Louisiana

With the presidential election and fiscal cliff behind us, the mood among retailers, developers and brokers in the Baton Rouge market has turned to cautious optimism. This year, expect continued growth at a measured pace in the Baton Rouge retail market. The Baton Rouge MSA is made up of nine parishes with a total population of 820,000. Over the past two years, the Baton Rouge MSA has seen employment growth increase at an average rate of 0.5 percent, with an unemployment rate currently at 6.2 percent, well under the national average. Home sales in 2012 were up 13.8 percent as compared to 2011, with average sales prices also increasing by 0.3 percent. The Baton Rouge retail market is comprised of 12 million square feet. The market experienced slight improvement in 2012 with the vacancy rate down to 9 percent. Most of the vacancy is concentrated in less affluent areas in centers built prior to 1985. Mirroring the national trend, month-to-month retail sales for East Baton Rouge Parish increased in 2012 as compared to 2011. On average, sales are 7.1 percent higher than 2011 and are on pace to return to pre-recession levels. In 2012 Baton Rouge saw several retailers expand …

The national economic downturn hasn’t impacted the greater New Orleans retail market nearly as much as the glacial pace of decision-making on behalf of retailers and investors who have pledged to enter, or re-enter, this still underserved market. As we close in on the 5-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, retail properties in Jefferson Parish and other more affluent parishes have rebounded, while large swaths of Orleans Parish, home to the city of New Orleans, remain retail starved. Many residents of New Orleans East, for example, must still travel 20 to 25 minutes to find affordable basic staples. Exacerbating this problem are relatively high barriers to entry in New Orleans, which is landlocked and has restrictive big-box ordinances. There’s still not a single Target store, Best Buy, Bed Bath & Beyond, PetSmart or Staples in the city and just one Walmart. Making things even more difficult, Orleans Parish continues to lose tax dollars to other parishes. However, New Orleans is slowly regaining its momentum, with roughly 350,000-plus people back in residence, compared to a pre-Katrina population of about 450,000. Most New Orleans neighborhoods that were not flooded have returned to nearly 100 percent of their July 2005 populations. Retail real estate …