Upper Carrollton Avenue is coming back in a big way April 19, 2008
Massey’s Professional Outfitters, a local company that sells hiking and skiing equipment, will open a store and warehouse in an old brick building on Carrollton next month. The former Robert’s Fresh Market at Carrollton and Canal, battered and empty since the storm, will be torn down and replaced with a new Robert’s and a Walgreens.
Next week, a developer from New York will approach a city board about his plans to rebuild the Carrollton Shopping Center, a strip mall whose demolition after the storm left a major chink in the cityscape. Jeffrey Feil plans to replace the buildings with 200,000 square feet of retail space that will hold a bookstore, pet store, office supply store and other national retail tenants.
Nike store planned
Even the building that houses Rock ‘n’ Bowl emerged from the Katrina chrysalis looking a lot more sleek.
Blancher tolerated the building’s timeworn appearance before the storm, a look that appealed to the local music crowd that has always valued shabbiness over shine. But a group of developers bought the building from its longtime owners, the Salmen family, in 2006 and performed a major renovation, painting it with green trim, resurfacing the parking lot and planting shrubbery.
Nike plans to open a 9,000-square foot “community store” there next month, so called because it is modeled after shops in Portland, Ore., and Chicago that offer internships to students and give annual grants to youth sports programs. Developer Clark Heebe said a national appliance and electronics store and a restaurant are looking at the building as well.
“There is a lot of opportunity in Mid-City,” Heebe said. “Just look around at all the rooftops in the area. People have come back.”
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