Central outlines economic-development push, arena plan and site constraints

Ron Erickson, Central Economic Development director, told the City Council the city has been redesignated as a Louisiana Development Ready Community and outlined a year of marketing, site preparation and program work aimed at attracting businesses and events.

"I'm thrilled to announce that the city of Central has been redesignated as a Louisiana development ready community," Erickson said, reading a statement he attributed to Mayor Evans and noting the designation gives the city access to state site-selection tools.

Erickson said the city has acquired roughly 300 acres intended to support a multipurpose arena and related events and that an economic-impact study prepared with the Baton Rouge visitors bureau forecasts up to about $4,000,000 in annual direct spending if the arena and related programming reach the scenarios modeled.

Erickson described a package of actions the city has taken in the past year: creating a City of Central Economic Development Foundation and filing for federal tax-exempt status, producing promotional CGI videos and an economic-development profile, and developing marketing materials tied to a Main Street 2030 initiative and a new city hall site.

He warned the council that market-ready industrial sites face constraints. Erickson said site selectors typically want a minimum 50-acre site with ready water, sewer and electric service and with 20–25 contiguous acres outside the 100-year floodplain. "So that kind of begins to limit what we have in Central," he said.

Erickson also raised infrastructure needs tied to digital industry growth, telling the council that growing demand for computing power tied to artificial intelligence increases local power requirements. He said he met with Entergy/DEMCO representatives about preparing the community to meet higher electrical loads so Central can pursue data centers and other digital-media employers.

On workforce-development efforts, Erickson said the city is collaborating with Central High School's CTE program and B.R.C.C. to restore internship and skills-training pathways and that the strategic plan calls for attracting jobs that will employ graduates locally.

The presentation closed with Erickson inviting council questions and referencing an upcoming public workshop connected to an updated city master plan and the arena project's economic-impact modeling.

The presentation was informational; no ordinance or vote was taken during the presentation itself.