Bill Robertson
3 October 2025
What happens when your quiet residential neighborhood is disrupted by the construction of an elevated interstate highway just steps from your front door?
The answer for the homeowners in the 21-lot Janther Place community near Interstate 49 and Mall St. Vincent was, until recently, to “keep calm and carry on,” as the Brits say. Their calm ended when absentee owners of five single-family lots backed up to Janther Place but facing Kings Highway hired a Dallas development firm to build a gas station and store on the southwest corner of Kings and Barrett Street.
The five lots are zoned by the City of Shreveport for single-family residential use, so construction of the Murphy USA store in the 1100 block of Kings requires a rezoning of the acreage to “C-2” designation, which stands for “Corridor Commercial.”
On Wednesday, the Shreveport Metropolitan Planning Commission voted unanimously to deny the rezoning. The applicants, Estacado Interests of Dallas, can appeal the decision to the City Council, but District B City Councilman Gary Brooks took the unusual step of testifying before the MPC that he opposes the development in his district, suggesting a difficult appeal path for Estacado.
Also opposing the gas station were residents of the 57-unit Fairfield Crossing condominium complex at Kings Highway and St. Vincent Avenue.
Citing the city’s Master Plan for development, MPC staff recommended against the rezoning. Staff said the property proposed for the store is located in an area intended for “residential medium” use, which is defined as “a mix of single-family, townhouse, and small apartment buildings.”
The plan suggests housing of this sort is needed to accommodate health-care workers and medical students at nearby LSU Health Sciences Center and Willis-Knighton North Medical Center.
The MPC staff tacitly acknowledged the impact of I-49 on Kings Highway by saying development patterns in the area “have not remained consistent” with the Master Plan. That was a reference to Taco Bell, McDonald’s and Raising Cane’s restaurants located across Kings Highway from the proposed Murphy USA store.
Acknowledging the MPC staff report and neighbors’ concerns, Estacado representative Matt Peterson emphasized the positives. He said Murphy USA was prepared to spend $4 million on the project and employ a dozen people.
“Murphy is excited about this retail trade area,” Peterson said. He said Murphy plans five or six new stores in Shreveport-Bossier City.
Peterson said the Kings Highway store would incorporate 2,600 square feet with alcohol sales and gas pumps. It would store gasoline in double-walled fiberglass underground fuel tanks, employ inward-facing LED lights to avoid polluting the area with stray light, and use muted dark colors in the store façade.
“We can build as tall a screen wall as permitted” to shield the development from the Janther Place homeowners, Peterson said.
The concessions did not sway the Janther residents. Speaking for them, John Metoyer cited increased traffic, crime from alcohol sales, light pollution and reduced property values for the 100-year-old neighborhood.
Metoyer displayed images of motorists attempting to navigate Kings Highway during a rainstorm with water up to their door handles. He said stormwater drains toward Janther from the Taco Bell, McDonald’s Restaurant and dialysis center north of Kings.
“We are against a development that benefits a few and harms the many,” Metoyer said.
The Rev. Thomas Nsubuga of St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral spoke for the church on Fairfield Avenue at Kings. He said the development was inconsistent with the historic Highland neighborhood and unneeded with two existing gas stations within one mile.
Speaking in favor of the project was Marshall Rice of the Rice Kendig law firm. Rice found himself at odds with the Highland community last year when he proposed demolishing and selling his former office at 1030 Kings Highway to make way for a drive-through coffee shop.
The demolition of the two-story 1920s building was denied by MPC Director Alan Clarke and the city’s Historic Preservation Commission.
“I support commercial development in the Kings Highway corridor,” Rice said. Citing a new Dunkin’ Donuts shop, the Exxon station at Kings and Line Avenue and Fat Calf Brasserie at Kings and Creswell Avenue, he said “all these houses” have gone commercial.
“It’s the highest and best use” to allow commercial development on Kings, Rice said.
Bill Robertson is a member of the Shreveport Metropolitan Planning Commission.