime, Blue Cross Blue Shield was leasing space in the building while the insurance agency expanded its Bluebonnet Campus. But Gustav heavily damaged the building, forcing Blue Cross to move out faster, says Ricky Raven, Lamar’s vice president for real estate. Raven says a tornado lifted up the roof of the building and put it back down — six or seven inches off center. “The roof drains were all off line, so all the water went into the building,” Raven says. “The whole second and third floor of the building was pretty much a total loss.” Lamar is currently “neck deep” in its insurance claim; Raven says just about everything in the building will need to be replaced before the company can move in. —Timothy Boone