Southwest Regional Report

Petrochemical decline offset by push into other markets

By Sam Barnes

Seeking to offset an alarming decline in the petrochemical industry, the southwest region of the state has stepped up its march toward diversification, and has already reaped some notable benefits.

The decline began following what had been one of the most productive times in the petrochemical industry's history. Today, the worker shortages seen at the height of that prosperity are a distant memory, as projects get cancelled or postponed indefinitely due to an unstable economic environment.

Economic development officials across the area hope that other markets will step up to the plate, including commercial development, government projects and gaming.

Lake Charles is practically breathless with anticipation as it waits for Pinnacle Entertainment to begin work on its new mega gaming complex along the banks of the Calcasieu.

The gaming company should break ground this year on the new resort - a massive $325 million facility that will include two 20-story hotel towers with 500 rooms apiece. It will also house an amphitheater, a parking garage, an 18-hole golf course and the state's largest riverboat casino.

A late 2004 completion date is expected, with groundbreaking to occur by mid year. When the casino opens, it is expected to employ an estimated 1,522 people.

Lafayette continues to benefit largely from the oil and gas industry, as sustained increases in the price structure for those markets fuel more exploration and extraction.

Metro Area Profiles

Lafayette. Lafayette should be the second fastest growing metro area in the state, according to The Louisiana Economic Outlook, published by economists Loren Scott, James Richardson and A. M. M. Jamal.

Perhaps most importantly, the oil/gas extraction sector should rebound in 2003 and on into 2004 in response to higher energy prices.

In addition, Stuller Settings will be rehiring 175 people it laid off when the national economy went into a recessionary mode. If past history is any indicator, Stiller will add about 300 workers over the next two years, the Outlook predicts.

There are also $210 million in medical construction projects that will be underway over the next two years. These include $50 million at Women's and Children's Medical Center, $40 million at Our Lady of Lourdes, $40 million at Lafayette General, $40 million at Medcath and $40 million at the Cardiovascular Institute.

Cingular is projected to add another 300 workers at its call center, to bring employment to 1,500.

"The city's new convention center opened in April 2002," the Outlook reads. "This 90,000-sq.-ft. facility should boost the area's convention/tourist trade.

"Plus, four new hotels are planned for the area, and one is a 250-room facility targeted for the Convention Center area."

In addition, ground has broken to build a new 80,000-sq.-ft. distribution center for Glazer, which will ultimately employ 75 workers; and Grant Prideco Tubealloy is constructing a 50,000-sq.-ft. facility that will house 60 new employees.

Lake Charles. Approximately 2,200 new jobs are projected by the Outlook for Lake Charles over the next two years. The primary reason is a big boost expected in 2004.

Pinnacle Entertainment should break ground this year on its new resort - a massive facility that will include two 20-story hotel towers with 500 rooms each.

Construction should take about 18 months. When the casino opens in 2004, it will employ an estimated 1,522 people - this injection of new jobs will be responsible for Lake Charles' employment bump in 2004.

The (Lake Charles area) economic growth will be tempered over the next two years by a chemical industry that will likely remain in the doldrums. Lyondell Chemicals has laid off 100, Basell USA dropped from 600 employees to about 150, and Equistar closed its ethylene plant at the cost of 110 jobs.

"Since we see no relief from high natural gas prices over our forecast horizon, we expect little expansion activity and further potential delays in maintenance work," the Outlook reads. "Both will serve to arrest additions to industrial construction employment."

Despite these negative factors, there are other positive events ahead:

• While industrial construction will suffer from weak demand on the chemical side, this will partially be offset by very strong demand coming from the region's refineries, the Outlook reads. Fulfilling EPA requirements to produce a lower sulfur content gasoline will require Citgo to spend $200 million and Conoco to spend about $153 million.
  
• Dynergy is working its way through the permitting process to construct a new $500 to $600 million LNG import facility in Cameron Parish, the Outlook reads, and Trunkline is adding another large tank at its LNG import facility in the area, which should enable the firm to double the number of ships it handles.
  
