Interesting information gleaned about Lake Charles (Lafayette, Slidell: RV parks, 2015, apartments)

[cBach]

I was visiting Lake Charles this past weekend and visited the Creole Nature Trail Visitor's Center on Highway 82 in Sulphur. The nice lass there is Scottish and she has the "lowdown" on all the developments that have been occurring with the 7 LNG plants and Sasol's $20 billion expansion.

First off, she said that traffic down Highway 82 is horrendous, bumper to bumper from Hackberry to Sulphur. The state of Louisiana knew for years that this development was coming, why didn't they four lane that highway. She mentions it can take 10 minutes for her to leave the Visitor's Center to get onto the highway.

Second, she mentioned that the primary impact to Lake Charles from all the workers has been increased rent at apartments and a lot of new RV parks, which are simply cleared lots where they allow RVs to park for a monthly rate.

Third, there are a few "man camps" and she said that they have lodging, meals, and transportation included in their per diem, so the workers rarely leave the complex. When they get time off, they head back to their hometown. She said most of the people in the man camps were from Mississippi and Alabama. The people from Texas usually ride over from Beaumont or Port Arthur.

Fourth, she said the construction industry is booming due to all the contracts, but that has driven up the prices for homebuilding.

Fifth, she mentioned the hotel construction boom. There are no less than 5 hotels currently under construction along a 1/4 mile stretch of Prien Lake Road. Even Hackberry is going to be having a brand new hotel. She gave me some advice, she said if you wanted to make a ton of money "open a restaurant in Hackberry" so workers would have a choice other than the cafeteria.

Anyway, this woman works for the government and knows a lot of key people so I figured her insight would be beneficial to anyone with questions here...

[cBach]

Also, the name of the hotel in Hackberry will be called MainStay Suites Hackberry Sportman's Lodge with a deep sea fishing theme. There will be a seafood restaurant on-site after construction of the hotel.

The hotel will be built to Florida hurricane standards, which means it will be resistant to a Cat 5 Hurricane.

[finalmove]

Thanks for the post. We have a good Slidell friend who's husband is big-wig with Miramon. They have built a second home there while the boom is on. I know for a fact that they are going to be able to retire after the assignment!
The road improvements will come after the big mess being made of the existing ones. Plus, there will be a huge new tax base to pay for it.
I need to find some time to go take a look for myself.
When I lived in Lafayette a long time ago, Lake Charles, Church Point, et all were sleepy little wide spots along I-10.

[rgathrights]

The Lake Charles area, also referred to as Calcasieu Parish, is home to a large influx of workers that are building the new industry leading chemical complexes. However, the influx of new people will all go away in 5 years after the construction is over and the permanent hires have settled in. The permanent jobs will be less than 5% of the work force needed to build these facilities.

As a result of these new revelations, local planners and officials are not eager to spend millions of tax payer funds to build new larger roads to the remote locations of these facilities. As a land owner and tax payer in Calcasieu Parish, I am glad that our elected officials are not letting short-term activity cloud their fiscal judgement. Since the boom in workers is temporary, the tax revenue is also temporary and the bond required to pay for these roads will take over a decade to pay off. The equation leaves me the land owner left behind to pay for all this! Other parishes in Louisiana are welcome to build roads to no-where and support people with more social programs but that will be at their expense in large bonds that cannot be paid quickly.

Lake Charles is also now home to a beautiful casino complex along the I-210 bridge. Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino and Lauberge DuLac Hotel & Casino offer many live performances, food & dining and large pool areas in addition to the gambling activities.

[cBach]

Originally Posted by finalmove

Thanks for the post. We have a good Slidell friend who's husband is big-wig with Miramon. They have built a second home there while the boom is on. I know for a fact that they are going to be able to retire after the assignment!
The road improvements will come after the big mess being made of the existing ones. Plus, there will be a huge new tax base to pay for it.
I need to find some time to go take a look for myself.
When I lived in Lafayette a long time ago, Lake Charles, Church Point, et all were sleepy little wide spots along I-10.

