A look back at major business stories of 2007

Economic Development Secretary Michael Olivier and Gov. Kathleen Blanco report in May that ThyssenKrupp chose Alabama over Louisiana in a nine-month battle for its $4 billion U.S. steel mill. With the incoming Bobby Jindal administration, Baton Rouge chamber executive Stephen Moret will take over state economic development.

Construction is one of the big drivers of Baton Rouge’s economy, along with the thousands of evacuees who settled in after Hurricane Katrina. An expansion in the retail sector at the Mall of Louisiana is progressing well beyond a July aerial photo.

Perkins Rowe went up at Perkins Road and Bluebonnet Boulevard in 2007, one of several high-profile mixed-use projects.

Baton Rouge-based game developer Nerjyzed Entertainment Inc. launched Black College Football Experience for the PC, accompanied by a 12-week marketing tour to the campuses of historically black colleges and universities.

Cabela’s opened its outdoor sporting goods superstore off I-10 in Gonzales in Novembe, the first punch thrown in contest between it and Bass Pro Shops, which will open a location off I-12 in Denham Springs early next year.