Once home to Baton Rouge's most vibrant indoor retail mall, the Bon Carre development has found a new lease on its real estate life as an office park, and a new tenant in 2022 could start a trend of government offices relocating there.
A lease signed on June 1, 2022, with the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP) was for 68,802 square feet of office space. The deal is helping to revitalize the area, which has earned it a 2023 CoStar Impact Award, as judged by real estate professionals familiar with the market.
For GOHSEP, the property had the benefits of being more centrally located and allowed the department to take advantage of recent upgrades. The space leased included private office furniture, conference room furniture and cubicles for the nearly 250 employees moving into the building.
The building also has an on-site restaurant, which was appealing for employees, along with plenty of exterior parking.
Since signing the lease with GOHSEP, the leasing agents at Stirling Properties said they "have been working on more leases with governmental agencies wanting to locate into this building."
Previously an indoor retail mall that consisted of approximately 800,000 square feet of shops and a movie theater, the office park now houses a wide range of businesses. New owners took control in late 2021, when the development was near its lowest vacancy rate, and interior and exterior renovations were made to the property.
About the project: Lease signed on June 1, 2022 at 7337 Florida Blvd., Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for 68,802 square feet of office space to be occupied by the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness. The building is three stories and is owned by Cox Enterprises.
What the judges said: "Securing GOHSEP as long-term lease is critical to the submarket stability and the Bon Carre asset. The Florida Boulevard submarket is experiencing a major revitalization, which includes the re-tenanting of the Bon Carre, and conversion of the Cortana Mall Site to the Regional Amazon Distribution Center. Additionally, there have been other redevelopments that have contributed to the momentum the submarket is seeing. It will be exciting to see how the submarket rebuilds on the foundation laid and the anchor of these two monumental projects." — Will Adams, broker, Property One Inc.
"Great recharge of a renovated project that attempted to reinvent in the Bon Carre/Florida Boulevard Corridor. Bon Carre was a solution for the defunct Bon Marche Mall but after the tax credits expired the math became a problem for most interested parties. This new effort is an excellent revitalization for a location that is up and coming for the Metro area." — David Trusty, commercial realtor, Trusty Commercial
They made it happen: Ben Graham, regional vice president, and Scott MacDonald, regional senior advisor, of Stirling Properties.