Baton Rouge, LA, Sept. 1--Local real estate agents and business representatives are bracing themselves for the swell of semi-permanent residents and businesses as professionals buy houses and lease commercial office space for their displaced companies, according to the Baton Rouge Advocate.
A group of Realtor Association representatives met Wednesday on a conference call with federal Office of Homeland Security officials to identify available land -- apartment complexes, empty strip malls and even open green space -- to house people.
"We're looking at six months or more before people can move back to their original neighborhoods," said Al Martinez with the Office of Homeland Security in Washington, D.C.
Martinez said the Federal Emergency Management Agency has contracted with flooring companies to rehab empty strip malls with restrooms and partitions. FEMA also is working with the Department of Defense to identify military housing.
"There's going to be a huge increase in the population of Baton Rouge," said Stephen Moret, president and chief executive officer of The Chamber of Greater Baton Rouge. "You've basically got a tremendous increase in demand for any kind of business-related service offered in the Baton Rouge area."
Even before the waters had finished rising in New Orleans, most available rental properties in the area were leased out, creating long waiting lists and virtual mob scenes at local Realtor offices, agents have reported.
By Wednesday afternoon, One American Place office building downtown had leased its remaining 75,000 square feet of Class A office space, said Davis Rhorer, executive director of the Downtown Development District.
Considering that New Orleans metropolitan area has 1.3 million people, Baton Rouge and other metro areas of the state could easily become a satellite headquarters for those families and their businesses, Moret said.
"New Orleans has 28 million square feet of office space and 8 million feet of warehouse/industrial space. Most of that is displaced for several months," Moret said. "Pretty much everything in the capital region is going to be scooped up in the next few days."
The chamber has added a link to its Web site that lists available commercial property in the nine-parish capital region.
