Software Developer to Lease Office Building at Baton Rouge Airport

By Adrian Maties, Associate Editor

More and more software development companies are coming to the Baton Rouge area. Shreveport-based EDgear is one of them. Last month, the company announced its plans to expand its operations at the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport.

For more than 30 years, EDgear has been developing student information management and communications software solutions for all stakeholders in public and private education. The company has entered into a lease agreement with the airport and, according to The Times Picayune, it will pay more than $27,000 each year. It also has the option to  renew the lease for four additional one-year terms after the initial year.

The airport will construct an office building for EDgear, on the north side of the airfield. Until that building is complete, the software developer will house its operations where the airport’s police department is currently located.

The Baton Rouge Area Chamber worked together with the mayor’s office, Louisiana Economic Development, and administration at the metro airport to bring EDgear to Baton Rouge. The company said it will create 33 new direct jobs in the area by 2015. That number will climb to 85 in 2018. In addition to the direct jobs, the project will also create an estimated 125 new indirect jobs.

According to the Baton Rouge Area Chamber, the new jobs will offer an average annual salary of $64,000, plus benefits. EDgear will also invest $1.77 million to buy new equipment and to renovate the terminal annex suite.

“EDgear’s decision to locate in Baton Rouge demonstrates the region’s attractiveness as a place to do business,” Mayor-President Melvin “Kip” Holden said in a statement for the press.  “This company’s expansion will continue the momentum we’ve experienced in the software sector over the last 24 months.”