From mules to Hawaiian food, two new Shreveport businesses are welcomed downtown

Shreveport’s newest and oldest office building and a new restaurant next door hosted ceremonial ribbon-cuttings on Wednesday in events that welcomed business partners, investors and supporters. 

It was a two-fer for Mayor Tom Arceneaux and other attendees who took part in a ribbon cutting at Cooper’s Corner at 700 Texas St. and walked next door to 708 Texas St. to the new Ono Hawaiian Grill for more of the same.

“It’s a very cool deal to have them in the same block,” Arceneaux told the Shreveport-Bossier City Advocate. “To see this end of Texas Street growing and people coming and investing and really having faith in downtown is so important to the health of our city overall.”

Cooper’s Corner was developed by Shreveport businessman William O’Brien and a group of mostly local investors who oversaw a full rehab of the nearly 20,000-square-foot structure.

The two-story brick building now houses O’Brien’s six different family companies along with Hudnall Wealth Management, the Oui Doctor, Blush Beauty, Leslie Whitaker Photography, SMC Hotels, and geologist Xingwen Qui Lu.

The name of the 102-year-old building, chosen by O’Brien, reflects the property’s history.

Around the turn of the last century, the spot was home to Levi Cooper’s Mammoth Mule Yard. The building that O’Brien and others have offices in was constructed on the site of the mule yard in 1922 as home to Cooper’s Central Market, touted in ads to be “as clean as your kitchen” selling a variety of goods including vegetables, cigars, oysters, and fresh meats.

“The building is 95% leased,” O’Brien said. “There is a 1,000-square-foot space left and the possibility that we might sublet an additional 2,500 square feet.”

Prior to the move, O’Brien and his business ventures were fixtures in south Shreveport. The change came when he and his wife Jorie agreed to run a downtown restaurant for a year.

“We really fell in love with not only the west end of downtown, but the greater downtown community. We realized it’s a super tight-knit group here in downtown, a great community feel. It was the community, the amenities and also the value as the reasons we came here.”

At Ono next door, owners Sione and Holly Maumalanga and business partners Gabriel and Brooke Balderas stood with Mayor Arceneaux to cut the ribbon there.

“With the support from the Shreveport community, we cannot be here without you guys. Chef Gabriel — as my mentor, as a friend, as family — he has guided me through this from day one and I cannot be more proud to be standing where I stand,” Sione Maumalanga said to the gathered crowd.

The restaurant is open Tuesday through Friday for lunch and dinner, Saturday for dinner only, and Sunday for brunch, serving food with flavors of the Pacific Islands — coconut, pineapple, and Ahi Tuna. They mix in Asian influences in entrees such as Bao buns and teriyaki chicken. 

Arceneaux says he hopes that these are “precursor” ribbon-cuttings and that more will be coming. “I certainly hope so, and I believe it will occur. Other people are now investing in downtown buildings and they’re not going to invest to let them lay fallow, they will be investing to restore them.”