Some 15 months after filing a rezoning request with the city-parish Planning Commission for a beer garden at 3808 Government St., the project’s developers have yet to break ground. But plans for the establishment, which will be located on a 20,000-square-foot vacant lot at the intersection of Steele Boulevard, continue moving forward, according to co-owner Brian Baiamonte.
“We’re meeting on it three days a week,” says Baiamonte, who is partners in the project with Dave Remmeter. “Our goal is to break ground sometime in the spring, but we don’t have a definite date. We don’t want to say we’re going to do something and then not do it.”
The partners, who also co-own The Radio Bar together and several other ventures individually, were already taking their time finalizing plans for the as-of-yet unnamed beer garden when the August flood occurred, driving labor costs skyward.
“After the flood our architect told us there was no need to rush,” he says. “Guys who were making $20 an hour are now making $30 an hour. When you’re talking about a big project like this, that adds up.”
Though the beer garden is taking longer to develop than originally planned, Baiamonte, who is also a photographer for Business Report, says that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Since the project was announced in August 2015, several new establishments have opened along Government Street in Mid City, including Gouter, which opened earlier this year, and Curbside Burgers, which opened earlier this fall. Several others have been announced, including more than half a dozen new tenants planned for the White Star Market, and French Truck Coffee, which will open in the former Southern Camera Services building next year.
“I love it,” Baiamonte says of the increased restaurant activity in the area. “I believe the more the merrier because it brings people to the area, and they come to check out one establishment and then they’ll check out another one the next week. It’s good for everybody.”
—Stephanie Riegel
