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Baton Rouge Growth and Development


NCB

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Hey Dan, I am excited about all the activity happening in downtown BR too, no bother at all. A real SKYLINE is about ready to emerge ! I know 2006 is supposed to be a break-through for Downtown. Well 1/2 the year is over, I am anxious for all these big projects to begin ! The renovated Capitol House(Hilton) is coming along nicely and ready to-go in September ! This is so BIG for downtown. Expect these projects to fall like dominos feeding off each other. The Shaw Arts Center(05') has been a huge cornerstone too.

The Kress,Welsh & Levy Building was bought last year. Plans are for a mixed-use of retail, office, and condo's. The final re-design calls for the historic exterior shell to remain(restore), then add on to the top. I think they are still deciding on the number of additional floors. 8-stories has been brought up. As many as 10 by one source; but with construction cost skyrocketing, I'm not too sure anymore ? The new YMCA is on the next block too !

Laurel Tower is still trying to get the nessesary funding as of now. The site is now fenced off. They would like to start before the end of Summer with all the new workers(1,800?) coming downtown from the new Iberville & Beinville State Bldgs. Hopefully before the end of 06' they could start ?

The Riverfront is a BOLD plan. They are in the final planning stages of this; Kip Holden really wants to see this done. I believe somehow it will. With a hefty $price-tag.

The old Advocate Bldg. is to be razed before the end of the year. Look for another nice mixed-use multi-story project to go on that prime riverfront property.

Two City Plaza could actually be the first high-rise to go up downtown with recent pproval GOZone financing. I can't wait !

Edited by richyb83
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Hey Dan, I am excited about all the activity happening in downtown BR too, no bother at all. A real SKYLINE is about ready to emerge ! I know 2006 is supposed to be a break-through for Downtown. Well 1/2 the year is over, I am anxious for all these big projects to begin ! The renovated Capitol House(Hilton) is coming along nicely and ready to-go in September ! This is so BIG for downtown. Expected these projects to fall like dominos feeding off each other. The Shaw Arts Center(05') has been a huge cornerstone too.

The Kress,Welsh & Levy Building was bought last year. Plans are for a mixed-use of retail, office, and condo's. The final re-design calls for the historic exterior shell to remain(restore), then add on to the top. I think they are still deciding on the number of additional floors. 8-stories has been brought up. As many as 10 by one source; but with construction cost skyrocketing, I'm not too sure anymore ? The new YMCA is on the next block too !

Laurel Tower is still trying to get the nessesary funding as of now. The site is now fenced off. They would like to start before the end of Summer with all the new workers(1,800?) coming downtown from the new Iberville & Beinville State Bldgs. Hopefully before the end of 06' they could start ?

The Riverfront is a BOLD plan. They are in the final planning stages of this; Kip Holden really wants to see this done. I believe somehow it will. With a hefty $price-tag.

The old Advocate Bldg. is to be razed before the end of the year. Look for another nice mixed-use multi-story project to go on that prime riverfront property.

Two City Plaza could actually be the first high-rise to go up downtown with recent pproval GOZone financing. I can't wait !

Hey Richy. Thanks for the information. Where did you find all this though?

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From all over the place. I just have been keeping up with these developments the past couple of years. BR Business(Daily) Report is good to follow;making some phone calls,e-mails; The Advocate newspaper. Also you can go to wafb.com then click Geaux Downtown(left); then click Downtown Development District; Current projects>scroll , it has a list of alot of what's going on; They have an error with the number of floors for the new Courthouse, it's not 8, it's 9, the rendering shows this and there is a possibility of adding another floor making it 10-floors. It should start in early 07' ? They do not include Two City Plaza because of some changes that are being made.

Edited by richyb83
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Thanks Nate for the vote of confidence! I am proud to have you as our moderator for Louisiana. You represent us well !

Thanks alot Richy, I really appreciate it man. I've been trying to get this place growing, even before I was a moderator, and it's great to see the Louisiana forum expanding. At this time last year, I was the only member from Louisiana here, and what started with me PMing people on other New Orleans forums, turned into this nice little group we have now. :D

And I had actually forgotten that I had PM'ed you at SSP about something, and ended up telling you about the Louisiana forum here at UP. I'm very glad I did that! :thumbsup:

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Thanks alot Richy, I really appreciate it man. I've been trying to get this place growing, even before I was a moderator, and it's great to see the Louisiana forum expanding. At this time last year, I was the only member from Louisiana here, and what started with me PMing people on other New Orleans forums, turned into this nice little group we have now. :D

And I had actually forgotten that I had PM'ed you at SSP about something, and ended up telling you about the Louisiana forum here at UP. I'm very glad I did that! :thumbsup:

I had no idea you sent Richy over from SSP... I didn't even know Richy was on SSP!! I still read, and every now and then post, on SSP, but UP beats it by far.

