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River Place Condominiums

richyb83

By richyb83
in Baton Rouge

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buckett5425 Hamlet

buckett5425

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I dont know if anyone read my last post on the devopment thread. But i went to the WHL firm for a meet in greet with the LSU school of arch. Well, they have a new rendering for River Place. Although they dont have it on their website. I was able to find something that looked similar here. It is the tower on the right of the right of the image, and looks to be about 30 stories too. I think it looks much better then the old design, hopefully it will get off the ground this time?

Incase me link didnt work, cut and paste this;

http://www.whlarchitecture.com/projects/ur...each-Place.html#

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richyb83 Megalopolis

richyb83

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Thank you, thank you, thank you buckett5425 :shades::good: Appreciate the head's up!!! If it looks anything close to that, it will be the talk of the South! Ultra-sleek, sweet! I refuse to give up on this project; as frustrating as it has been waiting delay after delay!

No body else(developers) has been willing to take the risk to go the vertical 30-stories like Preis. If he wanted to pull-off another run-of-the-mill 12 or 15-story condo, it could been a done deal! I would rather wait all this time for a striking/gleaming residential landmark tower; rather than have a mid-rise condo finished by now!

The mid-rise market could be met soon in the next phase of the Shaw Arts Block with a 6 to 8 story at the Onyxx Bldg. site(Third Street @ Convention). Still waiting for final details; word has it around 30 - 40 units. And a 10 to 12 story residential project at the(mixed-use) old Advocate site.Maybe find out by the end of the year?? early 08'?

Dan, I think that's the original One RiverPlace design from way back.

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buckett5425 Hamlet

buckett5425

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I'm beginning to think this project is a pipe dream and simply isn't going to occur....seems like we've been hearing about this project and repeated delays for a decade. Something is up...this guy doesn't seem like he can afford to do this project.

I think its going to happen. Richard Preis already said he is refuseing to sell the property. When I talked to the architects about the site, he said something is going to be built there, the only problem has been cost. It might not be the 36 story everyone was hopeing for. But Mr. Lipscomb said something in the range of 20 stories is going to be built as soon as they can get the cost of the contruction estimated with the contractor. I know everyone is disappointed it is not going to be that tall. But it is better then nothing. Hopefully it will spur even more development downtown, and maybe a landmark tower is only another decade away. If anything, when baton rouge finally has a skyline, it will be very dense with all of it's 12 to 30 story buildings with a landmark tower hopefully somewhere in the future.

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tombarnes City

tombarnes

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I agree completely. While it would be nice to see a 'signature tower' built in downtown Baton Rouge, the realites of the current condo market may dictate otherwise. The important thing here is to get more residential units built downtown to complement the existing neighborhoods. A building of 20 stories may be more realistic. Far better to get something built- and filled- than to labor over a project which might not see economic success. I'd love to see a grand tower built in downtown BR, but I'm more interested in the overall picture of the health of the downtown area. An unfinished monument is something no one would like to see.

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  • 2 months later...
buckett5425 Hamlet

buckett5425

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Great News Guys!

The Art Council of Greater Baton Rouge invited the College of Art & Design downtown this morning to survey potential locations for public art. But before we got started, Jeff Fleur(spl?), from the DDD, gave us a presentation of projects going in and around downtown. Anyway, when he was talking about river place, he mentioned that they had changed the design(which we already knew) but also because of demand, they were going to add a hotel to the project. So, maybe there will be a second smaller tower, or make the single tower taller? Lets hope! Either way, having another hotel downtown is great news for the development of downtown.

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richyb83 Megalopolis

richyb83

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Thanks for the(insider info) great news buckett!! :thumbsup: All of us together here on UP make a solid team in the BR Forums!

The latest I was told by the people at the Third Street hospitality center was 30 floors. (26-residential on top of 4-floor parking deck); instead of the taller tower(36-story) that has been shown on those outdated renderings.

Wow, a hotel too?? Wonder what kind of chain?? How many rooms?? On that smaller tract of land it would definetly have to go vertical! And that's alright by me!

