Baton Rouge Growth and Development

[dan326]

Here you go. This is so exciting! It would be great if that part of town was developed as one huge Italienesc district, from Arlington all the way to LSU.

[buckett5425]

So what chain do you guys think will be best to hang their flag over the Hotel King?

I'm thinking Renaissance.

[richyb83]

That's ashame it looks like Arlington Creek won't have the residential componet. A nice looking development nonetheless. The architecture should blend in well with the LSU area.

With the opening of The Hilton and most recently Dalton's, this block of downtown is getting some much needed attention. Does anyone know who owns the gutted out brick building between Dalton's and the Hotel King? I have a secret crush on that building. Are there any plans for it?

Trahan Architects owns that building; the Jumonville Warehouse. They announce some plans a couple of years ago that they would move their firms office on the 2nd and 3rd floor and add some residential lofts on the top floor. Some type of retail was supposed to go on street-level. They were supposed to do something fancy. Nothing recent though; that building has some serious potential IMO.

The building was such an embarrassment(eye-sore) that during a big convention last year; Kip Holden had a huge tarp covering the delapidated structure so people staying at the newly renovted Hilton Capitol Center would not have to look at it..

BTW Kip Holden is gonna have a big announcement sometime next week...possibly a hotel tower for the River Center??

[byrde]

I'm thinking Renaissance.

The Renaissance flag is to go on the property over on Bluebonnet. I can't imagine having two in town.

[buckett5425]

The Renaissance flag is to go on the property over on Bluebonnet. I can't imagine having two in town.

I can, look at Mobile, a city with a metro of 600,000, and they have two Renesaince Hotels in downtown two blocks from eachother. Both with a large number of rooms

[sgray]

This may not be new news to you guys but today's New Orleans City Business has an announcement of a new 300 room hotel for Baton Rouge.

[cajun]

I predict a Double Tree or Westin for the Pries site....if it gets built, which there is a very little chance that it will- especially when you consider that the city/parish wants to re build the parking deck at the Centroplex and incorporate a hotel tower on top of it. That's going to be some competition.

Arlington Creek will be one of only a few major retail investments in Baton Rouge that is more than a half mile away from an interstate.

In fact, other than Cortana Mall (which is on Airline and Florida...two massive highways) I can't think of any big retail developments that are not on or near the interstate.

Edited July 12, 2008 by cajun

[tombarnes]

DoubleTree is a strong possibility. As for Westin, that one may be a bit harder to get in the bag. The number of rooms will have a lot to do with dictating the flag the hotel will carry. If it is under 300 rooms, I would expect a less convention-oriented brand. How many rooms are being discussed for the project?

[byrde]

Arlington Creek will be one of only a few major retail investments in Baton Rouge that is more than a half mile away from an interstate.

In fact, other than Cortana Mall (which is on Airline and Florida...two massive highways) I can't think of any big retail developments that are not on or near the interstate.

Town Center. is not on off the Freeway.

[dan326]

Also Hammond Aire is not too near the interstate.

Two hotels might go to the RiverCenter. Baton Rouge is coming out in a big way.

"Preis: Downtown hotel plans won't affect project

Developer Richard Preis says his plans to build a 300-room hotel/condo development downtown won't be affected by the East Baton Rouge Capital Improvements program, which is rumored to contain two hotels by the River Center. Preis says his project will be more upscale and aimed at a different market. An undisclosed number of condos will be built on top of the hotel in Preis' project, a trend that has been seen across the U.S. Putting a 300-room hotel on the Lafayette Street site is the latest twist for RiverPlace, a high-rise condominium development Preis has been working on for six years. The project has been delayed, first because of construction costs that shot up post-Katrina, then by the tough credit market. "If I had known the city was in the venture capital business, I would have gone to them for financing my $136 million project," Preis says. Walter Monsour, city-parish chief administrative officer, says if Preis had made the hotel proposal to them, they would have considered the project. "But we're not financing hotels and we're not in the venture capital business," Monsour says. Monsour would not comment on the hotels in the Capital Improvements program, saying that the details will be announced at a press conference next week."

[richyb83]

Here's where I heard the story on WAFB...this is what got my attention!!!! ( please pardon that same ole dinosaur of a skyline pic in the background WAFB & WBRZ continue to show)

Holden proposes the possible future of Baton Rouge

9NEWS has learned that a large portion of that money will help fund a "world class" project that will change the downtown skyline forever. Mayor Holden wants to expand the River Center and attach a 350-room hotel complex run by a major chain.

http://www.wafb.com/Global/story.asp?S=8655313

***Some construction update pics taken last week....

Renovations at Kress at Third & Main

II City Plaza ready to add roughly 260,000sq.ft' of Class A Office Space to the CBD

From the Shaw Center for the Arts roof-top

from Third Street at Convention

The 3-story Cardinal Hill office building behind the I-12 sound barrier near Jefferson Hwy with an approaching thunder-storm in the background

Edited July 12, 2008 by richyb83

[cajun]

Great news....I'd like to see a Westin or a Hyatt at the River Center. New Orleans has a Hyatt on top of their convention center. Houston has about 3 big hotels on or near their convention centers (and a whole mall now that I am thinking about it).

