Stirling Properties Welcomes Amazon to Fremaux Park in Slidell, Louisiana
Continuation of industrial expansion efforts in Fremaux mixed-use development
Amazon Logistics announced Thursday that it would build a delivery station at Fremaux Park in Slidell, Louisiana. Fremaux Park is the mixed-use property that includes Fremaux Town Center retail center, multiple multifamily developments, two hotels and the Dana Corporation Service center that will complement this project in the industrial park area.
Stirling Properties recently closed on the sale of a 30-acre land parcel for the construction of the 141,000-square-foot Amazon facility located at 1914 Town Center Parkway near the intersection of Old Spanish Trail. Groundbreaking and construction timing will be announced soon. The facility is expected to be open in early 2022.
Ryan Pécot, Senior Retail Leasing and Development Advisor with Stirling Properties, represented the landlord in the transaction.
Packages are shipped to delivery stations from nearby fulfillment and sorting centers and loaded onto trucks for final delivery to customers. This marks the first Amazon delivery station in St. Tammany Parish and the third in Louisiana. It is expected to house roughly 950 Amazon Prime vans to serve St. Tammany Parish and surrounding communities. There are 150 similar Amazon delivery stations across the U.S. Amazon said the new station would create hundreds of full- and part-time jobs.
“Stirling Properties is excited to officially welcome Amazon to Fremaux Park and provide an ideal location here in Slidell to house this facility—the first of its kind in St. Tammany Parish. This new delivery station is a continuation of our industrial real estate expansion efforts. Logistics, fulfillment and last-mile distribution centers will only play a more critical role in the future of retail and commercial real estate. We hope to attract more industrial facilities to the area to further bolster and support the economic growth of Slidell and our surrounding region,” said Townsend Underhill, President of Development for Stirling Properties.
Fremaux Park is part of the roughly 350-acre regional mixed-use development located at the southwest corner of Interstate 10 and Fremaux Avenue in Slidell, Louisiana. It includes Retreat at Fremaux Town Center luxury residential apartments, The Mason Fremaux Park apartment community (under construction), Springhill Suites by Marriott (under construction) and Dana Inc. Service & Assembly Center. The adjoining Fremaux Town Center, anchored by Dillard’s, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Kohl’s and Best Buy, includes more than 660,000 square feet of retail and restaurant options. Additional phases are forthcoming with added residential, retail, industrial and office park. Fremaux Park is a Stirling Properties development.
For leasing or sales information, contact Ryan Pécot at 337.572.0246 / rpecot@stirlingprop.com or Bradley Cook at 985.246.3720 / bcook@stirlingprop.com.
President’s Message: A Championship Season
With the coming of Fall (hopefully soon) and the kickoff of a brand new football season filled with lofty expectations, excitement is in the air.
Let’s cheer our economic environment – our region remains strong and the nation continues to notice. Just last week, Louisiana was recognized again by a national publication – this time ranking #1 for Best Business Climate in the United States on Business Facilities’ annual Rankings Report, with Alabama rounding out the Top 10. According to the article, “if natural gas, gumbo and Mardi Gras are the only things that come to mind when you think about Louisiana, think again. Name a growth sector – digital media, advanced manufacturing, IT/software – and Louisiana has a specific program geared to welcome new players, with a proven track record of successful startups.”
Perhaps even more impressive, the same magazine’s annual Metro Rankings Report placed Baton Rouge #2, Mobile #3 and New Orleans #5 for Economic Growth Potential – three cities along the booming Gulf Coast in the Top 5, and all are cities where Stirling Properties is actively engaged. Other metro markets in our region are expanding as well – namely Lake Charles, Lafayette, Houma/Thibodaux and Shreveport/Bossier City.
Since my last President’s Message, Stirling too has continued to expand and grow in all of these markets. Our recent efforts include the acquisition of John Toomey & Company in Mobile, commencement of Phase II of Fremaux Town Center in Slidell and the addition of Sam’s Club to Stirling Bossier Shopping Center in Bossier City. We also have in the pipeline two new retail developments in Lake Charles and Lafayette, and we are actively involved in a number of other exciting initiatives.
