ERIK SANZENBACH / L’Observateur / August 26, 2000

LAPLACE – The Finish Line may be forced to move from its present Airline Highway location, and that came as a surprise to Brian Krantz, president of the New Orleans Fairgrounds, which owns the off-track betting parlor.

The property may be taken over by Walgreens, which plans to erect its own building on the site. This will force The Finish Line to find anotherbuilding.

Right now there is a big colorful sign in front of the shopping mall on Airline Highway touting the opening of a new Walgreens drugstore.

However, according to a corporate spokesperson for Walgreens, the deal has not been set in stone – yet.

“The sign was a bit premature,” said Walgreens spokesperson Carol Hively.

“There is no signed lease, and nothing is definite.”Hively said the sign was put up by mistake and was the result of a miscommunication between the developer and Walgreens.

“This does not guarantee anything,” said Hively. “Walgreens may not evencome to the area.”But for Krantz, the possible deal has taken his company totally by surprise.

“The Walgreens deal was not communicated to us by the landlord of the shopping mall,” said Krantz.

Krantz is also a little upset with the parish government.

“Not really,” was his reply when asked if the parish government had talked to his company about the move.

“We were not even aware that there had been a zoning change in the area,” complained Krantz. “The first time we had a direct conversation on thiswith anyone from the parish was on Wednesday when we talked to a councilman from this district.”However, both Director of Planning and Zoning Adrian Labat and Parish President Nickie Monica said there had been no zoning change in the mall.

It was still zoned as C3 or commercial and will stay the same if Walgreens moves in.

Monica added The Finish Line hasn’t come and talked to him about the situation.

Krantz, who was in LaPlace looking for other sites for The Finish Line, did not seem too optimistic about staying in the parish.

“There is not a whole lot available,” said Krantz. “We haven’t been able tofind anything.”Monica suggested Krantz investigate the buildings in the shopping center where Eckerd Drugs is located.

If The Finish Line has to move out of the parish, Krantz said it will not only be a loss for his company, but also for the parish.

The Finish Line employs 25 people, including 14 local deputies who provide security on their off-time.

Krantz said The Finish Line pays the parish $107,000 annually in taxes from off-track betting and $100,000 a year from video poker sales.

Most of those taxes go to financing the activities of the Recreation Department.

“I’m sure this will have an adverse effect on the Recreation Department,” said Krantz.

However, Monica repeated his earlier lack of concern about the loss of tax revenue.

“This is a wash,” said Monica. “With 50 video poker machines at the truckstops, the revenue will more than be made up for.”

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