Lake Charles, LA (KPLC) – Downtown Lake Charles is changing as a vacant space on Ryan Street will soon be redeveloped.
Some downtown businesses have stood empty since Hurricane Laura, but 710 Ryan Street now faces a new fate.
“We understand what it’s like to have to be resilient as a community after a storm and Lake Charles is showing the signs of a truly stronger rebuild,” said Green Coast Enterprises CEO Jackie Dadakis.
Green Coast Enterprises is a commercial real estate company based in New Orleans. The property developer has acquired the vacant Ryan Street building that once housed Zephyr’s and Luna Live.
“No city wants to have a lot of vacant buildings, now quite frankly, part of that trend was even before Hurricane Laura,” Lake Charles Mayor Nic Hunter said.
Hunter told 7News the city has seen a shift in retail and the way people shop, which has led to many empty storefronts downtown, but recent storms make it all the more difficult the return of new businesses or old ones.
“It really is a classic Green Coast project,” Dadakis said. “We love working with historic buildings and bringing them back and learning the stories and then honoring that history by bringing this modern local retail downstairs and then hopefully two floors of office upstairs. “
Green Coast is investing approximately $16 million in the redevelopment of the building.
“I’m very optimistic that we’re going to continue to see these investments in downtown Lake Charles and throughout the city,” Hunter said.
“We would like to be under construction by the middle of next year and bring this building online in 2024,” Dadakis said. “Obviously the interest rate market is a bit unfavorable right now, so I’ll be honest that the timing could change if we see another rate hike.”
Green Coast Enterprises said that if everything stays on track, construction will begin as early as summer 2023.
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