Northshore Market Minute

The Northshore Builds Its Case

The I-10/I-12 corridor north of Lake Pontchartrain, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa and Washington Parishes in Louisiana, and Hancock County across the Mississippi line, is entering a stretch where regional infrastructure and site-level economics are finally pulling in the same direction. Federal approval of the Louisiana International Terminal this month adds real weight to a market already positioning itself as the Gulf South’s inland alternative.

Notable projects include the following:

• The Louisiana International Terminal in Violet cleared its federal construction permit on August 17, a $1.8 billion, five-year build backed by $300M in federal grants, targeting a 2028 opening.
• Gulf South Commerce Park, a 919-acre advanced manufacturing and logistics park at I-12 and LA 1088 in St. Tammany Parish, with 189 acres ready in Phase 1, landed its first tenant, Love’s Travel Stop, and was named one of Louisiana’s inaugural FastSites.
• Franklinton Industrial Park in Washington Parish received up to $1.2M in no-interest FastSites financing for water, sewer and roadway work, moving it toward shovel-ready status.
• Ampirical’s $46.4M, five-story, ~90,800 SF headquarters expansion in Covington is under construction, adding 175 new jobs, retaining 300, and generating $16M in new annual payroll.
• Associated Wholesale Grocers is investing $110M to automate its Pearl River distribution center, retaining 334 jobs at wages roughly 9% above the parish average, with operations targeted for November 2027.
• Textron Systems is expanding defense manufacturing across Slidell and Orleans Parish facilities with a $5.8M investment, creating 133 new direct jobs (356 total with indirect) and retaining 761 positions, phased through 2027.
• Stennis Space Center will host New Glenn rocket testing under a new NASA–Blue Origin Space Act agreement, with testing beginning this fall.

What is driving renewed interest in sites north of the lake is not just proximity, it is economics. We are hearing consistently from developers and lenders that Northshore industrial sites generally do not require the structural piling south shore construction demands, which lowers both build cost and the insurance and financing underwriting attached to it. Our own leasing activity backs it up: Rivermark Crossing at Fremaux Park already sees three freight turns daily to and from the Port of New Orleans, with capacity to serve the Louisiana International Terminal once it opens.

Tangipahoa Parish is proving the point ahead of schedule. Realty Income closed a retail acquisition in Ponchatoula, an ExchangeRight net-lease fund closed two retail properties in Hammond, and a single buyer consolidated three Taco Bell locations across Ponchatoula and Hammond in a single week, institutional capital moving into a parish with no economic development press release to explain it. In St. Tammany, the 144-unit Palmetto Greens apartments in Covington traded for $15.25M and Mandeville Marketplace sold for just over $8M, both signs that demand north of the lake remains ahead of new supply.

Two things worth sitting with, from conversations this week rather than any press release. One multifamily developer has told Stirling flatly that they will not pursue a site in St. Tammany unless it is already zoned multifamily, full stop, regardless of how good the underlying dirt is. Too many run-ins with the permitting process, not enough appetite to fight for zoning that is not already drafted. Pre-zoned inventory is what is closing deals right now, and that is worth knowing before you tour anything else. Separately, and this one we are naming on purpose: Stirling is actively working with Zipline, the last-mile drone delivery company, to find a site in this corridor capable of serving the market from Baton Rouge to Pensacola. Zipline already logs more annual flight hours than every U.S. airline carrier combined, while its current California operations do not face the heat, humidity and wind shear this market does. If it lands here, it will be a first-mover in a category nobody else in this market is thinking about yet, and it will be Stirling’s listing when it happens.

On data centers circling St. Tammany and Tangipahoa: the grid math is real, and it changes who wins. Governor Landry signed an executive order in June aimed at protecting ratepayers while continuing to promote data center development, and Entergy is building new dedicated gas-fired generation to serve large data center loads elsewhere in the state rather than relying on existing grid capacity. The practical effect on site selection here: data center developers are already planning self-sustaining power, blending gas, solar and other generation types rather than counting on the public grid. That limits how many players can actually execute, and it likely makes the first movers the long-term players rather than one entrant among many. We are already seeing active and increasing interest in old pine plantation tracts across St. Tammany and Tangipahoa for exactly this use, large, flat, assembled acreage that can support both a data hall and its own power infrastructure. Everyone wants a data center on their land. The ones that actually get built will be the ones that do not need the grid to make it happen.

On the Horizon:

• Chick-fil-A reportedly planned for Waveland, Hancock County, targeting an early 2027 opening
• St. Tammany’s economic development pipeline claims four to five more announcements before year end; two have landed publicly so far, and our read is at least four of the five ultimately land, since EDC announcements typically follow the corporate decision rather than precede it
• Port Bienville’s Dock C rebuild, a $4M GOMESA-funded project, begins later this year on a 12 to 18 month timeline
• Washington Parish is pushing multiple sites toward LED certification to close the water and wastewater capacity gap that has held back industrial recruitment
• Longer view: St. Tammany is positioned to become this corridor’s logistics anchor over the next three to five years, with suburban growth pushing south into rural Washington Parish over the next decade, even though Washington Parish sits too far from LIT to feel its direct pull

From a commercial real estate standpoint, the corridor’s constraint has shifted. It is no longer about finding land, it is about which sites already have the utility capacity, the zoning and the site work done to move fast the moment a decision-maker is ready. That is exactly where Stirling adds value, helping clients build a real estate strategy three to five years ahead of the need, instead of reacting once they are already behind it. If your company is planning a major move in this corridor, this year or in 2029, the right time to start that conversation is today. Our Covington team stands ready!

Bradley Cook, MS, CCIM

Senior Advisor – Covington Market Leader