A Plaquemine development company broke ground last week on its first project: a Brusly shopping center featuring a paper and gifts shop, health spa, Edward Jones office and possibly a photography business.
Chris Reeves and Francois Boulanger, partners in Bultra Properties, which is spearheading the development, say the shopping center will be phase one of their project. They are hoping to attract a restaurant with a household name to begin phase two, a 5,000- to 7,000-square-foot development in the same area.
The shopping center, located at 309 S. Vaughn Drive, is between Louisiana Bayou Bistro and Brusly High School on the service road next to La. 1. Bella Grace Paper Company will occupy 1,780 square feet, Evolve Skin Care and Edward Jones will have a combined 1,210 square feet and 780 square feet will go to a fourth business, which Reeves says will likely be a photography business.
Reeves says their contractor, the Lexel Group, began work on Oct. 18 on the first 5,000-square-foot project. Fusion Architecture partnered with the company to design the shopping center.
Construction on the first phase is expected to be completed on March 1, 2017. The second phase is planned to open by summer or early fall next year.
“It’s a bunch of young entrepreneurs, which I’m really excited about,” Reeves says of the businesses that will move into the development. “West Baton Rouge is ready for growth. When one big name comes we might see another one or two big names come in.”
He adds people are tentative to be among the first to move to West Baton Rouge Parish, and the traffic has been “ridiculous” since the August flood. But the exodus of people seeking higher ground in West Baton Rouge Parish after the flood wiped out parts of Baton Rouge and Livingston Parish could provide a boost to companies like Reeves’.
—Sam Karlin
