Stirling Properties Relocates Baton Rouge Office in United Plaza Office Park
New, expanded office footprint will combine two existing Baton Rouge locations.
Stirling Properties is pleased to announce the merger and relocation of its Baton Rouge offices to United Plaza II located in United Plaza Office Park at 8550 United Plaza Boulevard, Suite 101, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The new, expanded office footprint will combine the company’s two existing Baton Rouge locations into one central office.
The company has moved from its former locations at 8550 United Plaza Boulevard, Suite 303, and 6160 Perkins Road, Suite 200, to combined more than 30 employees, commercial brokers, and building management staff under one roof.
Stirling Properties now occupies more than 9,000 square feet of office space on the 1st floor of United Plaza II. The new office space features a collaborative, open floor concept with a mix of both private and shared office suites, as well as upgraded amenities. The company moved into the new office space in late November and will hold its official grand opening celebration on Thursday, December 5th.
Earlier this year, Stirling Properties and Baton Rouge-based SVN | Graham, Langlois & Legendre (SVN | GLL) announced a strategic merger to combine commercial real estate services in the Gulf South region and expand their presence in the burgeoning Greater Baton Rouge market. Joining forces enabled the companies to compete more efficiently and effectively in the local commercial real estate market and significantly increased market share through an expanded portfolio, service offering and team capacity.
“Stirling Properties is committed to the Baton Rouge area and business community, and we are expanding our presence and service offerings in the market and across the entire Gulf South region. Baton Rouge continues to be one of our most important areas for commercial real estate brokerage, management, development and investment sales,” said Marty Mayer, President & CEO with Stirling Properties. “We are combining offices and expanding into a larger space that will enable us to leverage all the resources of Stirling Properties to help our clients achieve their real estate goals.”
United Plaza Office Park is a 75-acre development encompassing twelve buildings that are home to a mix of national, regional and local companies. Stirling Properties owns, manages, and leases United Plaza I, United Plaza II, United Plaza VIII and United Plaza XII, totaling over 500,000 square feet of office space.
For commercial real estate needs and information in the Greater Baton Rouge area, contact Stirling Properties at (225) 926-4481.
Stirling Properties Promotes Mac Bauer to Development Director
Stirling Properties commercial real estate company is pleased to announce that Mac Bauer has been promoted to Development Director.
Bauer has been a member of Stirling Properties’ development team for more than eight years, assisting with identifying, evaluating, and implementing new development and redevelopment opportunities for the company.
In his previous role as Development Associate, Mac played an instrumental part in several notable company projects, including the recent acquisition of Northshore Medical Complex (former Louisiana Heart Hospital), financing of Ochsner Rehabilitation Hospital in Jefferson, development of Hammond Square Self Storage in Hammond and Academy Sports+Outdoors in Lake Charles, as well as the ground-up construction of Ochsner’s Emergency Department and Imaging Clinic in Laplace.
“We are proud to promote Mac Bauer to Development Director. This new title is well-deserved and more consistent with his role and how it has evolved over the last few years. He has been an integral part of our development team, and we’re confident he will serve an essential role in our company’s future growth plans,” said Townsend Underhill, President of Development with Stirling Properties.
As Development Director, Bauer will continue to work on Stirling Properties’ day-to-day healthcare-related real estate services. In addition, he will take on more of an advisory role, assisting the company’s clients in strategizing and plotting short- and long-term objectives. He will also be responsible for managing client relationships, sourcing new business, and managing development projects.
Mac Bauer works from Stirling Properties’ New Orleans, Louisiana, office. He can be reached at mbauer@stirlingprop.com or (504) 620-8131.
President’s Message: Happy NOW
In this fast-paced, chaotic world we live in, we are frequently bombarded with constant communication and digital noise. We have so much clutter and stuff thrown at us daily that it’s easy to get caught up in the clamor of it all, particularly the negativity and vicious dialogue that plagues our social streams.
Sometimes it causes us to lose sight of the positive things, the important stuff, all the things for which we should be grateful. Often, it takes a setback or unfortunate incident to bring our perspective back into its proper place. You know the saying: you don’t realize how good you have it until it’s gone.
Too often, we spend so much time dwelling on the past or worrying about the future that we don’t appreciate what we have. But, truthfully, we only have now! Even when you look back on the past or plan for the future, you’re still doing it in the NOW. The only thing we can truly control is right here, right now.
So, there is no better time than now to pause and express my gratitude and thanks. I’m grateful for our Stirling Properties team, our clients, investors and friends, all the people who are critical to our success and have made our progress possible, and more importantly, for all your generosity, kindness and caring. I want to personally say THANK YOU; it’s not something we do enough of these days.
