Baton Rouge Growth and Development

[dan326]

I'm stoked about the 7-story residential building just SE of LSU getting the go-ahead

Cajun said El Cid ....that name trips me out!

I don't remember that either? Is it going to be part of Southgate Towers? Also, they built a connector to from Sterlington to Southgate garage, explaining why they're so close.

Yeah, it sounds like an Arabic name, I think I read somewhere, there was an Arabia craze in the 80-90's as evidenced by the former Arabian themed Las Vegas hotels and Disney's Aladdin.

[richyb83]

No it's not part of Southgate Towers...(pardon the not perfect quick sketch)

 

The new 7-story condo's (YELLOW/Right) btwn East Boyd & West Parker; also added 333 Flats(PINK/Right) across street...will be a few blocks(NE) away from Southgate Towers(bottom left)...added the nearly completed Sterling at Burbank(orange) next to it...not sure how the new parking garage is configured; but it's all a tight fit btwn there....

 

There's a plot of land(unmarked/sorry) btwn Southgate Towers & Walk-On's in the vacant green patch...condo's will eventually be built there; curious what exactly? Before the big recession talks of something as tall as 15-floors...however i'd  settle for 8-10 

 

 

Yeah Dan El Cid sounded Arabic..wasn't there movie made about that?

Edited April 7, 2015 by richyb83

[dan326]

Thanks, I think I remember now... Baton Rouge must really be getting a lot of developments when I start forgetting stuff,lol. That'll definitely be a busy corridor.

According to Wikipedia, El Cid was a Moorish pronunciation of a Spanish medieval figure. Wonder what that had to do with a apartment complex?

[greg225]

CATS moving downtown bus hub to Third and Lafayette                                                                                                                                        The intersection of Third and Lafayette streets near the State Capitol is the proposed location for a new downtown bus hub. Capital Area Transit System CEO Bob Mirabito and city-parish officials have been working for several months to find a suitable location for the hub and think the new spot will work, according to CATS spokesperson Amie McNaylor. Implementation of the new location should be complete by July, she says.

Mirabito has been searching for a hub site for downtown since shortly after CATS unveiled its new route system in March of last year. That’s because the original hub site on North Boulevard, near the Old State Capitol, turned out to be a poor choice due to heavy traffic and congestion in the area.

In November, CATS and city-parish officials narrowed the list of potential new hub sites down to three, including the site at Third and Lafayette.

Dozens of buses pass through the downtown hub every day. Though McNaylor could not provide a specific number, she says 11 different routes, each making several trips daily, use the downtown hub. Mirabito will update a CATS planning committee of the proposed change at a meeting Friday afternoon.     http://www.businessreport.com/article/cats-moving-downtown-bus-hub-third-lafayette

[dan326]

So... are they going to use the recently built outdoor theater site? That doesn't really seem like a good site.

[Mr. Burnham]

So... are they going to use the recently built outdoor theater site? That doesn't really seem like a good site.

I agree.

[dan326]

For one thing it seems kinda small for a bus hub and two I think it'll be tacky to have that next to a historic site (Pentagon Barracks).

[greg225]

 News roundup: Groundbreaking set Wednesday for Knock Knock Children’s Museum … Cigarette tax increase in Louisiana looks like a possibility this session … Privatization deals leave LSU medical schools stuck with ‘legacy costs’                                                                                                                                                                                       At last: A groundbreaking ceremony for the long-planned Knock Knock Children’s Museum at City Park has been set for noon on Wednesday, April 22, museum officials confirmed today. The museum’s board of directors in January submitted a plan review application to the city-parish Department of Public Works for the roughly 26,500-square-foot museum, which will be located on Dalrymple Drive across from the City Park golf course, near Interstate 10. BREC is partnering with the museum’s board on the project. The groundbreaking will be held at the museum site from noon to 1 p.m. Officials are aiming for an opening next summer.

