UP|Louisiana http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums Wed, 22 Feb 2012 18:02:42 +0000 60 Louisiana State University
Hopefully they can save the Lakes.....

Can the LSU Lakes be saved?

In the early 1930s, the federal Works Progress Administration converted a thick cypress-tupelo swamp into an urban lake in Baton Rouge's growing southeast environs. A lake was infinitely more appealing than a swamp, local officials believed, especially in the part of the city that now housed LSU.

The campus had been relocated to its current site from downtown in 1926, and an eye-catching body of water served as the ideal gateway. University Lake joined the existing City Park Lake, which had been dug a decade earlier. Together, they have formed one of the city's most enduring points of recreational activity and civic pride.

But the lakes' long-term sustainability is another story.

Composed of the two main lakes—University and City Park—and four smaller water bodies—Lake Crest, Lake Erie, Campus Lake and College Lake—the 275-acre site attracts scores of joggers, walkers, kayakers, fishers and picnickers. Numerous running events, including the Louisiana Marathon, are held along all or part of the area, which is a well-known migratory bird flyway that also attracts naturalists and photographers.

Visible from Interstate 10, the lakes offer a scenic glimpse of Baton Rouge to thousands of daily motorists. They also are the
connective tissue between LSU and City Park, a standout accomplishment in a city with a poor history of planning.





The lakes are lined with some of the Capital City's priciest residences and support diverse, established neighborhoods such as Old South Baton Rouge, College Town, Southdowns and the Garden District. Neighbors take advantage of the lakes on a constant basis, but so does a wide swath of East Baton Rouge Parish.

A BREC public-opinion survey released last month determined that nearly 30% of parish residents routinely visit the lakes. Most use them monthly or weekly, and more than 70% stay from 30 minutes to two hours.

“It's a very significant area to Baton Rouge,” says former BREC Superintendent Bill Palmer, who retired in January. “It's the gateway to LSU and to several neighborhoods. It's a natural draw. Water attracts people.”

But as tranquil as they appear, the lakes are in peril. Authorities say they were not properly dug and have grown shallower over the decades. With depths ranging from 2½ feet to 5 feet, they can't efficiently filter the continual runoff from surrounding urban conditions, including grass clippings, fertilizers and silt from yards, roads and the City Park golf course.

Unwanted nutrients have built up in the lakes and created conditions for plants and algae to grow in excess. When these plants die and decompose, the lakes' oxygen level falls, sometimes choking out marine life and causing fish kills. Plants now are taking over shorelines where water once lapped. Without dredging, say experts, the lakes will continue to deteriorate.

*REST of ARTICLE...
http://www.businessreport.com/article/20120220/BUSINESSREPORT0401/302209996/0/BUSINESSREPORT0201

View information on projects and add your own in our new Project Database: [Link]]]> Wed, 22 Feb 2012 18:02:42 +0000 richyb83 Baton Rouge Restaurants The Rum House, a New Orleans restaurant that uses Caribbean flavors in Latin American dishes, will open in front of Perkins Palms on one of the front parcels along Perkins Road. Jarreau says construction of the restaurant should start in June.

http://www.businessreport.com/article/20120220/BUSINESSREPORT0204/302209980/-1/businessreport0401

View information on projects and add your own in our new Project Database: [Link]]]> Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:50:55 +0000 richyb83 Perkins Road Overpass Corridor
View information on projects and add your own in our new Project Database: [Link]]]> Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:16:41 +0000 richyb83 Perkins Road Overpass Corridor View Poststeve3n8, on 21 February 2012 - 02:49 PM, said:

Looks Nice......
Posted Image
Galatoire's Bistro, which closed its restaurant on Perkins Road near Highland Road last May, has released this rendering of a 200-seat restaurant fronting Perkins at Acadian Thruway, which it expects to open by Christmas. Construction will begin in the spring. The new Galatoire's will be adjacent to Acme Oyster House at the development known as Acadian Village, where an IberiaBank branch is also under construction.

adjacent to Acme Oyster House? So the site plan is/has been redesigned?

View information on projects and add your own in our new Project Database: [Link]]]> Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:12:46 +0000 itsjustme2 Perkins Road Overpass Corridor View Poststeve3n8, on 21 February 2012 - 02:49 PM, said:

Looks Nice......
Posted Image
Galatoire's Bistro, which closed its restaurant on Perkins Road near Highland Road last May, has released this rendering of a 200-seat restaurant fronting Perkins at Acadian Thruway, which it expects to open by Christmas. Construction will begin in the spring. The new Galatoire's will be adjacent to Acme Oyster House at the development known as Acadian Village, where an IberiaBank branch is also under construction.

