Pursuing a dream
West Monroe office building becomes reality while cutting costs

By Martin Schwartz

A 30-year dream became reality in December when Fred Bayles opened the doors of his five-story office complex in West Monroe.

"I've always wanted to build this building," Bayles said from his current West Monroe office, which is located in a converted fur store near the banks of the Ouachita River. "For one reason or another, I let time pass while doing other things until I finally said, 'Now's the time.'"

Bayles and his wife, Joanne, own The Forsythe Group, a management and development company.

Construction on the new $9.5 million Richland Tower began in September 2003 when Scenic Land Construction Co., which is operated by The Forsythe Group, broke ground. The building includes a bank, executive offices, primary care health facilities and a restaurant.

advertisement

The tower was built on the site of an old landscaping company adjacent to an 18-hole golf course. The one-story building was "about the size of a house" and had to be razed, said site supervisor Jackie McBroom.

About 1,000 cu. yds. of dirt were then hauled in to prepare the ground for construction.

"We've got the building sitting on about 150 drilled piers that are about 66 ft. in the ground," McBroom said.

A 6-in.-thick concrete floor slab measures 111 by 127 ft. and each floor offers 11,500 sq. ft. of floor space, bringing the total space of the building to nearly 60,000 sq. ft.

The first designs for the Richland Tower required an extensive amount of granite for the exterior cladding, but the plans proved cost prohibitive. Instead, the building was redesigned with a mixture of granite, glass and EIFS -- a concrete-based exterior insulating and finishing system -- to give it a contemporary look.

Security and safety play an important part in the construction of the Richland Tower and Bayles said care was taken to ensure the structure is state-of-the-art. The building has a two-hour fire rating with 5/8-in. fire-resistant sheetrock used throughout.

A security guard station is located on the ground floor, and after business hours the elevator locks out all floors but the restaurant. Anyone needing to get to one of the business floors will be escorted by security.

One thing that helped Bayles finally achieve his dream was building the tower in an Enterprise Zone. Upon completion of the project, all the city and state sales taxes paid in the building's construction will be rebated back to the construction company.

"That's probably going to be about $300,000 in taxes," Bayles said. "There are some other tax advantages as time goes by, but the main thing is the sales tax rebate."

Original plans called for the structure to be completed by fall 2004, but weeks of summer rains delayed the progress. Bayles expected tenants to begin moving in by the end of December 2004.

When it opens, Bayles said Richland Tower would be 80 percent occupied with the rest of the available space filling up fast.

"We anticipate the building to be completely occupied by the end of March," he said.

The ground floor will be occupied by Richland State Bank. An upscale coffee shop, also on the first floor, has been named Terre Riche, which is French for "rich land." The shop will have wireless Internet access for laptop users.

The second floor is currently in negotiation, but Bayles expected it to be occupied by medical professionals.

Executive suites will occupy the third floor, a concept wherein tenants share a common reception area and meeting rooms while maintaining their own businesses.

"We'll try to get young lawyers and accountants and other professionals in there to start their businesses," Bayles said. "It will be managed by The Forsythe Group."

The fourth floor will house the offices of The Forsythe Group, excluding the business' mortgage company, which will remain housed in its current location near downtown West Monroe.

"We agreed with the bank not to have a mortgage company there," Bayles said. The Forsythe Group will have 50 percent of the floor and Bayles' Scenic Land Construction Co. will occupy about 25 percent. The remainder will be shared with an urgent care health facility.

The fifth floor will house Canards, a fine dining restaurant owned and operated by The Forsythe Group that has already made a name for itself in Monroe. The new restaurant location will have two kitchen areas, one of them visible to patrons where guests are invited to talk with the chef and watch their food being prepared.

The cocktail lounge will feature floor to ceiling windows and an open-air balcony. Wooden wine racks have been designed and handcrafted by a local physician at a cost of $30,000 each. A children's dining area will contain videos and games to keep younger diners entertained.

"We've had New York designers come in and look at it and say, 'This is going to be as nice as anything we've ever seen,'" Bayles said.

Bayles has been a contractor since 1969 and has built projects from Estes Park, Colo., to Marco Island, Fla., but he said he prefers to direct his energies on his hometown of West Monroe, where he estimates he has done approximately $400 million in construction.

Useful Source:

For more information about Richland Tower and its tenants, go to: http://www.richlandtower.com/index.html