Baton Rouge City Profile

[richyb83]

No problem. I appreciate yalls enthusiasm for Louisiana and yalls pride for your cities too. I have many more pics I'll will be posting soon on different BR threads

I need to post RSA Mobile pic(Alabama), Gatlinburg pics(south cities); Woodlands

[NCB]

Wow, sorry about completely missing your picture, Richy!

That's definately a cool building, and I'm glad to see that they didn't decide to turn it into a parking lot, like it seems they love to try to do up in Baton Rouge. Great pictures, man!

[richyb83]

Thanks, I'm glad yall liked it.

^ You ain't kiddin' about those parking lots. Too many. They are finally begining to build large parking garage structures around downtown. 4-completed ...3 more on the way ??

I am glad they did not tear down the Capitol House hotel, that would have been stupid.

Edited August 12, 2006 by richyb83

[dan326]

^ You mean surface parking or garages? Because it seems to make more since me to turn one of the 50 million surface parking lots into a garage.

Edited August 12, 2006 by dan326

[richyb83]

Garages. The four parking garages are; In 2002 ?? the Galvez(Main Street Market), LaSalle(YMCA), Claiborne. And last year Third Street(on extreme left of pic on post#67).

3 more approved/proposed parking garages; Capitol Plaza, Belle of BR, and Laurel Tower.

Edited August 12, 2006 by richyb83

[DennisBTR]

Technically, I guess the area is still called Corporate Square. With the extension of Corporate Boulevard the area just seems like more commercial development.

Another tidbit---the Hilton (now Mariott) when planned was to be built as the tallest building in Baton Rouge. Louisiana National Bank (later Premier and now Chase) was one of the lenders in the Corporate Square development. The powers to be at the bank did not want the Hilton to be any taller than the bank building in downtown. It was scaled back as a result.

Wow, thanks Dennis and welcome to Urban Planet. Very interesting indeed.

I like the name Corporate Square (called now?) and remembered it being a mall when I was a kid. My Dad worked at Steinberg's Sporting Goods. I also remember when Corporate Blvd. was a 3/4 mile long dead-end to the woods. Of course Corporate Blvd. is now extended to Old Hammond Hwy. And now the hottest piece of undeveloped property in the middle of BR(Corporate Square >west; Old Goodwood> north;I-10 Bocage>southeast) . Now that's quickly filing up with CitiPlace, Condo's, upscale neigborhood and new Towne Center. A new Business Park and Hotel will be between all this too.

That's always been an impressive developed area. A major business district about 4 miles from the CBD. They had an 8-story & 6-story office building, and some other large ones too. At 22-stories the Maroitt is BR's tallest hotel. I always wondered why the hotel was not downtown along our riverfront? I recently took pics of this area I will post soon. But the location is ideal being at the I-10/12 Split and not too far from LSU. I like the way to turn the corner at 10/12 and all the sudden you see the Mariott.

Corporate Square combined with CitiPlace and new Towne Center have made the corridor an Uptown type of enviroment.

Hey Dennis, it sure has been good to see downtown BR come back.

[richyb83]

Technically, I guess the area is still called Corporate Square. With the extension of Corporate Boulevard the area just seems like more commercial development.

Another tidbit---the Hilton (now Mariott) when planned was to be built as the tallest building in Baton Rouge. Louisiana National Bank (later Premier and now Chase) was one of the lenders in the Corporate Square development. The powers to be at the bank did not want the Hilton to be any taller than the bank building in downtown. It was scaled back as a result

With Corporate Square combined CitiPlace and College Drive south of I-10 make it maybe the 2nd largest business district?(how close to 1st ?) It has BR's most hotels by far. And the new Towne Center Corporate Blvd.@ Jefferson Hwy. near Bocage will make that almost like an Uptown area.

I have always been impressed with the 22-story Mariott. The developers were bold enough to pull that off 4 miles from the CBD. Hard to imagine the Mariott even taller. They need another 22-story or even 27-story hotel on the riverfront. The Mariott is BR's 5th tallest and Chase is 3rd for now. RiverPlace and Two City Plaza will bump the Mariott to 7th when they are built.

Edited August 21, 2006 by richyb83

[dan326]

Here's a picture of downtown development. Just tell me what and were Richy and I'll make sure to put it all on.

