By LEONARD GRAY

ST. ROSE – Barring any weather-related delays, construction should begin this week on Randa Corporation’s world headquarters and distribution center in St. Rose.

The project is expected to be in operation by July 2003.

The company aims to bring 325 jobs to St. Charles Parish within six years of that date, according to Randy Kennedy, senior vice president of corporate operations, who will directly supervise its operation here.

Kennedy, who lived as a child in LaPlace until age 11 before the family moved to New Orleans, said he is excited about bringing jobs back to the River Parishes as he attended the recent groundbreaking ceremony.

“When we started this project last October (to move the headquarters from New Orleans), we looked at Orleans and Jefferson parishes and Mississippi. St. Charles Parish was able to put together the best package.”

That package, for the world’s largest men’s accessories company, which markets everything from ties to belts, has placed Randa near the rear of James Business Park in a 165,000-square foot center on a 9.7-acre site, through a parish-backed bond sale.

The $7.2 million bond sale, approved in August, for construction of the site was matched, by a state $1.05 million grant for purchase of the property, working through Don Hutchinson, Secretary of the Department of Economic Development.

Two resolutions were approved by the St. Charles Parish Council, the first to finance the acquisition, construction and equipping of a corporate headquarters at the business park on Airline Drive near the Louis Armstrong Airport.

The agreement with Randa calls for St. Charles Parish to build the headquarters and lease it back to Randa in an amount equal to the current ad valoreum tax generated by the parcel, which works out to $12,260 per year.

During the first 10-year lease period, Randa can earn up to $2.005 million in lease reductions, while during the same period, the parish’s total direct economic benefit is expected to exceed $4.4 million.

The second resolution approved the agreement for the state funds for buying the site. In return, Randa pledged a timetable to maintain and increase employment at the center.

Randa will maintain its original 197 positions until Dec. 31, 2007, at a total annual payroll of not less than $5.183 million. An additional 60 new employees would be hired by Dec. 31, 2004, at a total annual payroll of not less than $1.111 million; 40 new employees by Dec. 31, 2005, at a total annual payroll of not less than $740,000; and 33 new employees by Dec. 31, 2006, at a total annual payroll of $586,000, and maintain all those new hires through 2007 – a total of 325 positions, including 100 from St. Charles Parish.

Randa’s chairman of the board, Herbert Spiegel, commented even during these difficult economic times, he believes Randa is doing the right thing in making this move at this time.

At the same time, he thanked everyone who assisted to make the move a reality.

“Never forget the people who did you good,” Spiegel said.

The occasion was marked by nearly every Randa representative, along with every parish government representative, sporting identical neckties, each with a label featuring the St. Charles Parish logo, joined with the logo for Randa.