10/12 magazine Winter 2009 : Page 36
roBert Bruno northshore AcreAge: 750 Key ProPerties: La. 1077 and I-12 in Madisonville, 500 acres on La. 1077, 100 acres at the Robert exit on I-12 estiMAted vAlue: $62 million T tommy spinosa began his career working at the family-owned Black Angus Steakhouse. Today, he is president of JTS Interests, where he has 86 employees specializing in property acquisitions and development and construction and property management. Since leaving the restaurant business in 1980, he has acquired or developed property valued at more than $800 million through- out Louisiana,Mississippi and Texas.He started in the residential sector, developing multi-family communities throughout South Louisiana. When the market went bad, he switched to office space and, along with GE Commercial, acquired a portfolio of nearly $70 million. His first attempt at retail was Baton Rouge’s CitiPlace,which he dubs the city’s first mixed- use development, in the 1990s.He’s since sold it. Spinosa is about to complete the first phase of Perkins Rowe, a 25-acre mixed develop- ment he is building on property he bought from Jimmy Swaggart. It’s designed to be a small town with a town square,mid-rise con- dominiums, offices,movie theaters,medical 36 10/12 MAGAZINE • winter 2009 R ert Bruno northshore AcreAge: 750 Key ProPerties: La. 1077 and I-12 in Madisonville, 500 acres on La. 1077, 100 acres at the Robert exit on I-12 estiMAted vAlue: $62 million T tommy spinosa began his career working at the family-owned Black Angus Steakhouse. Today, he is president of JTS Interests, where he has 86 employees specializing in property acquisitions and development and construction and property management. Since leaving the restaurant business in 1980, he has acquired or developed property valued at more than $800 million through- out Louisiana,Mississippi and Texas.He started in the residential sector, developing multi-family communities throughout South Louisiana. When the market went bad, he switched to office space and, along with GE Commercial, acquired a portfolio of nearly $70 million. His first attempt at retail was Baton Rouge’s CitiPlace,which he dubs the city’s first mixed- use development, in the 1990s.He’s since sold it. Spinosa is about to complete the first phase of Perkins Rowe, a 25-acre mixed develop- ment he is building on property he bought from Jimmy Swaggart. It’s designed to be a small town with a town square,mid-rise con- dominiums, offices,movie theaters,medical 36 10/12 MAGAZINE • winter 2009 R du- du- mily rt Bruno northshore AcreAge: 750 Key ProPerties: La. 1077 and I-12 in Madisonville, 500 acres on La. 1077, 100 acres at the Robert exit on I-12 estiMAted vAlue: $62 million T tommy spinosa began his career working at the family-owned Black Angus Steakhouse. Today, he is president of JTS Interests, where he has 86 employees specializing in property acquisitions and development and construction and property management. Since leaving the restaurant business in 1980, he has acquired or developed property valued at more than $800 million through- out Louisiana,Mississippi and Texas.He started in the residential sector, developing multi-family communities throughout South Louisiana. When the market went bad, he switched to office space and, along with GE Commercial, acquired a portfolio of nearly $70 million. His first attempt at retail was Baton Rouge’s CitiPlace,which he dubs the city’s first mixed- use development, in the 1990s.He’s since sold it. Spinosa is about to complete the first phase of Perkins Rowe, a 25-acre mixed develop- ment he is building on property he bought from Jimmy Swaggart. It’s designed to be a small town with a town square,mid-rise con- dominiums, offices,movie theaters,medical 36 10/12 MAGAZINE • winter 2009 R du- mily ent. ent. e from “light ert Bruno northshore AcreAge: 750 Key ProPerties: La. 1077 and I-12 in Madisonville, 500 acres on La. 1077, 100 acres at the Robert exit on I-12 estiMAted vAlue: $62 million T tommy spinosa began his career working at the family-owned Black Angus Steakhouse. Today, he is president of JTS Interests, where he has 86 employees specializing in property acquisitions and development and construction and property management. Since leaving the restaurant business in 1980, he has acquired or developed property valued at more than $800 million through- out Louisiana,Mississippi and Texas.He started in the residential sector, developing multi-family communities throughout South Louisiana. When the market went bad, he switched to office space and, along with GE Commercial, acquired a portfolio of nearly $70 million. His first attempt at retail was Baton Rouge’s CitiPlace,which he dubs the city’s first mixed- use development, in the 1990s.He’s since sold it. Spinosa is about to complete the first phase of Perkins Rowe, a 25-acre mixed develop- ment he is building on property he bought from Jimmy Swaggart. It’s designed to be a small town with a town square,mid-rise con- dominiums, offices,movie theaters,medical 36 10/12 MAGAZINE • winter 2009 R du- mily ent. e from “light own own nd r $10 way d the s land nter- rt Bruno northshore AcreAge: 750 Key ProPerties: La. 1077 and I-12 in Madisonville, 500 acres on La. 1077, 100 acres at the Robert exit on I-12 estiMAted vAlue: $62 million T tommy spinosa began his career working at the family-owned Black Angus Steakhouse. Today, he is president of JTS Interests, where he has 86 employees specializing in property acquisitions and development and construction and property