Edited August 26, 2006 by dan326

[dan326]

Another tidbit---the Hilton (now Mariott) when planned was to be built as the tallest building in Baton Rouge. Louisiana National Bank (later Premier and now Chase) was one of the lenders in the Corporate Square development. The powers to be at the bank did not want the Hilton to be any taller than the bank building in downtown. It was scaled back as a result.

I think I did kind of a sloppy job, but this what the Marriott might have looked like had it been the tallest building in Baton Rouge. I got the first picture from google, but I made the second tall picture on paint.

[richyb83]

Dan you da man. You got the development right-on. I am not exactly sure how City Plaza Two will be placed on the block ? The right side where you have it, or the northside in the block.

I will soon post pics of Trahan architects 25-story Riverfront Office Tower"vision" that was posted earlier about a month ago; on the very narrow strip of the block west of Shaw Art Center. The southern 1/4 of the block; It's part of BRBusiness Reports "Controversial" weed lot/pipes/ BRWaterWorks owns. Instead of simply "beautifying" the lot, they said the prime location should be sold and built something very nice. LSU School of Architecture also has some nice proposals for the parcel.

I appreciate your interest and pride you take in your city. I am glad you are on UP. You help make this website even more fun.

That's cool the way you stretched the Mariott to 48-stories. I believe that would put it in a tie with New Orleans tallest hotel.

[dan326]

Dan you da man. You got the development right-on. I am not exactly sure how City Plaza Two will be placed on the block ? The right side where you have it, or the northside in the block.

I will soon post pics of Trahan architects 25-story Riverfront Office Tower"vision" that was posted earlier about a month ago; on the very narrow strip of the block west of Shaw Art Center. The southern 1/4 of the block; It's part of BRBusiness Reports "Controversial" weed lot/pipes/ BRWaterWorks owns. Instead of simply "beautifying" the lot, they said the prime location should be sold and built something very nice. LSU School of Architecture also has some nice proposals for the parcel.

They updated the designs?

I appreciate your interest and pride you take in your city. I am glad you are on UP. You help make this website even more fun.

That's cool the way you stretched the Mariott to 48-stories. I believe that would put it in a tie with New Orleans tallest hotel.

Thanks. Actually what I did with the Marriott was copy the up half and then paste it a little bit higher on top of the pictue below.

Edited August 26, 2006 by dan326

[richyb83]

No updated designs. It's just an unattractive property bordering Shaw Arts Center and Hilton Capitol Center. They just have different ideas on what to do with it. BR WaterWorks owns most of the block with there pump house and the other primitive looking stuff. Trahan Architects owns the bottom(southern) 1/4; and Lafayette Park is on the eastern edge of the block.

LSU School of architecture just has ideas for the prime land.

Edited August 27, 2006 by richyb83

[dimebag1980]

Hey Dan, if they added that many floors to the existing Marriott, it would probably actually be leaning like that without beefing up the foundation.

But seriously, that's nice. You could Photoshop it where it's not leaning, so it's definitely not like that couldn't be fixed. It's cool that at your age you have the kind of vision that you do. You truly remind me of myself at that age, and for that, I think it's pretty cool.

[dan326]

Hey Dan, if they added that many floors to the existing Marriott, it would probably actually be leaning like that without beefing up the foundation.

But seriously, that's nice. You could Photoshop it where it's not leaning, so it's definitely not like that couldn't be fixed. It's cool that at your age you have the kind of vision that you do. You truly remind me of myself at that age, and for that, I think it's pretty cool.

Thanks a lot. To be honest a lot of interest came with Katrina. I started seeing all this development and looking it up on the internet. That's when I discovered wikipedia with River Place Condos and Perkin Rowe(Coming Soon) at the bottom and it all just went from there.Another part of it was because before high school I went to Denham Springs so I didn't think about Baton Rouge to much. Like I had said before though, if I was this interested before I could have made an easy A in Louisiana History.

[dimebag1980]

Thanks a lot. To be honest a lot of interest came with Katrina. I started seeing all this development and looking it up on the internet. That's when I discovered wikipedia with River Place Condos and Perkin Rowe(Coming Soon) at the bottom and it all just went from there.Another part of it was because before high school I went to Denham Springs so I didn't think about Baton Rouge to much. Like I had said before though, if I was this interested before I could have made an easy A in Louisiana History.

Hey man, I completely understand. Development in my local area is what got me interested in all this as well. When the casino industry first came here in 1994, I was 14, and I was blown away by the whole concept. Then when they started building their hotels I was even more blown away. In '97 the Horseshoe Hotel opened and I can't tell you how often I went by there just to see it being built and after it was completed. Then as time went on and more development occurred, like you I was drawn to the projects like a magnet. Scouring the internet for new developments and info on existing developments, it was awesome. Now at 26 I've discovered UP and love it. And how did I discover UP? By searching for information about developments.