Galatoire's in NOLA is honestly one of the best restaurants that I've ever been to. The lower floor dining room is awesome.

This is a much better location than the other end of Perkins.

View information on projects and add your own in our new Project Database: [Link]]]> Wed, 22 Feb 2012 03:15:24 +0000 cajun Perkins Road Overpass Corridor
View information on projects and add your own in our new Project Database: [Link]]]> Wed, 22 Feb 2012 01:55:27 +0000 buckett5425 Perkins Road Overpass Corridor
View information on projects and add your own in our new Project Database: [Link]]]> Tue, 21 Feb 2012 21:41:06 +0000 dan326 Baton Rouge Growth and Development THRIVE charter school begins work toward August opening

Since receiving approval from the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board on Thursday to open a new residential charter school, THRIVE founder and executive director Sarah Broome says she's turned her attention to finding a leader and students for the new school and—perhaps even most crucial—securing funding. "Now the real work begins, and it's kicking it into high gear," Broome says. "I wish (getting approval from the school board) would have been the hardest part." Broome is aiming to have the school—which will also serve as its students' home for five days a week—open in August with an inaugural class of 20 sixth-graders. A deal is in the works for a physical location and building to house the school, Broome says, but has yet to be finalized. Meanwhile, a national search for an academy leader, who will also serve as one of two teachers at the school for at least the first year, should begin later this month. Partnerships with various local organizations are now being finalized, Broome says, and grant applications continue to be written and submitted. "For our first year we need about $550,000," Broome says, adding much funding will come from local, state and federal reimbursement programs and grants. "We have submitted enough grants to more than cover that, and we're still working on more." When up and running, THRIVE will be one of just a handful of schools in the nation at which students live during the week, then depart for home on weekends. Learn more about THRIVE at its website here.

Businessreport.com

View information on projects and add your own in our new Project Database: [Link]]]> Tue, 21 Feb 2012 21:19:58 +0000 steve3n8 Perkins Road Overpass Corridor Posted Image
Galatoire's Bistro, which closed its restaurant on Perkins Road near Highland Road last May, has released this rendering of a 200-seat restaurant fronting Perkins at Acadian Thruway, which it expects to open by Christmas. Construction will begin in the spring. The new Galatoire's will be adjacent to Acme Oyster House at the development known as Acadian Village, where an IberiaBank branch is also under construction.

View information on projects and add your own in our new Project Database: [Link]]]> Tue, 21 Feb 2012 20:49:24 +0000 steve3n8 Rouzan TND Public hearing on Rouzan plan will likely come in March

On Wednesday, the Metro Council will consider setting a public hearing on March 21 to discuss a disputed plan for the latest phase of the Rouzan traditional neighborhood development off Perkins Road, between Lee Drive and Kenilworth Parkway. Developer Tommy Spinosa is asking the Metro Council to overturn a Feb. 13 ruling by the Planning Commission to deny approval of the final development plan for Creekside, which Spinosa says would consist of 26 single-family homes on roughly six of the 120 total acres in the mixed-use development. "It's totally consistent with the concept plan that was previously approved by the Planning Commission and the Metro Council," Spinosa says of the Creekside plan. "We're not asking for anything that hasn't already been approved." Spinosa was one vote short of getting approval from the Planning Commission. Some members, including Tara Wicker—who also sits on the Metro Council—had concerns about a servitude dispute between Spinosa and two people who own three parcels of land in the middle of Rouzan. "I haven't heard anything else since (the Planning Commission meeting). My main issue is that there's so much litigation going on with the servitude, and my apprehension is that it has not been completely resolved," Wicker says. "As I understand, there's still an opportunity for something to be brought up, and I do not want to get in the middle of something that the courts need to decide on." Read the full story here.

Businessreport.com

View information on projects and add your own in our new Project Database: [Link]]]> Tue, 21 Feb 2012 20:38:12 +0000 steve3n8 Baton Rouge Growth and Development

Expansions lift construction

New commercial construction in East Baton Rouge Parish dropped sharply in 2011, but expansions and renovations picked up the slack and total commercial construction ended the year up just under 1 percent.

Permits filed with the Department of Public works show that new commercial fell 22 percent in 2011 to $300.2 million from 2010, but commercial additions shot up 60 percent to $235.4 million. That additional $88 million helped total commercial work finish 2011 up slightly at $535.7 million.

