Baton Rouge Growth and Development

[cajun]

^ The corner unit will be retail I believe??

The new 5-story, 80,000sq.ft' LACAP building was completed a few months ago.

I like the location in the eastern CBD near the Federal Courthouse. The eastern CBD needs more development like this. Definetly better than the dreaded surface parking lot that once stood there.

Main Street at Seventh Street

Sure looks tall for five stories.

Maybe some private office will open up in that area in remodeled buildings...how far away is this from those proposed brownstones on Laurel and 4th? Maybe the eastern edge of downtown might have a self sustaining residential/office community before the western edge.

[richyb83]

Good point cajun LACAP is close to the Laurel Street(at Fifth) brownstones; just a couple of blocks away. And Main Street Market in between to help even more.

I like the LACAP Bldg. Originally was supposed to be a really nice 6-story; they had to tone that down, not enough$$; the redesign was too plain...so they worked out a compromise.

[richyb83]

And not very far from the eastern CBD....

Back in late 2003 this State Insurance building was imploded....(it's ashame; it might fit in well if it was moved to Corporate Square near the Marriott)

this is what remains....still vacant all this time. What's up with that?? Talks of a new smaller office building had been mentioned.

[dan326]

Is it possible to move a big building like that?

[richyb83]

Very doubtful Dan, too hard to attempt moving a 9-story building but it sure would have been a nice addition somewhere else; the other two state buildings that were imploded were hideous, even at 14-stories.

They also need to seriously do something to the Capital One bldg.( next to Commerce Bldg.) on Third Street too

[dinner roll]

Group buys the old Kaiser Aluminum plant (located directly south of the old Miss. River bridge) plans to convert it into a commercial storage and distribution hub with up to $280m in facility investments.

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/business/8705152.html

[drew6974]

I know they've both been mentioned before but, two mega developments in the last two days. 1) The conversion of the old Kaiser Aluminum plant into a major shipping, distribution, storage facility and 2) The Race Track development in Tangipahoa parish. Even though it probably won't be NASCAR ready right off the bat, perhaps they can draw a Busch series race and other lower level races at first and hopefully in the future it could be expanded to NASCAR standards, seating wise.

Both of these may be worthy of their own thread, but seems we've been starting new threads lately that could be put on existing threads. A lot going on in BR and the general area.

$390 million in developments in two days. Wow.

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/business/8721022.html

http://69.2.58.8/news/2007/jul/26/louisian...x-blanco-annou/

Edited July 26, 2007 by drew6974

[richyb83]

True drew...this is the right place for some of the new threads that have been going up lately. Good to see all the development in BR and the Capital Region for sure!

Could the Kaiser development be what Mayor Holden was speaking about with 400 new jobs??? Or would that be something else.

The NASCAR development is HUGE. They will even have boat races too??

Where in the U.S. is a Bass Pro and Cabela's so close to each other?? Only the Sportsman's Paradise??

[drew6974]

True drew...this is the right place for some of the new threads that have been going up lately. Good to see all the development in BR and the Capital Region for sure!

Could the Kaiser development be what Mayor Holden was speaking about with 400 new jobs??? Or would that be something else.

The NASCAR development is HUGE. They will even have boat races too??

Where in the U.S. is a Bass Pro and Cabela's so close to each other?? Only the Sportsman's Paradise??

I don't know Richy. I was wondering about the same thing??? I guess this could be the 400 job deal he was talking about. It just seems like it was kind of downplayed, as much as you can "downplay" a $290 million investment in your parish.

I kind of think he was refering to something else. Time will tell. There's so much new development going on it's hard to keep up with. Almost something new every day the last several weeks. As a long time BR resident, these are exciting times.

Edited July 27, 2007 by drew6974

[twstdndmntd]

I don't know Richy. I was wondering about the same thing??? I guess this could be the 400 job deal he was talking about. It just seems like it was kind of downplayed, as much as you can "downplay" a $290 million investment in your parish.

