Nov. 18
November 18, 2008
Catherine "Cat" Jacobs
November 20, 2008
Thirteen years ago, Henry J. Richard was just a dabbler in Houma real estate.
At the time, he owned the Grand Van Park strip mall on the corner of Grand Caillou Road and Van Avenue and a building on Corporate Drive (Richard Restaurant Supply). Today, at the helm of Richard Development, he is a major player in the local commercial real estate market.
With four large-scale projects in various stages of development, Richard boasts Houma has one the best real estate markets in the country.
“This is the greatest place to be in south Louisiana,” he said. “I’ve traveled the country and listened to the woes of developers in other areas. They’re hurting, but not us.”
With a strong petroleum-based economy and a low unemployment rate, Richard said Terrebonne Parish – and Houma especially – is a dream place for any commercial real estate developer.
“We have a 10-parish retail draw, including Lafourche and St. Mary. That’s 439,000 people,” he said. “We’ve become the energy hub with all the major energy service companies locating here. Houma is the drop-off point for the Gulf. So, with all that, you have more people, jobs and income coming in. We’ve moved up from the sixth largest MSA (metropolitan statistical area) in the state to fifth. The banks are still loaning too, so that’s very good.”
Next month, the first of Richard’s six buildings will be complete in Corporate Office Park, a professional office complex on Corporate Drive in West Houma.
“It’s upscale in look: old brick, cement roof caps, copper gutter,” Richard said. “Houma has nothing like that.”
In January, the 21,000-square-foot CitiPlace retail/office complex on Martin Luther King Boulevard will open. It is already 40 percent pre-sold to national chains Subway, Little Caesars, Smoothies ROX and independently-owned Envy Nails.
“It’s set up front, so you won’t have to travel through a sea of parking lots like the Wal-Mart strip,” Richard said. “It’s going to have tremendous exposure.”
Further north on Martin Luther King is a 25-acre site (between The Landing apartments and Capital One Bank) Richard hopes to market for hotel and apartment developments. Next week, a Smoothie King will open on the site.
The largest piece in his burgeoning empire is a 165-acre development in Gray called NorthPark, where the infrastructure for a 256-unit apartment complex has just begun to be built. But Richard has even bigger plans for the site.
“At NorthPark, we also have a master plan in place – approved by the parish – to fit 500 single-family homes,” he said. “Of course, that will be in the affordable range. The demand is there. The oil industry is guaranteeing 200-plus house sales if they’re built.”
“I have a long waiting list about 400 deep. We’ve jumped through all the hoops. Now it’s just a matter of doing it, and that’s the stage we’re on. We’ve started the infrastructure, so we’re really on our way,” Richard added.
It is not a coincidence that many of Richard Development’s holdings are near the South Hollywood Road corridor.
In 1995, Richard relocated his first business, Richard’s Restaurant Supply, from Canal Street to South Hollywood Road.
Over the past 31 years, he and his sons, company vice presidents Dustin and Ryan, have grown the company into a national provider of new commercial kitchen and galley equipment, smallwares, repair parts and rentals.
With his sons taking on more of the day-to-day operation of Richard’s Restaurant Supply, Richard decided to focus more extensively on real estate about five years ago.
There are some unique challenges Richard and other developers face in the Houma market.
The largest Gulf Coast city without a hurricane protection system, Houma is more vulnerable than most when it comes to flooding and storm surge.
But according to Richard, at least he knows hurricanes will come and can prepare his buildings to withstand them.
“All the structures we’re building, we build them the strongest,” he said. “It’s like Corporate Office Park. This thing is impregnable. We go the extra yard putting in the storm doors and windows. They cost twice as much, but you don’t have to board them, and they’re impact resistant.”
To Richard, the rising costs of insurance rates and fewer claims payouts are bigger issues for developers to deal with.
“I would like to see TEDA (Terrebonne Economic Development Authority) get involved in this because that is economic development at its essence if that problem isn’t solved,” he said.
Despite those concerns, Richard realizes Houma and Terrebonne Parish are in a far more economically viable position than most communities. He does whatever he can to let potential investors understand that as well.
“I’m out and about hustling for the parish, promoting the parish, letting people know about the well-kept secret in Houma,” he said. “The oilfields know, but it’s getting everybody else to know, and it’s starting to catch on. Some of the national retailers in Houma, this is their best location in the whole nation. They kind of keep it tight to the vest. We’re trying to get the word out.”
Houma developer Henry J. Richard surveys blueprints for one of his new projects, Corporate Office Park. The first of six New Orleans French Quarter Creole Style buildings open next month. * Photo by KEYON K. JEFF