Seizing the moment: Louisiana’s health advocacy groups see an opportunity this legislative session to get a long-sought cigarette tax hike in a state that has one of the lowest tobacco taxes in the country. The Associated Press reports that as lawmakers look to raise new money to plug a $1.6 billion budget hole, at least 10 tobacco tax measures have been filed for debate. Five health advocacy organizations—including the American Cancer Society and the American Heart Association—have rallied behind a bill by Rep. Harold Ritchie, D-Bogalusa, to raise Louisiana’s cigarette tax from 36 cents per pack to $1.54, the national average. The measure, which could generate $250 million annually, is scheduled for consideration in the House Ways and Means Committee next week. Read the full story.

Holding the bag: LSU’s medical schools in New Orleans and Shreveport are struggling to pay millions of dollars in insurance, retiree and maintenance costs left to them from the privatization of the state’s charity hospitals. As The Associated Press reports, university officials outlined more than $56 million in “legacy costs” that they face in the fiscal year that begins July 1. Gov. Bobby Jindal’s budget would leave the health sciences centers in New Orleans and Shreveport to cover costs associated with former hospital employees, the Senate Finance Committee was told today. Millions of dollars in those costs are expected year after year, and medical school leaders say they’ve burned through cash reserves covering the expenses. LSU health care chief Frank Opelka says if no money is provided to cover those costs, they will threaten the medical schools’ viability.    http://www.businessreport.com/article/news-roundup-groundbreaking-set-wednesday-knock-knock-childrens-museum-cigarette-tax-increase-louisiana-looks-like-possibility-session-privatization-deals-l

Edited April 17, 2015 by greg225

[dan326]

^Neat! I was wondering if they where really going to build this.

EDIT: To add a little more, I definitely think this'll be a good think for Baton Rouge because I think the city can definitively be marketed as a family city to attract businesses and development.

As a side thought, I hope they have a plan to realign the entrance to the zoo directly to Scotland Avenue. Although honestly I kind of wish they could just move it.

Edited April 18, 2015 by dan326

[Antrell Williams]

The Zoo being in North BR kinda kills it.

[greg225]

^Neat! I was wondering if they where really going to build this.

EDIT: To add a little more, I definitely think this'll be a good think for Baton Rouge because I think the city can definitively be marketed as a family city to attract businesses and development.

As a side thought, I hope they have a plan to realign the entrance to the zoo directly to Scotland Avenue. Although honestly I kind of wish they could just move it.

Its a plan in FutureBR for the Scotlandville Gateway plan it inculde the whole Scotlandville area Southern University and Metro Airport even go outside Scotlandville to Zion City. The plan will redevelop the entire area the plan been on paper since 2011.

[Mr. Burnham]

The Zoo being in North BR kinda kills it.

The zoo is such a pain in the ass to get to though. I would rather bring kids to something closer to the city center.

[greg225]

Renovations to begin on downtown Baton Rouge building                                                                                                                                                                                             Work is about to start on an $800,000 renovation of the old Butler Furniture building downtown at 640 Main St., which will convert the property to an office building.

 

The plan is to create three office suites, said Gordon LeBlanc, who bought the building with Tom Adamek, last fall for $530,000. Plans call for one 3,000-square-foot suite and two other suites that will be about 1,200 square feet.

The building, which will be called the Butler Building, will feature amenities such as 14-foot ceilings with skylights. A courtyard will be added to the back of the building.

Rents for the building will be about $20 per square foot.

LeBlanc said he’s talking to a tenant about taking up the largest section of the building. “These will be professional offices for people that want to be downtown,” he said. Potential tenants could include financial, legal, arts or media businesses, LeBlanc said.The Butler Building is expected to open by September. Chenevert Architects is designing the property. Ben Stalter and Wade Greene of Maestri-Murrell Real Estate are marketing the building.  http://theadvocate.com/news/12161522-123/renovations-to-begin-on-downtown

[greg225]

Kids take up shovels to break ground for new Baton Rouge children’s museum                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  A group of children in mini-hard hats shoveled the dirt Wednesday at a ground breaking ceremony for the Knock Knock Children’s Museum — a Baton Rouge vision that’s been around for longer than most of the kids’ lifetimes.

 

More than 10 years in the making, the long awaited museum will sit on a hill on Dalrymple Drive facing the City Brooks Community Park and LSU Lakes, and invite in children to play and learn. For Knock Knock Chair Staci Deumite Duhé, Wednesday was the day a decade of work finally sank in.

