$2.8 million expansion set to begin in several months
By KEVIN CHIRI
Slidell news bureau
SLIDELL – Excitement about the future for the Harbor Center in Slidell is running at an all-time high as 2022 is off and running.
That’s because of several factors, all in the Harbor Centers favor, that have the eastern St. Tammany meeting place rapidly booking up like crazy for this year with an even brighter future starting in 2023.
At the top of the list is a planned expansion that will add 9,000 square feet of meeting space to the Harbor Center, creating not only room for almost 1,000 more people there, but for the first time creating state-of-the-art business meeting rooms with high tech audio-visual capabilities, carpeted floors, and spaces that can be partitioned off to create as many as four different meeting rooms.
Additionally, the controversy about a possible casino right next door was voted down by the public in December, ending any speculation about competition for the Harbor Center for meeting space. That leaves the Slidell center wide open to draw more business and special events than ever to the city this year, and particularly in 2023 when the new space will be ready.
General Manager Kathy Lowrey, who has been at the Harbor Center since it first opened in 2005, unveiled drawings for the $2.8 million expansion that could begin construction as early as April.
A new front entrance to the Harbor Center will greet visitors as they drive up to the center, with the 9,000 square feet of meeting space immediately to the left as you come into the new front entrance. Not only will the space allow for partitions to use all of it at once, or divide it into smaller meeting rooms, but there will also be a stage at the far end for big events.
Lowrey said the Harbor Center was already getting a lot of interest for 2022 and has booked up every weekend for the year except eight of them.
“Only eight weekends are left available for the year right now and we will certainly book that,” she said. “But we are also working harder to book weekdays and having some success with that too.”
The major controversy involving the proposed casino for the Oak Harbor exit of I-10 surfaced last February, and one of the first concerns was how much they could affect the Harbor Center since the casino initially expected to have some meeting space, then several months later, announced even more space was going to be built.
When the Harbor Center board announced in March, 2021 that they were moving forward with the expansion, one that had been in the plans for many years previously, there were some questions about the timing. But Lowrey said that studies have always shown a need for the additional space, especially since it will be created for conventional business meetings.
“Right now we have concrete floors in the other space and while it has worked well for special events, it isn’t really what you want to attract business groups as much,” she said. “We will build the new meeting rooms to create more of a business atmosphere and we know it’s going to draw a lot of groups.”
Lowrey said that even if the casino had been approved, she still saw the Harbor Center as offering something a casino couldn’t.
“A lot of consumer shows don’t want to be at a casino where the clients and customers are attracted to spend their money gambling,” she said. “Plus, there are many other family-friendly groups that would never want to be at a casino, not to mention some of the church meetings we had here. So even though the casino was a possibility to happen, we still knew we had something that would draw the kind of business that has always come here.”
Ultimately, Lowrey said, the other reason they were confident of their future—casino or not—was because of the focus on customer service that has been a trademark of the Harbor Center from day one.
“People really want that outstanding customer service, and we’ve always provided that,” she said. “That’s why we have such a high level of repeat business every year. I had many groups call me and let me know that they would not be going to the casino, if it even happened.”
The Harbor Center’s customer service has been validated by being selected for nearly 10 years in a row by Convention South Magazine as one of the best meeting places in the region.
Lowrey said there is another big reason she has seen the Harbor Center succeed, and it’s linked to the same reasons the population on the North Shore continues to grow.
“If you compare having a special event here or in New Orleans you have to realize we have plenty of parking, very low crime to worry about, and no COVID restrictions like they have in New Orleans,” she explained. “Groups can meet here, and still take trips to New Orleans or the Gulf Coast, but without a lot of other concerns.”
Lowrey said the most recent numbers of who is using the Harbor Center reflects the popularity when noting that 53 percent of the business is from groups outside of St. Tammany Parish.
The center is also back on solid financial footing after surviving a challenge several years ago when voters declined to renew a millage for the Harbor Center that provided $1 million a year for operations and maintenance. However, the Louisiana Legislature two years ago approved an additional $1 per night, per room tax for visitors at hotels in the area and that has pretty much made up the lost revenue from the millage.
The new $1 tax is bringing in approximately $740,000 a year starting in 2021 and filling the gap from the millage. The center managed the past two years by using reserve funds, and will build the expansion for $2.8 million all out of money they have saved, with no need to ask for any new taxes or millages.