Under new ownership: The roughly 1.16-acre site of the Old Hammond Square Shopping Center, which was damaged severely by a fire in December 2013 and since has been razed, has sold for $705,000. According to sale documents, the buyer is Amar Brothers LLC, represented by managers Edward Amar Jr. and Darrell Amar Sr. The seller was KFC Enterprises LLC, represented by sole member Kevin Cronin. The former shopping center at 9380 Old Hammond Highway had been home to businesses including Time Out Lounge, Jambalaya Shoppe and Planet Beach.
The cleanup crew: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is awarding East Baton Rouge Parish a $400,000 grant to assess, clean and redevelop contaminated properties. The grant is a part of $54.3 million the EPA has awarded to 145 other communities across the country. The EPA says the cleanup of so-called brownfields sites—which are abandoned sites that are difficult to redevelop because of the presence or potential presence of contamination—will boost local economies and leverage jobs while protecting public health and the environment. “Brownfields sites are community assets that can foster economic development by reuse and involve community members in the process,” says EPA Regional Administrator Ron Curry in a prepared statement.
Letting Jindal choose: An overloaded state construction budget that will leave the governor choosing which projects advance is headed to the Senate for debate after winning unanimous House support. The budget—known as the capital outlay bill—contains about $330 million more in projects for the 2015-16 fiscal year than the state has money to spend, The Associated Press reports. Lawmakers in the House didn’t seek to pare down the list, but instead added more projects before voting 99-0 for the bill. The construction budget outlines spending of fees and taxes dedicated to specific projects such as road repairs and coastal restoration work. Other projects rely on state borrowing.
