Foreclosures in Louisiana?

When local folks read the national news about their declining real estate sales, they automatically assume what they read also applies to our own Baton Rouge market as well. I remember, several months ago, a friend of mine (having read articles in national magazines on the softening real estate market) hinted at his fear that we were on the verge of seeing a lot of foreclosures soon hitting the Baton Rouge market. Well, how is Louisiana faring in the number of foreclosures compared with the rest of the nation? Are things just as shaky here as they are in other regions which just over a year ago were HOT real estate markets?

Not at all! At least not when you consider the list of "hot" foreclosure markets in the U.S. In fact, not only is Baton Rouge holding its own against growing foreclosures nationwide, but the entire state of Louisiana is still going strong, thank you. The "Baton Rouge Business Report" reports it this way:

CNNMoney is out with a list of the 500 ZIP codes where the most U.S. foreclosures have come from during the current housing bust. Nearly 28% have come from California, according to the survey by RealtyTrac, and Florida was a distant second. There were 72 foreclosures in Florida during a three-month period that ended in the middle of this month. The hardest hit zip code was 44105, in a poor section of Cleveland, where there were 783 foreclosure filings. No Louisiana ZIP code was found on the list, which was dominated by rustbelt cities hurting from manufacturing downturns and sunbelt cities where home prices skyrocketed over the past few years.

Check out the complete list here.

New Development for Perkins Road Overpass

If you're familiar with the Perkins Road Overpass area, you know the charm it offers. And Perkins Road Hardware was an icon of the community feel nearby residents enjoyed. That changed somewhat when that "institution" was gutted by fire in December.

That property has now been sold and will be redeveloped. The property will be a commercial and residential mixed use development. Two restaurants, one casual and one more upscale, have agreed to the idea of locating there with the potential of a third. In addition to the restaurants, the residential section will be a three-story condominum area boasting four or five units.

Local residents and shop owners are hopeful the new development will maintain the esthetic appeal already evident there.

News Bits in Various Sectors

Just a spot-check of real estate developments going on in our area:

LSU area. Two apartment complexes sold recently in the LSU vicinity. The 129-unit Fountainhead Apartments sold for $4.8 million and will remain as primarily student apartments. But 24-unit Cambridge Apartments--which sold for $2.1 million--will be converted to condos.

Mid-City. Right on Government Street just west of S. Foster Dr. is Vieux Carre a 74-unit condo conversion. Model units are set to open. 1-Bedroom units will sell for $75,000 while 2-bedroom units will go for $95,000. The development was formerly an apartment complex.

Watson. The potential development of a Wal-Mart at Hwy 16 and Cane Market Road is already causing land prices in that area to increase. D&D Investments just purchased a 4.9 acre tract to construct a self-storage facitily and paid $1.5 million, or just over $7 per square foot.

Bluebonnet. Mike Wampold announced yesterday that the unfinished Jimmy Swaggart dorm will become a Marriott Renaisssance hotel. The 348-room resort will include a 20,000 square-foot conference center, a restaurant operated by Dickie Brennan, and a state-of-the-art fitness center at a pricetag of $64 million.
Meanwhile, a public hearing was called by Metro Councilman, Pat Culbertson to discuss a proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter at Bluebonnet and Burbank and Pinnacle's plans for a casino resort further down at the river. The feedback from the meeting will be presented to the full Council and a propsal will be made to confine Pinnacle's plans to the downtown area.