Two City Plaza

[bobby255BR]

Here is the new rendering for 2 City Plaza. Unfortunately it had to sacrafice the crown to take away some of the cost, its back to 14 stories. Oh well, at least it still has the spire.

I don't like the new rendering too much,but I guess the fact that it's getting built counts most. Hurricane Katrina not only devastated New Orleans, but it hurt the rest of Louisiana by skyrocketing construction costs . What are the new plans for River Place because I'm sure that it's plans have changed again as well.

[richyb83]

I don't like the new rendering too much,but I guess the fact that it's getting built counts most. Hurricane Katrina not only devastated New Orleans, but it hurt the rest of Louisiana by skyrocketing construction costs . What are the new plans for River Place because I'm sure that it's plans have changed again as well.

So true Bobby255BR...Katrina may have helped BR Boom in one way...but may have hindered some high-rise projects vertically due to the spiked increase along the Gulf coast. I'm not happy about it either. No doubt the newst rendering is not as impressive, definitly more horizontal-looking; but like you said the fact it's getting built is a postive thing.. It will be very nice looking,esp. at night lit-up. Two City Plaza is already a nice looking building downtown; and II City Plaza still dwarfs it from the angle in the rendering.

Most high-rises going up currently in the U.S. are not office only buildings.

Emporis.com definition of a "High-Rise" is 12-stories or more. So II City Plaza is the shortest high-rise possible, ha. It should add some bulk in the skyline (southern CBD); much needed. Hopefully the new Courthouse only a block away will start any week/month now. It should be around the same height??

Actually Dan, I think that's a misprint(original, old info.) on the website. If you count its only 12-stories on the rendering+spire. II City Plaza will probably be about 60-70 ft. shorter since I started this thread.

^The plans did change some for River Place. The developer told me 30-stories a couple of months back. Still prime-time nice. And Baton Rouge's Future 2nd Tallest Bldg. The project is now $75 million; it's original price tag was $50million.

At least it went from the original 23-stories up to 36, then only back down to 30; still taller than the original plan.

I can't wait to see all the construction going on downtown at the same time by late this Summer!!!

[hagetaka]

I can't wait to see all the construction going on downtown at the same time by late this Summer!!!

yea me too, we need some cranes

[brresident]

Most high-rises going up currently in the U.S. are not office only buildings.

Pretty much the only folks who can afford that sort of building are hotels and giant corporate headquarters. Neither seem to go for downtown Baton Rouge.

Either way, intrest rates have to be low and office space has to be in demand (at the same time). That doesn't happen often...not since the late 1980s. On top of that, Baton Rouge needs to keep it's office demand specific to downtown high. Adding new office buildings now is going to saturate demand later when another project comes along.

A good way to keep office demand high is to keep the residential market in the area high. Downtown is limited for those with families. Corporate HQ's, like Shaw, wants to put it's offices in affordable locations closer to where their staff lives.

If West Baton Rouge offered more as far as residential, and if people in Baton Rouge were not afraid of the bridge, then I can see Downtown's office demand going up a lot. Brusly is only 10-15 minutes from Downtown and LSU (even in moderate traffic).

In order for that growth to happen, WBR needs to offer better schools in Port Allen (Brusly is already solid and improving) and more shopping/retail establishments there. In order for that to happen, the state would have to widen the I-10 Freeway through LA 415. Our state prefers to spend money on the populist project of the day instead of infrastructure. Too many people are afriad to cross the bridge, which I can understand. If they can add another lane to I-10 eastbound at the I-10/110 split, close the Louise Street exit, and add another west and eastbound lane from the LA 1 exit to LA 415, I think much of the traffic people are afriad of will ease significantly.

I still think it is kind of entertaining to hear people complain about commuting from Siegen, Highland, or Prarieville because they don't want to cross the bridge. Traffic sucks on I10 through WBR, but it's not that bad. Some Baton Rouge residents thinking of buying a suburban house need to consider Brusly.

