Northwest La. Report; Science, technology projects to lead next big surge
BYLINE: Angelle Bergeron
The northwest region of Louisiana is about to explode with construction related to film, biomedical, science and technology industries.
The northwest region of Louisiana is about to explode with construction related to film, biomedical, science and technology industries, says Dr. Dave Norris Jr., director of the Enterprise Center at Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, La.
"That's where the future is nationally, and we are positioning ourselves pretty well to perform in that market," Norris says.
More than a decade ago, Louisiana Tech began planning for a commercial research and development park to be built adjacent to the university.
The anchor facility will likely be a data center that is expected to attract a lot of commercial research and development firms specializing in things like information technology and biomedical engineering.
Tech has been laying the groundwork for such industry by investing in campus facilities to house support services, like a new $13 million Biomedical Engineering Building that was recently completed.
"The pace has really picked up on the commercial side the past five or six years," Norris says. "The park is at the end of the planning stage and it's just a matter of acquiring all the land."
The film industry, which was already growing in Louisiana because of state tax incentives, was kicked up a notch in the northwestern part of the state when film makers were forced north by hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.
"We've had a roughly $300 million investment in new construction for the film industry in the past 18 months," says David "Rocky" Rockett Jr., executive director/president of the Greater Bossier Economic Development Foundation.
Film makers have realized that northwest Louisiana is a good location, offering a trained, willing workforce and a welcoming community, Rockett says.
"We've had three film production facilities open in the past year."
Shreveport has been wooing the film industry by attracting companies that support the film industry, establishing training programs for technical support careers and working on development of a digital media center and business incubator for multimedia companies, Norris says.
The media center and incubator will be the focal points of a downtown re-development project that will also include a Southern American Music Museum. The Downtown Development Authority, Federation Arts Music Entertainment and the Consortium for Education Research and Training are working with Louisiana Tech on the re-development plan, Norris says.
"One of the most exciting things we have for Bossier, Northwest Louisiana and the state, is that the president announced the new Air Force Cyberspace Command will be headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base," Rockett says. "With that, we anticipate a boom in the technology-based economy when subs and suppliers locate here to enhance the Air Force's newest mission."
Although "it's not a done deal" until it receives Congressional approval, Barksdale is the likely candidate for the project that "will have tremendous impacts on Shreveport, Bossier and the entire state," he says.
"There are only maybe five full commands in the Air Force and that will be one of them. This would be a command that would focus on all types of warfare related to the electromagnetic spectrum."
The Command would likely employ about 2,000 people and attract international information technology companies, he adds.
Other military projects are ongoing in the northwest region, including construction of a $25 million Combined Arms Collective Training Facility at Fort Polk by SGS LLC of Oklahoma City, Okla.
"It is a complete training facility for troops stationed there at Fort Polk as well as all military trained throughout country," says Steve Scott, project manager for SGS.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers facility will be used by several branches of the military and likely attract an influx of people to the remote area. The facility is actually a little town, replete with miniature buildings (largest is three stories, 9,000 sq ft), roads, an overpass and a concrete tunnel system.
In delivering the fast-paced, 18-month project, the contractor is challenged with working in a remote location, on an undeveloped site, with limited access to manpower and subcontractors, Scott says.
SGS is attracting labor from Alexandria to Lake Charles, both of which are an hour away, and peak workforce is expected to be as much as 300.
"The closest hotel is 40 minutes away and we are still dealing with some shortage of labor due to the hurricane work ongoing on the Gulf Coast," Scott says.
The site is called "on the range at Fort Polk" and was home to grazing, wild horses before SGS arrived. The contractor brought in generators, set up a nearby concrete batch plant and trucked water to the site.
"Logistics are a challenge," Scott says. "We have no telephones and are using satellite for internet capabilities." One small portion of the project features an administration building with video and fiber optics, but the contractor was forced to run overhead power several hundred feet to supply that.
Currently, most of the work being performed is underground as the contractor installs concrete footings, utilities, sediment ponds for erosion control and the precast concrete tunnels.