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twstdndmntd Whistle-Stop

twstdndmntd

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OMG!!! HELL YEAH!!!! Sorry for the language, but that is excellent news. At least we know that the project was still a go. I wish they would have said when they were gonna break ground. I'll be happy with 2 towers with one being 30 stories. But that is kind of a small track of land for 2 towers, they can go back up to 36, I'll approve that. LOL :shades:

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cajun Town

cajun

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I've been saying it for a while now: Hotels are better for night life than condos are, but you need condos to get the grocery store, etc.

2 buildings are better than one. It's a huge block, and one thin residential tower would look kind of strange there all by itself. I would like to see a 25 story condo tower and a 15 story hotel share the block. Imagine what all those people would do for downtown's night life.

As far as I am concerned, Riverplace is a no deal until they start building it. Even then, it wouldn't be the first time an un-finished building sits in a high profile place in BR.

It's been delayed since 2001...and that was before Katrina caused increased cost, the housing bubble bursting, and the mortgage crunch. I just don't see a large scale residentail project happening downtown for a while.

I think the developer should either do something with it or sell the land to someone who will.

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twstdndmntd Whistle-Stop

twstdndmntd

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thats great news....ill rather hear somethin being said about the project...than nothin at all

Agreed yis, at least we are getting some info again. For a while they weren't saying anything on it. I was getting worried. LOL..... At least this time it's the DDD talking about it.

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richyb83 Megalopolis

richyb83

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If they do go with two towers; It would not be the 1st time they came up with that idea. Maybe something similar to this?? In regards to height?

This is all I was able to find(once called Lafayette Heights).....their 2nd idea with two residential towers before they were scrapped for the 36-story tower that has been reduced to 30.

*courtesy of emporis.com (across the entire pic) :whistling:

280985ks9.jpg

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BRPJ Whistle-Stop

BRPJ

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If they do go with two towers; It would not be the 1st time they came up with that idea. Maybe something similar to this?? In regards to height?

This is all I was able to find(once called Lafayette Heights).....their 2nd idea with two residential towers before they were scrapped for the 36-story tower that has been reduced to 30.

*courtesy of emporis.com (across the entire pic) :whistling:

280985ks9.jpg

I almost forgot about that :ph34r: . makes me less excited. they are just going back and forth with this thing.

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twstdndmntd Whistle-Stop

twstdndmntd

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I really did like the 36 story design, I'm a sucker for height. But in regards to the rendering of 2 towers I also like that idea b/c I feel the 2 will do more to bulk up the skyline. For me tho the idea of 2 would depend on the heights. If the taller one is somewhere around 25 and the shorter around 18-20 I'd be alright with that.

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buckett5425 Hamlet

buckett5425

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I am also wondering if they have added the idea of a hotel to the project, not simply based on demand, but for the chance for profit. You can only make so much money from building a tower full of condos, but with a hotel, you will always be making money. So maybe Preis added the hotel to the project in a hope of getting more investors who were unwilling to invest in a condo tower, but would invest in a hotel? If that is true, and its only based on assumptions, then hopefully Preis now has more than 75 Million to spend on the project, and it will become an even better develpoment. Let us hope! :thumbsup:

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richyb83 Megalopolis

richyb83

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I'm gonna keep fightin' the good fight of Faith on this project like I always have been. (like a broken record)....As long as the Third Street hospitality center remains open there has always been hope IMO; even if the wait has been frustrating.

The thought of a vertical neighborhood along the riverfront is exciting stuff IMO! I don't think the idea of a single tower would look that outta place with the prospects of two 10-12 story towers going up at the "next" block at the Old Avocate site(and One American Place close-by too). Don't get me wrong "Bulk" is good and needed in the skyline; currently II City Plaza; new Courthouse, future Advocate project, Onyxx Bldg, etc. will serve that purpose.

I hope the taller tower will be at least be taller than One American Place; currently BR's 2nd Tallest.

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