Speaker tells business group area economy should stay same

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, January 17, 2001

AMY SZPARA

LAPLACE – At its first meeting of the new year, held at Bull’s Corner Restaurant last week, the St. John Parish Business Association introduced its 2001 board members and officers to the other members of the organization. Helen Banquer remains as president. Tera Sims Hotard is the new vice president, and Dawn Duhe is this year’s secretary. Rick Oubre remains as treasurer, and Michael Hanley and Richard Marino will serve as board members. Judy Songy will also remain as a board member. New for this year, the SJPBA will have bar sponsors at each meeting, providing its members an open bar during the networking hour that precedes the meeting. Joseph L. Shine, Jr., P.T., and Donna Shine were Wednesday night’s sponsors. The meal and meeting was sponsored by Hibernia National Bank. Hank Tatje of Hibernia National Bank was the guest speaker at the meeting. He delivered the local economic forecast, saying he doesn’t see much change for 2001. “From my standpoint I really don’t think things are too bad,” said Tatje. He said people move into St. John Parish because lots sell for a lot less than in other areas. “It’s pretty tough to go into Metairie and find a decent lot for under $80,000. You can get one here for $45,000 to $50,000. What you get for $100,000 to $150,000, for a house, is much better here than there,” he said. Tatje said the target market in the parish is between $90,000 to $150,000. “People aren’t looking to spend much more than that,” he said. He said there is a downside to living in the area, though. “We still have problems in the community,” he said. “The public school system is one. It’s a reality. Public recreation is another. If we could overcome that, it would be nice. St. John, St. James and St. Charles need to get together to promote each other.” As far as commercial markets, Tatje said the people of the area don’t have much say in what happens in the community. “The people who make those decisions base it on what the people in the area are making, what the economic growth is like,” he said. “We don’t have the numbers to support large retail businesses or restaurants.” Wal-Mart was considering building a Super Wal-Mart on property on U.S. Highway 51, said Tatje, but the population isn’t large enough. “There are 45,000 people in this whole parish. We need a lot more to attract retail business,” he said. He also said rental rates for businesses are inching up. The places on U.S. Highway 51 come and go. Though the rates are lower there than on Airline Highway, the businesses don’t stick around. According to Tatje, Wal-Mart has done some damage to small retail businesses. Though people enjoy shopping at Wal-Mart, it can hurt a small community. “Now is the time to build,” said Tatje. “We haven’t had new apartments built in about 20 years.” He said that if a small business found a good location and built 50-75 units, it could be a good investment at this time. Tatje also predicted that St. John will see a slump in real estate sales. “I think we’ll plod along this year in real estate. We’ll have our ups and downs,” he said.