Across the street from Lakeside Daiquiri and Grill, sand volleyball courts, a sports bar and large outdoor patio will claim 10 acres on Burbank Drive. Awaiting permits, developers for The Oasis, the recreational retail development, hope to break ground sometime in late April.
Chris Shaheen, Saurage Rotenberg Commercial Real Estate agent and broker, has been working on the $3.5 million project since 2012. Sammy’s Grill owner Sammy Nagin and fellow real estate agent Matt Noel later joined him.
Shaheen said it has taken a while to progress the development because Nagin was in the process of buying out his partner at Sammy’s Grill.
“It took me a while to find a restaurant operator that I’d want to partner with,” Shaheen said. “Once the buyout was completed, we were able to move forward with the banks and get the financing.”
Despite the slow start, Shaheen said four years later, The Oasis’ prospects look bright.
Shaheen is the former manager of a Las Vegas health club where people would work out in the fitness area and then hang out with friends in the attached sports bar component. He said he wanted to incorporate that idea into the Baton Rouge development.
He also drew inspiration from The Hangout in Gulf Shores and Mango’s, another popular volleyball area on the other side of town.
“I just figured, well, why not put a popular sports bar with a popular sport … and throw in some other stuff to make it unique,” Shaheen said.
The “other stuff” Shaheen has in mind includes a 5,000-square-foot covered patio, complete with an outdoor bar, a stage for live music, TVs and a 20-foot theater screen, rental opportunities for private receptions, reunions and corporate events and sand volleyball league tournaments, to name a few.
Sammy’s Southern Bistro, the sports bar and bistro on the property, will contain many of the same menu items as its Highland Road counterpart, along with some new dishes, Shaheen said.
Eventually, he would like to add different activities to the development, such as a possible kickball field on a leftover, three-acre grassy patch of land in the area. Shaheen said he also foresees retail potential in front of the development in the future.
Though he does not expect The Oasis to be up and running until early 2017, Shaheen said he looks forward to starting operation “smack dab in the middle of crawfish season,” making use of the outdoor patio. He anticipates forming The Oasis’ first volleyball league that spring, as well.
As the City of Baton Rouge reviews building permits and construction plans for the site, Shaheen is already cooking up plans for future additions. Live karaoke, bocce ball and patio Pilates are just some ideas on the agenda, he said.
Chemical engineering junior Jeremy Alcanzare said the development sounds interesting, but he believes it will cause more traffic. However, he also said he thinks it will bring in “a lot of business.”
If the operation proves successful, Shaheen said he would like to introduce this type of development to other college towns along the Gulf Coast in the long term.
“There’s a lot of different uses for this facility that not only provide recreational activities for competitiveness, but also an atmosphere for people to hang out and socialize,” Shaheen said. “It’s a little bit of everything.”
Communication disorders sophomore Darby Schoenfield said she likes the concept of The Oasis.
“It sounds like it would be a lot of fun and a great place for students to hang out and unwind,” Schoenfield said.