By MELISSA PEACOCK

LAPLACE – It has been more than a month since St. John the Baptist Parish Director of Economic Development Julia Remondet and real estate agents predicted a quick lease of the K-Mart building on Airline Highway in LaPlace.

New banners advertising the lease have gone up, but everything else remains unchanged. Is the former shopping center going to be the next big white blotch on the local landscape? Community officials say “no.”

Remondet said progress has been made on the deal. She recently met with representatives from Breslin Reality to discuss the property. The New York-based realtors wanted to see the property and the community before developing a sales strategy for the shopping center.

“They really came out to take a look at the community – to get a sense of the growth pattern,” Remondet said. “Now they have a better idea of what needs to be done to get the shopping center up and running.”

The Kmart corporation announced in March it was closing the doors on more than 280 of its stores. By mid-May, the LaPlace Kmart was vacant, joining the ranks of a growing number of empty commercial buildings in LaPlace. But local developers believe the fate of the building is not likely to be as bleak as other vacant commercial properties in the community.

“I think it is going to be an easy location to sell – it is an easier location to market,” Remondet said. “It is a corner retail spot with heavy traffic from Airline Highway. This is one of those situations where it did not close because of location.”

Long-term vacancy can spell trouble for some realtors. Uninhabited, buildings fall into disrepair. The vacancies also signal to potential tenants that another business has gone out of business at that location. Still, Remondet is confident a new business will be coming into LaPlace soon, transforming the vacant structure into a profitable business. That new business could in turn bring more commercial businesses into the parish.

“I would like to see a large chain store come in,” Remondet said. “I would like to see us with a clothing or department store – a medium to higher end retailer. I would also like to see a Home Depot or a Lowe’s come in.”

With a realtor outside of the state handling the property, LaPlace’s ability attract a high-end retailer is greater, Remondet said.

Small business owners affected by the vacancy of other commercial businesses in the area hope that kind of positive thinking will pay off soon.

Bobby Hotard, owner of Shampoo Hair Salon, said his business has been impacted by the vacancy of two large buildings in Riverland Shopping Center. The salon has been in the Airline Highway shopping center for about 12 years and witnessed the closing of the two largest stores in the development – Winn-Dixie and Weiner’s department store.

“I guess when they had the Winn-Dixie here we had more traffic – more exposure,” Hotard said. “Riverland was always booming. We have all these subdivisions here and they came here to do their shopping.”

Lucinda Murphy, owner of Definitely Divine Christian Books and Gifts agrees.

“I think we would get more business (if the adjacent buildings were occupied),” Murphy said. “I’ve been hoping and praying that a Sav-a-Center or other grocery store type place would come in.”