In Louisiana, Letting The Good Times Roll.

Covington is on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain. And while Mardi Gras is a long time from now, the New Orleans suburb has a new reason to celebrate with a 161,144 square-foot Costco opening in late August. And we at SEI are making it happen.

According to Byron Hood, Project Manager, this project has some unique challenges. “Because this location was in a developed shopping area, the footprint is kind of a tight squeeze. In addition to demolishing a few buildings, we needed to create a sound wall to lessen construction noise for nearby tenants.”

With almost every project, the unexpected crops up. In this case, it was found in the groundwork. “A ditch was needed to improve site drainage, and we had to relocate an AT&T line before we could excavate. But even then, because we had to excavate more deeply, we had to remove leftover tree stumps from the previous construction—more than a hundred in all.”

What’s more, with Louisiana’s unpredictable weather, generators were a different twist on the project. However, those were minor setbacks in what has been a seamless project. SEI looks forward to delivering yet another Costco warehouse on time.

If Louisiana tradition holds, the grand opening should be a party for the books.