Northwest Regional Report
Multi-faceted economy helps region ride out recession

The state's northwest region continues to exhibit steady growth in a well-diversified economy that draws investment from the building, infrastructure and industrial/manufacturing markets.

The Shreveport/Bossier City area's muti-faceted economy helped it emerge from some difficult trials during the recession of the last several years.

Mike Gibson, executive director of the Associated General Contractors' Shreveport Chapter, said the opening of the $900 million General Motors facility attracted numerous affiliated suppliers that will hire 1,300 new employees, make capital investments and have annual payrolls of approximately $41 million.

In addition, Harrah's Louisiana Downs invested $41.5 million to add 900 slot machines at the track in a temporary casino and is spending an additional $68.5 million on a new casino with 600 more slots and a 300-room hotel.

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"Several large construction projects should boost employment in Shreveport," economists Loren Scott, A. M. M. Jamal and James Richardson said in the Louisiana Economic Outlook.

"This area now has five large riverboat casinos with employment in the 10,000 range," they added. "Casinos have added jobs to the region in another important way as well - the construction of large hotels."

Despite area layoffs caused chiefly by the national recession, the economists are predicting "a sharp reversal in fortunes" with a 5,300-job gain through 2005.

The construction market appears to be reaping the benefit. Louisiana Contractor's "Top Projects" ranking, which was published in the June issue, featured numerous projects from the Shreveport/Bossier area.

Topping the list were:

• Shreveport Convention Center, $65 million
  
• Harrah's Louisiana Downs, $51 million
  
• North wastewater treatment plant, $24 million
  
• Bossier Parish maximum security jail, $22.6 million
  
• Bossier Parish Courthouse expansion, $22.5 million
  
• Louisiana Riverwalk parking garage, $20 million
  
• Stockwell Landing Apartments, $13 million

A $150 million investment is being made at the Louisiana Riverwalk, a complex along the Red River in Bossier City that includes a Bass Pro Shop and several retail outlets and restaurants. Another $12.5 million was invested in the Shreveport Riverview project, which includes a visitor's center, an amphitheater, floating boat docks and a programmable walk-in fountain.

Projects across the region

North Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant (Rehabilitation), Project 2, Shreveport. Shreveport's north wastewater treatment plant is getting a $24.6 million high-tech facelift that will enhance its treatment processes and allow the plant to be remote-controlled.

Critical to the project is the construction of a new ultraviolet treatment system that will reduce the plant's dependence on chlorine.

Max Foote Construction Co. Inc. of Mandeville began construction at the site in September and should finish the project about six months ahead of schedule in early 2005. Camp, Dresser & McKee of Baton Rouge designed the project.

"We knew the winter months would probably be rain-soaked, so we began by performing our biggest excavation and installing a dewatering system," said on-site project manager Billy Lott. The de-watering system consists of wellpoints every 8 to 9 ft. connected to a pump that lifts the water up and over the levee that surrounds the plant.

The strategy appears to have paid off. By the time a wintertime deluge hit the site in February, most of the plant's new structures were out of the ground.

"We took out a little more than 30,000 cu. yds. during the excavation," Lott said. "Some of it was stockpiled for backfill, but a lot of it we hauled off site." The six-week excavation was necessary to make way for two 110-ft.-diameter clarifiers that will perform end-stage treatment of the wastewater before it is transported by pipeline to the Red River a mile away.

The plant's new ultraviolet treatment system will enable the plant to meet new treatment requirements mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Convention Center & Parking Garage, Shreveport. The $65 million Shreveport Convention Center is expected to attract many of America's 1 million annual conventions.

Slack, Alost, McSwain and Associates of Shreveport performed the design and Yates Construction of Philadelphia, Miss., is building the facility.

The 355,000-sq.-ft. facility features a ground floor that will house the main exhibit hall and a second floor that will contain a ballroom and meeting areas. The convention center will eventually be paired with a hotel.

Flexible in its design, the facility will support several meeting groups at once.

The 29,000-sq.-ft. lobby will be at the primary public entry space, equipped with three exhibition hall entries and a main public entry at Caddo and Market streets.

Featuring 30-ft. ceilings and terrazzo flooring, the lobby will provide a box office, multiple concession areas and a business center.

The 100,000-sq.-ft. main exhibition hall will be directly adjacent to the lobby on the first level and will be subdivided via operable partitions into three smaller exhibition halls, each able to host individual functions and events. Sixty yds. deep with a 30-ft.-high ceiling, the exhibition hall will have superior acoustics, high level audiovisual capabilities and a matrix of power and data support throughout.

On the second level, directly adjacent to the lobby, an 18,000-sq.-ft. ballroom will feature covered outdoor terraces with panoramic views of downtown.

Bossier Parish Community College, Bossier City. Construction of the new $54 million Bossier Parish Community College campus is the largest state-funded capital project in northwest Louisiana.

The campus will consist of nine buildings totaling approximately 334,000 sq. ft. on a 77-acre site off U. S. Highway 80. Currently, the college is housed in facilities leased from the Bossier Parish School Board.

Included in the new campus will be a library and bookstore, classroom and lab space, health and physical education facility, culinary arts area, student activity center, theater/auditorium and separate power plant building.

During construction of the campus, a camera is being operated around the clock to allow public monitoring of the project's progress.

Work should be completed this summer.

Slack, Alost, McSwain & Associates of Shreveport designed the facility and Shreve Land Construction of Shreveport is the general contractor.

Fort Polk, Leesville. Aztec Enterprises Inc. of Dallas is in the early stages of building a $22.1 million 58,000-sq.-ft. training-activity facility and a 78,000-sq.-ft. missions support training facility at Fort Polk in Leesville.

