Bulldozer Tears through the Ballroom at Conference Center at the Greens
Team Working Hard to Repair Damages

The Conference Center at the Greens, a meeting space facility located in Alexandria, LA, suffered substantial damage the night of Sunday, June 22nd, when a bulldozer drove through the Conference Center’s main ballroom/reception area, after tearing up the putting greens.

Jay Pearson, Majority Owner, was awoken by a call to his cell phone at 12:35 a.m. on June 23rd. He was informed that the alarm system had gone off at the Conference Center. When he reached the Conference Center, he found the bulldozer lodged in the far end of the dining room with the motor still running and the keys in the ignition.

“We are doing our best to get back to business as usual. Unfortunately, due to the damage to the reception hall, we were forced to cancel events that were to take place in that room for the next couple of weeks. We are offering to do off-site catering and whatever else we can to help our guests transition to a new venue. Our other meeting rooms, “The “Clubhouse” and “Fairway” were not damaged so we have not canceled any events that were to take place in those rooms,” explained John Gunter, head Chef at the Conference Center at the Greens. “We are working around the clock to fix the damage and are hopeful that the ballroom will be repaired in the coming weeks,” added Gunter.

Upon further investigation of the property, Clear Zone Nursery, a wholesale Nursery that neighbors the Conference Center at the Greens also was the target of devastating damage.

It was determined that the vandal or vandals had stolen the bulldozer from City property on which the England Authority was cutting trees. The bulldozer was used to plow over 10 greenhouses (40,000 square feet of space), several acres of small container plants.   The most costly damage was done to the irrigation system on the property. The bulldozer took out the irrigation pipes, wells and pumps. The damage for the irrigation system alone totals more than $500,000.

The vandal(s) ended the spree with the bulldozer’s crash into the Conference Center.

Due to the type of damage sustained by the Conference Center and Clear Zone Nursery, it is believed that this act of sabotage was intentional.

It is estimated that the total cost of damages to the Conference Center and Clear Zone is approximately 1 million dollars.

“We have strong team in place and we will rebound very quickly. We are already beginning to repair the damage to the building. It is certainly very disappointing to see the damage to a project my team and I have worked so hard on, but we will overcome this and we look to a successful rest of 2008,” said Pearson.

If you would like to contact the Conference Center at the Greens or check with our staff about an upcoming event, please feel free to call 318.427.6991.