Is History Repeating Itself?
Over the last few weeks, the spotlight has been on the devastating budget deficit facing the state of Louisiana. Lawmakers are contending with a budget shortfall ranging upwards of $950 million with only 4 months to close it.
But Louisiana’s budget deficit is not a new problem. In fact, over the past 10 years, we have seen the same issue time and time again. History is repeating itself and it’s time to find a long-term solution.
Our budget difficulties stem from a combination of significantly less state revenue—the decline in post-Hurricane temporary economic growth and federal recovery funds, the onset of a national recession, and the sharp decline in oil prices—coupled with years of poor decisions and short-term fixes on behalf of our elected officials.
So here we are, in yet another crisis being heavily—and very publicly debated. We are hearing scare tactics and rhetoric from both sides. Governor Edwards’ plan is to create new revenue from taxes, while many Republicans are advocating for substantial changes in the Louisiana budget structure as a whole. The answer is a balance of both.
Did you know Louisiana’s budget is 44% larger than it was 10 years ago—and our state spends more per capita than any other state in the South? In addition, most of Louisiana’s $25 billion state budget is considered off-limits to annual review or reductions. This budget structure must be reformed. Click here to read more startling facts on Louisiana’s budget problems.
Now, the Governor is proposing as much as $2 billion in new revenue from taxpayers to fund state and local government to continue to operate, but raising revenue alone is not the solution.
While I agree that prudent tax increases are inevitable at this point, before lawmakers look to taxpayers to fill the budget gap, I would encourage them to look within and #FixGovtFirst.
It is critical that short-term fixes do not have negative long-term impacts on our state. We have had too many made in the past that we are still struggling with. Right now, we have a unique opportunity to address these budget issues and prevent this historic cycle from repeating itself.
For example, one specific revenue that can help is e-fairness legislation, such as the Marketplace Fairness Act, that would provide for the collection of state and local sales tax on Internet purchases.
Several sources estimate that Louisiana and its local governments lost nearly $400 million in 2012 from foregone Internet sales tax revenues—and possibly considerably more in the current year as more consumers turn to the Internet to purchase goods and services. These dollars could go a long way in reducing the state’s crippling budget deficit.
This is not a new or increased tax, just a loophole in the law. Under current legislation, consumers and businesses are required to pay sales and use taxes on the goods they purchase, but they are simply not—98% of people choose not to pay or report electronic purchases.
Contact your representatives and make your voice heard. Two bills on e-fairness legislation, House Bills 6 by Rep. Steve Pugh, R-Ponchatoula, and 30 by Rep. Walt Leger, D-New Orleans—and as many as 100 others—could be reviewed by the House Ways and Means Committee as early as this week.
Click here to learn more, see recent legislative updates and Take Action by emailing elected officials about your priorities. Tell #lalege it’s time to #FixGovtFirst.
2015: A Big Year for Pensacola
With Stirling Properties’ having an office in Pensacola for just over a year now, I can say it is exciting to experience first-hand the revitalization of downtown Pensacola and the economic energy happening along Florida’s “western gate”. 2015 was a vital year for economic development, job creation and community vitality in Pensacola, Florida.
The most significant single event that is shaping the future of Pensacola’s economy, by creating the most jobs and bringing in the largest investment, is Navy Federal Credit Union’s $850 million two-phase expansion of its Pensacola Campus. Phase 1 of the expansion began in early 2015, and both buildings are expected to be ready for occupancy in June 2016. These buildings will house an additional 2,000 employees. Phase 2’s ground breaking is expected to begin in November 2016 and will bring an additional 5,000 work stations. By 2020, the Pensacola campus will total 2 million square feet of space and $1 billion in capital investment; employing 10,000 people.
Downtown Pensacola saw several major projects that either began or were completed in 2015.
- One Palafox Place is a complete renovation of historic Brent and Blount Buildings. The restoration and redevelopment will transform it into a new live, work play community.
- The Pensacola News Journal building at 101 E. Romana Street was demolished and construction for a $51 million, 260-unit apartment and retail building will begin in early 2016.
- Adjacent to the apartments is a new 52,000 square foot, $15 million YMCA that will be competed in late 2016.
- The Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition’s Alcaniz Street headquarters will be ready in March 2016. This expansion will take their office and workspace to 30,000 square feet.
- One51 Main at the Community Maritime Park is complete and ready for occupancy. This 27,000 square foot, mixed-use development on Pensacola Bay will house office, retail and condominium space.
- A 100-room Holiday Inn Express located on Main Street is under construction and will open in late 2016 or early 2017.
