Port of South Louisiana To Purchase Avondale Old Shipyard
The Avondale Global Gateway will be purchased by the Port of South Louisiana for a different price. The 254-acre site will be purchased for $330 million which is less than the original offer price of $445 million. The Port of South Louisiana and the current owner of the shipyard, T. Parker agreed to the new price. The new price comes as a reaction to the Governors and other officials saying it will be hard to “justify such a hefty price tag;”
The port will pay $280 million in cash and the rest will be on a $50 million mortgage. “A project this magnitude was always going to take time. We have done our due diligence, looked at this project from every angle and have worked to ensure the State of Louisiana gets the best deal possible,”says Paul Matthews with Port of South Louisiana.
The current owners of the Avondale shipyard have struggled to keep tenants. They purchased the shipyard in 2018 for $60 million hoping to build it into a hub of trade and light industry. In order to do this, the company sunk another $90 million into renovations, upgrades and environmental remediation.
Currently the shipyard has been valued at a price between $239 million and just under $328 million. On top of that they will need to put up around $60 million in capital expenditures for the first several years.
“We have turned a derelict site into a profitable center of commerce, created hundreds of jobs, and secured tenants in our core industries of renewable energy, construction materials, and sustainable food products,” explains Anderson.
