Gonzales & Ascension Parish

[dan326]

I figured it was time for Gonzales to get it's own thread, considering it's getting it's fair share of development too.

The big projects that I can think of right off the top of my head are

• Cabela's sports store and a large retail complex that will be built along with it
  
• Tanger Outlet Mall expansion
  

An article from today news about Cabela's

Cabela

[richyb83]

Thanks Dan! I thought about starting this thread months ago when Livingston Parish was started. But since this website is "Urban" Planet; I did not want the suburbs to take control more than they already try to do.

Ascension the state's 3rd Fastest Growing Parish and exploding with too many developments to count! Especially with all the new neighborhoods going up everywhere. Also Ascension is not your typical suburban area; it actually has a better "road-grid" than EBR does.

Here's another big-time project....

Edenborne will be a 300-acre TND that combines residential, retail and commercial space. Located in southern Gonzales on a large tract off Hwy.44 near I-10. No starting time announced yet.

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/business/8305592.html

Edited July 3, 2007 by richyb83

[richyb83]

Besides Gonzales, Ascension Parish includes communities and villages of: Rapidly growing Prairieville and Dutchtown(big enough to have it's own new 5A HS), Galvez, St.Amant, Duplessis, and Geismar(industrial); Pelican Point a master-planned community is also nearby. Across the Miss. River is Donaldsonville.

[richyb83]

From "sprawlaburbia"......

Study shows traffic up dramatically in Ascension; one intersection notches 94% increase

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/9231016.html

It's crazy out there with so many neighborhoods going up in every open knook and crannie. The cows barely have any pasture left. And some of those narrow little country roads with deep ditches on the edges suck! Dig up a drainage catch basin and call it Shadow's Lake....

Oh yeah, Cabela's is supposed to open in October.

Edited August 20, 2007 by richyb83

[dan326]

A sneak peek at Cabela's

The Cabela's outdoor superstore in Gonzales won't open until Oct. 5, but members of the local media got a sneak preview this morning. The 175,000-square-foot store is expected to annually draw 3 million people, who will come to shop or look at the hundreds of animals on display. The store will also feature a two-story mountain, complete with waterfall, and a 49,000-gallon aquarium, stocked with fish native to Louisiana. Click here for a photo gallery.

Edited September 18, 2007 by dan326

[richyb83]

Nice photo's! Almost a museum look to it; The Grizzly bear's teeth wrapped around that mountain goat is impressive. Nice aquarium too. Only problem, with this new aquaruim and the one on the way to Bass Pro; how much demand would downtown BR really have for a Riverarium by the Audubon Institute or anybody else for tat matter I'm afraid that's not such a good idea now...

[richyb83]

Explosive suburban growth in northern Ascension Parish with Dutchtown and Prairieville badly needing a new interchange! Much like Juban Road in Livingston Parish.

Feasibility of I-10-La. 74 interchange debated

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/12843197.html

State highway officials plan to have a feasibility study conducted in 2008 to determine if the Interstate 10 and La. 74 crossing in Ascension Parish is a good spot to build a new interchange.

Edited December 27, 2007 by richyb83

[dan326]

Even more stuff.

The tenenants say Best Buy, Goodys, and Petco.

"Outparcel at Cabela's anchored development. Total of 3.04 acres but can be split. Site plan and aerial attached."

[dan326]

Wow! Here is the 3rd new Hampton Inn in the B.R. area in this year. They must really be raking up the money. I just wish they would repaint the one on College.

"A 78-room Hampton Inn is under construction near Cabela's in Gonzales. The $4.7 million hotel is set to open in October. Frank Culotta is the contractor and Roy Hendrick is the architect."

Edited June 17, 2008 by dan326

[richyb83]

It's about time...some so-called "Smart Growth" for sprawling Ascension...the zoning has been haphazard...at least they do have a nice road grid-system; even if alot of it is narrow, rural....

Ascension begins master plan

Land use along La. 42

[cajun]

It's about time...some so-called "Smart Growth" for sprawling Ascension...the zoning has been haphazard...at least they do have a nice road grid-system; even if alot of it is narrow, rural....

That's true. They do have some kind of grid going on. I'm no city planner, but the zoning seems to be really strange, if it exists at all. There's no cohesive pattern, and there's no real road/streets improvement plan in the works like Baton Rouge's green light plan. It's probably not yet needed, but it's a good move to think ahead about these things. There's no doubt that Ascension is going to grow a lot over the next few decades. We'll know Ascension has grown up when they are willing to tax themselves for better roads along with their schools....though I suppose low taxes is one of the reasons it's been growing pretty rapidly.

It may look like a disaster area from the car window (the planning that is....the houses are nice), but I know I could still be "comfortable" at Pelican Pointe.

Edited July 28, 2009 by cajun

[richyb83]

Pelican Pointe looks nice in all the pics...probably out of my $price range.

Ascension makes list of fastest-growing markets

Ascension Parish had one of the 100 fastest-growing home construction markets in the country over the past eight years, a new federal report indicates. U.S. Census estimates show housing units in the parish have grown by nearly 36% since 2000. Between the 2000 Census and July 1, 2008, 10,390 new housing units went up. Ascension ranked 83rd in the nation and was the only Louisiana parish to make the Top 100 list. Livingston

[richyb83]

Planning ‘blueprint’ will help guide growth in parish

GONZALES — An emerging guideline staking out how Ascension Parish’s unincorporated areas should grow in the future proposes major shifts from how that happens today. From sewer service to sidewalks, from increased housing density in some cases to much less density in 100-year flood plains, Ascension Parish government’s proposed comprehensive plan is rounding into final form.