I kind of think he was refering to something else. Time will tell. There's so much new development going on it's hard to keep up with. Almost something new every day the last several weeks. As a long time BR resident, these are exciting times.

drew even for a short time BR resident it's exciting times. I love all this growth I think it's wonderful. I have said since I moved here that BR had great potential but that it wasn't grasping it and/or wasn't utilizing what it had, I think BR is proving me wrong. I think in a few years BR will be taken more serious than what it has been in the past.

[byrde]

Where in the U.S. is a Bass Pro and Cabela's so close to each other?? Only the Sportsman's Paradise??

I read somewhere that BR and DFW will be the only regions that have both.

[richyb83]

^Thanks Bryde for refreshing my memory.

^^^It's good to have some people share in the enthusiasm in the BR forum; no doubt these are exciting times! From Downtown and Mid-city; to Howell Place to Perkins Rowe and points in between! Even the suburban projects are BIG now!

Old news....should have posted this when it came out, was being lazy

Planned addition at the north-side PMAC on the campus of LSU.

Designs for the expanded Pete Maravich Assembly Center and its new practice facility were approved by the LSU Board of Supervisors. Construction is expected to begin in April after the basketball season and take about a year to complete.

The new addition to its north side in the form of a new connecting practice facility. This sketch shows the practice facility from a northwestern angle. The two-floor practice facility will have courts and locker rooms to serve the men

Edited July 28, 2007 by richyb83

[drew6974]

^Thanks Bryde for refreshing my memory.

^^^It's good to have some people share in the enthusiasm in the BR forum; no doubt these are exciting times! From Downtown and Mid-city; to Howell Place to Perkins Rowe and points in between! Even the suburban projects are BIG now!

Old news....should have posted this when it came out, was being lazy

Planned addition at the north-side PMAC on the campus of LSU.

Designs for the expanded Pete Maravich Assembly Center and its new practice facility were approved by the LSU Board of Supervisors. Construction is expected to begin in April after the basketball season and take about a year to complete.

The new addition to its north side in the form of a new connecting practice facility. This sketch shows the practice facility from a northwestern angle. The two-floor practice facility will have courts and locker rooms to serve the men's and women's basketball, volleyball and gymnastics teams.

*compliments of flatiger

http://www.2theadvocate.com/sports/8479747.html

An added bonus to this project is that it is going to free up the assembly center for concerts and other events. Since the LSU athletic department took over this facility, it has been tied up with all the various athletic teams practices and the dates available for concerts was severely limited. Now, with a separate practice facility, the assembly center will be available for much more in the way of other entertainment events.

At one time, the assembly center was one of the top entertainment venues in the state and even the south. Elton John, Led Zepelin, Billy Joel, and dozens of other performers held concerts there. The Rolling Stones even kicked off a world tour with not one but two performences there. Maybe now, the old Assembly center will regain some of its lost glory and be go back to being another large entertainment venue along with the Baton Rouge River Center.

[richyb83]

^That would definetly be a bonus drew.

This needs to be taken care of in a hurry! This has been talked about enough to warrant a new thread.

Pennington expansion awaits decision on funding by state

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/business/8777347.html

The proposed research center is a four-floor, 80,000-square-foot building

Pennington Biomedical Research Center officials are at a crossroads deciding how to proceed with expansion plans after receiving some

[drew6974]

This clip from mayor Holden this morning could go on several threads. He said that;

1) Four movies will be shooting simultaneously in BR in September including one with Susan Sarandon.

2) Celtic movie studio will be opening in August.

3) A major agreement with a Taiwan Company will be announced with Pennington shortly.

4) Staples opening a call center and he said that the Staples employees were surveyed and they wanted to come to BR.

5) 30 new companies are being worked on by the chamber and we have a good chance of landing at least half.

