Baton Rouge City Profile

[dimebag1980]

Here are two shots looking up and down River Road from the pedestrian overpass near the RiverCenter.

images snipped

Hmmm a curving road in a downtown. How unconventional, but nice-looking.

Love the pics, Nate!

[dan326]

I think they are going to put bricks on that road when the riverfront plan finally goes into play.What a job that will be.

Edited November 18, 2006 by dan326

[dimebag1980]

I think they are going to bricj all that when the riverfront plan finally goes into play.What a job that will be.

Wow, that's a lot to brick! And think of the cost. But it'll be worth the cost when all's said and done.

[NCB]

Yea, if that job is done right, I think that stretch of River Road would look awesome as a brick road.

[dan326]

Here are some renderings for the road. They first is looking toward the River Center just past the Old State Capitol and the second if in front of the Old State Capitol.

Edited November 18, 2006 by dan326

[NCB]

Yea, those are the renderings that I rember seeing, and I really like the look of the plan for River Road. I really hope it's eventually able to happen, along with the rest of the new riverfront plan.

[richyb83]

That would definetly slow down the traffic.

[fla_tiger]

Hmmm a curving road in a downtown. How unconventional, but nice-looking.

Love the pics, Nate!

The original street was 4 or 5 lanes wide. It was purposely designed to curve and the width was narrowed to reduce vehicular speed and make it more pedestrian friendly. Where there was originally pavement now the Piazza d'Italia complete with fountain sits where River Road turns into Government Street. Great idea! Both are state roadways. I imagine the City had to twist arms at the state level for them to approve this reduction.

The City wanted the State to reduce the width of Government Street to one lane each direction with on street parking before the recent (and much needed) repaving of Government Street . The state said NO!

Edited November 19, 2006 by fla_tiger

[dan326]

Hey Richy, is was wondering about lifestyle centers. Lets say that lifestyle centers weren't the new thing, could that have likely turned a third enclosed mall for B.R. assuming there was enough land,capitol,resources,etc.?

You know what would be really neat was if one day when it got really big/popular if they ripped up the parking lots and built reail/office on that space and then put parking decks on the side,like Perkins Rowe? Of course that might just turn into a big mess.

Edited December 2, 2006 by dan326

[richyb83]

Dan, sounds like you have Towne Center becoming Baton Rouge's 2nd "Urban Village" w/ lifestyle componets. It would be cool to have residential lofts above the stores; but they prefer to keep the condo's on the edges of the development. Kind of like the restaurants are away from the anchor Whole Foods.

It's hard to believe at one time Old Hammond Hwy. stopped at Jefferson Hwy. That's (was)one "HUGE" chunk of land in the middle of BR that went undeveloped for so long that happened to include the Cedar Lodge horse ranch. The family finally agreed to sell most?(not sure who else owns tracts?) then Old Hammond Hwy. became the Corporate Blvd. extension across Jefferson. Because the city surrounds this property it just became upscale.+ Bocage, Palm Hills and Old Goodwood. Now Towne Center with it's additional phases will join with CitiPlace one day!

The Enclave at Cedar Lodge has cleared land on the other side of CAMD(Center Advanced Microstructures & Devices). About 300 condo-units will be built there; similar to what's been bulit on Millerville?? but maybe 4-stories?? Not sure. The Residence Inn Marroitt is going up fast. Omni Bank is finishing up on Jefferson at Towne Center Blvd. And Chase Bank will put a new branch on the Corporate side in front of Residence Inn. Look for more offices to be built around the circular road that is finished. The Reserve at Cedar Lodge is next to all of that.

Southgate Towers is a mix of Perkins Rowe and Towne Center.

But there is still plenty of open/vacant land north of CitiPlace that can be developed. I imagine Smart Growth will be implemented.

Edited December 2, 2006 by richyb83

[richyb83]

Some Downtown "Old & New"

The City Club(formerly old Post Office) built in late 1890's???

North Blvd. @ Fourth Street

Baton Rouge Area Foundation-newly renovated in 2002??

Fourth Street @ Laurel Street

BRAF has already outgrown it's offices and is one of the groups floating around the idea of new office space in the mixed-use tower at the old Advocate property.

Pardon the partial block on the left; I was driving and could not stop to take this pic

[dan326]

^^B.R. has a lot of neat old buildings if you look around.

^I remember the first time I saw the BRAF, it was on the internet and I was thinking were is that? Then the next next time I went downtown I saw.It and the Shaw Center are about the most modern things in downtown, but as we all know that is about to change. I just can't wait for spring-2007!!

[richyb83]

I remember the first time I saw the BRAF

I like how they renovated that building too. It looks nice.