The draft plan has emerged from months of public meetings and a “chip game” that forced participants to grapple with finding room for the 100,000 new people projected to join the population of the parish in the next 20 years, parish officials said. The proposal, parish officials acknowledge, would significantly alter how new growth happens in a parish that has seen its population rise by nearly 33 percent between 2000 and 2008

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/ascension/81081907.html

[richyb83]

This should be interesting with the differing opinions...sometimes easy for me to forget Donaldsonville is in Ascension Parish being on the west-side of river

Growing Pains in Ascension...

At issue is a proposed comprehensive master plan that makes room for nearly 197,000 people the state projects will live in Ascension by 2030. Ascension now is home to nearly 105,000 people, making it the fastest-growing parish in the state between 2000 and 2009, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

In the next few months, parish government will head into the final phase of trying to adopt the comprehensive master plan — the parish’s proposed growth roadmap for the next 20 years.

A series of meetings is planned in August and September, and when those are done, the parish Planning Commission will consider whether to adopt the plan

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/99179999.html

[dan326]

That's a neat master plan, I wonder how many people really will be in Ascension in 2030?

And I wonder if the B.R. metro will have a million people by then??

And I also wonder if a 1 million size metro will still be as "big" as a 1 million size metro today???

Edited July 26, 2010 by dan326

[all2neat]

I hope that plan is passed, as a parish, we need some type of plan for growth... And a greenlight plan would be awesome..LA-42 desperately needs to be widened from airline to 44.

The roads are set up in a grid like system. It's not a true grid like phoenix is but about every mile is a street that for the most part continue straight. Inside of the square mile tracts of land are subdivisions and other single (typically) entrance developments.

Edited July 26, 2010 by all2neat

[itsjustme3]

Even more stuff.

The tenenants say Best Buy, Goodys, and Petco.

"Outparcel at Cabela's anchored development. Total of 3.04 acres but can be split. Site plan and aerial attached."

I'm suprised there hasn't been more development at the Cabelas site. Anyone have any word on what's going on? Last time I was there, there was only a kfc and a dons seafood built.

[dan326]

I have a feeling some of those stores either went out of buisness or moved to another development. I know for sure a Goodies was supposed to go there and they went out of business.

[dan326]

Figured I should repost this here.

'Gonzales MarketPlace is a planned 435,000 sq.ft. restaurant, retain, and entertainment power center located at the NWC of I-10 and Highway 30 in Gonzales, LA. When completed, Gonzales MarketPlace will have 6 restaurants, a movie theater, 2 major anchors, 3 junior anchors, and 27,500 sq.ft. of small shop space. As part of development plans, Veterans Blvd will be widened to four lanes and the intersection of Highway 30 and Veterans Blvd will be signalized"

a large power center type development that will include:

•a clothing anchor

•2 department stores

•a pet store

•a bookstore

•an electronics store

•a theater

•small retail space

•2 retail outparcels

•3 restaurant ouparcels

It'll be on the land across the interstate from Tanger.

http://www.weinerdevelopment.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/GonzalesPackage.pdf

[itsjustme3]

Figured I should repost this here.

'Gonzales MarketPlace is a planned 435,000 sq.ft. restaurant, retain, and entertainment power center located at the NWC of I-10 and Highway 30 in Gonzales, LA. When completed, Gonzales MarketPlace will have 6 restaurants, a movie theater, 2 major anchors, 3 junior anchors, and 27,500 sq.ft. of small shop space. As part of development plans, Veterans Blvd will be widened to four lanes and the intersection of Highway 30 and Veterans Blvd will be signalized"

a large power center type development that will include:

•a clothing anchor

•2 department stores

•a pet store

•a bookstore

•an electronics store

•a theater

•small retail space

•2 retail outparcels

•3 restaurant ouparcels

It'll be on the land across the interstate from Tanger.

http://www.weinerdevelopment.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/GonzalesPackage.pdf

I don't see that being built up anytime soon either. And a movie theatre? There's already the Rave and the one at Perkins Rowe. No way do they build another one just 10 minutes away.

[Antrell Williams]

I'm not sure if I can see this even in 5 years but Gonzales is long due for a theater. It would serve the whole parish. And there are many children moving to the area just to go to the school so why wouldn't a theater do well? Rave can support itself just fine. The Cimemark in Perkins Rowe does fine right down the road.

[dan326]

I think this could work. Ascension parish has near 100,000 people if not more and I'm sure as you all know, the main entertainment for people in Baton Rouge is shopping and eating out.

Edited January 24, 2011 by dan326

[itsjustme3]

That's a bad thing?

[dan326]

Nope, I know that's my entertainment!

Edited January 24, 2011 by dan326

[dan326]

Here's some huge developments proposed for Ascension parish. As a little side note these developments are named after former plantations.

Riverton Plantation

The Ascension Parish Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously approved the proposed Riverton Plantation TND located off La. Highway 22 adjacent to Pelican Point. When complete, the 419-acre development will include 811 detached single-family homes, 70 townhomes and 367 live-work units. The project will also include about 645,000 square feet of office and retail space. The first phase, consisting of 146.6 acres in the center in the property, will include 280 single-family units and a mix of cottages and townhomes along with a private school, church and town center. The town center will include offices, health club and spa, grocery store, café and coffee shop. Steve Oubre of Architects Southwest is the planner, and Ferris Engineering will serve as the engineer. Groundbreaking for the first phase is expected to take place in the first quarter of 2009.

Orange Grove

Ferris Engineering is excited to be involved with Orange Grove development. Orange Grove is the first planned unit development in Ascension Parish. The site consists of 138 acres located on Highway 22 south of Interstate 10 in Sorrento. The development will contain 358 lots ranging in size. Approximately 40% of the development will be common areas of green space and recreational trails. Several large lakes will be located within the property, and large, mature oak trees frame the main entrance to the subdivision.

Edited May 24, 2011 by dan326