• In addition, EADS Aeroframe at Chennault Field has grown from 150 to 231 employees, and LM Trucking is spending $27 million to expand its facilities and should add 100 permanent jobs.

Project snapshots

Following are a few of the larger projects under construction across the southwest region.

US 190 bridges, St. Landry Parish. Three bridges along a stretch of US 190 in St. Landry Parish are being completely reconstructed by Boh Bros. Construction Co. LLC, Baton Rouge, the largest of which reaches 48 spans and more than 2,500 ft. long.

The Bayou Darbonne Floodway bridge is the longest of the structures, although its construction will be the simplest, since much of it will be done from land and not water.

According to Kyle Flettrich, project manager, a temporary bridge was built across a small waterway beneath the bridge, with the remainder of the construction done mostly from land.

"It's the easiest to access," Flettrich said. "The others (bridges) are almost entirely over water."

For the other bridges, "we have some flexi-floats out there that are helping us perform demolition and construction from the water."

Concrete piles, the longest of which is 125 ft., will support all three of the bridges, followed by caps, girders and decking. Coastal Bridge Co. LLC, Baton Rouge, is driving all of the piles.

During the construction process for all three bridges, the Boh Bros. crew is first demolishing the existing bridges on the eastbound side, and re-routing all traffic onto the two westbound lanes. Once the bridges have been demolished and reconstructed, traffic will be diverted to the new eastbound structures so that work can begin on the westbound bridges.

"Two of them (bridges) are pretty close and one is further up the road," Flettrich explained. "The other two cross Bayou Cortableau (20 spans) and Slow Bayou (seven spans)."

According to Flettrich, the project is necessary because "the bridges are in bad shape." Upon completion, approximately 12,000 cu. yds. of concrete will have been placed at the site.

All of the work is expected to be completed by late 2004.

Contraband Bayou Transit Shed, Lake Charles. Work is just beginning on a new 200,000-sq.-ft. transit shed at Contraband Bayou at the Port of Lake Charles. Alfred Palma Inc. will be erecting the bag handling facility through mid year 2004, then installing more than $5 million worth of equipment to be used for ship loading.

According to Palma, the structural steel and metal building is supported by a foundation of concrete footings on an existing wharf within the port.

"There's also a considerable amount of mechanical and electrical work, and a masonry office area off to one side," Palma said. A standing seam metal roof will cap the structure.

Upon peak of construction later this year, a crew reaching nearly 60 will be working at the site.

9th Grade Campus, Sulphur High School. A $10.7 million 9th Grade Campus at Sulphur High School is currently in the early stages of construction and will ultimately include a classroom building and gymnasium.

Alfred Palma Inc., Lake Charles, is building the high school, and is currently wrapping up foundation construction (consisting of approximately 320 drilled shafts) and beginning construction of grade beams and the installation of underground utilities.

"The classroom will reach two stories, and will be built with metal studs and face brick, and a metal roof, while the gymnasium will be made of concrete block and face brick," Alfred Palma Jr., president, said. The classroom building will reach approximately 125,000 sq. ft., and will rest upon a 5-in.-thick ground floor slab.

"We're scheduled to be completed by June 2004," he said. "It's a very tight schedule, but we'll get it finished in time for them to move in during the summer."

At the project's outset, Palma said, a significant amount of spoil dirt had to be stripped from the site, then replaced with new off-site fill.
"At the peak of the project, we should have about 50 people out there," he said. Other work includes a large parking area, as well as a significant mechanical and electrical installation phase.
Randall D. Broussard Architect LLC, Sulphur, and Ray Fugatt AIA, a joint venture, are designing the facility.

First Baptist Church, Lafayette. Kendall Broussard, project manager with The Lemoine Co. Inc., Lafayette, said work to re-build Lafayette's First Baptist Church should be completed by April 2004.

The structural steel erection phase of the project required that Lafayette Steel Erectors erect more than 800 tons of steel, supplied by Superior Steel Inc., Baton Rouge, to frame the church's new 2,100-person sanctuary.

