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Woman’s could get financing by early next year
Woman's Hospital could secure permanent financing to complete its new $300 million facility as early as the first quarter of 2010, or Woman's may wait another year to borrow, chief executive officer Teri Fontenot said today. Fontenot said the project has been scaled back by 35,000 square feet, or roughly one floor, which should cut the project's price by around $45 million. Fontenot was the guest speaker at LSU's Stephenson Entrepreneurship Institute Breakfast to Business meeting. The hospital has spent $50 million on its new campus at Pecue Lane and Airline Highway, Fontenot said, but will not spend another penny until permanent financing is in place. Construction was halted in January because of uncertainty in the financial markets and rising interest rates for tax-free bonds. The bond market has stabilized and interest rates have fallen to less than 6 percent and Woman's hopes to price its bond issue by mid-December. In the meantime, Woman's is entertaining offers for its existing hospital, Fontenot said. Some of the options that have been discussed are making part of the campus into a specialized workforce training facility similar to Georgia's and converting part of the hospital into an assisted living facility.
LHFA to redevelop Capital City South
Louisiana Housing Finance Agency will redevelop the Capital City South Apartments complex on S. 17th Street. The agency said the property has become “a blighted eyesore for its community” and will use funds from the Neighborhood Stabilization Program to tear down the existing complex and replace it with new housing. The LHFA will host a community meeting on Thursday at 6 p.m. to discuss the future of the property at the McKinley Alumni Center at 1520 Thomas H. Delpit Drive. There, it will take public comments and ideas from the community and put together a plan that meets the desires of those who live nearby.
Steel market continues to rally
The U.S. steel market, depressed for more than a year, has been on the reasons for Nucor Corp. putting its brakes on a long-delayed $2 billion-plus steel project that in late 2008 looked likely to be built in St. James Parish. Though Nucor also has cited uncertainty about clean energy bills coming from Congress and the additional costs such legislation might bring for the project, the steel market is beginning to flex its muscles again. Early in 2009, Nucor and U.S. competitors were working their factories at little more than 40 percent on average and producing as little as a half-million short tons per week. Last week, those production figures rose to 65.3 percent for the U.S. industry as a whole and 1.56 million short tons, signs that business conditions could soon be favorable enough to green-light the project if other conditions are right. Nucor has held out the possibility of building the pig iron mill, and an eventual finished steel mill, with an eventual capital investment of $4 billion in Brazil.
Nonprofit iGive10 Web site opens
The iGive10 movement launches today with a new model for individuals to give a suggested $10, or other amounts, each month to help nonprofits struggling to make ends meet. Baton Rouge businessmen Michael Trufant and Michael Moles began iGive10 Inc. as a social movement with a business model to help Baton Rouge area nonprofits. They hope to spread it exponentially through social networking connections on the Internet and establish giving hubs in other cities. Recipients — which can be chosen through a GuideStar directory of nonprofits — get at least 90 percent of the contributions, with the remainder going to overhead, Trufant said. A launch event explaining the iGive10 movement will be at the 333 (Third Street) Bistro at Avoyelles tonight from 6 to 8, with an iGive10 concert and music video taping Friday from 4 to 7 p.m. at The Roux House, also on Third Street downtown. The immediate goal is to recruit 10,000 people within 100 days who’ll give $10 a month, generating $1.2 million more for local charities.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL NEWS
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