Our new projects and growth, positive national rankings for our region and the upcoming football season are all certainly creating a buzz of excitement around here…let’s add football champions to the growing list!
President’s Message: A Wild Ride
In my last President’s Message, I talked about how much had been accomplished in 2013 and how the year ended with a flurry of activity. Well, the first quarter of 2014 has been wild in many ways also (including the weather)!
This year began with the groundbreaking of Magnolia Marketplace in New Orleans, a 100,000+ square-foot shopping center we are developing with JCH Development that will bring new retailers to an underserved portion of Central City. And just days later, we announced the contract for Perkins Rowe, a high-profile, mixed-use property with 364,648 square feet of retail and 126,000 square feet of Class A office space, plus upscale apartments and condominiums. The contract to provide leasing, sales and property and construction management services represents the single largest such contract in Stirling’s history.
Additionally, we celebrated 2 Grand Openings during the 1st Quarter. The first was for Phase I of Fremaux Town Center in Slidell, a regional shopping center anchored by Kohl’s, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Best Buy & T.J.Maxx that we are developing in partnership with CBL & Associates Properties, Inc. A new, full-service Walgreens also grand opened in Terrytown on the Westbank of New Orleans, which was followed a few weeks later by our announcement that we will be developing a full-service Walgreens in Metairie at the intersection of Veterans & Power Boulevards.
As our business continues to boom, so too does the Gulf South Region. I have had the opportunity to share the positive news about our markets numerous times during the last quarter. It is something I truly get very passionate about doing.
In February, I was invited to give the ACREcon Keynote Presentation at the annual conference hosted by the Alabama Center for Real Estate (ACREcon) in Birmingham with over 500 in attendance. In early March, Jimmy Maurin, Townsend Underhill and I were asked to give a presentation on the New Orleans market and economy at the Annual Spring meeting of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Foundation Governor’s Board in New Orleans. One of the reasons I love giving these presentations is because the reaction by the audience afterward is always amazement at what is happening down here in the Gulf Coast – The Third Coast.
And despite the fact that spring is here, there is no time for rest. We are currently preparing for ICSC ReCon in Las Vegas. And stay tuned for some new announcements in the near future – it’s going to be a wild ride.
President’s Message: Forging Ahead in 2014
It hardly seems possible that we are beginning another year. It seems as if I was just emailing about the start of “Lucky 13“!
“Lucky 13” kicked off with our announcement of a joint venture with CBL & Associates Properties, Inc. to develop Fremaux Town Center in Slidell, Louisiana, and in just 2 months, we will have the grand opening of Phase I. The year ended with the successful closing of the land acquisition and development financing for Magnolia Marketplace in New Orleans, a partnership with JCH Development that will break ground this month.
In between those 2013 bookends, we also accomplished:
- Openings of Walgreens on Magazine Street in New Orleans and in Gulfport, MS
- Securing contract for management of Louisiana Boardwalk in Bossier City
- Grand opening of Mid-City Market in New Orleans
- Opening of our Mobile, AL office
- Expansions of our existing shopping centers – Stirling Bossier, Stirling Lafayette, River Chase (Covington) and MacArthur Village (Alexandria)
- Renovation of Tiger Manor Apartments in Baton Rouge
- Financing of over $174 Million
- Acquisition of United Plaza VIII in Baton Rouge
As proud as I am of our team for all of these accomplishments and more, I am even more proud of the spirit of team and caring for others. Through the leadership of the Stirling Stewardship Committee, the Stirling team significantly contributed money, essential items, and most importantly generously volunteered their personal time for causes such as Habitat for Humanity, food collection drives, breast cancer walks, YMCA Corporate Cup and Volunteers of America’s Christmas Wish Project.
It is because of this talented, dedicated, and motivated team that we are able to achieve so much. I am proud to be part of such a team. Looking ahead to 2014, it will be a very exciting year for Stirling as well as the Gulf South.