There are some new attractions in Lake Charles now. Rikenjakes is a new micro brewery with a pseudo-inside/outside seating area and great food. There is also another brewery on McNeese Street east of Louisiana Ave.

The casinos have several chains like Landry's/Salt Grass Steakhouse/Vic and Anthony's and some pretty good buffets. The pools at both are quite awesome.

Downtown is developing quite nicely. The old car place on corner of Lakeshore and Clarence St. is now a burger joint. Lakeshore Drive now has some new mansions. Millennium Park is great for kids.

There is a sense that Lake Charles may have finally turned a corner.

[pandorafan5687]

Originally Posted by rgathrights

The Lake Charles area, also referred to as Calcasieu Parish, is home to a large influx of workers that are building the new industry leading chemical complexes. However, the influx of new people will all go away in 5 years after the construction is over and the permanent hires have settled in. The permanent jobs will be less than 5% of the work force needed to build these facilities.

As a result of these new revelations, local planners and officials are not eager to spend millions of tax payer funds to build new larger roads to the remote locations of these facilities. As a land owner and tax payer in Calcasieu Parish, I am glad that our elected officials are not letting short-term activity cloud their fiscal judgement. Since the boom in workers is temporary, the tax revenue is also temporary and the bond required to pay for these roads will take over a decade to pay off. The equation leaves me the land owner left behind to pay for all this! Other parishes in Louisiana are welcome to build roads to no-where and support people with more social programs but that will be at their expense in large bonds that cannot be paid quickly.

Lake Charles is also now home to a beautiful casino complex along the I-210 bridge. Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino and Lauberge DuLac Hotel & Casino offer many live performances, food & dining and large pool areas in addition to the gambling activities.

To be honest while this worker boom is temporary, I think the lake area should use this tax revenue to really build up the lake front and expand on our shopping/retail in other parts of the city. People pass through this city everyday. We are missing out on so much revenue! Right now this area is just one giant bedroom community. As far as expanding roads, there are several roads in the area that need it, namely Nelson Rd and the LA-14/US-171 corridor.

[cBach]

Lake Street should be four laned from W. McNeese to Ham Reid Road.

Nelson Street should have a bridge over Contraband Bayou to the port. They've been thinking about this for years, why don't they just do that, it would eliminate heavy trucks off Lake Street and Sallier St.

Not really that many improvements needed...

[cBach]

I'm very anxious waiting for the 2020 census. I sure hope it shows Lake Charles has grown beyond its peak of 77,998 in 1970. Currently it is 76,070 as of 2015. These are census figures from city data.

I never understood why Lafayette outgrew Lake Charles. In 1980 LC declines because of the oil bust, but Lafayette still increased. I know that there was a major annexation in Lafayette around that time, but I just can't understand why LC never got past its 1970 figure.

[rgathrights]

Originally Posted by cBach

I'm very anxious waiting for the 2020 census. I sure hope it shows Lake Charles has grown beyond its peak of 77,998 in 1970. Currently it is 76,070 as of 2015. These are census figures from city data.

I never understood why Lafayette outgrew Lake Charles. In 1980 LC declines because of the oil bust, but Lafayette still increased. I know that there was a major annexation in Lafayette around that time, but I just can't understand why LC never got past its 1970 figure.

First, to help you see part of the problem with population, remember my adjudicated property issues with Lake Charles.

Second, Lafayette has a city size of 49.19 Square Miles and Lake Charles only has 44.78 square miles.

Third, this is a commuter community with large populations North and West of Lake Charles.

[cBach]

Originally Posted by rgathrights

First, to help you see part of the problem with population, remember my adjudicated property issues with Lake Charles.

Second, Lafayette has a city size of 49.19 Square Miles and Lake Charles only has 44.78 square miles.

Third, this is a commuter community with large populations North and West of Lake Charles.

That's a great point. Sulphur has ~20,000 people and Westlake has ~5,000 people. Moss Bluff has 11,000 people while Vinton has 3,000. Iowa has 3,000.

So, there are around 42K people in the area around LC. So 76K+42K=118K which is very close to Lafayette (127K).