“The encouraging thing to us is we’re seeing more activity in the private sector than we’ve seen in several years,” he said.
While it’s nothing like the swell after 2005’s Hurricane Katrina, Firesheets said, “we are starting to see some $8- to $10-million projects that we haven’t seen in the last several years.” Stuart said that if the trend continues, it will help the residential market, which finished 2011 with 581 new homes built in the parish, down 27 percent from 797.

“Residential follows commercial and industrial,” he said. “You’ve got to have the jobs and as those jobs are created up and down the (Interstate) 10/12 corridor, that brings people in from out of state.” Firesheets said the recent uptick in industrial expansions bodes well for commercial sector because there is always a spillover effect

Scott said the main question will be whether credit markets will loosen sufficiently to fund the work.
“My gut feeling is financing is still tight and they’re not financing like they should,” Stuart said. “When that money starts to loosen up and they start lending to developers, you’ll see (more work). Until that happens, you’re going to see stagnant growth.”

Firesheets agreed credit markets remain tight, but there is pent-up demand and firms that do have the access to capital, but have been sitting on the sidelines in recent years, are getting off the fence. “The people who are really strong and able to get financing are finally starting to make a move,” he said. “There’s a little more confidence that is driving that. People have to meet their space needs.”

Firesheets and Stuart pointed out that much of the last decade has been one anomaly after another.

“Really, from 2000 until recently was very abnormal,” Firesheets said. “The dot-com boom that put a lot of money into real estate, then Katrina and then everything hit the fan in ’07 and ’08 …. I think we’re back to what we saw in the ’90s, just steady growth year over year. And I think most everybody would settle for that these days.” “We haven’t had normal since the turn of the century,” agreed Stuart.

The largest projects permitted in East Baton Rouge Parish in 2011 were: Pinnacle’s casino complex on River Road, $85.1 million; The Woodlands of Baton Rouge on Ben Hur Road, $39.4 million; H&E Equipment’s headquarters on Airline Highway, $16.5 milllion; the Sam’s Club on Cortana Place, $11.4 million; Woman’s Hospital’s medical office building on Airline Highway, $10.5 million; the downtown Hampton Inn & Suites, $9.2 million; St. Joseph’s Academy Arts Center on Broussard Street, $6.0 million; Phase 1 of the North Boulevard Town Square downtown, $5.7 million; and the Toys R Us/Babies R Us on North Mall Drive, $5 million.

The permit figures do not include Zachary, Central and Baker, state and federal projects (including LSU and Southern University) and industrial construction.

http://theadvocate.com/news/1551486-123/expansions-lift-construction.html

View information on projects and add your own in our new Project Database: [Link]]]> Mon, 20 Feb 2012 06:34:37 +0000 richyb83 River Center Expansion
View information on projects and add your own in our new Project Database: [Link]]]> Sun, 19 Feb 2012 18:36:49 +0000 Antrell Williams Baton Rouge Riverfront Plan View Postrichyb83, on 18 February 2012 - 02:19 PM, said:

Some kind of exterior renovations need to be made to the Arena...those discolored walls need to go!
I've been thinking that.

View Postbuckett5425, on 18 February 2012 - 11:00 AM, said:

I will say that now that they have removed the trees and fountain at Repentance Park, there is a much stronger visual connection between River Road the St Phillip Street Promenade.
It certainley helps. You can actualy see the LASM building clearly.

The fountain won't be missed by me or many young people. Like buckett said, it was poorly maintained and disfuctional more often than not. This quick new construction will draw people downtown quick, hopefully the "new" vibe doesn't wear off too fast.

View information on projects and add your own in our new Project Database: [Link]]]> Sun, 19 Feb 2012 18:26:02 +0000 Antrell Williams New Orleans Development Thread
View information on projects and add your own in our new Project Database: [Link]]]> Sun, 19 Feb 2012 18:16:31 +0000 Antrell Williams Baton Rouge Riverfront Plan
View information on projects and add your own in our new Project Database: [Link]]]> Sun, 19 Feb 2012 18:00:06 +0000 buckett5425 River Center Expansion View Postdan326, on 18 February 2012 - 12:22 PM, said:

Cut and paste?

Post Architects recycled the same roof detail from the new courthouse and added it to the river center.

View information on projects and add your own in our new Project Database: [Link]]]> Sun, 19 Feb 2012 17:57:12 +0000 buckett5425 New Orleans Development Thread General Electric chooses New Orleans for 300-job tech office


http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/02/general_electric_chooses_new_o.html

View information on projects and add your own in our new Project Database: [Link]]]> Sat, 18 Feb 2012 21:35:58 +0000 richyb83 Baton Rouge Riverfront Plan
View information on projects and add your own in our new Project Database: [Link]]]> Sat, 18 Feb 2012 20:32:53 +0000 dan326 Baton Rouge Riverfront Plan
Some kind of exterior renovations need to be made to the Arena...those discolored walls need to go!

