The new commercial real estate market: Target on hold, Family Dollar building

Over the past few years, the commercial real estate market in Baton Rouge has been dominated by high profile, upscale projects such as Perkins Rowe, Towne Center and the Mall of Louisiana’s Boulevard expansion. All those developments cost millions of dollars and featured national chains catering to well-heeled shoppers, such as Whole Foods, Apple and Anthropologie. But national retailers have pulled back on the aggressive expansion plans that fueled these projects. Much of the activity in Baton Rouge over the past year has centered on discount retailers and value priced restaurants — think pizza parlors instead of steakhouses and dollar stores instead of department stores. The best example of this new reality can be seen on West Lee Drive. Land was cleared last year for Arlington Creek Centre, a development that would be anchored by Super Target and Home Depot. But that property sits vacant and it isn’t known when work will resume. Meanwhile, just down the street, a Family Dollar store is taking shape next to Mike Anderson’s Seafood.