Downtown Bossier City sees consideration for new businesses
Given Bossier City’s and Bossier Parish’s success with developing – and importantly, implementing – a comprehensive master plan, it shouldn’t come as any surprise that strategies to make that overall plan more of a reality are in the works.
One of those strategies was announced at last Tuesday’s Bossier City Council agenda meeting with an item to appropriate funds to develop a master plan for old downtown Bossier City.
Brief discussion after the meeting included planning for redevelopment of the old Bossier area, roughly located in the area of Traffic Street to Hamilton Road to Coleman Street. Suggestions of what we could see in the future include a walkable, pedestrian area that could feature twostory buildings with commercial activity on the lower floors and apartment living on the upper levels.
Other considerations might see a grocery store, eateries, boutiquestyle retail and green space. Already, it appears that the old Fire Station 6 has a near future as a microbrewery. Other old buildings in the district are likely destined for renovation to new purposes as well.
While this isn’t the first time there’s been discussion of reviving old Bossier, it appears that the time has come for this part of Bossier City to become a vibrant and popular contributor to Bossier’s economy.
At nearly the same time, a Barksdale Boulevard Redevelopment Plan is taking shape as the result of a lawsuit settlement between the city and U.L. Coleman Companies (Coleman). This planning includes the Barksdale Boulevard corridor between Barksdale Air Force Base’s main gate south to Highway 511 – but does not include actual neighborhoods or subdivisions. This wasn’t part of the city’s long-term planning effort, but it sure looks to improve an older area of the city over the next several years.
Although an early summer meeting saw planners cast a wide net of ideas for the area, the July 31 meeting offered a significant refinement to the planning on a phased type of schedule. Coleman’s future development along Walker Place, between Barksdale Boulevard and the Arthur Ray Teague Parkway, would generally serve as the catalyst for redevelopment north and south on Barksdale Boulevard.
Additionally, plans include better definition of the south Bossier, with gateway signage identifying it as a distinct area of the city, much expanded pedestrian and bicycling opportunity for the area, and significant aesthetic improvement of the entry areas to south Bossier’s subdivisions/neighborhoods along the corridor.
There’s plenty more to this plan, and it has yet to be considered by the Bossier City Council. However, like most effective planning, this one isn’t designed to be immediately implemented. City Projects Director Pam Glorioso explained that the plan includes basic things that the city can do in, perhaps, five-year increments, as the Walker Place development occurs over what’s projected to be several years.
In the meantime, south Bossier residents can look forward to a nearerterm construction of a new park just north of CenturyLink Arena – also a result of the lawsuit settlement.
And in north Bossier, the new Sam’s store opened in Sterling Center last week, and drivers along both Airline and Viking drive can see the progress on new roads that will lead first to the planned Kroger Marketplace and related retail outlets – and later to a whole new area for retail development.
This area of development is part of the city’s long-term planning and it’s certainly paying off for Bossier City and Parish residents.
As sales tax collections account for large parts of most governmental budgets in the city and parish. This new commercial development provides for an increase in that revenue stream as well as offering new shopping opportunities for northwest Louisiana residents.
Clearly, Bossier planning is paying off in a myriad of ways.
Marty Carlson, a freelance writer, has been covering local news for the past 13 years. She can be reached via email at [email protected].
