JCH Development and Stirling Properties Celebrate Grand Opening of Magnolia Marketplace
Today, Mayor Mitch Landrieu joined representatives from JCH Development and Stirling Properties to celebrate the Grand Opening of Magnolia Marketplace, a 106,000-square-foot shopping center located at the intersection of South Claiborne Avenue and Toledano Street in New Orleans’ Central City neighborhood. Councilwoman-At-Large Stacy Head, a representative from Councilwoman LaToya Cantrell’s office and other local officials were also in attendance.
“Magnolia Marketplace is further proof that New Orleans is building back better than before. This redevelopment is creating more jobs, strengthening our local economy and giving residents more retail options right here in the heart of New Orleans,” said Mayor Landrieu. “Magnolia Marketplace is also another example of a strong public-private partnership— celebrating the new way of doing business in New Orleans. The project will nicely complement the nearby Claiborne corridor and help spur activity and redevelopment across the city.”
The project was 100% pre-leased prior to the January 2014 groundbreaking. Open tenants at Magnolia Marketplace include: T.J.Maxx, Ross Dress For Less, PetSmart, Shoe Carnival, ULTA Beauty and Raising Cane’s. Michaels will open on March 20, 2015. The initial phase of Magnolia Marketplace included a 6,000-square-foot development located at the intersection of South Claiborne Avenue and Fourth Street that opened in 2014 and now houses Capital One Bank, Subway and T-Mobile.
“This grand opening is about creating jobs, attracting national retailers, improving quality of life, building economic momentum, and turning Claiborne into a regional commercial corridor,” said Councilmember LaToya Cantrell of District B. “I am excited to celebrate the grand opening of this venture and I believe that it is a sign of future development in this city.”
“This project is evidence of the resurgence of Central City and represents yet another important step in bringing additional retail to the city,” said Townsend Underhill, senior vice president of development for Stirling Properties. “We would like to thank the City of New Orleans and Mayor Landrieu’s Administration as well as the City Council, particularly councilmembers Latoya Cantrell and Stacy Head for being supportive in yet another project that signifies Stirling’s commitment to the City of New Orleans.”
During the ceremony, Tara Hernandez, president of JCH Development, unveiled the Toledano Art Wall, a mural painted by local artists Rontherin Ratliff and his team at YAYA Inc.; Brandan “Bmike” Odums; and, Ellen Macomber. It conveys a story of many historical elements and events from the Central City neighborhood to share some of the area’s proudest moments and accomplishments.
“We are proud to bring a dynamic new retail development to an underserved portion of the city,” said Hernandez.
Magnolia Marketplace is directly south of Harmony Oaks, a 460-unit, mixed-income residential development. The Marketplace will serve one of the city’s busiest corridors, with traffic counts exceeding 70,000 cars a day. Claiborne Avenue also provides a vital connection between Uptown New Orleans and the Central Business District.
These recent commercial projects are significant in light of a 2012 report by the New Orleans Business Alliance (NOLABA) that analyzed the retail spending of Orleans Parish residents. The report estimates that Orleans Parish loses $1.9 billion in retail sales to neighboring parishes and other U.S. cities each year. Since being founded in 2011, NOLABA has focused on attracting retail and development throughout New Orleans. In addition to facilitating smooth progression of the project, NOLABA performed an independent economic analysis on the development before it began.
“Our evaluation revealed that the Magnolia Marketplace development would benefit area residents, people who travel Claiborne Avenue and the City’s general fund through increased sales taxes, particularly because it attracted new national retailers to Orleans Parish,” said Melissa Ehlinger, interim president and CEO of NOLABA. “We always look for better than average returns on public investment, for impact that reaches New Orleanians at a variety of economic levels, and for projects that enhance the city’s attractiveness to future investment. Magnolia Marketplace serves up all of these.”
For more information about Magnolia Marketplace, contact Townsend Underhill at tunderhill@stirlingprop.com or 985-898-2022, or for leasing information contact Rhonda Sharkawy at rsharkawy@stirlingprop.com or 504-523-4481.
Stirling Properties Mobile Office Relocates to Larger Space
COVINGTON, LA – March 2, 2015– Stirling Properties is excited to announce the relocation of its Alabama office to One St. Louis Centre located in downtown Mobile. In addition to being a tenant, Stirling will also manage and lease the 97,514 square–foot professional office building.