As I count my blessings this Thanksgiving Day, know that you are among them.
I wish you and your families a very Happy Thanksgiving and holiday season—and especially a very happy NOW!
Marty
Tax Reform – First Filing Season
October is the time for fall, football and pumpkin-spiced everything. (Here in the south, it’s a time for the heater in the morning and air-conditioner in the afternoon.) What else rounds out the blissfulness of fall? Tax deadlines! October is the extended filing deadline for the 2018 tax season.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed in late 2017 with many of its provisions taking place in 2018. As a refresher, below is a list of some of the major components relating to real estate business owners and investors. For a complete overview of the tax reform changes, check out my last blog here.
- Expanded Bonus Depreciation – an increase from 50% depreciation to 100% bonus depreciation of certain items with a 15-year life or less
- Qualified Business Income Deduction – 20% of the taxable income generated from a business could be eligible for a deduction pending multiple limitations
- Property Tax Deduction – remained in place for real property trade or businesses
- Interest Expense from Loans – remains deductible for entities generating less than $25 million in gross receipts and are not considered a tax shelter
- 1031 Exchanges – real estate continues to benefit from 1031 exchanges
With our first filing season behind us, we’ve seen firsthand how these reforms resulted in significant tax savings for our investors. In 2018, we completed a $6 million development that yielded over $1.8 million in year one depreciation expense. Prior to the Tax Cut and Jobs Act, only $900,000 of depreciation would have been allowed in year one, with the remaining amount spread across 5, 7 and 15 years.
For individuals, many investors benefitted from the new Form 1040: Line 9 – Qualified Business Income Deduction. This tax revision now offers some tax relief for rental real estate entities rising to the level of a trade or business. The deduction, referenced in bullet point #2 above, provides a 20% deduction from taxable income generated from your qualified trade or business investments. This new deduction has brought about substantial tax savings for individuals, sometimes resulting in the thousands of dollars. This deduction will remain in place through 12/31/2025.
Evidently, real estate investments do provide some tax and asset diversification benefits. When asked about real estate as an investment alternative, Randy Waesche, CFP, of Resource Management, said, “Many of my investors seek real estate as an alternative to stocks and bonds. It adds a level of diversification in asset class, as well as a different risk and return profile. On a risk vs. return basis, investors are seeking real estate for the 6-8% tax-deferred annual distribution that is significantly higher than a short-term municipal bond or ten-year treasury yield. Real estate has many attractive investment qualities. In the low inflation, low growth economic environment we have today, strong tax-deferred returns are attractive for investors. My clients invest tens of millions of dollars in real estate annually.”
As we have previously reported, the Tax Cut and Jobs Act has been beneficial for the real estate industry and we expect it to continue to spur opportunity in the real estate market. At Stirling Properties, we will also continue to find ways to benefit our investors and real estate assets.
Disclaimer: The information contained herein is intended for information purposes only. Individuals should seek advice directly from a qualified professional before making any decisions or taking any action that might affect your personal finances or your business. Stirling Properties is not responsible for any investment or monetary decisions made based on the information provided above and is not a tax advisor. The information provided above was done so with the perceived intent of the legislation and not based on the actual regulations. The actual regulations could yield significantly different results.
Stirling Properties Mixes Philanthropy & Fun
Inaugural Stirling Fest raises $60,000 for local nonprofits!
Aloha. Stirling Properties celebrated our inaugural Stirling Fest last Friday, a day of Hawaiian-style fun and philanthropy to raise money for charitable causes throughout the Gulf South region. The event, hosted by the Stirling Stewardship Committee, was a HUGE SUCCESS, raising over $60,000 for local nonprofit organizations!
Representing our motto of #BeTheChange: Helping others is a work of heart, every year, Stirling Properties selects charitable organizations to become the recipients of our annual company-wide fundraising efforts. Nonprofit groups are nominated and then voted on by Team Stirling members. This year, we are proud to have expanded our recipients to four worthy organizations—Special Olympics Louisiana, Camp N.O.R.A., Safe Harbor Northshore and Ronald McDonald House Charities Mobile! Representatives from each organization were in attendance to celebrate with us and receive a check for $15,000.
Celebrating our 7th year, the fundraising event was changed from an Olympics-style to more of a festival with music, games and tons of great prizes. Held at Digs Volleyball Complex in Covington, the Luau-themed day featured delicious food and beverages along with live music by in-house band Craig Marks the Spot and DJ El Camino (aka Michael Hecht of GNO, Inc.). Games and activities were held throughout the day including Beach Volleyball, Simon Says, Hula Hooping and Checkers.
