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Friday, November 21, 2008
BUSINESS
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The board that oversees the Louisiana Technology Park on Florida Boulevard approved a $2.2 million budget for 2009 that includes a pro-rated salary for a new chief executive and $200,000 for two strategic planning studies.
The Shaw Group Inc. today announced its award of a U.S. Postal Services contract for architectural and engineering services at postal facilities in the Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland areas. Baton Rouge-based Nerjyzed Game Studios will debut the console edition of the Black College Football Experience (BCFx) video game from 9 p.m. to midnight on Nov. 28 at the Superdome during the 35th Annual Bayou Classic festivities. The board that oversees the Louisiana Technology Park on Florida Boulevard approved a $2.2 million budget for 2009 that includes nearly $159,000 for nine months of a new chief executive officer’s salary and benefits. The Shaw Group Inc. today announced its award of a U.S. Postal Services contract for architectural and engineering services at postal facilities in the Washington, D.C.; Virginia; and Maryland areas. The fate of Steve & Barry’s location at the Mall at Cortana was uncertain Wednesday after news reports the discount clothing chain was on the brink of financial collapse. A Baton Rouge insurance agent was arrested Wednesday in the theft of more than $310,000 in commissions that he had not earned from the Louisiana Bankers Association. Louisiana’s economic development department has hired an architect of Georgia Quick Start, considered the nation’s leading program in providing work force solutions for expanding companies. Albemarle Corp., which has battled soaring costs for commodity prices in recent months, said it will raise prices on some of its core chemical products by 15 percent to 25 percent at the beginning of 2009. LED, Louisiana’s economic development department, has hired one of the architects of Georgia Quick Start, considered the leading program in the nation for customizing worker solutions for new and expanding companies. Albemarle Corp., which has battled soaring costs for commodity prices in recent months, said it will raise prices on some of its core chemical products by 15 percent to 25 percent at the beginning of 2009. NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Passenger levels at Louisiana’s largest commercial airport were down sharply in September because of hurricanes Gustav and Ike. LSU grad students have developed a robot that can care for your lawn in the daytime and protect your house at night. They call it the AgBot. The AgBot is equipped with artificial intelligence, Bluetooth, a voice recognition system, and an onboard Global Positioning System, as well as a high-torque auger, a seed dispenser and a fertilizer tank. Representatives of an Austin, Texas, advertising agency presented their complete concept Tuesday for the Creative Corridor, a marketing campaign to draw national interest in living and doing business along Interstate 10 communities in Louisiana. A Baton Rouge-based online mortgage firm said its processing service has been integrated with Calyx Point Software, which is used by nearly 70 percent of mortgage brokers. The median price for existing homes in the Baton Rouge market fell 3.3 percent in the third quarter from a year ago to $170,900, the National Association of Realtors reported Tuesday. Somewhat bucking a nationwide trend, Louisiana’s state-licensed casinos saw a 5.7 percent gain in winnings from gamblers in October, as compared with October 2007, The Associated Press reported. GSD&M Idea City officials presented the first full look at its creative corridor campaign this morning at the Baton Rouge Area Foundation, with an emphasis on messages that will snag the attention of young, educated, entrepreneurial people living out of state. A Baton Rouge-based online mortgage firm said its processing service has been integrated with Calyx Point Software, which is used by nearly 70 percent of mortgage brokers. How’s this for a novel idea: Louisiana — branded in memories worldwide as an ocean of floodwater surrounding rooftops of hurricane-stranded people waving to Coast Guard helicopters for a rescue — could itself become a refuge, rescuing people mired in mundane lives across the country and relocating them to a lively, challenging, energetic culture along Louisiana’s Interstate 10 corridor. Home sales sank 27 percent in October from a year ago in the latest sign that economic fears are filtering into south Louisiana. Figures tracked by the Greater Baton Rouge Association of Realtors show 530 homes changed hands last month in the eight-parish market. Retail spending in East Baton Rouge Parish rose a modest 0.6 percent in September from a year ago as consumers, faced with growing uncertainty over the U.S. economy, tightened their pocketbooks. The Louisiana Edible Creations Center, an incubator of new food companies in Ascension Parish, has reached a long-held goal by combining the food items of the center’s tenants in special grocery displays. Home sales sunk 27 percent in October from a year ago under the lingering strain of Hurricane Gustav and broader sluggishness in the real estate industry. The Louisiana Edible Creations Center, an incubator of new food companies in Ascension Parish, has reached a long-held goal by combining the food items of the center’s tenants in special grocery displays. A health-care financial study ranks three Louisiana hospitals — one each in New Orleans, St. Tammany Parish and Lafayette — among the Top 100 heart institutions in America. BancorpSouth Inc. — which has $13.3 billion in assets and more than 300 locations, including Baton Rouge — has decided to opt out of the U.S. Treasury’s $700 billion federal bailout program that includes up to $250 billion for banks. Louisiana’s real estate markets weren’t among those to come crashing down when the housing bubble burst, but the freeze in new home construction in major U.S. cities has hit the state’s timber industry hard. The LSU School of Veterinary Medicine honored alumni Marie Louise Martin and Debra Sellon with the Distinguished Alumnus Award. Business Meetings for Nov. 16, 2008 n Barbara W. Auten has been named executive director of Alzheimer’s Services of the Capital Area. She was development director. A Massachusetts-based investment firm said Friday it’s partnering with an unnamed major