“The moment the kids grabbed the shovels and stuck it in the ground and someone said ‘one, two, three,’ that was it,” she said.

Duhé described her feeling as giddy.

MD Descant Contractors won the bid the build the museum and the museum could open in 2016 if all goes as planned.

Mayor-President Kip Holden applauded the nonprofit Knock Knock board and BREC for their work, noting that Baton Rouge residents will no longer need to travel to New Orleans or Lafayette to experience a Children’s Museum.

Plans have fallen through dozens of times in the past several years for Knock Knock to be brought to completion. The museum had many false starts and the groundbreaking was pushed back several times over the past few years.

BREC Superintendent Carolyn McKnight said she hoped the patch of bad luck finally finished.

“You don’t want to speak too much because you don’t want to jinx it,” she laughed.

The Knock Knock board has raised more than $9.4 million for the museum — $6 million of which will go toward construction.

It hopes to raise around $3 million more for the interior learning zones and other costs. The museum is expected to have 18 or so learning zones ranging from a mock television studio to a simulated car garage and body shop.

Children from infancy to age eight are the museum’s primary target audience.

Duhé said they will soon unveil a final fundraising campaign to get the last bit of funding.

Around 100 people attended the groundbreaking ceremony, many of them Knock Knock donors and activists.

The crowd included Metro Councilwoman Tara Wicker; LSU’s Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Stuart Bell; and Downtown Development Executive Director Davis Rhorer.  http://theadvocate.com/news/12126990-123/kids-take-up-shovels-to

[greg225]

Shipping container housing in downtown Baton Rouge? Anything’s possible as officials look to add residents                                                                                                                                                                                              Among the ideas that local business and community leaders heard about on their recent Super Region Canvas trip to Arizona’s Sun Corridor is that of a residential development currently under construction in downtown Phoenix that’s made of shipping containers.

Containers on Grand, as the development is called, will transform 16 shipping containers—each weighing about 10,000 pounds—from the Port of Long Beach into eight, avant-garde apartment units.

Downtown Development District Executive Director Davis Rhorer says the idea is intriguing, and something downtown leaders will keep in mind as they explore alternative housing options for downtown.

“I’m interested in any type of modular development like that,” says Rhorer, who was among the 150 attendees on the Canvas trip that began on Sunday and wrapped up Tuesday. “I’m gathering information about different types of housing starts and units because we have identified some potential sites downtown and are looking at possible ways to develop them residentially.”

To that end, Rhorer and others from the DDD staff are planning an informal trip in late May to Houston, where they will cycle around the Buffalo Bayou greenway to explore new housing developments along the bayou park. Buffalo Bayou runs through the center of Houston and has been transformed in recent years into an urban greenspace with hundreds of acres of parks and miles of trails.

It’s the inspiration for a study underway to redevelop the LSU lakes and it’s also a model for Baton Rouge’s downtown greenway that’s currently under construction. The greenway will eventually link downtown with the lakes, the Southdowns neighborhood and, eventually, neighborhoods in the southeast portions of the parish.

“We’re going to study that area and see how they put those pieces together because the greenway is the thing that drew people to develop along there,” Rhorer says. “We want our greenway to be the same sort of catalyst.”

—Stephanie Riegel         https://www.businessreport.com/article/shipping-container-housing-downtown-baton-rouge-anythings-possible-officials-look-add-residents                                                                  

[richyb83]

Those containers as residences sure are interesting...if done right they look sleek/modern as shown here...wonder WHERE exactly these might be located?

https://www.google.com/search?q=containers+on+grand+az&biw=1067&bih=481&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=p085VfDgCMjMsAWJ7oDYAg&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ

 

 

Here was my idea(year's ago) to Connect University Lake along the Bayou Duplantier watershed to Dawson Creek/Pennington Biomedical Research Center/X'treme Sports Park; Mall of La./Perkins Rowe......

*with trailhead's from Soutdowns/Rouzan/Pollard Estates & neighborhoods along Highland Rd to the south

[dan326]

Definitely a neat idea, it's kinda amazing to have all that greenspace in the middle of town.

