President’s Message: It’s a New Day in New Orleans!
Last week, we celebrated the Grand Opening of Mid-City Market in New Orleans. This Winn-Dixie anchored, urban shopping center is a milestone for Stirling Properties, as it’s our largest ground-up shopping center development in the City of New Orleans in our company’s 37 year history! It also represents one of the most significant retail developments in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina, taking once blighted and vacant properties and returning them to commerce. This project creates over 500 new jobs and generates projected annual retail sales of over $61 Million.
Mid-City Market is the culmination of over 4 years of work and it was a challenge to put (and keep) all the pieces together. Few companies could take on a project of this complexity and succeed, but Stirling Properties was up for this challenge.
I want to commend our incredible team who worked on this project for a job well done! There were many points in time where it looked like the deal was dead, but our Stirling team worked diligently to complete it. It was through their hard work and perseverance that this inner-city project materialized.
I also want to commend Mayor Mitch Landrieu for his vision and leadership and Councilwoman Susan Guidry for her incredible support and drive to help make this a reality for Mid-City.
The Mid-City Market project is a result of over $40 Million in private investment and demonstrates our strong belief in the City of New Orleans and the civic and business leadership which has created an environment where businesses are confident to invest. A plethora of national and regional rankings paint a truly remarkable picture of New Orleans as THE city on the move, which is in stark contrast to previous decades.
This project, combined with our other projects completed to date, brings Stirling’s investments to over $120 Million in the City of New Orleans in just the last 3 years. All of us at Stirling Properties are confident in the direction of New Orleans, and Mid-City Market shows our continued commitment to the market. This project was the first for us in many ways and certainly will not be the last.
Stirling Stewardship Event Raises $25,000!
This past Friday, employees and agents gathered for the first-ever Stirling Properties Office Olympics, an event hosted by the Stirling Stewardship Committee to raise money for charitable causes. The event was a HUGE SUCCESS and a total of $25,000 was raised! Over 50 employees and agents were divided into 8 teams with each team choosing their team name, team colors, team song, and charity to contribute donations and winnings. Charities selected by the teams included March of Dimes, Red Cross, St. Francis Animal Sanctuary, St. Tammany Hospital Foundation (in honor of Lee de la Houssaye), American Cancer Society, Alzheimer’s Association, St. Jude’s, and Children’s Advocacy Center/Hope House. Teams collected over $20,000 of the total raised through personal donations and attaining sponsors for their team. Congratulations to our teams! Teams were able to earn points the week leading up to the Olympics by correctly answering Stirling Employee Trivia or the ever-popular “Where’s Marty’s Bobblehead” questions. Special points were also given to the team that raised the most money and the Most Unique Team. On the day of the Olympics, teams competed in 8 events – Golf Chipping, Fish Casting Contest, Wii Bowling, Trash Can Basketball, Shooting Contest, Hula Hoop, Root Beer Pong and a Tricycle Relay Race. Scores were tallied at the end of the day and medals were give to the top overall teams. The Gold Medal overall went to Team Nerdy…congratulations to Paul Mastio, Beezie Landry, Karen Bachemin, Courtney Lehman, Monica Milazzo and Judy McKee! Extra money was donated to their charity by the Stirling Stewardship Committee! Congratulations also goes to Jeff Marshall, Chris Abadie, Samantha Marshall, Peggy Sayler, Sharon Amacker and Nancy Stallings of Snail Team 6 who earned the Silver Medal. Townsend Underhill, Joseph Koon, Cyndie Quave, Jeanne Taravella, Amanda Pfeil, Dina Moran and Angelique Bates of Arrested Development took home the Bronze Medal. At the end of the day, in an effort to raise even more money, the ownership team volunteered to have pies thrown in their faces, but employees and agents had to outbid them for the right to throw the pie. Pies were smashed in all but one owner’s face. Employees were obviously motivated to smash a pie in an owner’s face as over $4,500 was collected toward the overall total. One pie even went for $1,200! A special thanks to the Stirling Stewardship Committee for all their hard work on organizing the event and making it happen. A fun day was had by all and we look forward to more events like this in the future!
President’s Message: What Happens in Vegas Doesn’t Stay in Vegas!