The main event was a 4-team Cajun Huki Pull relay representing each of the designated nonprofits. Congratulations to Team Special Olympics, they took home the trophy for Beach Volleyball and the Huki Pull!
Mahalo. A special thanks to all of our sponsors, supporters, and Team Stirling for your generosity. Major sponsors include BXS Insurance, Berkadia Commercial Mortgage, Brasfield & Gorrie, Fishman Haygood LLP, IBERIABANK, Richard Price Contracting Co., BH Management, Hancock Whitney Bank, Capital One, Duplantis Design Group PC, Rotolo Consultants, Walker & Dunlop, Wells Fargo, Louisiana Landscape, Ogden Painting, Zito∙Russell Architects PC, Acadia Land Surveyor, Baker Donelson, Kent Design, Regal Construction, Robert Refrigeration, Stratum Engineering LLC, Armstrong Property Services, Associated Building Services LLC, Bellingrath Wealth Management, Champion Security, Cleco, Construction South Inc., Donahue Favret, E. Cornell Malone Corp., Eustis Mortgage, First Bank & Trust, First Guaranty, Gallo Mechanical, Greenleaf Lawson Architects, Jimmy Maurin, Jones Walker, Jones Swanson Huddell & Garrison LLC, Lemoine Company, Malone Roofing Services LLC, Metro Mechanical Inc., Newmark Grubb Knight Frank, PGIM Real Estate Finance, Pinnacle Elevators, Precision Metal Inc., Precision Waste Solutions LLC, Real Estate Tax Group, Resource Management LLC, Roger Ogden, SCS Electric Inc., Sun Interiors, Trimark Constructors LLC, VergesRome Architects, Vinson Guard Service Inc., WLS Lighting Solutions and Fidelity Bank.
And a big shout-out to the Stirling Stewardship Committee and the Stirling Fest Committee for all their hard work organizing the event and making it happen!
A hui hou (until we meet again)! #StirlingProud
Thank you to Big Easy Parking Lot Maintenance, Cosmich Simmons & Brown PLLC, Gulf South Electric, River Parish Disposal, Chris’ Paving, Coastal Environmental Services, Connelly Construction Group, Cost Segregation Services, Covington Electric Services Inc., Geiger Heating & Air, ITS Fire Alarm Security LLC, Jefferson Sprinkler, Larry Loyd Construction Co., Moran Construction Consultants LLC, Mullin Landscape Associates, PMAT Real Estate Investments, Premier Service Team LLC, Premium Parking, Professional Maintenance Services, Southeastern Waterproofing, Southern Farm Bureau Life Insurance Company, Upchurch Services, CMC, Moradel Cleaning Services Inc., Angelos Landscaping, B&G Lawn Maintenance LLC, Cook Moore & Associates, Dale’s Paving Inc., NcNeer Electrical Contracting Inc., Unit Design Inc., CertaPro Painters of Lafayette, Delta Flooring, Dixie Office Products, Floor Trader, Huseman & Associates LLC, Mele Printing, Pat Brister, ACA Mechanical/Industrial LLC, Susan Bonnett, T.L. Construction LLC, Grass Unlimited, Acadiana Lighting & Signs, CJ Ladner Insurance Agency Inc., Multitech Office Machines and Sign Lite.
Stirling Properties Promotes Laura Wallace to Controller – Corporate Accounting
Stirling Properties is pleased to announce that Laura Wallace has been promoted to Controller – Corporate Accounting.
In her new role, Laura will manage all of Stirling Properties’ corporate accounting functions, including, receivables, payables, cash flow and payroll.
Laura has been with the company for nearly 14 years, and previously held the role of Corporate Accountant. While she will be responsible for many of the same functions, she will also be handling new and expanded duties.
“We are thrilled to promote Laura Wallace to Controller – Corporate Accounting,” said Paul Mastio, Chief Financial Officer with Stirling Properties. “Over the years, everything that we have thrown at Laura, she has not only learned, but excelled in, and consistently gets the job done. In her previous role of Corporate Accountant, she graciously took on added responsibilities when needed, so she has essentially been performing many of these functions already.”
As Controller – Corporate Accounting, Laura will continue to handle the company’s accounting and the brokerage production in Realcore. In addition, she will be responsible for our corporate budgeting process and 401K audits. She will also supervise our accounting administrator and banking administrator.
Laura Wallace will work from Stirling Properties’ Covington, Louisiana, office. She can be reached at lwallace@stirlingprop.com or (985) 246-3777.
