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Baton Rouge Growth and Development


NCB

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Everyone has heard about the major increase in population that Baton Rouge has seen, and the major increase in business and development in the area since Katrina, so here is a thread dedicated directly to it.

I will post as many population estimates and projections, along with developments in the area as I can find. :thumbsup:

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Baton Rouge City Population Stats

Baton Rouge City Population Pre-Katrina- 224,000 (2004 Estimate)

Baton Rouge City Population Post Katrina- 360,000 (Most Recent Estimate)

Projected Baton Rouge Population in 2010- 275,000-375,000

Baton Rouge Metro Population Stats

Baton Rouge CSA population in 2000- 600,000

Baton Rouge CSA population in 2004- 727,000 (estimate)

Projected Baton Rouge CS Population in 2010- 850,000-1.1 million

One interesting stat is that the Baton Rouge metro was one of the fastest growing metro's under 1 million people in the country from 2000-2004, and was expected to reach far over 1 million people in the 2010's. Now after Katrina, growth in the area will most likely contine at a much faster rate.

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That's good to hear. I always thought B.R. was stagnant as far as growth is concerned. I guess I was wrong.

Baton Rouge lost around 2,500 people in the city from 2000-2004 because of a small white flight, but in the last decade or so, growth in metro Baton Rouge has been occuring at a very high rate, much faster than that of metro New Orleans.

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Interesting, I think I've heard some people mention a film industry down there. What all does it entail? I realize that's not necessarily an easy question to answer. So far have they filmed some movies there? How many and do they have an average a year? I guess I'm trying to see how all of this compares to Arkansas. Except of course I haven't heard anything like this being planned up here.

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The film industry is becoming a major industry in Louisiana. A few years ago, Louisiana passed a new bill that included major tax cuts to movie producers, which brought all kinds of movies here from Los Angeles. Huge amounts of money come into the state every year from the filming industry.

I believe that Louisiana is now one of the top 5 places in the country in amount of movies produced. New Orleans has been branded "Hollywood South" with all kinds of movies being produced there, many major movies were filmed in Baton Rouge, and now Shreveport is becoming a very popular production city as well. Louisiana has also become very popular with video game producers after LA offered tax cuts to them as well, and along with all of the movie production and filming studios being built in New Orleans, video game production studios are being built as well.

It's hard to compare Arkansas and Louisiana in this category because I'm not completely sure what Arkansas is doing with the film industry, but if I had to take a guess, I would say Louisiana is pretty far ahead.

I'm going to make a list of movies being filmed in Shreveport, which I will post in the Shreveport development thread later. :D

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The film industry is becoming a major industry in Louisiana. A few years ago, Louisiana passed a new bill that included major tax cuts to movie producers, which brought all kinds of movies here from Los Angeles. Huge amounts of money come into the state every year from the filming industry.

I believe that Louisiana is now one of the top 5 places in the country in amount of movies produced. New Orleans has been branded "Hollywood South" with all kinds of movies being produced there, many major movies were filmed in Baton Rouge, and now Shreveport is becoming a very popular production city as well. Louisiana has also become very popular with video game producers after LA offered tax cuts to them as well, and along with all of the movie production and filming studios being built in New Orleans, video game production studios are being built as well.

It's hard to compare Arkansas and Louisiana in this category because I'm not completely sure what Arkansas is doing with the film industry, but if I had to take a guess, I would say Louisiana is pretty far ahead.

I'm going to make a list of movies being filmed in Shreveport, which I will post in the Shreveport development thread later. :D

Thanks for the info Nate. Yeah I'd say Louisiana is pretty far ahead. Arkansas could really learn a thing or two from you guys. I've just been happy because we're finally starting to see whole movies filmed in Arkansas. Before Slingblade it just seemed like only parts of a movie were ever filmed up here.

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^I believe there are five or six movies in production right now in New Orleans, which isn't bad considering the city is still cleaning up from Katrina.

And the #1 movie in the country right now, Glory Road, was filmed in New Orleans, and the gym used for the basketball games was the Chalmette High School gym, which is in Chalmette in Saint Bernard Parish, just down the river from New Orleans.

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Thanks so much for starting the BR tread ; Nice rendering of the new 19-story Laurel Tower/Regions Financial Ctr ! Keep-up the great work!

In the late 80's a 30-story Fidelity Bank Tower was never built;

In 1999 the 26-story Laurel Plaza on the riverfront never got going. I noticed many large cities had office tower building booms in the 80's;then the bottom seemed to drop-out in the 90's. Now the going trend seems to be high-rise condo's;some office space seems to slowly coming back. I HOPE all these projects get off the ground in 06' !

1989 was the last year a signifigant high-rise(now Riverside North)at 20-stories was built .The 10-story Sheraton;and the Capitol Park Bldgs.(up to 13 stories)did not qualify as true high-rises. Many suburban office developments seemed to drain downtown BR development. The 12-story Shaw HQ's(2002) on Essen Ln.at I-10 is a good example.It's a really nice building;it would have looked nice downtown. Shaw is also pre-leasing for a 2nd phase,it will be 8 -stories.

