Getting a break: The Metro Council on Wednesday granted a five-year property tax abatement for the recently purchased Hawthorne Heights Apartments at 2136 N. Lobdell Blvd. near Ardendale. The abatement is estimated to be $381,655 per year on the property. Hawthorne Heights is a 248-unit apartment complex located in the Florida Boulevard Economic Development District and the North Baton Rouge Economic Opportunity Zone. Participation in the program only freezes taxes on renovations and improvements at the pre-improvement level for a five-year period. David Treppendahl, head of NAI/Latter & Blum’s Multi-Family Division, purchased the complex in March for $2.9 million. Treppendahl plans to renovate and rename the complex.
Out of work: Stone Energy has laid off about 45 employees at its sites in Lafayette, New Orleans and Houston, The Advertiser reports. Flo Ziegler, the company’s spokesperson, confirmed the layoffs today. Ziegler tells the publication that layoffs first occurred outside of Lafayette last week but concluded in Lafayette on Monday. The layoffs follow what have been lagging commodity prices for the past two years, Ziegler says. Oil sold for more than $100 a barrel in 2014. It plunged to as low as $26 a barrel in February and remains in the low $40 range today. Layoffs affected a variety of positions, including management, Ziegler says, adding that the number of layoffs did not reach the “mass layoff” benchmark for notifying the Louisiana Workforce Commission. Read the full story.
On the attack: Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton sharply criticized Republican challenger Donald Trump’s economic agenda today, saying it would lift the wealthy and cast middle-class and working Americans into further financial distress, The New York Times reports. Clinton also called parts of Trump’s tax plan a discount to benefit his wealthy peers and relatives. Faulting Trump for promising deep tax cuts for the wealthy and a gentler approach to financial regulation, she portrayed his proposals as reflective of traditional Republican thinking that would exacerbate the gap between the rich and poor. Read the full story.
