Leonard Gray

KILLONA – The large tract of open land lying just upriver from the tiny town of Killona will soon be transformed into a bustling center for commerce and industry. “It was a very ripe for development,” said real estate developer Harry R. “Ray” Coleman Jr., who bought the 2,769.6-acre site, which sprawls from the Mississippi River to well beyond Louisiana Highway 3127, in August 1997. Several tracts have already been re-sold for development, especially the 64-acre site for the new St. Charles Parish Correctional Center, now nearing completion. What remains, though, is potential for everything from a large major industry to warehousing and trucking companies. “Its high and dry and has great commercial potential,” Coleman said. “It wasnt brain surgery.” One of the greatest needs for the commercial and industrial community, especially in south Louisiana, is open land with large, expansive tracts of it. This site, formerly owned by Koch Industries, rests on the old Trinity and Mary plantations and has long been cultivated in sugar cane. Coleman himself, 51, hails from Greenville, Miss., and now resides in Memphis, Tenn. “When I bought the property, everybody asked me what I was going to do with it,” he recalled. Most couldnt imagine the potential. “In 10 years the river between New Orleans and Baton Rouge will look like Amsterdam or Rotterdam. There wont be a vacant spot left,” he said. Plans are well under way to construct a container ship dock at the batture. With two railroads crossing the property and two state highways with Interstate 310 only minutes away, the site is a natural for the shipping industry. Coleman also plans to remember his neighbors, the town of Killona. He has donated the playground which rests on his property to the parishs recreation and parks department. A site is also being donated for a church and cemetery, and two convenience stores are also in the works. However, within six weeks, Coleman hopes to announce a new, major industry on the 1,000-acre front site facing River Road. Coleman said that throughout his work with the property, the parishs Department of Economic Development, and its director, Corey Faucheux, have been enthusiastic and helpful. “Corey has been a diamond,” Coleman added. “The parish is really lucky to have an employee like him.” Among the services provided include the composition of a promotional booklet, complete with zoning information on various sites, maps and information on the parishs resources for business and industry. “Im really not a developer,” Coleman in