It's not the retail juggernaut people had expected - at least not yet - but the first stores have begun to open at Colonial Pinnacle Nord du Lac, with more slated to open their doors in the coming weeks and months. The parking lot in front of the region's first Kohl's department store was bustling Monday morning, as the store...
It's not the retail juggernaut people had expected - at least not yet - but the first stores have begun to open at Colonial Pinnacle Nord du Lac, with more slated to open their doors in the coming weeks and months.
The parking lot in front of the region's first Kohl's department store was bustling Monday morning, as the store was in the midst of a soft opening, in advance of a grand opening celebration scheduled for Wednesday at 7 a.m. The 87,000-square foot store is serving as the anchor for the new shopping center, which runs along Interstate 12 between the Pinnacle Parkway and Louisiana 21 exits, south of Covington.
A second anchor, Hobby Lobby, opened over the weekend to sizable crowds, while a third, Academy Sports, is set to open Oct. 15, said Ken Marshall, senior vice president of retail for Colonial Properties Trust, which is developing the center.
Dollar Tree also is open, and local businesses Shoe Boutique and Purse Bag Pattie's, and national retailer Kirkland's, should be ready for customers by the end of the week, he said.
The center's first restaurant, Texas Roadhouse, is scheduled to open Oct. 4, but it will be several more months before the center sees other eateries take root. Olive Garden and Cracker Barrel have permit applications pending with St. Tammany Parish, but those applications are not yet through the process, said Tom Beale, a parish government spokesman.
The new restaurants and the future tenants of a 16,000-square foot building at the western edge of the parking lot will more or less complete the project's 300,000-square foot first phase, which should be finished by May, Marshall said. Colonial Properties is hoping to fill the vacant building with businesses such as a sit-down restaurant, sandwich shop, yogurt store and hair salon, he said.
Once the first phase is complete, the center will have created roughly 1,000 new jobs, Marshall said.
The first phase does not include the unfinished buildings on the western end of the site, closer to LA 21. Marshall said his firm is continuing to talk to specialty shops in search of tenants for the buildings, but he could not say when construction might resume.
Colonial Properties initially sought to open Nord du Lac with 1 million square feet of upscale retail in October 2009, but the sluggish economy caused the company to push back its plans, then put them on hold altogether. The firm then announced it would open the center in phases, with the first phase set to open in March 2010, though Colonial Properties later pushed the date back again to October 2010.
A year ago, Marshall said the company had renewed a push to place big-box retailers at the site, despite successful efforts by nearby residents in 2006 to keep big boxes, including Sam's Club and Walmart, from Nord du Lac. Residents again rejected the idea, which the firm saw as a way to improve the chances for the overall development.
The development suffered a major blow earlier when Dillard's, which bought a parcel at the site, opted to delay construction of a new store for an undetermined period.
Colonial Properties will celebrate the center's grand opening Oct. 16 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, refreshments and prizes.