Power cut for Hertz Tower in Shreveport due to non-payment
Published on Friday, August 23, 2024, 2:28 p.m.
- The demolition of the Capital One Tower is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, September 7, at 8 a.m. The exclusion zone will be enforced starting at 6:30 a.m. (Crystal Stevenson / American Press)
In Lake Charles, work is underway to demolish the Hertz Tower – the former Capital One Tower – by blasting it on September 7. In Shreveport, Hertz is having problems with its electricity bill.
Signs were posted at Shreveport’s tallest office tower, the 25-story Regions Tower, as well as an adjacent 16-story building by electric utility SWEPCO warning tenants that the building was more than 90 days behind on payments and would soon have to shut off power, according to a report by the Times-Picayune NOLA Business Insider.
Hertz owes SWEPCO more than $450,000 in payments, with the last SWEPCO bill due on August 21.
With the 22-story tower in the city center, the city of Lake Charles has made sure that it is protected in the event of such an event.
After Hurricane Laura in 2020, the city held regular discussions with the owners of the Hertz Tower, who sent a representative to a city council meeting to announce the company’s intent to repair it. In January 2023, Hertz Investment Group reached an agreement with its insurance company. Repair work began about a week ago, and in March the Lake Charles Tower was put up for sale.
“We have done absolutely everything we can to support the effort to rehabilitate the tower,” said Mayor Nic Hunter. “We have met with dozens of developers and created incentive packages to support a potential renovation. At the same time, my administration has been realistic about the chances of a project of this magnitude in a post-COVID environment. As a nation, even in areas not affected by natural disasters, we are seeing a trend that is challenging the viability of large office towers.”
The 44-story AT&T building in St. Louis was sold for $3.6 million in 2024, after previously selling for $205 million in 2006. The 21-story 801 Travis Street building in Houston was recently valued at half its 2013 appraisal value.
“And these specimens were not devastated by a hurricane,” Hunter said.
The Plaza Tower in New Orleans – a building that remained virtually untouched after Hurricane Katrina – was another case study, offering an alternative that city officials knew they could not allow here.
“We knew we had to take the necessary steps to protect our citizens should redevelopment prove unfeasible. We knew we could not allow this building to deteriorate forever. For those reasons, we successfully sought to secure private funds in escrow should we end up where we are today,” Hunter said. “I know this demolition is bittersweet for many. It is for me, but it is time to move on, and I am extremely proud of my team for making private funds available to accomplish this task rather than putting the burden on taxpayers.”
The American Press will have a special Facebook livestream on Saturday, September 7, while demolition crews demolish the tower. The demolition is scheduled for 8 a.m.