Thanks for the updated pics LT...

View information on projects and add your own in our new Project Database: [Link]]]> Sat, 18 Feb 2012 20:19:07 +0000 richyb83 River Center Expansion
View information on projects and add your own in our new Project Database: [Link]]]> Sat, 18 Feb 2012 18:22:34 +0000 dan326 River Center Expansion View Postbuckett5425, on 18 February 2012 - 10:57 AM, said:

Cut and Paste Architecture. lol

yes the left over roof accessories, when I took the pic, just kept thinking, why is this here, do they have anymore of these laying around, because the other side of the Centroplex needs some.

View information on projects and add your own in our new Project Database: [Link]]]> Sat, 18 Feb 2012 17:03:17 +0000 hagetaka Baton Rouge Riverfront Plan
View information on projects and add your own in our new Project Database: [Link]]]> Sat, 18 Feb 2012 17:00:56 +0000 buckett5425 River Center Expansion View Posthagetaka, on 17 February 2012 - 06:09 PM, said:

Attachment RCC.JPG

Attachment RCC (1)4.JPG

Cut and Paste Architecture. lol

View information on projects and add your own in our new Project Database: [Link]]]> Sat, 18 Feb 2012 16:57:41 +0000 buckett5425 BR Water Works Property Attached Image: BRWT.JPG

View information on projects and add your own in our new Project Database: [Link]]]> Sat, 18 Feb 2012 00:16:53 +0000 hagetaka Baton Rouge Riverfront Plan Attached Image: RPC (1).JPG

Attached Image: RPC (2).JPG

View information on projects and add your own in our new Project Database: [Link]]]> Sat, 18 Feb 2012 00:13:36 +0000 hagetaka River Center Expansion Attached Image: RCC.JPG

Attached Image: RCC (1)4.JPG

View information on projects and add your own in our new Project Database: [Link]]]> Sat, 18 Feb 2012 00:09:59 +0000 hagetaka Parking Garages of Baton Rouge View Postbuckett5425, on 12 February 2012 - 12:12 PM, said:

The garage at city hall is accessed from two points. The top level is accessed in between city hall and the river center library. They removed the control arms and placed them at another location in the garage so there are about 50 spots that are now accessible, however I am unsure if they are open for public parking. I park in them anyway.

The second level is accessed from government street in between the parking garage and the convention hall. However the control arms there are set up at the entrance of the garage, which is now below the new river center rear entrance. So it in inaccessible during the day.

Regardless, the city could do a better job opening these spots to the public and generating a small amount of revenue. At least enough revenue to pay for the maintenance of the garages.
I've been in that garage a few times but it has been many years since I've parked in there. I've always wondered why they don't use it during events like Live after 5 or the downtown festivals.

View information on projects and add your own in our new Project Database: [Link]]]> Fri, 17 Feb 2012 21:51:45 +0000 byrde Louisiana State University
Traffic circles and roundabouts are also more aesthetically pleasing.

A fountain or statue would be great things to place at these "gateways". I have noticed some landscaping being put into place along Nicholson as well as sidewalks...very positive change.

I would like to see a blatant ripoff of Houston's metro rail along the Nicholson median between Brightside and downtown one day...through LSU. I hope the new roadway improvements have the space for that. Between a wider Nicholson and these gateways, that area will improve quickly.

View information on projects and add your own in our new Project Database: [Link]]]> Tue, 14 Feb 2012 19:41:48 +0000 cajun Louisiana State University View Postbuckett5425, on 14 February 2012 - 12:10 PM, said:

I like the plans too. the round about on Dalrymple is badly needed.

However I am skeptical of why everything needs to include a LCD video board. That just doesnt seem very classy and seems way too commercial. Also I don't care for any of Grace and Hebert's design work so I don't expect to like their concepts either.
The one on Nicholson and Burbank should be nice, SU has one at its entrance yet in a different format. The other, I'm not so sure about.

View information on projects and add your own in our new Project Database: [Link]]]> Tue, 14 Feb 2012 19:36:59 +0000 Antrell Williams Louisiana State University
However I am skeptical of why everything needs to include a LCD video board. That just doesnt seem very classy and seems way too commercial. Also I don't care for any of Grace and Hebert's design work so I don't expect to like their concepts either.

View information on projects and add your own in our new Project Database: [Link]]]> Tue, 14 Feb 2012 18:10:12 +0000 buckett5425