The good news is that there are a lot of infrastructure projects being built by WBR parish. There is actually one the state is pushing (surprise!)....LA415 will be exended from the intracoastal canal to LA 1 near Brusly. That should help traffic on I-10 into town in the morning on the west side.

[richyb83]

Thanks for your imput Yeah brresident ! Brusly has really been taking off lately . New YMCA; Super Wal-Mart, shopping centers and new neighborhoods. And like you said the schools are good in Brusly (reason why many move to Ascension, Livingston). The Bridge is not always cool; we live in EBR and my wife use to work in Brusly for a couple of years. Wrecks causing gridlock and 18-wheelers flying by on rainy days can get stressful. 3 days out of 4 it's not too bad; but it got old for her.

People are too heavily dependant on the Interstates that are faulty.

I was hoping the 415 extension could be part of the loop (by-pass) parallel down Hwy. 1 to an upgraded Sunshine Bridgs looped on around into Ascension Parish.

Even when looking at Houston which 15 tallest buildings were built in the 80's or before. Only real high-rise projects going on now are condo's. Only possibly a 31-story office tower will be built. So if Houston spit's one out at 31 and can only expect BR to go 12-14 stories. Gone are the days of 60-70 story office tower in Houston.

There are plenty of residential projects in the works downtown. But some kind of new grocery/drug store needs to be built downtown for it to work. The " live, work, play" enviroment to be sucessful. They should not have to drive to Super Wal-Mart on College Drive. I don't even count the little grocery store in Spanishtown. Hopefully a grocery store will be built on Nicholson near the I-10 Bridge; that would help new residential development downtown.

[dan326]

City Plaza is finally groundbreaking! ! This is so exciting.

After many delays and set backs, II City Plaza will finally hold a groundbreaking ceremony on Friday, April 6, at 2:00pm.The 14-story, 270,000 square foot building will be the first private sector office building to go up in downtown Baton Rouge in almost two decades. "It's been a long, bumpy ride, but luckily we've made it ," commented Wampold.

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/business/6855997.html

[richyb83]

Your a bad man Dan. That was good, you had me fooled. But I thought it strange they would break-ground on Good Friday. I got all excited for nothing.

[dan326]

Here is my computer rendering of the redesigned II City Plaza.

As it would appear from street level

Both buildings

[richyb83]

Wow Dan, that really nice! You should be proud. Was that hard to draw-up?? How did you get the height's?? How many stories is II City Plaza in this rendering. You got nice detail, I like the spire.

[dan326]

Wow Dan, that really nice! You should be proud. Was that hard to draw-up?? How did you get the height's?? How many stories is II City Plaza in this rendering. You got nice detail, I like the spire.

Thanks. It wasn't than hard to draw, although the fin on the top did take a little time to work out. Whenever I do these renderings I assume each floor is 10 feet. It think I made it 12 stories, so it should be about 120' to the roof. I'll have to check though.

[richyb83]

I guess it all just depends, but I have read somewhere on UP that floors in general are every 12 1/2 ft'. Take into account the wiring and pipes, etc. in between floors. Hotels are more likely to be closer to the 10 ft'. But that's an interesting topic in itself.

II City Plaza at 12-stories would probably be closer to 150 ft'...+ spire = 180ft'??

ex. Something that's 37 stories maybe 550 ft. while a 40-story maybe 480 ft'

[richyb83]

II City Plaza set to start in August; orginally April; I was hoping by June

The article says first large "Class A" office"non government" built since 1980, wrong! The north Chase Tower was built in the late 80's.

The bottom two floors look high! I am going to guess II City Plaza will top-out at 200'ft at the tip of the spire; roof-top 160ft'

The project is now $70million

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/business/7800426.html

[dinner roll]

Great news. Hopefully this will help put a fire under the River Place team to get their own ground-breaking under way.

[dan326]

Hopefully that won't be postponed. This design has grown on me. The first rendering of this makes it look too plasticy.

