Two compressed natural gas fueling stations in Baton Rouge will get facelifts and new equipment under an upgrade plan that an Oklahoma-based company hopes to complete in the coming year.
Sparq Natural Gas has filed a plan review application with the Department of Public Works to renovate the fueling station at 8968 South Choctaw Drive. The company is also planning to bring CNG services back to the Texaco station at 8420 Veterans Memorial Blvd., near the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport.
Sparq CEO Norman Herrera says the update to the Choctaw Drive station will include storage units and modernized CNG dispensers. The project will cost $328,000, according to the application. Lavigne Oil & Gas owns the station, which is open to the public, and is contracting with Sparq for the work, Herrera says.
Herrera says the work to the Choctaw station is set to wrap up in the first quarter of 2015, while the company is planning to bring CNG services back to the airport area station in the third quarter.
Another recently submitted plan review application of note comes from Dwayne Sanburn, owner and operator of popular downtown haunted house The 13th Gate. According to the application, Sanburn is undertaking a new project called 13th Gate Escape. The application lists 800 St. Phillip St. as the location for the project, near The 13th Gate’s current facilities at 838 St. Phillip St. The total project measures 4,490 square feet and is expected to cost $39,000, according to the application. Sanburn declined to comment on details surrounding the project.
Meanwhile, another application has been filed for the first office building in the Dantin Bruce office park planned for property next to Towne Center. Cypress Title will occupy the building. According to Jason Dupree, a partner with the firm, the company will move from its current offices in the complex owned by CK Associates near the intersection of Perkins and Highland roads in June or July, when the new building is complete.
The new office will be almost 5,700 square feet, according to the application. Dupree says the company’s current space is of a comparable size, but the new office will feature a more efficient layout.
“We love the fact it’s centrally located right in the middle of town. We like being close to Mid City,” Dupree says. “We think it’s going to be a growing area.” —Kelly Connelly
