17 replies to this topic

[byrde]

Was in Lafayette today on business and I had some time to visit River Ranch. Here's a photo tour of some of the sights in Lafayette.

[byrde]

A few more pictures...

[richyb83]

WOW!!!   Thanks very much Bryde for the fantastic tour of River Ranch! Definetly lives up to the hype! What a big time development for Lafayette; no wonder it's a model for future Louisiana TND's to emulate. Like the different types of architecture, village look, and mix of housing. Impressive stuff! Iberia Bank is nice too!

The 7 1/2 mph speed sign trips me out! lol

Some people in Baton Rouge are ready for this type of new development; while  some of those infamous backward folk are not ready for this and will hold up progress in BR.

Were you impressed too Bryde??

I'll have to check it out in June when I go visit my cousin in Youngsville.

Edited by richyb83, 08 April 2008 - 09:10 PM.

[SlidellWX]

Very nice development.

[SBCmetroguy]

7.5 miles per hour. lol .... umm no. Weird speed limits always get me. Southern Trace (a golfing community here) has speed limit signs that say "23 mph." WTF is that all about?

Anyway, those pictures are great man. As Richy said, it definitely lives up to the hype. Makes me so wish all TNDs could be like this. I know Provenance was trying to model itself off River Ranch, and while it's very nice and does somewhat resemble that, it's still not QUITE there. And nowhere near as large. Soon I will do a photo tour of Provenance just to add to this thread. I can point out where Provenance is on the right track and where it's not. Provenance has live concerts down by the water feature/pond in the town square, but it doesn't have Bonefish Grill or Jos. A Bank clothiers!

But River Ranch is a TND done right. No doubt about that. Wow!

Edited by SBCmetroguy, 09 April 2008 - 07:58 AM.

[BRPJ]

WOW!  That is by far the nicest retail/neighborhood development in Louisiana period!

[byrde]

richyb83, on Apr 8 2008, 10:06 PM, said:

WOW!!!   Thanks very much Bryde for the fantastic tour of River Ranch! Definetly lives up to the hype! What a big time development for Lafayette; no wonder it's a model for future Louisiana TND's to emulate. Like the different types of architecture, village look, and mix of housing. Impressive stuff! Iberia Bank is nice too!

The 7 1/2 mph speed sign trips me out! lol

Some people in Baton Rouge are ready for this type of new development; while  some of those infamous backward folk are not ready for this and will hold up progress in BR.

Were you impressed too Bryde??

I'll have to check it out in June when I go visit my cousin in Youngsville.

I was VERY impressed with River Ranch. The retail area is not as nice/extensive as Perkins Rowe, but the different types of housing is outstanding. I really liked the small 1500 sq ft homes more than the 3K sq ft homes.  The streets are narrow so that prevents speeding through the neighborhood areas and gives it an intimate feel.

Glad you guys liked the pics. If I had time, I could have stayed and taken twice as many pics.

Edited by byrde, 09 April 2008 - 06:38 PM.

[rcp11889]

I really love the architecture of this development. I like the fact that they buildings maintain a historical aspect but all look very modern.

Who would ever want to block this kind of development?

[NCB]

Excellent photos, byrde! I've never seen River Ranch in person, but now I definately plan on checking it out when I'm visiting family in Lafayette in a few weeks. That looks like an amazing development, and like rcp, I really like the architecture featured throughout the development.

[SBCmetroguy]

I've come back to this thread because I'm so impressed by the development. Hearing about it and seeing a photo online here and there does it no justice ... this thread certainly does.

I also realized that the architecture represented was clearly the influence for Island Park, which is a TND that my wife worked on a few years ago. Island Park has some homes that look like this, but overall they didn't have the success they expected because site prep simply took too long. It took a couple years to get the site built up and prepared for construction, so by the time the home construction began the housing bubble had already begun to inflate. I would LOVE to have seen Island Park hit this point, but unfortunately now that will never happen.

Oh and I've changed my mind about posting Provenance photos. For starters I don't want to drive all the way out there to take photos, but also ... it just doesn't come close. It's not even worth comparing!

[byrde]

There was only one thing I didn't like about River Ranch and this is a very small little detail. In the area where the "Main Street" was located, the streets are concrete and they are very "clean". It felt like the place was very sterile.

[cajun]

I think Dick Cheney was at the City Club at River Ranch several years ago for a big speach.

[SBCmetroguy]

The more I look at these photos the more it reminds me of some of the Dallas Uptown communities, only with more impressive architecture.

That Iberia Bank building looks amazing. Blows away their branch buildings here.

[JPKneworleans]

Most of the houses are built very well.  In fact, there are some incredibly large homes in River Ranch, mansions in the truest sense of the word.  That being said, the retail areas and condo areas, other than the City Club, are cheaply built.

[10below]

JPKneworleans, on Sep 13 2008, 08:53 PM, said:

Most of the houses are built very well.  In fact, there are some incredibly large homes in River Ranch, mansions in the truest sense of the word.  That being said, the retail areas and condo areas, other than the City Club, are cheaply built.

Have to disagree with you. While working in the construction industry before re-enrolling in school full time I had the "privilege" to work on many of the homes in River Ranch. Many are not well built. The cheapest possible materials were used on some of these homes. Blocks of these homes are falling apart. At least to my knowledge anyway. There are exceptions to everything and I'm sure that while some homes were built with quality material, the majority that I worked on were not.

I can't fathom why some people would strive to live in this Uppity, "Pseudo Yuppie" environment, with its fabricated culture and "Keeping up with the Jones'" mentality.

[byrde]

10below, on Jun 29 2009, 10:01 AM, said:

Have to disagree with you. While working in the construction industry before re-enrolling in school full time I had the "privilege" to work on many of the homes in River Ranch. Many are not well built. The cheapest possible materials were used on some of these homes. Blocks of these homes are falling apart. At least to my knowledge anyway. There are exceptions to everything and I'm sure that while some homes were built with quality material, the majority that I worked on were not.

I can't fathom why some people would strive to live in this Uppity, "Pseudo Yuppie" environment, with its fabricated culture and "Keeping up with the Jones'" mentality.

Is that so? What are of the development are they having this problem? Is there a class action lawsuit?

[SBCmetroguy]

What kind of wall sheathing was used? What kind of roof decking? What brand of siding did they use? Most builders these days use James Hardie products for the siding and cornice. I'm sure everything was built to code, or else it wouldn't have passed inspection. Part of code compliance is also usage of acceptable materials. When it comes to the walls, I am sure a lot of Dryvit was used, and while there is no doubt this material is crap and doesn't come close to real stucco, it is considered acceptable in most areas and most builders actually use it to some extent. A lot of the materials used in River Ranch are most likely seen in houses all over Lafayette, Baton Rouge, Shreveport, Dallas, etc. so I dare say the homes in River Ranch weren't constructed any more "cheaply" than just about any other subdivision built in the past 10+ years.

[byrde]

To bad 10below didn't come back to respond to our questions...