Sold: After years of leasing a building that’s part of its library at Our Lady of the Lake College, Our Lady of the Lake Hospital Inc. has purchased the building at 5239 Didesse Dr. for $690,000, according to sale documents filed with the city-parish Clerk of Court on Wednesday. Our Lady of the Lake Hospital Inc. was represented by Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center CEO Scott Wester. The seller was Thayer Properties LLC, represented by Randy Thayer. OLOL spokeswoman Kelly Zimmerman says the hospital decided to purchase the building after leasing it for so many years. The building sits in the Calais Office Park behind the college.
Powering up: A record $1.6 billion Powerball jackpot in January significantly boosted Louisiana’s lottery ticket sales, giving the state lottery its best sales month ever. The Associated Press reports the Louisiana Lottery Corporation announced Wednesday that it took in $166 million in its most recent quarter. Of that, the lottery says $58 million goes to the state treasury. That’s nearly $13 million more than the same quarter a year earlier. Lottery President Rose Hudson described it as “mind-blowing what that jackpot has meant to our sales.” The sales record will give the budget a bit of a boost. But it won’t help fill some of the state’s $600 million budget shortfall next year. The effect of the Powerball jackpot on lottery sales had already been incorporated into state budget estimates.
Hanging on: The Aeropostale store in the Mall of Louisiana is not among the 154 U.S. and Canadian locations the fashion retailer plans to close as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy, filed Wednesday. USA Today reports 117 of the stores set to close are not profitable and were responsible for $17 million in losses in 2015, according to a court filing. The other closing stores “experienced poor or negative sales trends and no longer fit within the debtors’ business plan,” according to the filing. Louisiana closures include stores in Shreveport and Monroe. The fashion retailer is exiting certain markets altogether, including Alaska and Hawaii, according to a court filing. The closures include all 41 of Aeropostale’s Canadian locations. Read the full story.
