Prairieville site sold for shopping center

A nearly 3-acre tract on Airline Highway in Prairieville has been sold for $843,000 to a local doctor who plans to build a 24,000-square-foot shopping center on the site. Gboloo Enterprises, a company led by Dr. David Gboloo, bought the land south of Tommy Moore Road in a deal that closed last week. Kelly Allen, an agent with NAI/Latter & Blum, who represented the seller and buyer, says the plan is to start building a shopping center in the next three months. Allen says the center is “somewhat speculative” but several tenants are looking at the site, including a barbecue restaurant, a veterinary clinic and a convenience store. While some spec shopping centers in Baton Rouge have had a hard time attracting tenants, Allen says things are different in Prairieville. “There’s still not that much retail footage in the area and more and more rooftops are coming in,” he says. “The business models still work.”—Timothy Boone