By Bill Robertson
Shreveport’s Metropolitan Planning Commission will consider a plan to use the former Don’s Seafood location on Kings Highway for a convenience store and gas station at its first meeting of 2026.
The project was previewed Thursday at a well-attended MPC Neighborhood Participation Plan meeting at Highland Center. Representing the store developer was architect Jeff Spikes of iArchitecture.
The former Don’s Seafood site at Kings and Highland is of interest to at least three neighborhood associations, including those representing Highland, South Highlands and the Gladstone community. Judging by the community’s response at the NPP Thursday, Spikes and his client, whom he did not identify, have their work cut out for them.
Spikes described an 8,500-square-foot building as the center of the project, including a 4,000-square-foot neighborhood market, adjoining 2,000-square-foot Cajun restaurant on one side and a 1,500-square-foot pizzeria on the other.
The neighborhood store would sell beer and wine but no hard liquor. Proposed hours would be 6 a.m. to midnight, according to Spikes.
The Cajun restaurant would have a drive-through facility with technology intended to keep noise from becoming an issue with neighbors.
Between the building and Kings would be four sets of gas pumps with two pumps at each island.
The overall site would be bordered by existing brick walls facing Highland, Atkins and the dollar store to the west, as well as ample landscaping and a possible dog park along Kings.
Spikes said the plan calls for vehicle entrances on Kings and Highland. A monument sign would face Kings. Lighting would be directed downward or inward to avoid illuminating neighboring property.
Spikes said the owner wants to build a “neighborhood market that fits the neighborhood.” He said the owner is a local resident who is developing a similar convenience store and gas station at the intersection of Youree Drive and Stoner Avenue.
Attendees at the NPP meeting included Chris Lyon of ReForm Shreveport and Centenary Professor Thomas Moran, whose continuing “Shreveport Forward” lecture series encourages residents to take an active interest in the development of their city. Speakers at the NPP took that message to heart.
Lyon is coordinating ReForm’s push to put Kings Highway along Centenary College on a “road diet” that would shrink it to two lanes with a turn lane. He said ReForm wants Kings to be a “wealth-building” street with slower traffic and enhanced pedestrian safety.
The road diet first phase is Centenary Boulevard eastward to Girard Street, but Lyon said carrying the concept through Kings past Interstate 49 to the LSU Health Science Center is ReForm’s ultimate goal. That would bring the two-lane concept past the Don’s Seafood location.
Spikes said, “We want to fit in with that plan.”
Lyon said a “neighborhood corridor” such as Kings would preferably have a pedestrian orientation with buildings close to the roadway. Implementing that plan would be a significant departure from what Spikes displayed at the meeting.
Many neighbors objected to gasoline sales and suggested the nearby Circle K store at Kings and Gilbert was a nuisance. Charlotte Russell, president of the Highland Neighborhood Association, said store employees “literally throw expired food over the wall” dividing the store property from residential neighbors to the north.
“Kings Highway is as close to a battlefield as you can see,” said property owner John Atkins. “Unless you keep this (new development) in perfect shape, it will end up like Circle K.”
One resident described bad actors congregating at Circle K between the hours of 10 p.m. and midnight. She called them “vampires” because “they only come out at night.”
Many residents questioned why gas sales are proposed since at least two fuel outlets have closed in that part of Kings in recent years. Spikes said gas sales are “part of (the developer’s) business model.”
John-Paul Young, Highland resident and Caddo Parish Commissioner for District 4, said the Circle K store has been “a plague on the neighborhood.
“Maybe this will put it out of business,” he said.
Young added: “The Gladstone area is very valuable to Shreveport. I would not want anything put there that people don’t want.”
The MPC meeting is scheduled Wednesday, January 7, at 3 p.m. in the council chambers at Government Plaza.
Bill Robertson is a member of the Shreveport Metropolitan Planning Commission. These are his personal comments and do not reflect the opinions of the MPC staff and/or other MPC Board members.
