SHREVEPORT, La. -- A big real estate deal is now final, and could transform much of downtown, sending hundreds of state workers there in the coming years.
The state of Louisiana has bought the former federal building at the corner of Marshall and Fannin for $1.75 million from Louisiana Christian University. Downtown Development Authority Executive Director Liz Swaine says the deal is transformational.
"When you've got five to six hundred employees who are coming downtown, I guarantee you that some of them are going to go to lunch, going to do some shopping, going to go get a tea, a coffee, walking the sidewalks, just interacting with our downtown. Those are all good things. And potentially, some may want to live downtown," Swaine says.
LCU's plan for a law school at the former Waggoner Building failed, and it has remained empty since 1994. It'll be stripped down to its steel beam skeleton, then rebuilt in a $70-million dollar renovation. The whole process could take up to three years.
"A building that's not old enough for historic tax credits, but is looking bad and has looked bad for more years than we want to remember, will come back into service. This will be a building that will look great, be functional. It will impact that entire section of downtown, if not downtown as a whole," Swaine says.
Meantime, the current state office building at Jordan and Fairfield is being handed over to the Shreveport Implementation and Redevelopment Authority -- SIRA. They'll have a say on the future use of that building.
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