6) Work started today on Kleinpeter's new Ice cream facility.

http://media.swagit.com/s/wbrz/The_Advocate/08012007-4.html

[richyb83]

Thanks drew for the updates Good to see the movies coming up; Celtic Media Centre is going to help put BR on the movie map! Interesting to see what's in store for Pennington; a major long-term economic engine. We finally have some progressive leaders in BR; and it's starting to show!

[twstdndmntd]

Absolutely wonderful news!!!! I think the 4 movies going on at the same time excites me most. Course I'm extremely curious of what 30 companies the Chamber is working on and which 15 are the most promising. Excellent, aggressive team we have working for BR.

[richyb83]

>>Looks like the expansion plans for Belle of BR including the new 9-level parking deck.

Site work and new construction of a casino in Baton Rouge. Design plans call for the construction of a 55,810-square-foot building to house a riverboat casino. A nine-level parking deck will be included in the construction.

Construction set to commnece in October 2007.

*compliments bidclerk.com

[cajun]

Any more details on the Kress building? Have they started up a leasing/sales office yet?

I'd like to see more of those older buildings rebuilt with retail/office on the ground floor and residential lofts above.

Aren't they supposed to syncronize all of those traffic lights downtown? They sure need to get that rolling.

Edited August 4, 2007 by cajun

[cajun]

And not very far from the eastern CBD....

Back in late 2003 this State Insurance building was imploded....(it's ashame; it might fit in well if it was moved to Corporate Square near the Marriott)

this is what remains....still vacant all this time. What's up with that?? Talks of a new smaller office building had been mentioned.

Spanish town is really popular now. That would be a great place for brownstones. I am not sure if I would like to see anything taller than 2 or 3 stories there. It's right next to the capitol lake, the arsenal, and spanish town road..someone could really make a killing on condominiums right there, although I think it's state-owned like everything else around there.

Edited August 4, 2007 by cajun

[dinner roll]

Here's a few shots from some of the ongoing projects downtown:

Kress-Levy:

Something being built on the top. (looks like an HVAC platform).

The new garage on North St.:

[dinner roll]

More:

The rubble that once was the A.Z. Young building, soon to be an apitheater:

The outside of the soon-to-open M-Bar as I drive by.

I had a picture of the work going on inside of Schlitz and Giggles but the file got corrupted. For those that haven't been by lately, there's alot of work going on. They've installed a stair case that looks to go up to a second floor seating area.

[richyb83]

Thanks for those updated pics dinner roll NICE areials views too!!! It will be interesting to see what Third Street will look like in about 3 years??? The two parks(Lafayette Street Park; and Ampitheatre) on each end of downtown make for good " bookends" for festivals or hangin' out. I saw them working on Schlitz & Giggles, they will probably start to speed things up for Football season.

Hey cajun, those brownstones would be a great idea at that location. 3 or 4 stories would be plenty. You ain't kiddin' about synchronizing those traffic lights downtown. That should be any minute???

[dinner roll]

Thanks for those updated pics dinner roll NICE areials views too!!! It will be interesting to see what Third Street will look like in about 3 years??? The two parks(Lafayette Street Park; and Ampitheatre) on each end of downtown make for good " bookends" for festivals or hangin' out. I saw them working on Schlitz & Giggles, they will probably start to speed things up for Football season.

Hey cajun, those brownstones would be a great idea at that location. 3 or 4 stories would be plenty. You ain't kiddin' about synchronizing those traffic lights downtown. That should be any minute???

Thanks. I tried to get some pictures of the courthouse construction, but you can't see anything with the green fences surrounding it. I thought of taking some of the old advocate site and the river place lot, but I figured no one wants to look at a bunch of weeds. (one day, I know...)

[Rardy]

I read somewhere that BR and DFW will be the only regions that have both.

Omaha, NE has both - just like BR, a BassPro in the eastern suburbs and a Cabela's in the southern suburbs. Cabela's is also HQ'd in NE, I believe.

I'm noticing a lot of parallels between Omaha and BR...