[dan326]

I like how they renovated that building too. It looks nice.

They renovated an old building? I thought they just built a new one from the ground up.

[dimebag1980]

They renovated an old building? I thought they just built a new one from the ground up.

Really... it does look like new construction! Doesn't look like an old building at all.

[dan326]

We've got our own fancy restaurant. It's an upscale chain in Cananda requiring reservations .Maybe if they open a United States franchise we'll be one of the first.

Restaurant Baton Rouge

Edited December 9, 2006 by dan326

[richyb83]

Cool dude! Representin' up in Canada. Some vintage looking interior too. Thanks for posting.

[byrde]

My wife, sister, mother and mother-in-law took a trip to Montreal back in the spring of 05 and they went there for dinner.

Here's a pic of the restaurant my sis took in Montreal.

[richyb83]

Thanks for posting that Bryde. That's a nice pic and impressive looking building. Did your family like the food and atmosphere of the Baton Rouge restuarant?

[byrde]

Thanks for posting that Bryde. That's a nice pic and impressive looking building. Did your family like the food and atmosphere of the Baton Rouge restuarant?

They loved it. They thought is was so cool to see a restaurant bearing the name of our fair city.

[dan326]

Today I was reading the article on Baton Rouge and somebody had went through and changed up a lot of things. Personally I think it was a disgruntled New Orleans resident. While I can sympathize with what happened, that doesn't mean just go around and change stuff. There was something typed up like that a strong storm surge could destroy our city, when in the paragraph right above it it says that is impossible. And then it was said that even though we took the most residents we also lost the most and went way below population prejections and leveled out at only 30,000 people. Well not many cities can casually take in an influx of more people than it already has and 30,000 people is a sustantial amount of people to gain at one time. But one of the craziest things was when it said in November 2006 the metro was 800,000 people and in the same sentence repeated and said that the November 2006 metro was under 700,000. How can it be under 700,000 people when it was more than that before Katrina?! But I deleted a lot of that and and rewrote some. I also posted the II City Plaza under the highrise section. Sorry for the rant, but that made me agitated.

Edited December 21, 2006 by dan326

[brresident]

Today I was reading the article on Baton Rouge and somebody had went through and changed up a lot of things. Personally I think it was a disgruntled New Orleans resident. While I can sympathize with what happened, that doesn't mean just go around and change stuff. There was something typed up like that a strong storm surge could destroy our city, when in the paragraph right above it it says that is impossible. And then it was said that even though we took the most residents we also lost the most and went way below population prejections and leveled out at only 30,000 people. Well not many cities can casually take in an influx of more people than it already has and 30,000 people is a sustantial amount of people to gain at one time. But one of the craziest things was when it said in November 2006 the metro was 800,000 people and in the same sentence repeated and said that the November 2006 metro was under 700,000. How can it be under 700,000 people when it was more than that before Katrina?! But I deleted a lot of that and and rewrote some. I also posted the II City Plaza under the highrise section. Sorry for the rant, but that made me agitated.

Cool.

Way to stay on top of things. New Orleans has always tried to put down Baton Rouge. Not to kick a city while it is down, but I wouldn't want to live there post-katrina with all the storm-related issues added to the crime, racial issues, housing, infrastructure, schools, police protection, and corrupt political system.

Everyone should keep an eye out on that. Right now the wiki page looks good....but things happen.

Baton Rouge should try hard to avoid being what New Orleans was (or is). IMO, New Orleans is a great city to visit, but Baton Rouge is a cleaner and safer (and more affordable) place to live. I am just worried that NOLA won't pick up again ever, or it will become it's old self again (even more dependent on the State and federal government for normal operations).

Edited December 21, 2006 by brresident

[dan326]

Sorry, meant to add this was on wikipedia.

[richyb83]

The Advocate newspaper moved it's administrative offices from downtown to this 6-story suburban office on Bluebonnet Blvd. The new giant printing press is on Siegen Lane; need to get a pic, the bldg. is about 70 ft. tall to accomodate the printing press.

[dan326]

Can you see this^ from Bluebonnet? It feels like I've seen it, but it still seems new.

About how tall would you say the parking garage/Wells Fargo building at Perkins Rowe is?

One time I was watching the health channel and there was a show on about pregnant women. They went to 3 different cities and were following the birth stories of the mothers and one of the cities was Baton Rouge. When I heard the narrator say Baton Rouge , it was so unused to hearing that on t.v. and it happend so fast I wasn't sure if I had heard right. But when I looked at the credits, sure enough there it was written in black pixels. Meant to post this a while back, but kept forgeting.

Edited December 22, 2006 by dan326