I wanted to be againts Holden for various reasons in the election....but now I guess I have to support him. He'd better have that sales tax tacked on to a bill that no one cares about. That's how the green light plan got passed.

The riverfront hotel plan is to be shown to the public next week.

Here is an outline of what is proposed:

-new parish prison

-new hotel (tax increment financing...not a public venture, just guaranteed financing. Lots of cities do this) at the River Center.

-syncronized traffic lights (Thank God) parish wide.

-new police equipment (cruisers, weapons, computer equipment, station rennovations).

-City of central flood protection....so you can bet those voters will approve

-improved sewers/drainage- desperately needed and often ignored.

I'd vote for this...I would have rathered a property tax, but we should take this any way we can get it. Baton Rouge has a class 1 fire protection...which is the best, and it should stay that way. Our parish prison is overflowing too, and when crime happens, we need a place to send the perps. We all know how badly we want the hotel and how badly we need the smarter traffic signals.

Holden needs to be stronger against crime. Police protection is a big lacking here.

That said, I didn't expect 2 years ago that southern portion of downtown would be the hot spot. It looks like Riverplace's thunder has officially been stolen, and that the skyline's future is more of a southern trend than a northern trend (towards I-10 and LSU).

All great news.

Town Center. is not on off the Freeway.

Okay, I knew someone would call me on that.

I'll give you Town Center, but Hammond Aire is right off I-12/Airline.

Siegen, College/Corporate, Howell Place, Millverville and Bluebonnet....the biggest retail areas in the city are almost all on the freeway.

It's because our tax structure is based on sales taxes and not property taxes. We might need to think about changing that....just a suggestion.

Edited July 12, 2008 by cajun

[BRPJ]

Oh wow. 350 Rooms? What does that translate into floors? if river place is to be 300 rooms at 26 stories, could this mean.... something taller! Exciting! If only we could get River place and this ... we would really be doing it big.

BTW City place looks impressive, when the court house goes up that is going to be an impressive line of structure

Edited July 12, 2008 by BRPJ

[dan326]

Just think the Marriott is 300 rooms, of it could be as tall or taller than that!

[cajun]

Just think the Marriott is 300 rooms, of it could be as tall or taller than that!

Pries's hotel is probably imaginary, and as for the centroplex...I thought they were going to be built on top of a new parking deck.

We'll just have to wait until, next week for this info.

Edited July 13, 2008 by cajun

[richyb83]

Oh wow. 350 Rooms? What does that translate into floors? if river place is to be 300 rooms at 26 stories, could this mean.... something taller! Exciting! If only we could get River place and this ... we would really be doing it big.

BTW City place looks impressive, when the court house goes up that is going to be an impressive line of structure

Good question! The 300 hotel rooms at RiverPlace does not include the condo units; and the RiverPlace renderings of the 26-story tower(above the 4-story parking) have a sleek/narrow look.

Yeah you right BRPJ! IF both get hotel/condo towers do get built??? It will dramatically change the downtown skyline. Then add II City Plaza; new Courthouse; old Advocate site; mixed-use at Third/Florida; and you are looking at some solid density!!! and maybe even River Park then we might have a hard time recognizing BR!!!

Wonder what the plans are for the small single-story building site they will demolish at the corner of Fourth Street and Laurel??? (across from the Chase Towers) Throw in the parking lot too and you might have the potential for a new gleaming landmark office tower!!! It could tell the rest of the country and world that BR is open & ready for business!

Imagine if these towers had been built in the 80's??

Get these old plans back out and use them for the Fourth Street/Laurel site!

And the Riverside Towers near the old Centroplex; just one of these at that height(with a more modern flair of course) would be nice at the River Center!

[byrde]

RiverCenter expansion part of $989 million bond proposition

City-parish officials this afternoon unveiled their plans to spend $143 million of a proposed $989 million bond proposition to renovate and expand the RiverCenter. The project will boost Baton Rouge to a Tier II convention city, putting it on par with Shreveport; Huntsville, Ala.; Knoxville, Tenn.; Raleigh, N.C. and Biloxi, Miss. The centerpiece of the project is a 1,300-space garage at Government and St. Louis streets, with a sky bridge to the RiverCenter. That will trigger construction of two new hotels by Virginia-based developer Armada Hoffler: a $68 million 300-room, major-flag hotel between the RiverCenter and the theater, and a $31 million 140-room, select-service hotel atop the East Garage, which also will be expanded by 750 spaces. Meanwhile, the cash also pays for the wrecking ball to take down the West Garage and the Attorney

[byrde]

Proposed River Center Hotels.