"It's like a big storm drain that we set into the ground and connect one to another," Scott says of the tunneling. "This training center should be very beneficial for the people training in it because it's got just about everything you can imagine." It is scheduled for completion April 20, 2008.
Carothers Construction of Water Valley, Miss., is performing a $19.2 million contact at Barksdale Airforce Base to build a new commissary and make alterations to the existing receiving area.
"This is a DECA (defense commissary agency) project, which has included renovating, remodeling and building projects for the past five or six years," says Ray Boggs, project manager for Carothers. The project includes construction of a new asphalt parking lot and a 48,000 sq ft commissary building that is a steel structure on concrete slab with CMU and brick exterior walls. Once that building is complete, the contractor will move on to the next phase of the project, construction of a new produce receiving dock and prep area, Boggs says.
"Then we'll demo the existing sales floor and produce area, which will complete the project," he says. A unique twist to the project is the stipulation that the refrigeration equipment be mounted on the roof of the building.
"Normally, we would put it in the mezzanine," says Boggs, whose company has performed other contracts for military installations. "They started putting the refrigeration in rooftop houses because it can be fabricated off site and have all the piping and controls completed in the manufacturing plant."
Carothers used a 500-ton crane to lift the two "houses," the largest of which weighed 32,000 pounds.
To accommodate the anticipated increase in population and accompanying traffic, Austin Bridge & Road LP of Irving, Texas, embarked on a replacement of the westbound span of LA 3032 that crosses the Red River.
The $29.8 million restoration of the bridge, which the contractor originally constructed in 1953, is scheduled for completion in the last quarter of 2007. Currently, Austin Bridge & Road has completed the necessary demolition, including the top portion of the six main piers that will be reinforced to support the new structural steel and decking.
After demolition and inspection of the existing piers, the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development determined the contractor should patch the cracked concrete with an epoxy, says Steve Christner, DOTD project engineer.
"Anytime you get a crack, you want to seal it off to keep it from getting moisture inside, to protect the reinforcing steel inside and to prevent freeze thaw and things of that nature."
Since the project is on a critical path method schedule, the contractor may be allotted additional days in the 531-day schedule, but that hasn't been determined to date.
"The steel girders that go over the main span of the river are huge, and those still have to be put up," he says. "It all depends upon whether an activity pushes back the critical path."
People are already moving to the Shreveport/Bossier area, as evidenced by the growing housing market, Rockett says. "Last year we had roughly 3,000 new home lots planned for Bossier."
The local business community and political officials are hoping to attract more with retail developments, like the $200 million Louisiana Boardwalk that opened last year, and through conventions.
"The Convention Center has been a really good asset and the new Hilton Hotel attached to it should be open sometime this summer, which should boost our regional efforts for the convention market."
Walton Construction Co. of Shreveport recently wrapped up the $34.3 million Convention Center Hilton Hotel, a 12-story, concrete structure with a precast concrete skin that features 313 guest rooms and a rooftop outdoor pool.
Since the project kicked off the same month Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast region, the contractor anticipated problems obtaining labor and material shortages. However, Walton still managed to deliver the hotel on time and, in spite of close proximity to the Convention Center, not interrupt business there.
Shreve Land Construction of Shreveport broke ground in March on a new 150-room Marriott Hotel at Harrah's Louisiana Downs. The $9.5 million negotiated bid contract includes construction of a four-story wood frame building, a specialty of the contractor.
While Northwest Louisiana plots its futuristic path toward more technological pursuits, it maintains strong agricultural connections. Natchitoches welcomed the $18 million construction of a new Pilgrims Pride Grain Mill by Younglove Construction of Sioux City, Iowa.
When complete, the facility is expected to stimulate economic development for the state's poultry industry, which has an annual impact of $1.5 billion, according to Michael Olivier, Louisiana Economic Development Secretary.
Younglove's services on the project include conceptual design, structural engineering, general construction, construction management, slipform concrete construction, equipment installation and tilt-up construction.