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Louisiana City Skylines


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The new header skyline shot for New Orleans' Wikipedia page. A little hazy, but shows just how dense the skyline is. You can also see the new Harrah's Hotel included in the skyline off to the right.

800px-New_Orleans_Skyline_from_Uptown.jpg

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No New Orleans Skyline pic is complete w/o Plaza Tower. You sure are right Nate, that's a nice dense Skyline :thumbsup:

I would like to take a Skyline pic of Baton Rouge for Wikipedia page; but it would be too hard to get to; on the steel-girdered walkway under the I-10 Miss. Bridge. I know the angle bec. the new Galvez state bldg. should be included.

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And just thinking, you know the corporate/citiplace area could qualify as a downtown itself, for a town the size of monroe or hammond..

I was thinking that to. I always wonder whether people not familiar with the area coming northwest on I-10 think the Essen corridor is downtown.

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^ That would have definately lifted the face of downtown.

And just thinking, you know the corporate/citiplace area could qualify as a downtown itself, for a town the size of monroe or hammond..

07' will be a Break-thru year for downtown BR!!! The face will be lifted :thumbsup:

I agree that Corporate Square/Citi Place is an impressive business district in itself. It's at the perfect location near the 10/12 split; not far from LSU; more in the geographical center of BR. The 22-story Marriott built in the 70's changed everything. There are more hotels there than anywhere else in BR. That's why I call it the "Hotel District". The Corporate Blvd. extension to Jefferson made CitiPlace possible. And now the new Towne Center add to the next wave of serious development.

Then there is the large shopping centers all over College Drive south of I-10. And the hotels along Consitution/I-10. Then turning on Perkins Rd. toward Acadian Thruway is a long "continueous" area of development.

The Essen corridor will get the new 8-story Summa office tower (start July); it will be a nice addition next to the Jacobs Plaza, and nearby Shaw Plaza, Essen Centre, United Plaza, OLOL Med.Tower...mid-rise skyline.

*Emporis.com states definition of high-rise as 12 or more stories. So the 12-story Shaw and 13-story Jacobs would qualify as "short" high-rises.

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Today, Bossier City marks its Centennial. Never in its history has this city seen a loss in population, but rather impressive growth the entire time. The only exception being the 1980s when the growth rate slowed considerably after the oil industry fell out. Twenty-seven years and one month ago, I was born in Bossier City. I now live less than 10 miles outside the city limits, and though I've considered moving to a much larger city like Dallas, Houston or Chicago, I still feel a very close kinship with Bossier City and Bossier Parish in general.

The following article explains in brief, the history of Bossier City from its beginnings as a cotton port called the Elysian Groves Plantation, or "Cane's Landing." Cane's Landing still exists as a piece of undeveloped land adjacent to the Louisiana Boardwalk today.

Bossier City officially became the Town of Bossier City in 1923 when its population hit 500 people. Less than 30 years later, in 1953, Bossier City actually became a town. But before Bossier City was even a city or town, it became known around 1883 as "Bossier City." The original Village of Bossier City, just off the property of modern-day Cane's Landing, still exists. My parents recently moved to that neighborhood, which unfortunately has fallen into decay and high crime. The rest of Bossier City, however, doesn't reflect the image of this area, today known as Old Bossier. Old Bossier sits just to the north and east of the modern-day Louisiana Boardwalk development. Hank Williams Jr. was actually born in this neighborhood, when his father was a regular on the Louisiana Hayride radio show and living here.

Let me not give away the story of this "little city that could," as I often call it. Bossier City is a great city to call home, and this article is worth a read.

Enjoy...

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.d...SSIER/704090331

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Good article. What stood out to me in that picture was the Liquor sign. Everything else was medium height but the liquor sign :lol:

lol Yeah I noticed that as well. Welcome to Bossier City. :) The city still has a lot of remnants of its rough-and-tumble past from the 50s and 60s. Back then the city's main drags (Barksdale Blvd and E. Texas St) were lined with bars, liquor stores, motels, strip joints, and illegal casinos. It was very much like the Las Vegas strip, except that casinos were illegal so they were tucked away in the back rooms of the bars and such. If those walls could talk, they'd tell us the things that people like Elvis and Hank Williams did inside those establishments.

Much of the older areas of Bossier City still have big liquor stores with larger-than-life signs, and the ruins of the bars and motels from "The Strip."

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^Thanks for posting that article Brian. Bossier City sure has an interesting past. I think it was cool to have a "strip" back then. Almost like a gateway to the west before the Red River. And it's definetly not considered a suburb in my book. Bossier past up Alexandria long ago and about to pass up Monroe too.

Speaking of the past....check-out this old aerial pic from back in the late 90's of downtown Baton Rouge. wikipedia decided to change the pic for the fourth-time in about 6 months.

250pxbatonrougelouisianrz4.jpg

Seeing the old aerial makes me realize just how much things have changed. Since then, they have demolished the two old-boxy state buildings on each side of One American Place. And replaced them with 4 new state bldgs.(LaSalle, Iberville, Beinville, Galvez) Also you can see the site getting ready for the Claiborne bldg. A few other state bldgs. not on that pic.

Also not shown; The RiverCenter expansion (still Centroplex in that pic); the Shaw Center for the Arts; Irene Pennington planetarium; blighted/vacant Capitol House is shown..now its the renovated Hilton Capitol Center. Also the giant new state parking decks on Third Street and on Sixth Street(now Main Street Market) are just about to get ready in that pic?

I can't wait to see what the next 9 or 10 years hold for downtown BR!