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You know, I just now thought of this, but 18 and 20 stories will be a pretty good size for our downtown.

That will be awesome for downtown Baton Rouge. Those buildings will work as a "filler" to make the skyline more dense, regardless of their height. The taller building(s) will be icing on the cake! :)

By the way, Dan... welcome!!

Edited by SBCmetroguy
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That will be awesome for downtown Baton Rouge. Those buildings will work as a "filler" to make the skyline more dense, regardless of their height. The taller building(s) will be icing on the cake! :)

By the way, Dan... welcome!!

Thanks. :) I was looking on another board and Charlotte's transit system is also called "CATS"(Charlotte Area Transit System), which made me think about the name of our transit system. But I guess it was either "CATS"(Capital Area Transit System) or "BRATS" (Baton Rouge Area Transit System). :P

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Thanks. :) I was looking on another board and Charlotte's transit system is also called "CATS"(Charlotte Area Transit System), which made me think about the name of our transit system. But I guess it was either "CATS"(Capital Area Transit System) or "BRATS" (Baton Rouge Area Transit System). :P

:rofl: @ BRATS.

I hope it's called CATS, but BRATS would definitely be unique!

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Brian, nice pics you posted on SSP BTW. I knew your eyes lit-up like a Christmas tree when you saw Fla. Tiger's Shreveport's thread. You knew you had to contribute as much as you love SBC !

CATS Bus is a cool color being purple/gold/and royal blue. LSU's and Southern U. colors blended on the sides of the bus. And both mascots happen to be cats...Tigers & Jaguars So CATS was double appropriate !

Edited by richyb83
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You know, I just now thought of this, but 18 and 20 stories will be a pretty good size for our downtown

You are right Dan. 18 to 20 stories is a good size for Downtown.Currently 24-stories is BR's 2nd tallest building. So Laurel Tower and Two City Plaza at 18-20 stories will fit in. Two City Plaza's spire should add to the vertical effect. I have a model of Downtown BR made of clay with current high-rises; then added the new ones. The changes in the skyline will be dramatic ! Even I was suprised after I completed the downtown model. I like where the diferent towers will be placed in reference to the CBD.

I call them the "BIG 4 " for BR :

* River Place 30-stories (new 2nd tallest for BR)

* Two City Plaza 20-stories (?? spire ?)

* Laurel Tower-18 or 19 stories

* New Courthouse 9 or 10 -stories (Civic bldgs. are usually taller than regular office/hotel/condo)

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Thanks NCB. :) I read earlier on this forum that they were considering building an interstate belt around Baton Rouge. Was that a serious consideration or just a thought?

Oh yes, you mean the I-410 loop/bypass? From what I know, that still is a serious consideration, especially now that traffic continues to suck big time in Baton Rouge. I just got back from B.R. a few minutes ago, and I got stuck in traffic on I-10 coming into the city at 10am and then leaving at about 3:15, and it's a freakin' Sunday! It seriously reminds me of Atlanta more than anything else right now. A loop going north around the city would probably relieve stress on all major roads in Baton Rouge, because you just can't get away from the traffic right now.

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I call them the "BIG 4 " for BR :

* River Place 30-stories (new 2nd tallest for BR)

* Two City Plaza 20-stories (?? spire ?)

* Laurel Tower-18 or 19 stories

* New Courthouse 9 or 10 -stories (Civic bldgs. are usually taller than regular office/hotel/condo)

Hey Richy, if you like, I can do the same thing I did with New Orleans with Baton Rouge, which is just put boxes representing actual new buildings into the skyline, to show how it will look from an angle with more buildings. I would have the boxes at a similar height to the actual buildings, and I would try to get the actual locations as close as possible. Of course there won't be any designs or anything, but it does give you a good idea of looking at an actual picture with boxes representing new 30 or 20 story buildings. I'll look on Emporis for the data, but if I have any problems with the locations I'll ask you.

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Hey Richy, if you like, I can do the same thing I did with New Orleans with Baton Rouge, which is just put boxes representing actual new buildings into the skyline, to show how it will look from an angle with more buildings. I would have the boxes at a similar height to the actual buildings, and I would try to get the actual locations as close as possible. Of course there won't be any designs or anything, but it does give you a good idea of looking at an actual picture with boxes representing new 30 or 20 story buildings. I'll look on Emporis for the data, but if I have any problems with the locations I'll ask you.

