St. Tammany's boom

VFastest growing parish gains momentum

By Sam Barnes

St. Tammany Parish has been a positive blip on Louisiana's economic radar for years, and the current plethora of construction and positive economic data provides proof that the trend continues.

St. Tammany has been the fastest growing parish in Louisiana since the 1970s. In fact, the population has nearly tripled during that time. With an influx of nearly 500 people per month, the present population is more than 196,000, and the annual growth rate hovers around 32 percent.

The parish also has an educated and diverse work force, with more than 85 percent of its residents having graduated from high school and more than 25 percent having graduated from college.

The economy is primarily residential, bringing an influx of retail and service establishments, corporate headquarters and shopping centers.

Brenda Reine, executive director of The St. Tammany Economic Development Foundation, said the largest single employer in the parish remains the public school system, with 4,700 employees in 2001.

"Health care services have also become one of the largest employment sectors in the parish, claiming four of the top five employers in the parish," Reine said. Of the 6,638 employers, 503 offer health care services, employing 9,124 or 15 percent of the 88,100 total employed.

The retail sector, also quite large (1,650 businesses), employs about 16,000. With major retail chains moving across St. Tammany Parish, total retail sales have reached $2 billion.

The most recent issue of St. Tammany Parish Economic Trends, published in May by The St. Tammany Economic Development Foundation, reveals that commercial building permits for the first quarter of 2003 advanced 13.5 percent ahead of the first quarter of last year.

Announced investment in St. Tammany Parish increased 404 percent over last year, largely due to a new $19 million Slidell Surgical Hospital, the $6.5 million expansion of the surgical wing of the Fairway Medical Center in Covington, and another $6.5 million for the construction of a new Belk department store.

Also, the Alamosa Business Park near Abita Springs broke ground in February on its Phase 2 development, a 40-acre industrial/business complex. The complex is centrally located less than a mile from I-12.

Following are other projects under construction.

Mansions on the Lake, Slidell. A nine-building apartment complex in Slidell is currently about 30 percent complete, and should be finished by March 2004.

Greystar Development & Construction of Houston is building the Mansions on the Lake Apartments for Gross Investments of Houston.

Jim Lange, vice president of development for Gross Investments, said the 200,000-sq.-ft. complex consists of eight three-story apartment buildings and one clubhouse, all wood framed with plank siding.

"They're big buildings. There will be a total of 234 units once completed," Lange said. More than 100 workers will be at the site when construction reaches its peak later this year.

No additional on-site fill was necessary when crews broke ground at the site, because "a super pad was already there and we just graded it." The silty soil, however, required that the contractor drive timber piles and construct post-tensioned structural slabs.

The complex is bordered by water on three sides, and comes with 29 enclosed garages, a swimming pool and volleyball court.

Lange said construction of the complex will be sequenced, with "buildings opened and leased as they're finished."

"We expect to open the clubhouse (which houses the leasing office) in late September," he added. "The first of the buildings will be ready for occupancy in October."

The Mansions on the Lake is the fourth complex to be built by Gross Investments in south Louisiana, with three others in Baton Rouge.

Ochsner Clinic, Covington. A new three-building Ochsner complex in Covington will not be very noticeable from the highway. Surrounded by a thick stand of trees on all sides, the site's only evidence will be a sign by a nearby highway.

ConstructionSouth Inc., Metairie, began work at the site in 2002. The buildings, all two stories high, will consist of a clinic building, an ancillary building and an ambulatory surgical facility.

According to Louis Perrilliat, project manager, the entire complex should be completed later this year.

"Before we came out here, this was just a wooded area," Perrilliat said. "We've developed about 23 acres of a 70-acre tract of land." Ochsner has plans to develop the remaining acreage at an undetermined date.

All three of the structures are made of structural steel, with an exterior consisting of brick, glass and glazing.

"This project is not really what you would call a fast track, but it is, in effect," Perrilliat emphasized, "because the plans were being developed while we were under construction. Once they finished the pile design, then we awarded the piling contact; when they finished the structure design, we awarded that contact."