Many "garden offices" that look like big Acadiana-style homes dot the landscape in the burbs.I guess they serve a purpose,but just not too many !

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Another article from the Baton Rouge Advocate about downtown condos and development....

http://www.2theadvocate.com/opinion/ourviews/2215511.html

I'd have to say that things are looking very optimistic for downtown Baton Rouge. It's a remarkable turnaround for an area which was all but moribund only three or four years ago. This is great to see!

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* WORLD's TOP 12 NEW BLDGS. 2005 *

Written by architecture columnist CC Sullivan for www.artinfo.com

Shaw Center for the Arts(ranked # 7) made this list ! Topping the list; Scotland(Best Civic); San Francisco(Best Museum); Spain(Best Tower);

Germany (Best Factory) ; Los Angeles(Best Gov't Bldg.); Atlanta(Best Expansion)

YES ! Baton Rouge leaped onto the World scene in architectual prominence ! The illuminating,contemporary Shaw Arts Center,he says "has ignited the view to the slumbering riverside city".

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* WORLD's TOP 12 NEW BLDGS. 2005 *

Written by architecture columnist CC Sullivan for www.artinfo.com

Shaw Center for the Arts(ranked # 7) made this list ! Topping the list; Scotland(Best Civic); San Francisco(Best Museum); Spain(Best Tower);

Germany (Best Factory) ; Los Angeles(Best Gov't Bldg.); Atlanta(Best Expansion)

YES ! Baton Rouge leaped onto the World scene in architectual prominence ! The illuminating,contemporary Shaw Arts Center,he says "has ignited the view to the slumbering riverside city".

That's very interesting to hear, thanks for the info. :D

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* WORLD's TOP 12 NEW BLDGS. 2005 *

Written by architecture columnist CC Sullivan for www.artinfo.com

Shaw Center for the Arts(ranked # 7) made this list ! Topping the list; Scotland(Best Civic); San Francisco(Best Museum); Spain(Best Tower);

Germany (Best Factory) ; Los Angeles(Best Gov't Bldg.); Atlanta(Best Expansion)

YES ! Baton Rouge leaped onto the World scene in architectual prominence ! The illuminating,contemporary Shaw Arts Center,he says "has ignited the view to the slumbering riverside city".

Thats great to hear! :D

Baton Rouge really looks to have a fantastic future ahead of it! :thumbsup:

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* WORLD's TOP 12 NEW BLDGS. 2005 *

Written by architecture columnist CC Sullivan for www.artinfo.com

Shaw Center for the Arts(ranked # 7) made this list ! Topping the list; Scotland(Best Civic); San Francisco(Best Museum); Spain(Best Tower);

Germany (Best Factory) ; Los Angeles(Best Gov't Bldg.); Atlanta(Best Expansion)

YES ! Baton Rouge leaped onto the World scene in architectual prominence ! The illuminating,contemporary Shaw Arts Center,he says "has ignited the view to the slumbering riverside city".

Thats great to hear! :D

Baton Rouge really looks to have a fantastic future ahead of it! :thumbsup:

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Hey richyb, do you know anything about this tower? (A bit color distorted)

riverfrontofficetowerdevelopme.png

http://www.trahanarchitects.com/

^Click on "Architecture" at the bottom of the page, and then click on "06" at the top of the next page, and the "River Front Office Development" project will pop up.

Is this project in Baton Rouge? Considering all of Trahan Architects' projects are in the Baton Rouge area I would think it would be in BR, but I havent heard anything about it at all, and it looks to be a pretty nice sized tower around 25-27 storeys.

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Wow NCB, you are on the ball !!! How did you find that ? What made you go there ?

Yes,this is in BR , I ran across this almost a year ago . I talked to Trahan about it ; they actually own that small tract of land at the corner of River Rd./North Blvd.; if you notice(it's blurry) to the right is the Old State Capitol ; behind it is the Shaw Arts Center ; to the left is the Hilton Capitol Center(Old Heidelberg). It seems like it's just in the "Vision" stage.Nothing more.

Not sure how serious they are about it ? I have heard nothing more about this ! I know a few weeks back Trahan Architects purchased the old Jumonville warehouse nearby,across from the Hilton. Trahan plans to retain the warehouse's existing brick exterior but expand the structure vertically. It would contain retail,restaurant,or artist space at street level,Trahan's offices above,and condos or more offices on top.From what BRBusiness Report recently said, it would be only going up to 3 stories from 2. Will this purchase affect the "Vision" for the Riverfront office tower ? I wish I knew ! I'll sure let you know if I find-out anything ! That would be a great addition to the growing skyline !

Actually LSU School of Architecture has some renderings for the same property. Very nice,though not as tall. Most of that land belongs to BR Water Co. It's mostly a primitive, weed lot, jumbled little bldgs.,heavy hydrological eqipment next door to the Shaw Ctr. They said the land was for sale, but some say they need to donate the "eye-sore" on the revitalized riverfront !

Edited by richyb83
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