Tom Cook for the Baton Rouge Business Report | September, 2010

The property located at the southwest corner of Perkins Road and Lee Drive, owned by Business First Bank, has sold. It was purchased by Dr. John Michael Burdine, a pain management physician in Baton Rouge. Burdine plans to build a medical office building on the property. The site was brokered by Hank Saurage of Saurage [Commercial Real Estate] Company Realtors. Saurage was successful in getting the Southdowns Civic Association to support the project. The project required a zoning exception to raise the area of the building from 2,500-square-foot maximum to 5,000-square-foot maximum. Saurage says the $349,000 sale price on approximately 26,000 square feet calculates to about $13.42 per square foot. The property was zoned for neighborhood office. The fact that it was on a state road and adjoins a residential subdivision required 20-foot setbacks from the rear and 25-foot setbacks from both Lee and Perkins. This made development of the site somewhat challenging for some businesses, but worked well for Burdine.



Hank Saurage obtained his Real Estate Sales License in 1984, followed shortly thereafter by his Real Estate Broker’s License in 1986. To further expand his business, he then obtained his Real Estate Broker’s License in Mississippi in 1997. In 1990, Hank earned the CCIM (Certified Commercial Investment Member) designation from the Certified Commercial Investment Member Institute. He is also a member of the Louisiana Commercial Data Base (LACDB), the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), and the Greater Baton Rouge Association of REALTORS® Commercial Investment Division (CID).

Saurage Commercial Real Estate was founded in Baton Rouge in 1991 with the purpose of providing exceptional real estate services with an emphasis on commercial property and property management. Saurage Commercial Real Estate offers to its clients a full range of real estate services including brokerage, investment advising, development consulting, REO disposition specialists, asset management, fee based consulting, tenant representation, and buyer representation. The staff of professionals includes combined experience of 50 years, as well as CCIM Designees and Candidates and recipients of Master of Business Administration.