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| LCG permit inspector Larry Manuel at The Reserve at Acadiana, where work has stopped. |
| Photo by Robin May |
The credit crunch gripping the nation has skidded to a halt one of the largest commercial construction projects in Lafayette. The Reserve at Acadiana is a huge apartment complex going up adjacent to the Mall of Acadiana. Or it was going up hammer and tongs until recently. The project stalled this fall. “Well all of a sudden, we were in the middle of inspections, and we hadn’t heard from these people and we stopped by a couple of times, and they were pretty tight-lipped about it,” says Larry Manuel, Lafayette Consolidated Government’s permits inspector.
The complex is owned by Baton Rouge-based Peek-Howe Real Estate Inc. and is being built by PHL Construction LLC. The Louisiana Secretary of State’s office lists Arthur Lancaster as the PHL’s manager and Robert Peek and Lacy Howe as its members.
The Reserve at Acadiana is slated to be a 276-unit apartment complex consisting of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments with rental rates ranging from $950-$1,495 per month. The project was valued at nearly $15 million. Construction was halted due to “a slowdown in funding because of the credit crisis,” says Lancaster. He says funding is now back in order, and construction should start after the first of the year.
While smaller projects stop and start, says Manuel, this is by far the largest project to come to a halt. Before construction recommences, Manuel says several concerns need to be addressed. While the walls and roof are up, windows and doors have not been installed in all the units, siding hasn’t been completed, and there are places where black felt paper hasn’t been installed, leaving plywood exposed. Rain poured in the openings during some of the recent storms in Acadiana. “I’m concerned about the structural integrity of the wood that’s been exposed to the weather,” says Manuel. There are issues with mold and mildew contamination as well. Manuel says the city will require a mold remediation certificate before construction can resume.
Barring any unusual weather, Lancaster says he is confident the project will be complete in six months, by late July.
JUNE 17 If anyone ever wonders why Saints fans hate Atlanta with a capital H, here's a good indication. Radio "professionals" at an Atlanta station created an entire segment around making fun of former Saints player Steve Gleason, who is now paralyzed by ALS. Listen, nobody's ever accused DJs of being rocket scientists. But how could someone think it is amusing to pretend to ask a man with a degenerative, fatal disease if he will be alive next week? The DJs have been fired, and are now whining about how gutless their former bosses are. Wow.
JUNE 18 Here's the latest from the Advocate on the fatal hit-and-run accident allegedly involving the president of the Livingston Parish School Board. He's accused by police of hitting a 21-year-old man on a highway early Sunday and driving away. The man died at a hospital later. On Monday, police seized the president's truck and towed it away. But he's available for board meetings: apparently a $500 bond is sufficient for this type of thing over in St. Helena Parish.
JUNE 18 Former broadcast journalist Griffin Scott has posted this plea on his blog for financial assistance from his readers. Scott, who says he was fired after he wrote something fairly innocuous (for Facebook) on his wall, is suing a media giant for his job back. He's framed himself as David going after a bloated media giant, and he's probably not far off.
JUNE 18 Here's a fairly absurd column posted on DIG Magazine about the completely absurd practice of naming killer storms. Tornadoes don't have names. Blizzards don't have names. But hurricanes do, and there's a big process to bestow them, Jacques Cormery writes. He's right about the crazy assemblage of names -- this year, there's everything from Tanya to Humberto -- and his idea that we don't waste good names on killer storms is a good one.
JUNE 17 Political columnist John Maginnis has some advice for Louisiana Republicans: grow up. After the schism that occurred in this past session - fiscal hawks teaming up with Democrats to spank the Republican "majority" and hand Gov. Jindal his, er, aspirations for continued solon control -- they need to figure out how to get along with each other, Maginnis writes.
JUNE 17 Here's the Picayune's obit story for Dorothy 'Miss Dot' Domilise, the lady who made poboys at the uptown restaurant that bears her name. Miss Dot moved to New Orleans during World War II, where she met and married her husband Sam. When she passed away Friday she was 90, and had spent more than 60 of those years working at the restaurant on Annunciation Street.
JUNE 17 This editorial in the Advocate speaks in favor of the consent decrees that have federal judges overseeing police operations and the sheriff's parish prison in New Orleans. Mayor Landrieu and Sheriff Gusman can't get along, so outside forces, like the Inspector General and the judges, are needed to make sure things run right, the editorial opines.
JUNE 18 Here's a post from Manny Schewitz on Forward Progressives that is good for a chuckle. Manny had an epiphany back in November, and is sharing it with us today: he believes that Fox "News" is killing the GOP by pandering to right wing nuts. Now, don't get it twisted: Manny's not broke up about it. He says he enjoys watching the downward spiral with a shot of whiskey and "a schadenfreude chaser."
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