Billions of dollars’ worth of projects might have been in the pipeline for 2020, but the global oil price crash—coupled with economic uncertainties triggered by the coronavirus pandemic—is enough to ensure the Baton Rouge area’s industrial construction lull will continue well into this year.
As Baton Rouge Business Report reports, the worldwide events are disrupting what was supposed to have been a comeback year for the sector. Four major projects totaling $39.6 billion—including this market’s $8.5 billion Venture Global Plaquemines LNG facility—were expected to bring relief to a more than yearlong statewide construction lull that cost Louisiana 6,600 jobs in 2019. But for now, those plans are on hold.
“It’ll be an altered cycle,” says Ryan Greene of NAI Latter & Blum, who is co-chairing the 2020 Industrial Trends committee. “The phone isn’t ringing as much. Baton Rouge is already a smaller market and larger corporations don’t like uncertainty, but right now there’s a ton of uncertainty in our market.”
