by Malcolm Butler
It’s been almost a year since the announcement came that the old Federal Building in downtown Ruston would soon house a locally owned restaurant.
In early April of 2024, Ruston mayor Ronny Walker reported that Oliver Road Investments, LLC out of Monroe was purchasing the space.
Oliver Road Investments, LLC purchased the approximately 38,000-square foot building for $210,000. The Federal Building was appraised at $230,000, but the city offered the special rate in light of the 40-plus jobs the new restaurant plans to create.
Soon thereafter, Jonathan Joseph — owner of Delta Biscuit Company — confirmed plans of bringing a restaurant to the space and that Delta Biscuit Company was at the top of the list.
Since that announcement, Ruston and Lincoln Parish residents have been asking about a timeline for the opening of the highly popular easting establishment.
“We are still thinking Delta Biscuit Company up top on the main floor,” said Joseph late last week. “We are still working through designs and things like that. We are thinking through a different concepts downstairs. We are not all the way through that yet.
“It’s just an empty limestone shell right now.”
Joseph said that every step of the process from the exterior concept to the interior plans are having to be approved by both the state of Louisiana and National Parks. His goal for the final appearance of the building is taking it all the way back to its original form.
“Because it’s a historic building, we are working with National Parks and the state of Louisiana,” said Joseph. “We gave them a proposal. The first thing we had to do was lockdown the outside, the exterior of the building. Make sure it was safe. Make sure it wasn’t leaking. They approved that pretty quickly.
Joseph said that a new slate roof has been put on the building along with some other work to the exterior.
He said the second part of the approval process was geared towards the interior of the building, something that was just approved Wednesday by National Parks.
“What is the inside going to look like, some of the details and the windows and things like that,” said Joseph. “We are trying to bring back (the look) of the original post office.”
So what is the timeline for Delta Biscuit Company being open and operational?
“I’d love it to be second half or last bit of (this) year,” said Joseph. “I think it will take seven or eight months to build. Maybe a little longer, or maybe a little shorter. We are hoping we will be ready to rock say by this winter.”
Joseph did expound on the possibilities for the bottom half of the building, saying it could be more of an open meeting space for the community.
“We are thinking through concepts,” said Joseph. “I am thinking it will be something food related as well. One of the things we learned from talking to people is that they wanted places to get together. One of the things we know we want to have downstairs is have a big open space where you could have large parties or get togethers with a church group, that kind of thing.
“They could have Delta Biscuit in those rooms, or if we have a second concept, we could probably leverage that. So yes. I think it will be something food related, and we are just playing around with some concepts. But it will be a space for the community.”
