Six months after developers announced a full-service grocery store development in North Baton Rouge, project leaders say they are ready to get to work.
“We are well down the road,” said Trevor Bailey, a lead developer of Howell Place and BLVD at Harding. “It’s not a concept.”
Located off Harding Boulevard, the development will take root in Howell Place, a 200-acre project by developer Richard Preis, who is also Bailey’s father-in-law. Once complete, BLVD at Harding will have a grocery store-anchored retail development, dining and essential services, with potential to develop an additional 14 acres for housing and a movie theater.
Developers have begun to secure funds for the $50 million project, including funding put forth by Sen. Regina Barrow, D-Baton Rouge. The funds passed this legislative session and are awaiting the governor’s signature. Of the funding, $17.2 million is from general obligation bonds, meaning the state will use its general revenues to repay bondholders, and the other $800,000 is from the Capital Outlay Savings Fund.
Bailey said the development group is in “advanced talks” with two national banks interested in working with it for additional funding. The group will also use tax increment financing to fund the project, and a was established during this year’s legislative session, pending Gov. Jeff Landry's approval. Landry spoke at the groundbreaking ceremony for the development.
With money in hand, the governor’s support and backing from local organizations and leaders, developers are confident in the project’s fruition and say it will be completed next year. BLVD at Harding secured an OK from the East Baton Rouge Planning Commission and is undergoing permit approvals, which developers expect to be complete soon so work can begin.
Bailey said developers had to provide matching funds equal to 25% of the requested public funding in order to receive it. The capital outlay investment shows the state’s confidence in the project, he said, which comes with a lot of guardrails to ensure transparency for developers’ use of the funds.
They aim for the Harvest Fresh grocery store to open by fall 2027, a particularly busy time for the industry as shoppers get their children back to school and prepare for the holidays.
“We’re shovel-ready,” he said.
The project
The announcement of the development on Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend made a big splash, evoking praise from supporters recognizing the need for a grocery store in the area, which is a food desert, but it rustled critics who feared the project would become one of many that have failed in North Baton Rouge.
Two Shopper’s Value grocery stores are located south of Airline Highway in North Baton Rouge, but no full-service grocery stores are north of the route where Harvest Fresh will be located. The area will serve the immediate Scotlandville area, giving access to food and essential services to residents and Southern University students, faculty and staff, but also have reach to the Felicianas, Bailey said.
The development will encompass 100,000 square feet, with the grocery store making up about 42,000 square feet.
Carmen Austin, associate broker with Saurage Rotenberg Commercial Real Estate, said the group is in negotiations with several tenants, but nothing is final yet. The business and retail spaces are suitable for fast-casual restaurants, fitness centers and medical services, according to a for the development.
Preis and Bailey envision BLVD at Harding to be a mixed-use community similar to Rouzan, an Engquist Development project anchored by Sprouts Farmers Market with single-family and multifamily housing.
“The day I started Howell Place, it was about bringing services to the people,” Preis said.
A nonprofit model
A rendering of Harvest Fresh, a grocery store that will anchor the $50 million retail development The BLVD at Harding. The development, located off Harding Boulevard, would bring a long awaited supermarket to North Baton Rouge.
Rendering provided by The BLVD Development Group
A Good Deed Foundation will own and manage the grocery store; the nonprofit was established solely for that purpose. Bailey said the nonprofit ownership is intended to fund initiatives such as a teaching kitchen that will funnel profits back into the community.
There are currently no other nonprofit grocery stores in Baton Rouge, though some local nonprofits run food pantries or banks free of charge.
Harvest Fresh will operate the grocery store, and Associated Grocers, which supplies groceries to local stores like Calandro’s Supermarket and Calvin’s Bocage Market, will be the supplier.
Business filings for , and indicate others involved in the project include Trey Harris, Adrian Hammond and Gary Guidry.