Mayor David Barrow Outlines Plans for New Central City Hall on Hooper Road

Central Mayor David Barrow says acreage northwest of the corner of Hooper and Sullivan roads will begin to look a lot different over the next 18 months, as the city begins construction of a new city hall and works with owners of two shopping centers to create a city center.

Barrow says $1.6 million is now in place to build a new city hall on property owned by Newell Whitney next to the current city hall at 13421 Hooper Road, Suite 8, Central, LA 70818.  Funding is largely thanks to Sen. Bodi White, who worked for years to include the project in the capital layout program, Barrow said.

The city is now working on a purchase agreement for 4.5 acres of land for city hall at a cost of about $700,000.  The sale should close by the end of the year, the mayor said.

Another $250,000 is available for building and improving parking.

He expects design work on city hall to be complete by the spring of 2021. The building will be 4,800 to 5,000 square feet and include room for the mayor’s office and council chamber.  Construction itself should take about nine months, and Barrow expects completion by late 2021 or early 2022.

Mayor Barrow said the new city hall will be set with pine trees in the background, creating a green environment. He said Snappy Jacobs, who represents the Eaton family which owns the Central Shopping Center at Hooper and Sullivan, has agreed to give the development a facelift, as has Newell Whitney at the shopping center where city hall is now located.

Barrow said he would like to see the kind of improvements that the Sumich family has made at the Oak Pointe shopping center on Greenwell Springs Road at Sullivan.

Barrow is excited that Snappy Jacobs has also agreed to construction of a driveway linking the two shopping centers.  

“This is how we can begin to see the development of a city center focused around city hall,” he said.

The city center will include city hall and perhaps the Central City Service Center.  The Central Police Station would stay where it is, as would the U.S. Post Office. The main Central Fire Station is across Sullivan Road, and Jackson Park is nearby, he said.

The widening of Hooper Road was funded through the MoveBR program nearly two years ago. Voters were told the Hooper Road projects would be one of the first built because the need was great and the project had already been designed.

The widening of Hooper will include covering open ditches and adding sidewalks and curbs.  These improvements will enhance the entrance to Central’s new city hall, Barrow said. The mayor cited other changes that could affect property in the city center:

•Construction of a round-about at the corner of Hooper and Sullivan roads will probably intrude on the vacant lot on the northwest corner of the two roads, taking about 1/3rd of that lot.

•The future of the old pizza building next to Hancock Bank is uncertain.

•The Circle K could be affected by the widening of Hooper, which could intrude on land where gas pumps are and make the site less desirable for a convenience store.

Barrow said the next two years will be exciting to watch.