Cold storage committee offers recommendation

After tabulating individual grades for multiple properties and being sent back to make more specific recommendations, members of the Terrebonne Economic Development Authority site evaluation committee presented a proposed location Tuesday for an anticipated cold storage facility to the full TEDA Board of Commissioners.

Following more than 90 minutes of discussion Monday morning, a meeting location negotiation and unanimous acceptance, committee members were able to recommend an 11-acre tract n an added acre was included by the seller to compensate for anticipated drainage requirements n where construction on a cold storage facility could begin by mid-2011.

The selected property was the second of two tracts submitted for consideration by Cropland Investment Group LLC. The site that board members were anticipated to accept, is located one-half mile north of U.S. Highway 90 in Gray, off Louisiana Highway 24 with access from either Technology Lane or Olympian Lane.

Pending final approval, TEDA will enter into a contract with Cropland Investment Group LLC, and property owner Ronald Shaw, to purchase the tract for $575,000. Added site preparation could total approximately $160,000 for drainage construction and road extensions.

“I would anticipate that the Board would follow the recommendation from the committee and agree in principle to purchase Mr. Shaw’s property. It seems to be the preferred site of everyone especially that he has added an additional acre to the tract to mitigate the loss of the property being used for drainage. I think that makes it the most attractive site,” committee chairman and civil engineer Morris Hebert said on Monday.

“I think this will be a positive improvement for the area,” Shaw said following the committee’s adoption of his real estate offer.

He said the cold storage facility would act as an anchor to other industrial businesses that would be able to build on adjoining property offered by Cropland Investment Group LLC.

“We’ve got a lot of small lots available for startup businesses that may be able to feed off the assets that this facility offers,” Shaw said. “[The location] is centered in the transportation system we have and it is in the northern part and less subject to flooding.”

Hebert called the site selection process, which has been underway for more than two months, a lengthy one, but added that it offered healthy debate and a variety of options on both public and private locations for consideration.

The cold storage facility idea has been in the works for more than a year. Hebert anticipates a contract to be signed in two to three months, followed by an environmental review, engineering details. TEDA currently has nearly $4 million available in three separate funding sources to use for the cold storage facility. However Hebert said it is likely they will also have to finance some of the project for completion and will begin looking into their options.

In other actions on Tuesday, Don Hingle, regional president for Business First Bank was named to chair the TEDA Board of Commissioners.

“I’ve been involved with TEDA since early on,” Hingle said. “I’m just glad to still be a part of it.”

Hingle said that he anticipates a modest economic rebound for the area in 2011 with incremental increases in activity.