Saltgrass Steak House, a 50-restaurant chain owned by Houston-based Landry’s Inc., has signed a long-term lease for the building at 2450 S. Acadian Thruway formerly occupied by Coyote Blues and plans to open in the space late this summer.
The company will spend more than $2 million renovating the 8,500-square foot building, which has been vacant since Coyote Blues closed in mid-2016.
Saltgrass Steak House COO Terry Turney says the chain, which has three other Louisiana locations, has long been interested in the Baton Rouge market and was waiting for the right space to become available.
“We have seen great success with our Louisiana properties in Bossier City, Lake Charles and Lafayette,” says Turney. “We are excited to be able to expand into Baton Rouge.”
While work crews begin transforming the former Mexican restaurant’s cantina décor into that of a western-style eatery, commercial real estate brokers are actively marketing the building for sale and hope to have a new buyer by the time the restaurant opens in late summer.
Brokerage firm Marcus & Millichap began circulating an offering memorandum for the property in January, after the building’s owner, Lafayette-based Moody Company, signed a 10-year lease with Saltgrass Steak House. The asking price for the property is $4.4 million, or about $517 per square foot.
Even though the new restaurant’s opening is several months away, William Hoffpauir, a broker with Marcus & Millichap, says it makes sense to begin marketing the property now.
“Saltgrass is a known entity and is part of Landry’s Inc., so based on that and on previous sales we’ve been involved with, we know the value of the income stream because the lease has been signed,” he says. “So whether it is open and running or not, we can begin marketing the property so we coincide the sale with the opening of the restaurant.”
The property is projected to generate a net income of about $255,000 a year, with a cap rate of 5.8%.
—Stephanie Riegel