Hey NCB, we were thinking the same thing because that is actually what I was just doing. Do you know how to upload it though. Photobucket tends to shrink the pictures.

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brs21eh.png

Here is the model I made. The black block is Riverplace condominiums, the red Laurel street tower, and the green City Plaza II. If anything is missing or incorrect tell me so I can fix it. I didn't put the courthouse on becaue I didn't know were to put it, but I don't think it be able to be seen since it is probably not tall enough to be seen from behind other buildings. On an unrelated note the Frost Bank tower in Austin has a crown somewhat reminiscent of ice, which I guess is the reason it's called Frost tower.

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brs21eh.png

Here is the model I made. The black block is Riverplace condominiums, the red Laurel street tower, and the green City Plaza II. If anything is missing or incorrect tell me so I can fix it. I didn't put the courthouse on becaue I didn't know were to put it, but I don't think it be able to be seen since it is probably not tall enough to be seen from behind other buildings. On an unrelated note the Frost Bank tower in Austin has a crown somewhat reminiscent of ice, which I guess is the reason it's called Frost tower.

Wow, that looks awesome! That's a huge difference in high-rise density between the Chase Tower's and One American Place. And more height there will look great too. And having City Plaza II over on the southern side of the skyline will also look great, and if some more infill takes place there, maybe just two or three towers, Baton Rouge might suddenly have itself a much taller skyline, but a larger one overall too! :thumbsup:

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WOW ! Look what I missed ! Great job ! Dan, THANKS very much for doing that ! Very creative for sure ! Actually the (green)is closer to where the new Courthouse will go. (between green and governmental) You will still be able to see the Courthouse, it should be as tall as the Governmental Bldg. And Two City Plaza will be more to the left, behind/slightly to the left of Shaw Arts Center. River Place and Laurel Tower are both a bit to the right . River Place will be on the right side of that flat tan(Advocate) building you see and barely block the easily visible Laurel Tower. Laurel Tower will be almost touching the Chase Towers. But still, you were close enough. I don't mean to be critical at all. This is so cool that you did this ! WELCOME to UP BTW !!! I appreciate your work and enthusiasm !

When looking from this angle ^ above directly across the river, you can see how spread-out the high-rises currently are. For some reason the best angle to view to BR's skyline best is SSW of the CBD on(around) the Miss. River Bridge. It just gives BR a better appearance and really helps the look of the Skyline, including the density. Soon I plan to take some pics from those angles. I will be sure to post them here ! Thanks again !

Frost Tower is a great addition to the Austin skyline and tallest for now.

Edited by richyb83
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WOW ! Look what I missed ! Great job ! Dan, THANKS very much for doing that ! Very creative for sure ! Actually the (green)is closer to where the new Courthouse will go. (between green and governmental) You will still be able to see the Courthouse, it should be as tall as the Governmental Bldg. And Two City Plaza will be more to the left, behind/slightly to the left of Shaw Arts Center. River Place and Laurel Tower are both a bit to the right . River Place will be on the right side of that flat tan(Advocate) building you see and barely block the easily visible Laurel Tower. Laurel Tower will be almost touching the Chase Towers. But still, you were close enough. I don't mean to be critical at all. This is so cool that you did this ! WELCOME to UP BTW !!! I appreciate your work and enthusiasm !

When looking from this angle ^ above directly across the river, you can see how spread-out the high-rises currently are. For some reason the best angle to view to BR's skyline best is SSW of the CBD on(around) the Miss. River Bridge. It just gives BR a better appearance and really helps the look of the Skyline, including the density. Soon I plan to take some pics from those angles. I will be sure to post them here ! Thanks again !

Frost Tower is a great addition to the Austin skyline and tallest for now.

Thanks for the compliments. It was nothing really. :blush: Along with Riverplace,I'd really like to see the Laurel Street tower get started. I think the rendering looks very interesting, very unique. Hope they get those funds up soon. Speaking of skyline, if you go to the 4th floor of the Middleton Library on the LSU campus, you can see the state capital, One American Place, one of the Chase buildings, and the bridge. And while we're on the topic, have any of you ever bee nto the LSU Museum of Natural Science? It's a taxidermy museum. It's really cool, they have a polar bear, a huge collection of bugs, and the first Mike the Tiger and other stuff too. I just keep jumping from one topic to another. :P

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