Here's a photo from about a year ago; with Shaw Center for the Arts and expanded River Center lit-up :camera: The last two bldgs.(Iberville and Beinville were still going up(hard to see in the pic)

1frombridgeyb2.jpg

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^Thanks for posting that article Brian. Bossier City sure has an interesting past. I think it was cool to have a "strip" back then. Almost like a gateway to the west before the Red River. And it's definetly not considered a suburb in my book. Bossier past up Alexandria long ago and about to pass up Monroe too.

Already passed Monroe. :) A few years ago Bossier City stood at 52,000 and Monroe stood at 54,000. By the 2010 Census, it's anticipated that Bossier City will be between 65,000-70,000 and Monroe will be around 50,000. And yeah, the city WAS a suburb, but no more. It's like Fort Worth is to Dallas... only these cities are obviously much smaller than DFW! :)

By the way, cool info on Baton Rouge. That city hasn't ever grown THIS fast in its history, has it? It's awesome.

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By the way, cool info on Baton Rouge. That city hasn't ever grown THIS fast in its history, has it? It's awesome.

While Baton Rouge was founded about 300 years ago,it grew up in the oil era, so when it started to grow it grew pretty fast. The population has increased about 20 times over the past 100 years, from about 11,000 in 1907 to 224,000 in 2005. According to wikipedia, in 1 10 year period B.R. added a fourth of the city's current population. Of course, I think that growth was getting all the basic infastructure established. Now we're just adding to our amenities. :D

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Already passed Monroe. :) A few years ago Bossier City stood at 52,000 and Monroe stood at 54,000. By the 2010 Census, it's anticipated that Bossier City will be between 65,000-70,000 and Monroe will be around 50,000. And yeah, the city WAS a suburb, but no more. It's like Fort Worth is to Dallas... only these cities are obviously much smaller than DFW! :)

By the way, cool info on Baton Rouge. That city hasn't ever grown THIS fast in its history, has it? It's awesome.

Like what Dan said. As far as new downtown $$construction from 1999 til 2006 probably not. Though the mid 70's was active too.

As far as population goes..(Dan) said the pop. was 11,000 in 1907...then shot-up to 125,000 in 1950; and to 219,000 by 1980!!! Now it seems like the construction/infrastructure is finally catching up to the population.

Way back then, City leaders did not have any idea BR would grow that fast; they lacked vision...and this is partly to blame for the serious traffic problems.

Take a city like Monroe that did most of it's growing way back, you can still see the high ratio of street grid; opposite for BR. The street grid ratio is less. New Orleans being an older established city is almost completely street grid.

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Nice job Dan. That's something I need to learn to do. Google Earth needs to have someone add 3-D Buildings for downtown BR!

That's a nice looking high-rise on the Metairie lakefront. Three Lakeway Center would have looked GREAT in the middle of Baton Rouge's CBD between One American Place and Chase Towers. :shades:

Eventhough there are six skyscrapers in New Orleans taller than our State Capitol; you can still see the State Capitol from many spots around BR. When driving on the I-12 loop-around to I-10 you can see the Skyline above the tree tops 5 or 6 miles way. And you can see the Skyline on the Airline Hwy. overpass(Florida Blvd.) near Cortana Mall

I know the view you are talking about Nate, just around the City Park Lake the skyline comes at you. From the City Park Lake Bridge you can see the top of the State Capitol above the tree-top canopy.

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<br />Nice job Dan. That's something I need to learn to do. Google Earth needs to have someone add 3-D Buildings for downtown BR!<br /><br />That's a nice looking high-rise on the Metairie lakefront. Three Lakeway Center would have looked GREAT in the middle of Baton Rouge's CBD between One American Place and Chase Towers. <img src="http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/style_emoticons/default/shades.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":shades:" border="0" alt="shades.gif" /> <br /><br />Eventhough there are six skyscrapers in New Orleans taller than our State Capitol; you can still see the State Capitol from many spots around BR. When driving on the I-12 loop-around to I-10 you can see the Skyline above the tree tops 5 or 6 miles way. And you can see the Skyline on the Airline Hwy. overpass(Florida Blvd.) near Cortana Mall<br /><br />I know the view you are talking about Nate, just around the City Park Lake the skyline comes at you. From the City Park Lake Bridge you can see the top of the State Capitol above the tree-top canopy.<br />
<br /><br /><br />

Alot of people dont know, but you can actually see the state capitol from southern university, especially at night on the bluff(or levee) behind southern campus..

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  • 2 weeks later...

<br /><br /><br />

Alot of people dont know, but you can actually see the state capitol from southern university, especially at night on the bluff(or levee) behind southern campus..

I was impressed seeing the State Capitol from the bluff at Southern; crazy looking view with Exxon plant in between.

^I would like to get into some 3-D sketches myself. Dan does really nice work! :thumbsup:

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Fantastic renderings, Dan!

Has the height of RiverPlace been determined or released yet? I can remember many, many months ago hearing it would be taller than the Capitol, then I heard that it would be only a few feet shorter, and most recently I've heard that the floor count has been lowered from 36 to 30, which would make it about 60-72 feet shorter. Anything new?

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^Actually that view is from Port Allen Landing. Making RiverPlace seem "taller" bec. it's the closest from this location due west on the river. Chase Towers, One American Place, new II City Plaza(and the others) are further back a few blocks, making them appear shorter from this particular spot.

The previous 36-story RiverPlace and the State Capitol would have been virtually the same height. Also the elevation of RiverPlace is a little lower so it would have been interesting to see how close in height they would have been. :dontknow:

The reconfigured proposed 30-stories will make it the new 2nd tallest. And I'll take anything I can get in vertically challenged BR. Especially with $$$construction, steel, cement,etc. getting jacked-up thru the roof all along the Gulf coast since the hurricanes.

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