Danny Plaisance takes a few minutes to sweep the parking lot in front of Cottonwood Books. After a quarter-century running the specialty bookstore on Perkins Road, Plaisance never before thought it necessary to spruce up for his regulars.
The people who keep him in business are many of the same people who love the homemade sauces next door at Pinetta’s European Cuisine. And the same people who had their lamps fixed across the street at Perkins Road Hardware.
Recently, however, Plaisance has been seeing new, younger faces. They’re often holding a cup from Jimmy John’s, the new gourmet sandwich shop that opened across the street, or waiting for a table at Rock-n-Sake, the eclectic New Orleans-based sushi restaurant that also opened across the street.
“I’m not one to change much, but we’ve been trying to keep things a bit straighter,” he says. “You don’t want to have a bad first impression when [new customers] come in.”
In the past few years, more than a dozen new businesses, many of them modern and high-end, have popped up in what used to be an old-school area of Perkins Road, from the overpass east to College Drive, and brought with them a new wave of clientele.
That one-mile stretch used to be fairly unassuming, somewhat utilitarian and dotted with no-frills retail. Southdowns owners, like Angela Angelloz, recall the main attractions were a dimly lit Walmart and a Books-A-Million, both of which have been razed.
“I used to be more cautious about how and when we patronized businesses,” she says. “As my kids would say, ‘It was a little janky.’”
Perkins Road now boasts an art gallery, boutiques, a wine bar, a designer jeans company, numerous popular bars and restaurants and several other businesses. The parking lots usually are full, and restaurant wait times can exceed 30 minutes.
Nearby homeowners liken the revitalized area to living near Magazine Street in uptown New Orleans.
“I love that I can walk to 10, 15 restaurants with just about any kind of cuisine that I could want,” says Greg DuCote, who has lived in Southdowns since the 1980s.
But the new-found sophistication and convenience of the area doesn’t fill the void left by Perkins Road Hardware, a family-owned neighborhood business established in the 1950s that had become an institution. The building was destroyed by an electrical fire in 2006.
“If you wanted a 6-inch piece of pipe, threaded on both ends, you could get it,” DuCote says. “It was a blow to the neighborhood. I don’t think I ever went in there and didn’t see two or three people I knew. But they didn’t have sushi. And they didn’t have pizza.”
Developer Donnie Jarreau is responsible for giving the Perkins Road business community a facelift. He purchased the Southdowns Village shopping center between Acadian Thruway and College Drive, and then spent more than $1.2 million renovating the open-air complex.
He also purchased the former Perkins Road Hardware site, filling it with Jimmy John’s, Rock-n-Sake, designer jeans store Denim Library and the second location of Schlittz & Giggles, the pizza restaurant owned by Brandon Landry and Jack Warner. Two condominiums built above the retail are on the market for $329,000 each, and there’s an unfinished second floor that could be used for additional residential or retail space.
“It’s weird sitting in this metal building, eating pizza and thinking that I used to cut my glass over here and the 2-by-4s used to be over there,” Southdowns resident Lee Reed says.
Places like Rock-n-Sake, Marcello’s Wine Bar and Café and Bulldog draw crowds of people who are out for a night on the town, resulting in more traffic and less parking.
“My customers complain about parking when they can’t find a spot, and they see people getting out of their car and walking across the street,” Pinetta’s owner Diane Baringer says. “But I’d rather there be something there than nothing.”
Some Southdowns residents are afraid the development might continue, resulting in additional businesses that attract college students at late hours.
“Enough’s enough,” Angelloz says. “If you leave the Bulldog, and you’re driving back to campus, then where are you going? How are you going to get there? You’re going to cut through my neighborhood.”
She says she tried out the new Spectrum Fitness Club in Southdowns Village but decided against it because of its proximity to the Bulldog.
“I don’t want to fight for parking,” she says. “It’s great that they’re open late at night, but I don’t want to be here at night when there’s drunk kids in the parking lot.”
Several projects are in the works for the area, which will result in even more business. The Acadian-Perkins Plaza suffered a massive New Year’s Day fire that destroyed several businesses, including The Caterie, and forced the closure or relocation of others.
Earlier this month, The Caterie and Southdowns Liquor are close to signing a lease to take over the former CVS Pharmacy. Bob Claitor, co-owner of the center, says the bids to remodel the pharmacy are in, and plans have been drawn up to overhaul the property.
Across Acadian Thruway, plans put forth by Commercial Properties Realty Trust in 2008 involved turning the former Acadian Village site into 100,000 square feet of retail shops and restaurants, such as Acme Oyster House, which already is in operation, plus more than 50 rental units. Commercial Properties has continued to discuss the location with potential tenants but is waiting for the economy to improve before moving forward.
As if to accommodate the growth, construction continues on traffic improvements at Perkins and Acadian, part of the city’s Green Light Plan. The project includes double left-turn lanes and dedicated right-turn lanes in most directions, plus sidewalks in front of the shopping centers on the north side of Perkins.
“There has very much been a slowdown in new construction for retail,” says Wesley Moore, an appraiser with Cook, Moore & Associates. “That area is definitely bucking the trend in that regard.”
The increased activity has not gone unnoticed by Realtors such as Vicki Spurlock of Locations Real Estate. Perkins Road, she says, has become the best place for businesses and homeowners in Baton Rouge.
“We call Corporate Boulevard the ‘Golden Mile,’” she says. “Now [Perkins Road] is becoming the ‘Platinum Mile.’”
Southdowns always has been an easy place to sell homes, she says, and the neighborhood has increased in popularity over the past few years despite an increase in home prices.
From April 2007 to April 2008, there were 28 sales in Southdowns. That number increased to 34 homes from April 2009 to April 2010.
“The increase in the wonderful stores has increased interest in the neighborhood, and vice versa,” Spurlock says. “Houses here have put a demand on those types of businesses, so it’s a benefit to both sides.”