utility to build a $3.5 billion refinery in Louisiana that will be capable of producing 300 billion cubic feet a year of synthetic natural gas. Wal-Mart has applied for a permit to build its supercenter at the southeast corner of Bluebonnet Boulevard and Burbank Drive, but a spokesman cautioned that the retail giant’s decision last month to reevaluate its domestic growth strategy could change things. SHREVEPORT — A state official said interest in leasing mineral rights for energy production remains strong, although spending has slowed on leases in a highly touted northwestern Louisiana natural gas area known as the Haynesville Shale. The developer of the most expensive Baton Rouge film studio proposed to date sued Louisiana officials Thursday in a dispute over tax credits for the $665 million O’Neal Lane project. Nine days after voters dealt a multimillion-dollar setback to potential investment in downtown Baton Rouge, the Downtown Development District’s first meeting following the election was noteworthy for what was missing: no mention of the $989 million bond issue opposed by 51 percent of East Baton Rouge Parish voters. The board of Louisiana’s last-resort insurance company approved paying up to $35 million to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging that the firm took too long to pay off policyholders’ claims after the 2005 hurricanes. The Downtown Development District Commission approved a grant application this morning for $5 million from the Federal Railroad Administration. The Louisiana Public Facilities Authority gave preliminary approval Tuesday to a $200 million bond issue to fund the agency’s student loan program. The Downtown Development District’s proposed 2009 budget will climb about 8 percent to $573,000, with most of the increase coming in expanded staff. The River Center will gain permanent use of an outdoor ice skating rink following a donation from Capital One, said Davis Rhorer, the Downtown Development District executive director. The streets and sidewalks of downtown Baton Rouge talk every day to the people who visit, and they aren’t always saying what they should. Small design choices — curb cuts, lighting, crosswalks — send messages to pedestrians and motorists alike and the right decisions can allow both to share urban spaces safely. As dog-eared an expression as “cautious optimism” is, it’s probably the most apt locally for this year’s holiday shopping season. Sales records show Weingarten Realty Investors of Houston has sold Siegen Plaza, the Siegen Lane shopping center that includes Target, for $30.25 million. Sales records show Weingarten Realty of Houston has sold Siegen Plaza, the Siegen Lane shopping center that includes Target, for $30.3 million. Calling Tuesday’s federal mortgage rescue proposal “basically a joke,” a leader of the Louisiana Mortgage Lenders Association is lobbying Louisiana’s U.S. senators to introduce legislation he said would vastly improve the real estate slump and kick-start the U.S. economy. Burns & Co., a 15-year-old chiefly residential real estate firm, will move its principal office from the current 3931 S. Sherwood Forest Blvd. site to a nearby Creekstone Office Park building in the next two weeks. Law firms Jones, Walker, Waechter, Poitevent, Carrere & Denegre LLP and Longman Russo today announced plans to combine lawyers in their respective Lafayette offices. Baton Rouge gun stores are seeing the same spike in weapons sales as their national counterparts. They attribute the increase to president-elect Obama’s position on gun control issues and the questions opponents raised about his motives and his fitness to be president. The Shaw Group Inc. said Tuesday its Environmental & Infrastructure Group has won a task order to provide support for FEMA’s Louisiana housing mission. The Shaw Group Inc. said today its Environmental & Infrastructure Group has won a task order to provide support for FEMA’s Louisiana housing mission. The task order comes under an existing government contract Shaw holds, and the company didn’t disclose the value of the order. LSU’s Louisiana Business & Technology Center has received $145,000 for its mobile classroom program from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. PipeStem Energy Group LLC has acquired the former Chevron terminal at Marrero. Tulane University’s Law School will co-host a three-day conference on the Latin American legal and business climate on Dec. 3-5. RICHMOND, Va. — Circuit City Stores Inc., which just a week ago announced it would close its Baton Rouge store on Airline Highway among 700 companywide, has now filed for bankruptcy protection, allowing it to stay open during the approaching holiday season. Harold’s Stores Inc., which has a Baton Rouge location in Citiplace, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The Dallas clothing store operator and several of its related companies filed bankruptcy papers Friday in Oklahoma City. Mix some New Orleans newbies with a patron saint of philanthropy. Fold in a gaggle of Googlers. Stir in a YouTube production. And — voila! — you’ve got the recipe for “504ward: New Orleans Calling.” Louisiana’s bloodletting is well-documented. In the first eight years of this decade, the state shed 176,000 people, pulling its population down 4 percent over that time to 4.3 million. From 2005 to 2006 alone, more than 252,000 people fled the state following hurricanes Katrina and Rita. First Trust Corp., a bank holding company with operations in Baton Rouge, is merging its affiliate banks under the charter of First Bank and Trust. Hancock Bank of Louisiana has named five new vice presidents of the company. Justin Ourso III has been appointed chairman of the American Bar Association’s Intellectual Property Law Section’s State Trademark Laws Committee. LOUISIANA SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTER Developer Tommy Spinosa has backed off plans to expand the commercial sector of his proposed Rouzan neighborhood on Perkins Road near College Drive. Woman’s Hospital has applied for a building permit for its new hospital at the former Briarwood Golf Course at Airline Highway and Pecue Lane, where site work is under way. COLUMBUS, Ohio — Oil prices were sedentary Friday after this week’s giant sell-off, despite a government report showing the unemployment rate hit a 14-year high last month and predictions from an international energy agency that put the price of crude at $200 per barrel by 2030. |
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