management. Since leaving the restaurant business in 1980, he has acquired or developed property valued at more than $800 million through- out Louisiana,Mississippi and Texas.He started in the residential sector, developing multi-family communities throughout South Louisiana. When the market went bad, he switched to office space and, along with GE Commercial, acquired a portfolio of nearly $70 million. His first attempt at retail was Baton Rouge’s CitiPlace,which he dubs the city’s first mixed- use development, in the 1990s.He’s since sold it. Spinosa is about to complete the first phase of Perkins Rowe, a 25-acre mixed develop- ment he is building on property he bought from Jimmy Swaggart. It’s designed to be a small town with a town square,mid-rise con- dominiums, offices,movie theaters,medical 36 10/12 MAGAZINE • winter 2009 R du- mily ent. e from “light own nd r $10 way d the s land nter- hose hose oBert Bruno northshore AcreAge: 750 Key ProPerties: La. 1077 and I-12 in Madisonville, 500 acres on La. 1077, 100 acres at the Robert exit on I-12 estiMAted vAlue: $62 million T tommy spinosa began his career working at the family-owned Black Angus Steakhouse. Today, he is president of JTS Interests, where he has 86 employees specializing in property acquisitions and development and construction and property management. Since leaving the restaurant business in 1980, he has acquired or developed property valued at more than $800 million through- out Louisiana,Mississippi and Texas.He started in the residential sector, developing multi-family communities throughout South Louisiana. When the market went bad, he switched to office space and, along with GE Commercial, acquired a portfolio of nearly $70 million. His first attempt at retail was Baton Rouge’s CitiPlace,which he dubs the city’s first mixed- use development, in the 1990s.He’s since sold it. Spinosa is about to complete the first phase of Perkins Rowe, a 25-acre mixed develop- ment he is building on property he bought from Jimmy Swaggart. It’s designed to be a small town with a town square,mid-rise con- dominiums, offices,movie theaters,medical 36 10/12 MAGAZINE • winter 2009 R du- mily ent. e from “light own nd r $10 way d the s land nter- hose l l de- velopment partnership called Bruno Brothers Development Firm,with him as the managing partner. Bruno’s early real estate deals involved buy- ing land on La. 1085 and La. 1077,which he later sold to the Catholic Church.He also took 40 acres of prime land and sold it to the Madisonville Parks & Recreation Department for $5,000 an acre, although he’s convinced it could have fetched $60,000 to $80,000 an acre. With the help of Joe Kramer at Stirling Properties, Bruno bought the corner of La. 1077 and Interstate 12 in Madisonville and built a commercial business park along a boulevard.He sold all 58 acres in the park in a matter of five years. At the time he acquired it, it was wide-open green space.Now there are 500 employees working there. After that experience, Bruno formed a part- nership with Mike Saucier at Gulf States Real Estate Services,whom Bruno says “taught me how to develop projects myself.” Together, the pair developed a Home Depot off the inter- state in Biloxi, and now, a shopping center. On 35 acres in the northwest quadrant where I-12 and U.S. 190 intersect, Bruno Brothers recently partnered with Wink Companies to build a 60,000-square-foot Class Aoffice building.The move brought Wink—a privately owned engineering, archi- tecture and surveying firm—to St. Tammany. The lawyer/developer worries that com- munities who expect developers to foot the bill for infrastructure improvements are stymieing growth along the 10/12 corridor. “If I have to fight city hall every day,” he says, “I’m not going to build there. I’m just not.” offices, new restaurants and a health club. In December, he announced a deal with a five- story hotel with 160 rooms. But the project has had its share of setbacks, including a slowdown in the local residential market and a credit crunch in the national financial market, and a couple of lawsuits. Still, the second phase is slated to begin later this year or early 2010. He now turns his attention to Rouzan, a traditional neighborhood development with a French Creole design on a 119-acre pasture in the heart of South Baton Rouge.He paid $15 million more than three years ago to get it, then fought with the Southside Civic Association,which aggressively opposed the necessary zoning change. He envisions a village there, complete with residential units, retail and office space, cafes and restaurants, a library, a clapboard church, a Montessori school and 13 parks—all con- nected to the surrounding neighborhoods by an open street grid. “This is such an opportunity for us,” Spinosa says, “and for what we felt we could do for Baton Rouge.” www.1012corridor.com roBert Br roBert Br roBert Br roBert Br es: La. 1077 and I-12 in Madisonville, 500 acres on La. 1077, 100 acres at the Robert exit on I-12 estiMAted vAlue: $62 million T tommy spinosa began his career working at the family-owned Black Angus Steakhouse. Today, he is president of JTS Interests, where he has 86 employees specializing in property acquisitions and development and construction and property management. Since leaving the restaurant business in 1980, he has acquired or developed property valued at more than $800 million through- out Louisiana,Mississippi and Texas.He started in the residential t i m m u e l l e R f i l e p h o t o
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