Slidell begins laying Summit Boulevard

There’s yet another sign that Summit Fremaux remains a go. The City of Slidell next week will begin pouring concrete for Summit Boulevard, the main road through the $900 million retail-office-residential complex along I-10 that Bayer Properties of Birmingham, Ala., is developing. The parish provided the city $10 million to finance the construction of that road, with the city contracting the work. Bayer Properties founder Jeffrey Bayer says crews have been working on installing sewer and storm drains for the last six or seven months, and that the first phase of the road may be completed by the end of November. Workers have been prepping the road bed and will begin pouring concrete from the Fremaux end on Monday. Though the retail portion was initially scheduled to open by next spring, the slow economy forced the company to suspend construction, pushing the opening back to late 2010 or sometime in 2011. Developers now plan to begin construction on the retail component toward the middle of end of 2010, with completion by the end of 2011.