Last month’s International Council of Shopping Center’s (ICSC’s) RECon 2013 in Las Vegas was very encouraging. Overall attendance for the retail real estate industry’s biggest annual global event was over 35,000, a 10 percent increase from 2012 and a post-Recession record. Attendees and exhibitors, including retailers, developers, lenders and brokers, expressed optimism about the health of the U.S. retail real estate industry. I also noticed more young people coming into the industry, a trend I haven’t seen in many years…or maybe I’m just getting old.
It was quite obvious to me that everyone at the convention was more relaxed, but busier than in recent years. Our Stirling team had a full slate of productive meetings for all our properties, and we were all touting the strength of the Gulf South market. There was significant interest in our current development projects – Mid-City Market that will open next month in New Orleans, Fremaux Town Center under development in Slidell, and our recently announced Magnolia Marketplace project in New Orleans. We expect to finalize many deals from our meetings for these and other properties.
[wpvideo 0nNAm2jd]Another exciting development at Stirling Properties is the opening of our new office in Mobile, Alabama! Our new office will help us to expand our presence in the region in an area that is experiencing exponential growth. You will be hearing more specifics about this in the very near future!
The window of opportunity is definitely open for us now and we are all working hard to take advantage of this momentum. What happens in Vegas doesn’t stay in Vegas – it will produce positive outcomes for us at Stirling and the Gulf South. Stay tuned for more news!
Stirling Properties’ Marty Mayer to Serve as Divisional Vice President of ICSC
Marty Mayer, President & CEO of Stirling Properties, has been elected to serve as the Vice President of the International Council of Shopping Centers’ (ICSC) Southern Division. This was made official during ICSC’s Annual Meeting of Regular Members, held during ICSC RECon in Las Vegas, Nevada.
As an ICSC Divisional Vice President, Mr. Mayer has also been appointed to serve on the Government Relations Advisory Committee.
Mr. Mayer currently serves on the Executive Committee of ICSC’s Worldwide Board of Trustees and has previously served as the Co-Chairman of ICSC’s Open Air Center Committee and as Louisiana State Director and Louisiana State Operations Director for ICSC.
Stirling Properties Collects Donations for Tornado Food Drive
Pictured: (Top Row, L-R) Marty Mayer, Cyndie Quave, Tracy Gandy, Ellen McCain, Tara Slater, Samantha Marshall, Courtney Lehman, Jeanne Taravella, Marsha Smalley, Sharon Amacker, Eugene Schmitt, Chris Abadie; (Bottom Row, L-R) Gena Randall, Monica Milazzo, Marcia McGarrity, Tina Crouchet, Judy McKee, Beezie Landry, Jeff Marshall, Nancy Stallings, Amanda Pfeil, Paul Mastio, Kristy Beach, Laura Wallace, Elizabeth Schmelling, Dina Moran, Karen Bachemin, Gerry Catanese
In an effort to help with the disaster relief in Oklahoma, employees and agents of Stirling Properties collected donations of non-perishable food items for the St. Tammany Fire Protection District #1 in Slidell, Louisiana. Firemen of the district are collecting and organizing donated items and will personally deliver them. On Saturday, June 8, the donations will be transported to Norman, Oklahoma for distribution to residents affected by the recent tornadoes.
There is still time to donate! They are accepting donations at fire stations throughout the Slidell area until Friday, June 7.
Stirling Properties Hires Ryan Juneau as Project Manager
Stirling Properties is pleased to announce the addition of Ryan Juneau as Project Manager.
In this position, Mr. Juneau will work in the Development Division overseeing new development, renovation and tenant build out projects, including construction management, tenant coordination, due diligence coordination and entitlement work amongst other duties.
Mr. Juneau brings with him over 10 years of experience in Acquisitions, Development and Project Management.
“We are very excited to welcome Ryan to the Stirling Development Team,” says Townsend Underhill, Senior Vice President of Development. “Ryan’s skillset and experience are very well suited to help grow and support our development efforts in the Gulf South. I believe that Ryan has the potential to have a significant impact on our organization.”
Mr. Juneau joins Stirling Properties from le Triomphe Property Group in Baton Rouge, Louisiana where he was responsible for all property development.
A graduate of Louisiana State University, Mr. Juneau earned a Masters of Business Administration and currently resides in Baton Rouge with his wife, Jaci, and their two children.
