As a result of a bi-partisan and region-wide coalition, forged by Rep. Cedric B. Glover and Sen. Robert Mills, the former Federal Courthouse and Office Building at 500 Fannin Street will soon be stripped down to its steel frame and a new structure rebuilt atop its current foundation.
The new facility, estimated to cost approximately $70 million, will become the new state-of-the-art home for various state agencies and their employees currently housed at the Mary Allen State Office Building at 1525 Fairfield Avenue. The project will include demolition of the on-site parking garage and rebuilding of a larger new garage with the needed ADA accessibility.
Repurposing the site, which has remained empty since 1994, will result in a return of active commerce and infuse hundreds of new people into downtown Shreveport on a daily basis.
The adaptive re-utilization of the existing foundation and steel framework will save Louisiana taxpayers close to $50 million while delivering a new facility with all of the modern 21st century bells and whistles.
Closure on the sale of the existing property should be finalized in the coming weeks.
Designers for both the demolition phase and construction phase will be selected on Wednesday, July 20, at the Architect Selection Board Meeting as applications have been received by state Office of Facility Planning & Control.
Rep. Glover is hopeful north Louisiana contractors will be given every available opportunity to participate in the contracting and vending attendant to the project.
As lead co-author of Act 440 of 2005, which created the Louisiana Initiative for Small Entrepreneurships, otherwise known as the Hudson Initiative, Rep. Glover is hopeful and expecting that the small businesses in the Shreveport area currently certified by the Louisiana Department of Economic Development will be used extensively throughout all phases of the project.
The Hudson Initiative is named in honor of the late Rep. Charles Hudson, a former member of the Louisiana House of Representative who committed himself to the cause of building and growing Black-owned businesses in the State of Louisiana.