New Contact Information:
Stirling Properties Mobile Office – 251-342-7229
One St. Louis Centre
1 St. Louis Street, Suite 4100
Mobile, Alabama 36602
Stirling Properties Welcomes Frank Ferraro, Jr. to its New Orleans Team
Stirling Properties is pleased to announce the addition of Frank Ferraro, Jr. to the Commercial Brokerage Division as Broker Associate. Frank will work from the company’s New Orleans, Louisiana, office located at 615 Baronne Street, Suite 100.
Mr. Ferraro has over 22 years of experience in Commercial Real Estate. Prior to joining Stirling Properties, Mr. Ferraro was co-owner of a firm in Nevada until moving to New Orleans. He has successfully negotiated hundreds of sale and lease transactions, including complex land assemblages for master planned community developers and national homebuilders. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Real Estate from Arizona State University and holds a Broker’s license in Nevada as well as Louisiana.
Mr. Ferraro can be reached at 504-620-8148 or via email at fferraro@stirlingprop.com.
Stirling Properties Welcomes Julie Watson to its Mobile, AL Team
Stirling Properties is pleased to announce the addition of Julie Watson to the Commercial Brokerage Division as Sales and Leasing Executive. Julie will work from the company’s Mobile, Alabama office located at 1110 Montlimar Drive, Suite 830.
Prior to joining Stirling Properties, Ms. Watson was with Keller Williams in Mobile, Alabama where she served as the firm’s sole commercial practitioner. Prior to that she served as an Agent with Hodges Commercial Real Estate in Montgomery and Hansen Realty where she sought business development opportunities throughout Alabama and the Chicago area.
Ms. Watson is a licensed Real Estate Broker in Alabama and can be reached at 251-375-2484 or via email at jwatson@stirlingprop.com.
First Steps for Property Services and Information Technology
We’ve received a lot of feedback from an earlier Stirling post (Property Management, Information Technology and the New Paradigm) about the amount of work required to update Information Technology Infrastructure for today’s world. A few people keyed in on the amount of work required when their Information Technology Projects had taken a back seat to other priorities in the last five years, ten years or forever.
Some had asked for a cheat sheet on what they should do first or what questions they should be asking their property services company about their Information Technology Systems. This list is far from comprehensive – merely first steps, but if Stirling had just taken over a new property or if I was starting from scratch, this would be my initial list of things to check or you can hit your Property Services company up to find out what they were doing in regards to Information Technology:
Do I have a next generation firewall at my offices?
Are my automation systems firewalled and segmented away from my office computers (i.e. postage machines, hvac systems, video directories, card access systems)?
Not very effective anymore, but still a first step, do all my computers have anti-virus protection?
If my computers haven’t been running anti-virus, who will format the hard drive and reset it back to the factory default image, then add anti-virus protection and load all my documents back?
Do we have, at the very least, basic spam filtering to try and eliminate the ZeroHour emails and do we have Sender Policy Framework (SPF) setup?
And finally, this really isn’t about security, but to offer up some lagniappe for the New Year, check into finally getting rid of your old analog telephone system to see what features you would gain and how much you would save with a Voice over IP (VoIP) System. Check into either a legitimate cloud provider or see if your property services company can add you to their system – adding your property to their system should be simple.
Obviously this is a very basic list, but whether your property is managed by Stirling or not, feel free to shoot me an email if you have questions and I’ll try to point you in the right direction. When it comes to Internet Security, we’re all in this together.
President’s Message: Celebrating 40 Years
As we begin 2015, I am excited to announce that Stirling Properties will be celebrating the 40th Anniversary of its founding. As I reflect on this significant milestone, I take pride in all we have overcome and accomplished and I am thankful for all of our dedicated team throughout the years that led us to this point.
In 1975 (before some of our current employees were even born), Jimmy Maurin and Roger Ogden started a real estate company focused on developing shopping centers. The following year, Chip Songy joined them. It was their vision and spirit of entrepreneurship that established such a solid foundation from which we have built the Stirling Properties of today – a full-service commercial real estate company focused on the Gulf South. It is their legacy that we carry forward and continue to grow. To them, we will always be grateful.
While so much has changed in the world, in our markets, and in our company over the years, the culture and values at Stirling Properties remain firmly rooted in integrity, professionalism, teamwork and commitment to our industry and the communities we serve. Through ups and downs in the market, hurricane recovery and economic uncertainty, putting our clients first continues to be our top priority. As we grow, these values will always guide us.
And none of this would be possible without the dedication and hard work of the Stirling Team. It is because of the Stirling Team that we are able to accomplish so much each and every year and I am thrilled Stirling Properties has such an incredible group of professionals. As we embark on our 40th year, I look forward to a year full of progress and success, built upon the foundation developed over the last 40 years.