Now what hotels do you think they courting? Hyatt would be my choice for a full service hotel. For a limited service hotel I'd go with a Hilton Garden Inn or a Courtyard by Marriott.

[richyb83]

Hyatt sounds great to me; I was guessing Westin. Good to see a big time developer involved in this project!!

But my question is WHY????? now "2" hotels??? Is that really needed? I would rather one 350-400 room more "vertical" hotel than two shorter hotels. By looking at the render it's almost hard to distinguish which hotel is which??? They basically both look the same size?? Looks like a great state-of-the-art conference room on the top.... is that 18 stories if you include? the 12-story hotel + 5-story parking?? + the vaulted conference center???

On the last(bottom) rendering which hotel would that be?? Except for the frustrating River Place project...BR sure is vertically challenged. Don't mean to sound negative because this is all good growth for downtown; which is looking more and more urban everyday!!!

Nice move by BR; still hard to believe we are now just becoming a Teir II convention market. I guess better late than never. Mayor Kip Holden is trying to take BR into the next era.

I like the renderings; but they for forgot the Galvez building; I'd like to help them out by stetching-up(adding) the new Courthouse and II City Plaza.

[twstdndmntd]

I am so syked about these projects. If we can get this built, along with the other projects BR will have quite the elongated skyline. We will have to do something about all the gaps. LOL None the less this is all great news for the city as a whole. I love the renderings. I was thinking the 300 room somewhere in the range of 20 stories. That would be quite impressive for downtown.... I'm so excited..

[bobby255BR]

This is very exciting!!!!

I wonder what will be announced tomorrow? riverfront project? I hope it's something else like a major skyscraper, but the riverfront park will do.

Kudos to Mayor Holden for having the courage to propose another tax in an election year. Some of the stuff proposed is badly needed such as the new/expanded prison and the comite flood control.

I sure hope that both Riverplace and Riverpark happen also

[cajun]

A W or Westin is probably in the works for the convention center. Maybe a Double Tree. I'd guess the smaller one is a Hampton Inn or Wyndham.

It seems obvious that they need to incorporate some major retail into this development.

It has a Houston Galleria look to it already....it could happen.

Pries would be nuts not to develop some residential into his project. There is simply no options downtown. Spanish Town isn't for everyone. I'd like him to develop a nice 8 or 10 story residential condo/apartment mid rise on half the site and leave the other half for future office or hotels. 50-100 units are needed now....and that lies the problem with development in this neighborhood....young proffesionals are not going to put a deposit down for a building that might happen 10 years from now.

Take the plunge with a smaller building...if it does well, and it will, then take the gamble on a larger one right next to it.

Edited July 14, 2008 by cajun

[dan326]

WOW!!! :w00t: This is so exciting! So many towers in such a short amount of time! An the fact that it got Cajun's approval makes it even better, I know he's not one to sugar coat things.

I think it will either be a Marriott or a Westin, because on the developer's website those make up the majority of projects.

[cajun]

WOW!!! This is so exciting! So many towers in such a short amount of time! An the fact that it got Cajun's approval makes it even better, I know he's not one to sugar coat things.

I think it will either be a Marriott or a Westin, because on the developer's website those make up the majority of projects.

Don't hate.

I just call it like i see it. Baton Rouge probably needs this....regardless of how socialist the finance aspect of it will be.

Don't get your hopes up now, even if it's attached to a bill that will be hard NOT to vote for unless you are a die hard environmentalist or fundamental conservative. Remember, I liked the idea of a new courthouse but also hate the way it was funded. I also think it's a little overkill, but whatever...it looks like it will be a purdy building.

Tax increment financing is a good idea for these convention districts, especially in today's unstable lending market.

The big downside is that it makes competing in the downtown hotel and retail market very difficult for private development. For example, the river park area.....

Edited July 14, 2008 by cajun

[gearjammer45]

Atchafalaya Freeway

This is very exciting!!!!

I wonder what will be announced tomorrow? riverfront project? I hope it's something else like a major skyscraper, but the riverfront park will do.

Kudos to Mayor Holden for having the courage to propose another tax in an election year. Some of the stuff proposed is badly needed such as the new/expanded prison and the comite flood control.

I sure hope that both Riverplace and Riverpark happen also

I am new to this site and trying to find the person who posted several pictures of the Atchafalaya Freeway. I am writing a trucking memoir having driven in 44 of the lower 48 states. I have a huge number of pictures I need to cull for the book and am pretty sure I have one of this swamp but would like a backup if I can not find my pictures. This was right about the time I switched from a regular SLR to digital and don't remember which format this picture was taken with. I'd like written permission to potentially use a couple of the pictures, whoever took them got some great shots. Thanks gearjammer45