I don't know how well that type of housing would do. The Red Stick lofts on Old Hammond still haven't gone through with their second phase, of course it could be do to location.

[Mr. Burnham]

Shipping container housing in downtown Baton Rouge? Anything’s possible as officials look to add residents                                                                                                                                                                                              Among the ideas that local business and community leaders heard about on their recent Super Region Canvas trip to Arizona’s Sun Corridor is that of a residential development currently under construction in downtown Phoenix that’s made of shipping containers.

Containers on Grand, as the development is called, will transform 16 shipping containers—each weighing about 10,000 pounds—from the Port of Long Beach into eight, avant-garde apartment units.

Downtown Development District Executive Director Davis Rhorer says the idea is intriguing, and something downtown leaders will keep in mind as they explore alternative housing options for downtown.

“I’m interested in any type of modular development like that,” says Rhorer, who was among the 150 attendees on the Canvas trip that began on Sunday and wrapped up Tuesday. “I’m gathering information about different types of housing starts and units because we have identified some potential sites downtown and are looking at possible ways to develop them residentially.”

To that end, Rhorer and others from the DDD staff are planning an informal trip in late May to Houston, where they will cycle around the Buffalo Bayou greenway to explore new housing developments along the bayou park. Buffalo Bayou runs through the center of Houston and has been transformed in recent years into an urban greenspace with hundreds of acres of parks and miles of trails.

It’s the inspiration for a study underway to redevelop the LSU lakes and it’s also a model for Baton Rouge’s downtown greenway that’s currently under construction. The greenway will eventually link downtown with the lakes, the Southdowns neighborhood and, eventually, neighborhoods in the southeast portions of the parish.

“We’re going to study that area and see how they put those pieces together because the greenway is the thing that drew people to develop along there,” Rhorer says. “We want our greenway to be the same sort of catalyst.”

—Stephanie Riegel         https://www.businessreport.com/article/shipping-container-housing-downtown-baton-rouge-anythings-possible-officials-look-add-residents                                                                  

 

God no. Please do not make or let this happen! This is almost as bad as when people thought buildings surrounded by parking spaces were great ideas. 

[Antrell Williams]

Those containers as residences sure are interesting...if done right they look sleek/modern as shown here...wonder WHERE exactly these might be located?

https://www.google.com/search?q=containers+on+grand+az&biw=1067&bih=481&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=p085VfDgCMjMsAWJ7oDYAg&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ

 

 

Here was my idea(year's ago) to Connect University Lake along the Bayou Duplantier watershed to Dawson Creek/Pennington Biomedical Research Center/X'treme Sports Park; Mall of La./Perkins Rowe......

*with trailhead's from Soutdowns/Rouzan/Pollard Estates & neighborhoods along Highland Rd to the south

 

Great idea! Baton Rouge needs something like this.

 

God no. Please do not make or let this happen! This is almost as bad as when people thought buildings surrounded by parking spaces were great ideas. 

Have you ever heard of this type of housing? I'm all for it.

Definitely a neat idea, it's kinda amazing to have all that greenspace in the middle of town.

I don't know how well that type of housing would do. The Red Stick lofts on Old Hammond still haven't gone through with their second phase, of course it could be do to location.

That location is TERRIBLE for that sort of housing.

[Mr. Burnham]

Have you ever heard of this type of housing? I'm all for it.

Yes. They are cool, but in a lot of moderation. In general it's not my type of architecture.

[greg225]

                      

Edited April 24, 2015 by greg225

[ehyfield]

This seems like the sort of architecture that would go well on Government, near the Arts District or "Mid-City West." I think it can be made small enough to blend in better with those areas. I like to see higher density buildings in a downtown area.

[dan326]

The five story red one looks kinda neat.

[richyb83]

EXACTLY!  Thanks for answering my question Ehyfield...

This seems like the sort of architecture that would go well on Government, near the Arts District or "Mid-City West." I think it can be made small enough to blend in better with those areas. I like to see higher density buildings in a downtown area.

 

Thanks for posting those pics Greg

Edited April 25, 2015 by richyb83

[cajun]

The zoo is such a pain in the ass to get to though. I would rather bring kids to something closer to the city center.

It's a legit little zoo. Worth the trip.