Setting up shop near Bocage: First Financial Bank & Trust is set to open a branch on Jefferson Highway in December. The location next to the Bocage Village Shopping Center will be the second branch for Plaquemine-based First Financial. “To keep the momentum going, we must evolve and grow,” says Danny Strickland, president and CEO of First Financial. Plans are to hire about five people at the branch.
Food to fashions: The former Living Foods store by the Perkins Road overpass is undergoing extensive renovations and expansion to make room for Stella Boutique. Chris Town, whose construction company is handling the work, says the façade of the building has been removed and about 1,300 square feet will be added. That will bring the building up to 3,300 square feet. Town wouldn’t disclose when the work will be completed, but says it’s on the “fast track.” Plans are for Stella, a women’s clothing boutique currently in Towne Center, to occupy 2,300 square feet. The remaining space will be up for lease.
Moving into Ascension: Fidelity Homestead Savings Bank has purchased just over an acre of land in Dutchtown, with plans to open a branch in the second half of 2011. The New Orleans-based bank paid $650,000 for the tract on La. Highway 73, between Interstate 10 and Airline Highway, in a deal that closed last week. Mark Hebert of Kurz & Hebert represented Corporate Realty, which sold the land, while Bennett Davis represented Fidelity. Fidelity plans to build a 3,500- to 4,000-square-foot, full-service branch on the site.
