The Gretna City Council has signed off on plans for a new grocery store and restaurant at the growing Westside Shopping Center. While the council gave its blessing Wednesday to Rouses Market and Twin Peaks restaurant, some residents complained about a lack of public disclosure on the projects. One resident also questioned whether Twin Peaks, which bills itself as the...
The Gretna City Council has signed off on plans for a new grocery store and restaurant at the growing Westside Shopping Center. While the council gave its blessing Wednesday to Rouses Market and Twin Peaks restaurant, some residents complained about a lack of public disclosure on the projects.
One resident also questioned whether Twin Peaks, which bills itself as the "ultimate man cave'' and calls its "most prized assets, the friendly, attentive and beautiful Twin Peaks Girls,'' as appropriate for the image the city is trying to project. "I welcome a new neighbor, but I find it a bit puzzling that a female mayor would not be cognizant of image problems, perception of females by these types of male-oriented restaurants,'' Mary Lou Eichhorn told the council and Mayor Belinda Constant, the first woman mayor in the city's 100-year history.
Rouses and Twin Peaks will join the shopping center at the West Bank Expressway and Stumpf Boulevard. The complex is undergoing an $8 million expansion.
Twin Peaks, a 6,450-square-foot eatery, will be built on the site of the old Scooter's restaurant. Developer Kyle Brechtel said he hopes to open by Mardi Gras at the earliest but most likely April 1.
Westside Shopping Center is Gretna's main generator of sales tax, officials have said. While she welcomes new businesses, Eichhorn said she was disappointed to learn of the projects through the news media.
"I find it somewhat strange that on one hand the city is building a playground and promoting itself as family friendly and on the other end, it's bringing in a Hooters-type restaurant,'' Eichhorn said.
Police Chief Arthur Lawson has sat on the site plan review committee. "Although we may not like the business concept in some way, we don't have the authority, nor does the city, to discriminate and say we don't want that business. If you meet the criteria of the regulatory, that's not an option the city has,'' Lawson said.
Rouses plans a 45,000-square-foot store at the rear of the shopping center, with a target opening of September or October 2014. Rouses executive Robert Bixenman told the council the goal is to move quickly on the project. Test piles are to be driven in the next 30 days, with construction to begin a month later, he said.
"It's a great site, we like where it's at,'' Bixenman said.
The Gretna store would be the chain's third West Bank location.
City officials said the venerable Casey Jones grocery, also in Westside, opted not to renew its lease. But owner Kirk Jones said he tried for a year to renegotiate his lease and was interested in remaining at the location.