The Bluffs, an industrial park near Cantonment, Florida, will host up to 60 individual industrial sites and bring 5,000 new jobs.
A contract with VT Mobile Aerospace to build a $38 million aircraft maintenance and overhaul facility at Pensacola International Airport is setting Pensacola up as an aerospace hotspot. The large hanger facility will begin construction during the second half of 2016 and is expected to create 300 jobs.
Hosted by the University of West Florida’s Center for Entrepreneurship, EntreCon, a two-day conference for entrepreneurs at the Rex Theater, was successfully launched in November 2015. Over 225 people attended and EntreCon 2016 is already scheduled for November.
2016 brings big economic growth opportunities in entrepreneurship, cybersecurity and aviation. I can’t wait to see what else is in store for Pensacola in 2016.
President’s Message: We Are Ready!
We are ready!
The New Year celebration has come and gone. The world has taken a moment to reflect on the past year and now we redirect our attention to goals for the new one. As we close out the first month of 2016, this is usually the time that most people abandon those well-intentioned New Year’s resolutions they so ambitiously made.
Nevertheless, I think there is still a real purpose for continuing these rituals each year. It presents a new set of opportunities to make ourselves better and to strive for loftier goals. Here at Stirling Properties, that reason is for us to try to prepare ourselves as best we can to deal with what the future holds: uncertainty.
Every day, we hear and read of crises, turmoil and drama in the news. And in times of greatest uncertainty, it is more critical than ever to prepare for opportunity.
Stirling Properties’ goals for 2016 have been finalized. Our pipeline is full and we have many exciting prospects in our future. However, the only thing I can really be certain of is that the year will provide uncertainty.
Basketball coaching legend John Wooden said, “When opportunity comes, it’s too late to prepare.” If his players were not prepared for the game, they would not be able to take advantage of the opportunities within it. His point was that opportunity comes to those who are ready for it.
With that in mind, we ended 2015 and begin 2016 with many great opportunities.
- Turtle Creek Crossing in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, is the largest retail acquisition by Stirling Properties in its 40 year history! The transaction occurred last week for the 295,000-square-foot shopping center at a purchase price of $48.1 million. Anchor tenants include Target, Kohl’s, Ashley Furniture, Bed Bath & Beyond, Ross Dress for Less, Old Navy and PetSmart.
- Our Mobile Office is experiencing remarkable growth throughout South Alabama. New restaurants, shopping and retail expansion — including Alabama’s first plaza-type development — is in the works with new tenant leases being announced often. From 2014–2015, total commercial volume for sales and leasing in Alabama increased by 169% and total transactions increased by 113%.
- Stirling Properties and CBL & Associates Properties, Inc., celebrated the Grand Opening of Phase II of Fremaux Town Center in Slidell, Louisiana, adding 283,000 square feet to the existing shopping center. Anchored by Dillard’s, the second phase allowed us to add even more great retail and restaurant options that will further solidify Fremaux Town Center as a premier regional shopping and entertainment destination, as well as a vital economic contributor to the area.
- We welcomed our first tenants to the recently completed Offices at Mid-City Market, a 54,000-square-foot, mixed-use complex in New Orleans. Orangetheory Fitness joined previously-announced Gallo Mechanical, LLC, Exceptional Dental and H-3 Aesthetics & Dermatology. We are anticipating new tenant announcements soon.
- Stirling acquired the 384-multi-family-unit “Retreat at Acadian Point” (formerly South Point Apartments) in Lafayette, Louisiana, bringing Stirling’s total number of units under management to 1,512. Upgrades are in progress and we are providing Lafayette residents with affordable luxury at a time when the local economy faces some challenges.
- Last year, Stirling Properties leased or sold nearly 4 million square feet of properties. From 2014–2015, our total transactions increased by 13%. Equally exciting, we are thrilled to welcome 45 new members to our Stirling family.
We’ve accomplished so much over the past year, and the best is yet to come. Stirling Properties continues to substantially increase our portfolio and expand our footprint across the entire Gulf South region, shaping us to be one of the most diversified full-service commercial real estate companies in the country.
So I don’t know when or where more opportunities will come, but I know that our Stirling Properties team is equipped, eager and more prepared than ever to meet them. Even John Wooden would be proud.
Therefore, when, where and how opportunity knocks, we are ready!
Ambassador Town Center Job Fair Today!
With the Grand Opening only a few months away on March 23, Ambassador Town Center is hosting a job fair today at the Wyndham Garden Lafayette on 1801 West Pinhook Road in Lafayette. 17 companies will interview applicants from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m.
