But long before any of the development you see now was there, there was a neighborhood that is the anchor of it all…Southern Trace. Southern Trace is likely Shreveport’s most lavish neighborhood now, but it started with humble beginnings in 1987 with someone who could be considered the granddaddy of Southern Trace: Johnson Ramsey. Johnson, who insists the neighborhood’s development is a “miracle,” inherited 250 acres…the 250 acres that would become Southern Trace today. “I would have to worry about pigs crossing the road at night back then because it was just farmland,” he muses.

The pig-crossing days are long gone: after years of development and further expansion, Southern Trace now stands at an official 599 acres of idyllic suburban sprawl. Replete with all the amenities one would expect of a gated community of this stature, like a country club, tennis courts, pickleball courts, a pool, and fitness center (not to mention a couple of neighborhoods flattering Southern Trace with imitation named “Oakwood Trace” and “Hidden Trace” across the street), the crowning jewel remains the golf course. This neighborhood beginning as Johnson’s inheritance could explain why he’s been known to be such a good steward of the land from the beginning, and the golf course was the beginning. Wanting nothing but the best for his pride and joy, Johnson outsourced the project to a world-renowned golf course designer from Toledo, Ohio at the start of the neighborhood’s design, with the designing of homes secondary.

“I wanted a nationally renowned golf architect, Arthur Hills, because that would speak volumes of the quality golf course project we were undertaking.” 

“Everybody loves trees, but retailers are attracted to rooftops,” says Roger DeKay, a commercial real estate agent with Sealy Real Estate Services (also the one who pegs Southern Trace as the “anchor” of the subdivision). About 20 years ago, Roger spoke with the corporate director of real estate for Brookshires in Tyler, Texas, about potentially building a store on the sight it now sits at the intersection of Southern Loop and Norris Ferry, convinced he had found a hidden gem. To his surprise, the director said every real estate developer in town had already tried getting him to build a store. However, Roger gives a pivotal lesson about retailers: they want rooftops and disposable income; seclusion alone wouldn’t do it.

On the other side of Southern Loop are many available office spaces for lease from Sealy Real Estate (Roger has been involved with those properties for about ten years), as well as an Anytime Fitness, a Johnny’s Pizza to go along with two Pizza Hut’s on the street (including one at the Brookshires that you can even sit in…heady stuff these days), Counter Culture, Corks and Cuts, and a Daq’s Wings and Grill. Other assorted businesses and restaurants round out the Southern Loop’s offerings, but these establishments are about more than being a good place to eat or shop; they are a sign of something, a sign that this is one of the fastest-growing areas in town, one that finally became appealing to Brookshires’ corporate. “It’s a classic example of a local retail services center that was a response to the rooftops and the disposable income,” says Roger, and that was not something the Southern Loop had 20 years ago.