In addition to the sanctuary area, classrooms and a pastor's study will be located within the facility.

When crews first began work at the site in 2002, a small amount of demolition was necessary before construction could begin. The new building is being built in the same location as the previous sanctuary, which was destroyed by fire.

"Some of the original components of the existing building - several plaster columns and the church's 33,000-pound steeple - are being re-used within the new structure," Broussard said. The original steeple, he said, has been "refurbished a bit."

Broussard said the project's most difficult aspect is its many different angles and radius, necessary to create the sloped, curved seating arrangement often seen in worship environments.

"It's almost like a stadium within a building . . . there are some trusses that reach 142 ft. long and 14 ft. tall that weigh in excess of 30,000 pounds each," he pointed out. The massive trusses were shipped in three pieces, assembled on the ground and lifted into place by the Lafayette Steel Erectors crew.

Concrete pours were also challenging, since most of first floor level pours are sloped to augment the stadium seating arrangement. A structural steel-supported, second floor level will support balcony seating.

"The interior height of the structure reaches about 35 ft.," he said.

Catwalks and mezzanine areas support mechanical and electrical components, as well as an elaborate sound system.

Cherry pickers are performing the elevated installations within the sanctuary structure.

Pouring the sloped concrete flooring characteristic of the sanctuary setting is another major challenge, as well as the creation of a second-floor balcony seating area.

Neuro Spinal Hospital, Lafayette. The future Heart Hospital of Lafayette and the Neuro Spinal Hospital are sharing the same plot of land in Lafayette.

Contractor The Lemoine Co. Inc., Lafayette, is performing both projects simultaneously, and recently completed infrastructure work to support the buildings.

Brady Mills, Neuro Spinal Hospital project manager, said a $2.5 million infrastructure contract was performed across the 30-acre site and consists of some demolition, as well as drainage, sewer and electrical installations, and a significant amount of excavation.

Constructing the buildings nearly simultaneously will create a unique situation, since each has a different owner and different architect, but the same contractor. The Lemoine Co. will seek to utilize similar suppliers and subcontractors to create cost efficiencies for both owners.

The one-floor, nearly $10 million Neuro Spinal Hospital will reach approximately 68,000 sq. ft. and will contain eight operating rooms, 20 patient rooms, treatment areas and admninistrative offices. "A conglomeration of physicians" owns the hospital.

The structural steel building will consist of a deep foundation of caissons, and have a stucco exterior, with a minimal amount of brick.

A significant amount of specialized equipment will also be installed to accommodate the operating and treatment rooms, most of it to be installed by specialty contractors.

Lemoine will have separate staging areas for each site.

Both buildings should be completed by the first quarter of 2004. The Lemoine Co.'s George Kragle is the project manager for the Heart Hospital project.

Also under construction in Lafayette is the $20 million Women's & Children's Hospital addition by R. J. Griffin Co., based in Nashville, Tenn.

The two-story, 90,000-sq.-ft. building is located next to the existing hospital, and was designed by Gould Turner Group, Nashville, Tenn.
Project manager at the site is David Benton.

In addition, a new four-story, 90,000-sq.-ft. Women's and Children's Medical Office Building was completed this past Spring to house numerous doctor's offices in support of the hospital.

The $11 million design/build project was coordinated by Commons Medical/Commons Construction Co., based in Orlando, Fla. Preston Rainey was the jobsite superintendent.

Other projects. The Southwest Louisiana War Veterans Home in Jennings is currently in the early stages of construction by M. D. Descant Construction, Bunkie, and will includes a 90,700-sq.-ft., 156-bed facility.

Located east of Jennings, the structural steel and masonry building will include administrative, medical, therapeutic, dining and recreational areas.

Guidry-Beazley Architects Inc., Lafayette, designed the structure, which should be completed late this year.

Major road projects are confined to I-10 projects in Calcasieu and Acadia parishes, both requiring asphalt overlay. The projects, costing about $15.9 million in Calcasieu Parish and $14.9 million in Acadia Parish, are both being coordinated by Gilbert Southern Construction, Ft. Worth, Texas.