Ambassador Town Center is bringing over 1,500 jobs to the Lafayette area. This will be a huge economic boost to Lafayette, during a time when the local job market has been bleak.
Nearly 1,700 people were lined up first thing this morning to interview for jobs ranging from entry level to management positions. The 17 companies participating in the job fair are: BJ’s Restaurants, Blaze Pizza, Costco, Chuy’s Mexican Restaurant, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Dickey’s Barbecue Pit, Field & Stream, Five Below, Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers, Homegoods / Marshalls, Off Broadway Shoe Warehouse, Panera Bread, Panda Express, Red Robin Gourmet Burgers and Brews, Subway, Verizon Wireless, and World of Beer.
The job fair is sponsored by LEDA and Louisiana Workforce Commission. For a more detailed list of positions available visit http://www.lafayette.org/Jobfairs
To download a copy of the job fair directory and floor map click here.
2015: What a year for Mobile
With all the various ranking and awards Alabama received throughout 2015, it’s no surprise Mobile, Alabama had an amazing year!
As Stirling Properties’ Vice President & Regional Manager for Alabama/Florida, a member of the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Chamber’s Board of Advisors, I was thrilled with all that Mobile accomplished this past year. Here are just a few of the more notable moments from 2015.
Airbus’s U.S. Manufacturing Facility at Mobile Aeroplex opened its first U.S. manufacturing facility on September 14, 2015. By 2018, the facility will produce between 40 and 50 single-aisle aircrafts per year.
GulfQuest National Maritime Museum of the Gulf of Mexico opened on September 26, 2015 and provided a huge impact to the area’s tourism economy.
The Alabama Department of Transportation awarded the I-10 Mobile River Bridge design/engineering contract to Thompson Engineering. This will increase the capacity of I-10 and meet the existing and predicted future traffic volumes.
The Manufacturing Communities Grant was implemented and Mobile was named one of only 12 federally-designated manufacturing communities in 2015. Over the past 5 years, manufacturing jobs in Mobile have increased by 38%, with a 22.9% increase in manufacturing wages.
1702, a group of chief executive officers and business leaders, was established to create an entrepreneurial community that showcases Mobile as one of the best cities for groundbreaking companies. The St. Louis street innovative corridor for tech savvy startups is becoming a reality.
The city executed a 13 month contract for the return of Carnival Cruise Lines starting in November 2016. This promises a huge economic impact to the city.
Mobile Chamber of Commerce surveyed their Partners for Growth Investors. The results showed that between January 2014 and June 2015 2,148 new jobs were created and during that time $936 million was invested in capital.
Stirling Properties is committed to serving Alabama and the Gulf South and we are proud to be one of Mobile’s top commercial real estate firms. We are excited about the great things to come in 2016 to Mobile!
Stirling Properties Shows The True Meaning of Christmas
Volunteers of America Christmas Wish Project
Stirling Properties Corporate Office Donations
For the past 4 years, Stirling Properties has participated in the Volunteers of America Christmas Wish project. Employees and agents from Stirling Properties donated Christmas gifts, food baskets and other essential items to local families. Stirling’s Stewardship Committee organized the company-wide event by partnering with Volunteers of America in Greater New Orleans, Greater Baton Rouge, Northwest Louisiana and the Southeast to serve the New Orleans Northshore and Southshore, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Shreveport-Bossier City and Mobile communities.
Volunteers of America helps over 2 million people every year. Their annual Christmas Wish Project helps bring joy to families and individuals who might not have a Christmas this year. Participating in this project is a great reminder of the true spirit of Christmas – giving and generosity. Stirling Properties is committed to supporting the community, and will continue to partner with Volunteers of America in the future.
Northpark Christmas Bake Sale
In addition to donating to the Christmas Wish Project, Stirling Properties hosted the first annual Northpark Christmas Bazaar, Bake Sale and Raffle on Friday, December 4th. Local craft vendors as well as employees of the Northpark office complex sold crafts, jewelry, etched glass, books, beauty products and many other great gift items. 
The event, organized by two, crafty Stirling Properties employees, raised over $600! All proceeds from the bake sale and raffle were donated to the Volunteers of America, Greater New Orleans’ Christmas Family Program. 
Thank you to all the participants and shoppers who helped make the Bazaar a huge success! Because of the great response, Stirling Properties plans on making it an annual event! For more information about Stirling’s Stewardship Committee, please visit our website or contact us by email at stewardship@stirlingprop.com.
