Successful Grand Opening of New Walgreens Marquee Store on Magazine Street
Pictured Left to Right – Lewis W. Stirling III (Executive Vice President, Stirling Properties), Peter Aamodt (Vice President of Development, Stirling Properties), Kim Treece (Market Vice President, Walgreens), Troy Menard (District Manager, Walgreens), Councilwoman Susan Guidry, Mayor Mitch Landrieu, Chris Sperling (Store Manager, Walgreens)
Mayor Mitch Landrieu, Councilwoman Susan Guidry, area retailers, members of Stirling Properties and representatives of American Legion Post #307 recently participated in a grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Walgreens marquee store at 5518 Magazine Street. The site is the original home of the Ed Brauner American Legion Post #307 and portions of the building date back to 1947. After a full renovation, the new 13,000 square-foot store has a drive-thru window, full-service pharmacy and a Look Boutique specializing in high-end cosmetics.
“The way we’re going to make the best city in the world is through partnerships,” emphasized Mayor Landrieu, in reference to the community involvement in the planning of the new marquee store.
As developer for the project, Stirling Properties worked closely with Magazine street business owners, neighborhood associations, and World War II Veterans to create a vision of what this distressed building could become. “This project was a group effort from start to finish, and because of this approach everyone involved deserves a great deal of credit and can be proud of the finished product”, stated Peter Aamodt, Vice President of Development for Stirling Properties.
To pay homage to War Veterans and the building’s former use as a meeting spot for them, several American Legion images and symbols were incorporated into the new store’s design. Following the Grand Opening, the Veterans in attendance unveiled a bronze plaque in tribute to the American Legion Post #307.
Bill Detweiler, the Past National Commander of the American Legion and Local Post #307 and the Veteran’s representative on the project team, thanked Stirling Properties for their recognition of the building’s history. Mr. Detweiler mentioned that he and fellow Veterans wanted a good, productive neighbor for the Uptown community…”A business who would take care of this building.”
The design of the new building was achieved after numerous meetings with the design team, local retailers, area residents and the City of New Orleans. The front and rear facades of the building were replaced and the interior fully demolished. The new design features large windows to showcase the building’s interior, a pedestrian entrance on Magazine Street, and a rear parking lot with a drive-thru window.
See below for before & after pictures:
Walgreens Magazine Before & After – Front Facade
Walgreens Magazine Before & After – Rear Facade
Walgreens Magazine Before & After – American Legion Tile
Walgreens Magazine Before & After – Interior
Walgreens Magazine Before & After – Interior
Walgreens Magazine Before & After – Interior
Grand Opening of New Walgreens Marquee Store on Magazine Street
Magazine St. Frontage
NEW ORLEANS, LA – March 21, 2013 – Stirling Properties is pleased to announce the grand opening of a new full-service, Walgreens drugstore in New Orleans on historic Magazine Street. The new Walgreens is a full renovation of the former American Legion building located at 5518 Magazine Street. The 13,000 square-foot marquee store will have a drive-thru window, full-service pharmacy and a Look Boutique that will specialize in high-end cosmetics. The store will open at 8 a.m. Friday, March 22 with a ribbon-cutting and dedication ceremony at 10 a.m.
The site is the original home of the Ed Brauner American Legion Post #307 and portions of the building date back to 1947. The design of the new building was achieved after numerous meetings with our design team, local retailers, area residents and the City of New Orleans. The front and rear facades of the building were replaced and the interior fully demolished. The new design features large windows to showcase the building’s interior, a pedestrian entrance on Magazine Street, and a rear parking lot with a drive-thru window. To pay homage to war veterans and the building’s former use as a meeting spot for them, several American Legion images and symbols were incorporated into the new design.
“This adaptive reuse project represents a true cooperative effort between Stirling Properties, Walgreens, the City of New Orleans, local retailers, and surrounding neighborhoods. Without public input and citizen participation we could never have achieved this level of success. We are proud to bring a once distressed but historically significant property back to prominence once again”, said Peter Aamodt, Vice President of Development for Stirling Properties.
