By KEVIN CHIRI
Slidell news bureau
SLIDELL – A new road that will connect Old Spanish Trail to Fremaux Avenue will be complete in less than 45 days, Slidell Chief of Staff Tim Mathison reported.
Town Center Parkway, the entrance road into the new Fremaux Town Center retail center, will soon become a thoroughfare completely open that runs past the mall area, and comes out on Old Spanish Trail, about a half-mile east of Interstate 10.
When the Town Center was in the early years of development, the plan for the road was all part of the original design, but it was held up due to a bridge that was needed over the W-14 drainage canal, Slidell’s main artery of drainage through the city. The problem was related to funding, and who would be responsible.
Last year it was announced that the La. Dept. of Transportation accepted the project, with 80 percent of the funding provided by the Regional Planning Commission, while the other 20 percent was to be paid by the original developer on the property.
The opening of Town Center Parkway should further enhance development in that area.
Stirling Properties, the company that finally took over development of the Town Center and is now in Phase II of the major addition to Slidell, announced last year that a 296 unit apartment complex would be the first new project in the area, besides the retail center.
The Springs, apartments that will include 14 buildings on a 20-acre site with a parking garage, swimming pool and clubhouse, along with 19 detached garage stalls, is already under construction along the Town Center Parkway, even before the highway was completed. They are expected to open this summer.