Local welder buys bigger digs in Prairieville

If you don’t travel the Airline Highway corridor in Prairieville, the sale of an $825,000 warehouse to a welding supplier might not strike you as particularly noteworthy. But broker Mark Hebert, who handled the deal for both the buyer—Diversified Materials and Consulting—and the seller, says the sale of the 12,000-square-foot building on the corner of Airline and La. 73 is significant because of other recent developments near the high-growth intersection. “What’s incredible about this building is that in my entire career it has been the most called-on listing I have ever had,” says Hebert. Other new and expanding businesses around the same intersection are Sammy’s, RaceTrac Petroleum and Ochsner, which is adding on to its Prairieville clinic. “There is stuff going on all around there.” The new owner of the building, Diversified Materials and Consulting’s Daryl Roden, says he likes the location for his welding supply business because of its convenience and proximity to his old location. The company Roden and his wife, Susan, founded 19 years ago had outgrown its previous location on La. 44 in Gonzales. Roden paid $68.75 per square foot for the warehouse. It sits on 2.5 acres and had been empty since 2009 when it housed a service door company. —Stephanie Riegel