[richyb83]

I believe that was it with the postponments. I have the feeling this is when it will finally happen(August).

II City Plaza will also have light retail at street-level.

I'm with you on the design too Dan. Though I wish it was at least 17-stories, this will be one of the best looking buildings in bland downtown. Especially at night time with the lighting!

^Almost looks like another floor at the top of this new rendering

[drew6974]

I think it's time to move this thread back up to the top. As mentioned in the growth and development thread. It looks like work will start before August on this project. I passed by today and there's a lot of construction equipment on site and a temporary parking lot for CityPlaza employees has been set up behind the building Trahan bought on North Blvd. and N. Sixth.

You photography guys can start documenting construction photos.

[richyb83]

Yes sir drew, will do I'll have more spare time til Aug 10th; so hopefully they will get things rolling!

Thanks for that info. I was down Third Street today; but missed seeing II CityPlaza. Lots happening downtown with this next wave of development. This is very exciting and much anticpated!!!

[dan326]

Yes! Finally! It's so exciting to finally see one of these private developments go up downtown.

[dan326]

A night time rendering I found on Business Rewport. Now this really sells it to me . Even though it is only 12 stories it is still almost twice as tall as City Plaza I. I figure it will probably be as tall as the Galvez bulding.

[richyb83]

I was impressed when I saw it too Dan. The night-time rendering tells the story. The spire will illuminate from the I-10 Miss.River bridge It may be the best looking building at night along with the State Capitol, Shaw Center for the Arts and new Courthouse.

II City Plaza's design almost looks like another floor on top, but it's not. 12-stories is the "high-rise" cut-off point on emporis.com; so at least it qualifies!!! The street-level lobby looks pretty tall (first two floors)...this will also be a vibrant development at the street-level. I was thinking the same height Galvez bldg. too + the spire!

Don't get me wrong I was hoping this would have been at least 17-stories with parking garage under the tower itself. Had the 8-story City Plaza (1984) combined with II City Plaza? It could have been a 20-story office tower instead. I grew-up always thinking that City Plaza had the look of "could have been taller".

II City Plaza and the New Courthouse will help fil-in the gap between the Chase Towers and Governmental Bldg. The southern-end of the CBD sure needs this!

I think Chase will be improving their night-time viewing set-up?? The skyline needs to continue to improve it's night-time look.

[twstdndmntd]

Nice looking picture of City Plaza II. Can't wait to see the spiral lite up. It should stand out quite nicely from the bridge or the riverfront on the Port Allen side. The south side of the CBD will certainly have some weight once this and the new courthouse is finished. I saw today on the BR Business Report that construction the courthouse should start by July 21st. Another great looking building

[drew6974]

There are 8 pages of new artist's renderings on the new II City Plaza Building on Wampolds website, at least I hadn't seen them before now. They're pdf files so I couldn't link them. Click on II City Plaza, then click on the picture of the building. There's a night time shot that looks very impressive. It has a regions bank sign on top. This is going to be a very nice addition to downtown. PS, it still says 14 stories. You would think the website would know how many stories the building was going to be...

http://www.wampold.com/comm.html

[richyb83]

Thanks for posting this drew You are right, the nightime photo does look impressive! I also like seeing the different angles too; from the side-view II City Plaza looks more slender making it appear more vertical.

Wonder what's up with the website still claiming 14-stories??

II City Plaza and the New Courthouse being started at nearly the same time and so close to each other will really change the look of the southern CBD + Shaw Art Center's next phase should be starting very soon too. Traffic will be interesting around all the construction being so near to each other.

These new projects will make waiting for RiverPlace a little easier.

[dan326]

Here's the pics. I especially like the finand spire. !

[cajun]

I guess since Regions is in this building, Laurel street tower is really not happening...

Isn't that where those brownstones/ lofts are going up?

Anyways....maybe in a few years downtown can support a high rise Hotel and maybe a few years after that another mid to high rise office building.