Coming soon: Construction is expected to start in the next week or two on Park Rowe Village, a 336-unit apartment complex that sits along Park Rowe Avenue, one of the main drags throughout Perkins Rowe. Shreveport-based Vintage Realty Company is developing the 20-acre site and pulled the construction permits last week. According to the permits, the project is estimated to cost $35.2 million and includes the construction of three separate 115,783-square-foot buildings for the bulk of the apartment units. David Alexander, co-owner and director of development for Vintage Realty Company, says total construction time could be 18 to 20 months, but the company hopes to begin delivering units for lease in the spring, Alexander says. Vintage purchased the property in 2013 for $6.5 million.
At the bottom: Louisiana is the third-worst state for driving, according to a new analysis by Carinsurance.com, which ranked each state on eight metrics to identify which are more favorable to motorists. Only Wisconsin and Mississippi ranked lower than Louisiana. The weighted rankings are based on factors such as the percent of car insurance to median household income, the percentage of poor or mediocre road conditions, repair costs related to road conditions and the percentage of structurally deficient bridges, among other things. According to the analysis, car insurance in Louisiana is 6.65% of median household income and 62% of the state’s roads are rated poor or mediocre. On average, motorists spend an extra $408 extra on car repairs that can be attributed to driving on bad roads. Read the full report.
John Hancock: Gov. John Bel Edwards today signed into law a bill that would raise the age threshold for adult prosecution. The Associated Press reports that the bill, widely known as “Raise the Age” bill, is among several that received the governor’s signature today. The juvenile justice system will begin handling 17-year-olds charged with nonviolent crimes on July 1, 2018. Offenders charged with more serious or violent crimes, such as rape or armed robbery, will join two years later. District attorneys can still charge 17-year-olds as adults for serious crimes at any time. Edwards also signed a bill that will allow, but not require, Louisianians to secure REAL ID driver’s licenses and another that will allocate TOPS money equally among students who qualify for the college scholarship if, as in the coming year, the program isn’t fully funded. Previous law prevented partial awards. Read the full story.
