Construction work progressing on new $6.4 million St. Gabriel municipal facility

Work is underway on a new $6.4 million municipal complex for the City of St. Gabriel, which may be completed before the end of the year.

Completion on the complex is about 50 percent, according to what contractors told Mayor Lionel Johnson.

Work on the facility could end by November, just in time for the Thanksgiving luncheon the city government and Iberville Council on Aging sponsor each year.

“We have an area in that new building that is specifically designated for meetings and those types of functions,” Johnson said.

The anticipated completion was late 2023 when official broke ground for the facility that will house municipal government and a parish-maintained emergency operations center.

Supply chain issues pushed completion back to fall 2024.

The city’s share will amount to approximately $1.4 million, Johnson said.

It will mark a big leap from the humble beginnings when St. Gabriel was incorporated as a town in 1994 and gained city designation in the 2000 census.

Municipal business was conducted in the old Sunshine High School building, while the council members sat in metal chairs along a folding table in the school’s old band room for meetings during the first 11 years.

The new facility will house the emergency preparedness facility, the city council chamber and the municipal offices. It also will include a multipurpose area for such uses as a rest area during emergency operations, Johnson said.

The emergency operations center is a partnership between the Iberville Parish Government, the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.  

The city has stayed busy on road repairs and cleanings during the past several months and has reached out to retail chains open in St. Gabriel

Despite the attempts to lure retail chains, one type of retail remains a holy grail for the city.

The city has had two supermarket chains study the demographics. But in the preliminary talks, those developers have said the city needs more housing before they can commit to setting up shop in what is how Iberville Parish’s most populated municipality.

“They tell us they see a lot of cars in trucks in the morning and evening when people are going to work, and especially in the fall when thousands pass through this area on the way to football games at LSU and Southern,” Johnson said. “But they want to see more traffic on the other days of the week, as well.”

He admits it’s tougher to lure businesses to an area at a time when delivery services handle more and more of the needs of consumers.

“I see UPS and Amazon trucks on a regular basis in this area” Johnson said. “That’s a sign of the times.”