Project manager Mike Ebert said his crew is currently working on the training-activity facility.

"Once it's finished in late February, that group will move into the building and another contractor will demolish the building they're in now," Ebert said. Once demolition is complete, Aztec Enterprises will begin building the second structure.

"There will be a four-month lull between buildings when we'll perform the road work part of the contract," he said. Several roads adjacent to the missions-support training facility are being re-organized to improve traffic flow.

The project should be completed in 2006.

"Right now, we're in the cut-and-fill stage and are getting ready to put up building embankment for the training-activity facility," Ebert said. Fort Polk engineers designed the 960-day project.

Elsewhere at Fort Polk, Railworks/W. T. Byler Construction of Houston is building a new Digital Multipurpose Battle Area at Fort Polk.

The project will accommodate a new Stryker Force brigade planned for the base. The Stryker Force is projected to eventually consist of six brigades and 2,100 Stryker vehicles, which bring a new capability to the U.S. Army - a middleweight force that can be sent to a trouble spot anywhere in the world in as little as 96 hours.

The system is part of the Army's efforts to field a digitized Battle Command Information System that provides real-time situational information to tactical combat, tactical support and combat service support leaders and soldiers.

Chimp Haven project, Caddo Parish. The $4.9 million Chimp Haven is beginning to rise from a wooded landscape southwest of Shreveport. Boggs Contracting Group of Bossier City is building the sanctuary.

Chimp Haven's mission is to provide a permanent home to chimpanzees from the biomedical research community and entertainment industry.

Phase One will construct the infrastructure necessary to support the facilities, including roads, site work and utilities, as well as a central residence with indoor dens and large outdoor activity yards for 75 chimpanzees.

Also to be built will be a 4-acre wooded habitat with trees, shrubs, vines and varied terrain, as well as support services with a clinic, kitchen, quarantine area, staff workspace and feed storage building.

A future phase will include four multi-acre habitats to complete the central residence facility, two veterans' residence complexes with indoor dens and spacious outdoor play yards, support services for the veterans' residence and an education complex with a Conservation Learning Center, nature trails and observation outpost.

Once completed next year, fences and moats will encircle several enclosures of up to 10 acres where large groups of chimpanzees can build nests and climb trees.

The Chimp Haven facility will have all necessary accommodations to provide care, including quarantine, clinic, food storage and preparation and administrative offices. Separate introduction areas and small and large group housing will provide management options for the appropriate care of each chimpanzee.

I-49 Interchange, Southern Loop, Shreveport. A new interchange in south Shreveport will create improved access to the city's Southern Loop Road from Interstate 49.

The $14.5 million project also requires the reconstruction of a 1.5-mi. section of the interstate that runs beneath the interchange. Best Yet Builders LLC of Shreveport is performing the work.

"The project is about 4 mi. south of Burt Kouns Parkway and will serve as a new interchange for the city's Southern Loop," said Joey Earnest, owner of Best Yet Builders. A $1.4 million extension of the southern loop will advance the loop west to Wallace Lake Road and east to Linwood Avenue.

The Best Yet Builders crew will ultimately build four interstate ramps to connect to the Southern Loop and a five-span Southern Loop overpass bridge.

"Right now, we're hauling dirt for the headers and the ramps," Earnest said. The headers will contain wick drains wrapped in fabric that will allow underground water to drain.

The water problem has already caused damage to existing I-49.

"We're removing the old road and 2 ft. of embankment, then coming back with 12 in. of limestone base and 11 in. of asphalt," he said. All of the ramps are being paved with asphalt, while the bridge is concrete.

Throughout much of the project, I-49 is closed to two lanes. The project should be completed in December.

Bossier Parish Courthouse Expansion/Renovations, Benton. Construction began in 2003 on the centerpiece of the scheduled Bossier Parish Courthouse improvements in Benton.

The five-story addition will nearly double the size of the 103,968-sq.-ft. building when completed by Walton Construction Co. LLC of Shreveport. The addition will be built in phases through 2005.

As agencies move into the new building, their former quarters will be gutted and renovated for continued use, said Mark Prevot of Alliance Inc. of Shreveport, prime architect for the courthouse project.

Renovations to the existing courthouse could run through 2006. The courthouse is home to about 10 different operations, including the District Court and sheriff's office, clerk of court, district attorney, tax assessor, registrar of voters, police jury and Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service.

The courthouse space problems are the result of Bossier Parish's population growth. When the courthouse opened in 1972, the parish had about 64,500 residents. The parish's official 2000 census count was 98,310.

Natchitoches Event Center, Natchitoches. RDS Construction of Natchitoches broke ground in March on the new $6.6 million Natchitoches Event Center.

The center is designed to host smaller events for up to 1,500 people and will feature a large exhibit hall, meeting rooms that can be divided into smaller breakout rooms, a concession facility and administrative offices.

Other projects. Projects in other market sectors include:

• Morris & Dickson Co. is building a warehouse & distribution facility for $10 million to $15 million in Shreveport. James N. Gray Construction Co. Inc. of Lexington, Ky., is erecting the structure.
• A $4 million cargo apron at Shreveport Regional Airport is being built by F. J. Burnell Inc. of Shreveport
• Summer Grove Baptist Church is renovating and adding onto Shreveport's shuttered South Park Mall to create a new sanctuary and education building. <<

Useful Sources:

For more information about Chimp Haven project, go to: www.chimphaven.org

For more information about the Bossier Parish Community College project, go to: http://www.bpcc.cc.la.us/

For a more detailed Louisiana Contractor article on the North Wastewater Treatment Plant, go to: www.louisianacontractor.com/features/archive/2004/0404_cover.asp