Obama wants it both ways
March 11, 2014Freshwater bill draws praise, ire
March 11, 2014
Traveling across Houma, new and spruced-up restaurants are popping up to satisfy cravings of any kind.
And while local business and economic development groups have promoted the parish’s growing population, many restaurant chains have already taken notice of Louisiana Bayou Country’s potential for expansion.
“If a restaurant chain does their market analysis of the Houma-Terrebonne area, they’ll see it’s a good market with low unemployment and relatively high wages,” said Pat Gordon, director of planning and zoning for Terrebonne Parish. “It’s an ideal location for most restaurant chains to come into.”
Texas Roadhouse happens to be one of those restaurants with construction underway next to Best Buy and Bed, Bath and Beyond on Martin Luther King Boulevard.
Travis Doster, director of public relations for Texas Roadhouse, said the company proposed moving into the area a few years ago, but those plans fell through.
He said their new restaurant will open on June 16 and is expected to create 170 new jobs.
“We wanted to move to Houma for a while,” Doster said. “I understand it’s one of the fastest growing cities in the nation so we just felt like it was a great market. It’s a big event town and a lot of tourists will resonate with the restaurant.”
It will be the ninth location to open in Louisiana and one of 30 restaurants the franchise will open this year. Texas Roadhouse, known for its bread and peanuts scattered about, has 420 locations in 48 states.
Chris Pulaski, senior planner for Terrebonne Parish, said the development along growth corridors such as Martin Luther King Boulevard speaks to the importance of Houma and the role it has in the parish and region.
“Martin Luther King (Boulevard) doesn’t pull just residents of Terrebonne Parish, but it’s a regional draw,” Pulaski said. “You have folks from Lafourche, St. Mary and Assumption as well as the residents of Terrebonne Parish coming here. I think it speaks a lot for our position regionally that we are one of the go to places for what people need on an everyday basis.”
He said there has also been considerable development along St. Charles Street with incoming restaurants such as Thibodaux-based Off the Hook, Hammond-based La Carreta Mexican Restaurant and Houma-based Samurai Dragon’s new express sushi restaurant.
On West Park Avenue, Dragon Garden Chinese Restaurant is renovating their eatery with new flooring and buffet bars.
The popular downtown restaurant The Duke will return under the direction of a new owner, Pulaski said.
Back on MLK Boulevard, Houma’s busiest thoroughfare, Wendy’s will relocate at the site of the old Blockbuster after closing its Tunnel Boulevard location. The old Blockbuster was torn down last week and developers are preparing the property for the new restaurant.
Pulaski said the Ohio-based company has also applied for permits to remodel their locations on Grand Caillou Road and Main Street.
New Orleans-based Copeland’s also underwent a major renovation with upgrades to both their exterior and interior.
Pulaski said Chick-fil-a has also applied to install an additional drive-thru lane at their restaurant.
A new sub sandwich chain, Firehouse Subs, will begin construction on their new location in the CitiPlace Shopping Center on MLK Boulevard. Headquartered in Jacksonville, Fla., the chain has 730 restaurants in 39 states.
With an increase in businesses and renovations taking place to attract more customers, Pulaski said the parish continues to look at growth areas identified in its master plan and how to adjust traffic flow.
“What we’re looking to do is plan ahead for the future rather than waiting for when an area is 50 percent developed,” he said. “We’re looking at areas in these growth corridors so that we can plan ahead when there is only maybe 20 percent developed.”
Pulaski remembers a time when the boulevard was just a road surrounded by sugarcane and was “the new way to the mall.” But as growth on MLK Boulevard took off, he said there was not enough driveway access management, which causes the majority of traffic congestion and accidents.
“On the new areas of Martin Luther King (Boulevard), we are starting to see more controlled development,” Pulaski said, as the planning commission requests developers to provide interconnectivity between establishments.
“From one development to the next they are connected so that you are not forced to go out onto the main road to go from one establishment to another,” he said.
Other growth corridors identified by the parish are La. Highway 311, Valhi Boulevard, Bayou Gardens and West Tunnel Boulevard.
Luci Sposito, director of grants, economic development and communications in Thibodaux, said within the last six months there have been more site collectors calling her office for available properties in North Thibodaux.
Despite lower population numbers than nearby Houma, Sposito said the increase in calls from anonymous businesses exemplifies the possibility for future development for the growing college town.
“The widening of north Canal Boulevard will be a game changer if businesses come into our area,” Sposito said. “It will be much more attractive that it will be more of a boulevard and their businesses can be more easily accessed and visible.”
