Costco Opens $38M Location, Spurring CRE Activity Nearby

By Eliza Theiss, Associate Editor

Membership warehouse chain Costco Wholesale Corp. has opened its newest U.S. location. The $38 million, 149,000-square-foot store on Airline Boulevard in Baton Rouge, is the company’s second foray into the Louisiana retail market, after opening a $40 million, 148,000-square-foot store in New Orleans, reports The Times-Picayune.

The new Baton Rouge retail warehouse location includes a bakery, fresh deli, food court, gas station, pharmacy and independent optometrist. As previously reported, the new Costco was developed on 15 of the 28 acres of the former Coca-Cola bottling plant. The 345,000-square-foot bottling facility was demolished, reported 225 Baton Rouge. The demolition was executed by T.D. Farell Construction, the company also in charge of building both the Baton Rouge and New Orleans Costco locations.

According to The Times-Picayune, the new store will employ 250, evenly split between full- and part-time employees. Although generally well received, some controversy surrounded the development, due to Baton Rouge metro council’s approving up to $7.8 million in tax breaks for the project. The New Orleans store received up to $3.3 million in tax breaks to cover site elevation and flood mitigation expenses.

In other retail news, Donnie Jarreau secured a 10,000-square-foot lease contract with Dollar Tree for a new retail development on City Center Plaza on Coursey Boulevard, near the newly opened Costco, reports the Greater Baton Rouge Business Report.

Dubbed City Center Plaza, the 26,000-square-foot development expects to sign another national brand for its remaining space due to its proximity to Costco and being shadow-anchored by Home Depot. Broker Donnie Jareau is the CEO of Donnie Jarreau Companies, which include Donnie Jarreau Real Estate Inc.

Image courtesy of Costco via Facebook