The Greater Alexandria Economic Development Authority is preparing to take its most concrete step yet toward putting a grocery store in South Alexandria, authorizing its top leaders to negotiate a property purchase agreement for a site that has not been publicly identified. Commissioners are also expected to approve preparing and submitting financing applications for buying and improving the property, including a request to the state agency that must sign off on any public borrowing.
Board to Empower Chairman and Director to Negotiate
According to the Rapides Parish Journal, GAEDA will ask commissioners to authorize board chairman Steven R. McGee and executive director Angela Varnado to negotiate a proposed purchase agreement for grocery store property. The agenda item does not mention the property's location or current owner, the outlet reports. McGee serves as chair of the GAEDA board, per the Rapides Parish Journal's earlier reporting.
Varnado, appointed executive director in February 2024 after serving in an acting capacity, had an employment contract found nonbinding after an Open Meetings Law violation.
State Bond Commission Approval Required for Any Borrowing
The financing applications GAEDA plans to submit will go to the state bond commission, among other entities, per the Rapides Parish Journal's reporting. That step is not optional: under Louisiana Revised Statute 39:1410.60, political subdivisions such as GAEDA are legally prohibited from borrowing money, incurring debt, or issuing bonds without explicit consent from the Louisiana State Bond Commission, which oversees public debt management statewide to ensure fiscal solvency and statutory compliance, according to the Louisiana Legislative Auditor.
GAEDA's public operations and economic development projects are financed primarily through local hotel occupancy tax revenues collected within the City of Alexandria, the Louisiana Legislative Auditor's office notes. The authority was created as a municipal political subdivision to foster economic growth, tourism, and public infrastructure projects, a funding model that shapes how it can approach acquiring or improving commercial real estate. GAEDA was created in 2003, and its website cites Louisiana Revised Statute 33:2740.60 in describing its authority to execute cooperative endeavor agreements for municipal economic development under Article VII, Section 14(C) of the Louisiana Constitution, according to GAEDA.
A Grocery Chase Years in the Making
GAEDA has pursued attracting a grocery store to a federally designated food desert in South Alexandria since the agency's inception, and grocery store plans have been on the community's agenda for decades, the Rapides Parish Journal reports. Commissioners heard a realty firm presentation about potential project sites back in March, a presentation that was reported at the time to concern a grocery venture, though public minutes and agenda postings have not mentioned the grocery subject again until now.
That March presentation lines up with a project that EquiHarvest Market leaders Rick Horton and Harlan Victor Jr. unveiled to residents at a February 17, 2026, Samtown/Woodside Neighborhood Group meeting. As reported by InvolvedInItAll.com, the pair presented plans during the meeting, attended by local elected officials and community leaders, for a neighborhood supermarket measuring 9,000 to 15,000 square feet, aiming to provide fresh produce, affordable staples, and local workforce opportunities.
The Stakes for a Food-Insecure Parish
The effort is aimed at addressing food insecurity in South Alexandria.
Louisiana as a whole ranks among the states with the highest food insecurity rates in the nation, with more than 827,000 residents and nearly 250,000 children living in food-insecure households, according to Feeding Louisiana. The organization also discusses rural access barriers and economic hardship in discussing the state's food insecurity. GAEDA's push into grocery real estate also follows a longer pattern of corridor-focused development work, including the multi-phase Masonic Drive Revitalization Project the agency launched in 2005 to improve safety and stimulate business growth along an urban commercial strip, according to 318Central.
Securing State Bond Commission approval would only be an intermediate step before any construction or store opening could occur, and the exact property location, total acquisition costs, financing structure, and eventual operator agreement remain unconfirmed in public records. For a South Alexandria community that has waited decades for a full-service grocery option, the authorization commissioners are set to consider marks movement, even if the finish line remains undefined.