[richyb83]

I appreciate your interest and pride you take in your city. I am glad you are on UP. You help make this website even more fun.

Hey Dan I gave you some props as well.

And how did I discover UP? By searching for information about developments.

We defenitely have that in common Brian. That's how I found UP too. Seeing all the construction projects in BR a few years ago starting up despite the shaky economy really impressed me. Then seeing the re-birth of Downtown BR really egnited a spark. I have always liked high-rise development and enjoyed checking out all the different cities on emporis. I had checked-out UP on occasion, but then Nate found me by PM on another website and the rest is history.

Edited August 28, 2006 by richyb83

[bluff2085]

With Corporate Square combined CitiPlace and College Drive south of I-10 make it maybe the 2nd largest business district?(how close to 1st ?) It has BR's most hotels by far. And the new Towne Center Corporate Blvd.@ Jefferson Hwy. near Bocage will make that almost like an Uptown area.

I have always been impressed with the 22-story Mariott. The developers were bold enough to pull that off 4 miles from the CBD. Hard to imagine the Mariott even taller. They need another 22-story or even 27-story hotel on the riverfront. The Mariott is BR's 5th tallest and Chase is 3rd for now. RiverPlace and Two City Plaza will bump the Mariott to 7th when they are built.

I like the Mariott where it is. It's height makes for a nice entrance coming into BR along I-12 and let's you know you're coming into a big city. Would be nice though to have a hotel just as tall downtown. Anyway, what's up with that field across the street from the Mariott? Are there any plans for it? Is it big enough for another high rise to complement the area?

[dan326]

Hey Dan I gave you some props as well.

Sorry, I had read it but I guess I was trying to put to many things in that reply, but thanks a lot to you also and another for bringing me to this website. Ya'll are the only guys I really have to talk to because my mom's not really interested. My dad is but just doesn't have that zeal.

I redid the Marriott, but this time I used a better picture.

Edited August 28, 2006 by dan326

[richyb83]

Very nice there Dan. If the Mariott was really that TALL ?? Could you imagine all the different places around BR you could easily see it! Coming to BR from the west over the Miss.River Bridge you can easily see it at it's current 22-story height.

[dan326]

Very nice there Dan. If the Mariott was really that TALL ?? Could you imagine all the different places around BR you could easily see it! Coming to BR from the west over the Miss.River Bridge you can easily see it at it's current 22-story height.

That would be great,definetly the evy of surrounding cities. Just think if you were on top of that thing you'd probably be able to see Sears Tower. But you never know, they could be in the design phase of a downtown highrise hotel as we type.

Edited August 28, 2006 by dan326

[dimebag1980]

I know how you feel, dude... my parents were bored to tears with my interest in development. They never understood it. It's cool, though, because that's what UP is all about!!

Cool image man...

[richyb83]

But you never know, they could be in the design phase of a downtown highrise hotel as we type.

Wouldn't that be great ! Maybe plans for a high-rise hotel for Casino Rouge! Dan go ahead and get on that project. Tell them at least 23-stories on the rivefront.

I tried posting a few hours ago with no sucess. I shortened this one a bit.

[BRPJ]

I like the Mariott where it is. It's height makes for a nice entrance coming into BR along I-12 and let's you know you're coming into a big city. Would be nice though to have a hotel just as tall downtown. Anyway, what's up with that field across the street from the Mariott? Are there any plans for it? Is it big enough for another high rise to complement the area?

I agree, i love seeing the mariot at the i 10 i 12 merge, you feel like you enetering into a big city when you see the tower, adn the interstate widens

[richyb83]

^Yes I feel the same way when I'm rounding I-12 at the split and see the Mariott. I would like to see another high-rise hotel at least that size along the BR riverfront.

Anyway, what's up with that field across the street from the Mariott? Are there any plans for it? Is it big enough for another high rise to complement the area?

Good question bluff2085. You would think something nice should be planned; even a 10-story office building or something. There is also a smaller tract of land next to the Mariott with a For Sale sign on it. These are premium locations probably asking for premium $prices.

[dan326]

Look what I found. There's another Baton Rouge in South Carolina. I never thought another city would have a name B.R.

Edited October 20, 2006 by dan326