Stirling Properties has a long-standing relationship with the retailer. Construction is currently underway on two other Stirling Properties Walgreens developments located in Terrytown on the Westbank of New Orleans, and on Pass Road in Gulfport, Mississippi.
Walgreens on Magazine – Update 3/11/13
Magazine St. Frontage
Last full week of work at the Magazine Street Walgreens in New Orleans and it is a flurry of activity inside and out. With one week left, both the Contractor and Walgreens have their work cut out for them, including finishing the front sidewalk and canopy, landscaping and painting the exterior and all the interior shelve stocking and setup. This is a big week and the push is on. By early next week we will have all of our final inspections done and the store opening team will be setting up for a store opening and ribbon cutting.
Walgreens on Magazine – Update 3/4/13
The building is humming with activity. At this point Walgreens has been inside the building for almost three weeks setting up shelving and placing fixtures inside the store in anticipation of the late March opening. The scaffolding has been removed from the front of the building and the new sidewalk work and front canopy is the next work tasks in line. The rear of the store is complete except for the installation of the windows, rear entry canopy work, final painting on fence and landscaping.
Things are happening fast, stay tuned for more soon!
President’s Message: Lucky 13!
As we embark upon a new year – 2013 (lucky 13!), I look back in amazement at how much our Stirling team has accomplished over the last twelve months.
We started the year with the acquisition of Avant Properties in Shreveport, Louisiana and capped it off with our recently announced joint venture development deal with CBL Properties of the Fremaux Town Center in Slidell, Louisiana.
In between those two milestone bookends, consider the following list of other accomplishments:
- The kickoff of Mid-City Market in New Orleans.
- The historic redevelopment of the American Legion Building into a state of the art Walgreens Drug Store on Magazine Street in New Orleans.
- The opening of The Fresh Market on St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans.
- The $24 million acquisition of Tiger Manor Apartments in Baton Rouge.
- The securing of two new Walgreens development deals in Terrytown & Gulfport.
- The opening of Sam’s Club at River Chase in Covington.
- The successful closing of over $100 million in financing.
- The increase of over 16% of our commercial brokerage volume.
And while all of this was happening, we were also able to implement a new, state-of-the-art accounting software, introduce a brand new corporate website and complete a major restructuring of the company.
These accomplishments are all tributes to the outstanding team of professionals at Stirling Properties. We are now setting our sights on an outstanding new year and plan on making some additional major announcements soon. 2013 will certainly be a banner year – and lucky too.
Stirling Properties to Develop Full-Service Walgreens Drugstore on New Orleans Westbank
Stirling Properties is pleased to announce the development of a new full-service Walgreens drugstore in Terrytown, Louisiana on the Westbank of New Orleans. The proposed Walgreens will be located at the intersection of Terry Parkway and Carol Sue Avenue on the site of the former A&P Grocery/Eckerd Drug anchored shopping center. The new store will be a relocation of the existing Walgreens located across Terry Parkway. “This project represents a cooperative effort between Stirling Properties and Jefferson Parish to bring back a distressed commercial property to prominence once again as a viable retail corner that will serve the people of Terrytown”, said Peter Aamodt, Vice President of Development for Stirling Properties.
The larger 17,384 square foot store will have a drive thru window and full service pharmacy and will serve as a catalyst for future development to help revitalize an aging retail corridor. Construction on the Terrytown store is slated to begin in April and open in the fourth quarter of 2013. Stirling is providing pre-development services, including lease negotiation, permitting, financing, design, as well as construction and project management.
As a preferred developer for the Walgreens Company in the Gulf South, Stirling Properties has had a long-standing relationship with the retailer. Construction is currently underway on two other Stirling Properties Walgreens developments located on Magazine Street in New Orleans, Louisiana, and on Pass Road in Gulfport, Mississippi.
For more information, contact Peter Aamodt, Vice President of Development for Stirling Properties, at paamodt@stirlingprop.com or by calling (504) 523-4481.