Sizeler Architects, New Orleans, is designing the complex.

All three of the buildings will be physically connected, with the total building area reaching approximately 120,000 sq. ft.

Covington Elementary School (renovations). A five-phase project will completely gut and renovate Covington Elementary School, while the contractor maneuvers around the existing school to avoid interrupting the work flow. The $3.4 million project should be completed by February 2004.

Project Manager Sammy Mannino said three buildings that accommodate a cafeteria, gymnasium, classrooms and administrative offices are being renovated. "The school board is basically telling us when we can go into each building," Mannino said.

Several temporary buildings located on site are being used to move students and faculty out of the buildings that are next to be renovated.

"That's the trick of the whole job. Finding a place for everyone to go," he added.

"We're completely gutting all of the buildings, and coming back with new walls, ceilings, floors, millwork, mechanical and electronic components." Exterior materials are being left in place, although the bricks will receive some tuct pointing.

"We are also installing a new membrane roof system," he said.

Some existing walkways that interconnect the buildings are being re-roofed, but the steel frame structures that support them are "still in good shape and are being left in place."

"They (the walkway roof frames) were used as raceways for a lot of the cabling, but a lot of that is being removed," Mannino said.

Project sequencing is necessary because of an asbestos abatement phase that must precede the renovations.

"There's some abatement, both of lead and asbestos," he added. The newly renovated buildings will come equipped with the latest in fiberoptics systems and other multi-media equipment.

A significant amount of millwork is also going into the building, necessary for woodwork in administrative areas as well as numerous computer stations located in every classroom.

Fontainbleau Senior High School (additions), Mandeville. Expansion is the name of the game in nearby Mandeville, where Fontainbleau Senior High School is getting three new wings (A, B & C) during a $3.9 million project.

Dramatic increases in school enrollment have led to the expansion. There are 2,800 students currently attending the school.

Schaff Bros. Inc. of Metairie began the project in December and expects completion in July 2004.

"It's all concrete block and brick construction, as well as a major mechanical and electrical job," said Louis Schaff, owner of the construction company. The project also calls for new parking lots and a beefed up drainage system to accommodate the new buildings.

"Right now, we're putting the masonry in for Building B, we've laid everything out for A, and for C we've just begun excavating," he added.

The single-floor buildings have a standing-seam metal roof and are being tied into the existing building.

"These buildings are being built on 7 acres . . . it's a continuation of the old school site," he said. The buildings rest on a foundation of nearly 1,000 timber piles measuring 40 ft. long.

Another project is just breaking ground, as part of a separate contract, to build a new auditorium for the high school.

Wal Mart Supercenter/Lowes, Slidell. Hensel Phelps Construction, Little Rock, Ark., is currently erecting steel for a new Wal Mart Supercenter in Slidell, as well as building the pad for a nearby Lowe's Home Improvement store.

Field engineer Ryan Crum said the 203,000-sq.-ft. Wal Mart, located off the I-10 service road, is being built with concrete block and a steel joist roof. The foundation consists of grade beams and footings.

"Right now, we're coming up with our walls, and our footings are pretty much complete," Crum said. "The steel erection began in July."

The contractor expects to turn the building over to Wal Mart in early December.

"The rain has been our biggest obstacle lately," he said. "We pump the water off the site one day and the next day it fills back up again." This has made it difficult to schedule concrete pours for the building slab.

A 950-space parking lot is also being built as part of the project.

Other work under construction across the St. Tammany area cuts across multiple market sectors, and includes:

• A $10 million Lowe's in Covington, being built by EMJ Corp. of Irving, Texas
  
• The $9.5 million Greenbrier Estates Apartments in Slidell by Flournoy Construction Co., Columbus, Ga.
  
• The $5 million reconstruction of the second floor at North Shore Regional Medical Center in Slidell by Landis Construction Co. of Jefferson
  
• The $4.1 million Stirling Shopping Center in Slidell, being built by Donahue Favret Contractors of Mandeville