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Baton Rouge businessman Jerry Pearson’s 16-acre retail
development at Burbank Drive and Bluebonnet Boulevard could include a CVS Pharmacy, commercial broker Mark Hebert said Monday.

Meanwhile, Hebert said Turner Industries has bought more land near two of its local sites.

Pearson’s company, Pearson Burbank LLC, has been developing land on the southwest corner of the Burbank-Bluebonnet intersection across from a proposed new Wal-Mart Supercenter.

Hebert said a Connecticut firm that builds CVS locations has two acres at Pearson’s site under contract.

Hebert declined to say how much First Hartford Realty Corp. has offered for the land, citing ongoing negotiations. But the development, Hebert said, is being marketed for about $25 per square foot. That would put the value of First Hartford’s deal around $2.2 million.
Hebert said Pearson Burbank also is negotiating with “a large banking operation” for about 55,000 square feet adjacent to the proposed CVS site. And another unnamed group has offered to buy the remainder of the property for retail development.

In the first Turner Industries deal, Hebert said, the company paid $640,000 for one of two lots in Highlandia subdivision fronting Interstate 10 that were owned by Scott Fence USA.

Turner plans to use the space for parking at its proposed new training and recruiting office on Highlandia Drive near the Highland Road-Interstate 10 interchange. The company bought that site — a 2.4-acre tract — in November for $1.5 million.

In a separate deal, Hebert recently helped broker Turner’s recent $529,850 purchase of an 11.8-acre tract near its site on South Westport Drive in Port Allen on the south side of I-10. Hebert said the property also was rezoned for Turner’s proposed industrial use.

One of the city’s largest private companies, Turner offers a number of industrial services, including construction, pipe fabrication and staffing.