When Luxe Salon owner Greg Metzler bought the building on a lot fronting the Kenilworth Shopping Center 13 years ago, he was scared.
Neither he nor his husband, with whom he’s run the hair salon for the past 20 years, were from the Baton Rouge area, and the shopping center, built in the 1960s, looked dated and run-down, Business Report details in its recent feature. It was 2005, so why didn’t it look like it had been updated in the past 40 years?
“We were kind of scared at first, but we got such a great price on the building,” says Metzler, whose salon is located on an outparcel of the center.
Though the asking price was nearly $700,000, Metzler got the price knocked down by 50%, paying the full $350,000 in cash. He says they were the first interested buyer that wasn’t a bank.
Looking back on those early years, Metzler, as well as the tenants who have since trickled in, have witnessed the physical and economic changes the shopping center has undergone. The center houses five tenants: Superior Grill, Robért Fresh Market, Max Fitness, Inspired Martial Arts and Quantum Mail & Ship.
Its transition from dilapidated space to neighborhood hotspot wasn’t an overnight success, but rather a strategy that has gradually unfurled over the past several years, catalyzed by the overlapping entrances of Robért Fresh Market and Superior Grill—two strong anchors that have filled the once near-empty parking lot.
“With neighborhood shopping centers, it doesn’t matter what stores are in there, as long as the anchor fits for that demographic,” says Jonathan Walker, a broker with Maestri-Murrell Commercial Real Estate.
Finding that “perfect fit” hasn’t been easy for the Kenilworth Shopping Center, located on Highland Road. For years, it was plagued with vacancies and an unkempt exterior. But over the past year-and-a-half, it has undergone extensive renovations and has maintained a 100% occupancy rate.
How did Kenilworth do it? More specifically, what sparked its growth, what are the effects of that and how will the shopping center maintain its newfound vitality?
