New Hotels

[dan326]

Potentially bad news guys. I hope the CarolAnn was clueless or an automation.

[cajun]

I think that a Dave and Busters would go well at the Esplanade mall right there.

It's just that type of place.....with all the other entertainment venues around. All those hotels in that immediate area would dictate that the Dave and Busters opens up along College or Corporate anyways, and that high visibility location would be perfect for them.

Does the Esplanade Mall count as the 3rd mall?

Edited April 22, 2008 by cajun

[dan326]

If you look at it from above it is shaped like a micro-mall, but it seems to have to few tenants to be considered even that. What they should have done was connect Esplanade to the Marriott to make it the eastern tenant and connect a large department store to the other end making it the western tenant.

Edited April 23, 2008 by dan326

[cajun]

If you look at it from above it is shaped like a micro-mall, but it seems to have to few tenants to be considered even that. What they should have done was connect Esplanade to the Marriott to make it the eastern tenenant and connect a large department store to the other end making it the western tenenant.

Now that sounds like the Baton Rouge Galleria!

[dan326]

I saw this sign on the new Holiday Inn site, so I guess this is what we'll get. I still like though.

[richyb83]

Thanks for the pic Dan Looks nice. Should look good wedged in-between the string of hotels along Consitution Ave/I-10. BR's largest hotel district continues to grow!

The historic Hotel King downtown could use that color-scheme instead; to offset the blinding white.

Cambria Suites should be open this Summer?? Do you know what floor they are working on now at Drury Inn?? I need to check that out.

[dan326]

"Work starts on Holiday Inn Express

Construction has started on a 104-room Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites on Siegen Lane between Airline Highway and Interstate 10. Pride Hospitality of Germantown, Tenn., will manage the hotel, and Siegen Lane Hospitality Enterprises is the developer. The hotel is scheduled to open in the fall. It replaces a Holiday Inn Express at Interstate 10 and Siegen that has been converted to a Days Inn."

Finally. I would have prefered it fronted the interstate though.

[richyb83]

^I guess at least it will be nice infil behind McAlister's Deli. Wonder what will finally happen to the Krispy Kreme building next door?? That property ain't cheap!

The 7-story 180-room Drury Inn going up quickly off I-10 near Essen

*taken on a cloudy Monday afternoon

[buckett5425]

I am guessing the Drury Inn is trying a new floor plan? Normally the lobby is located at the end of the building with a glass wall and seven story atruim. but it looks like the lobby is going to be in the center of the hotel in this configuration. none the less, good location, and i like the height.

[richyb83]

I like the height for that area too Buckett! Then you should really like the height of this hotel too!

Bonds sold for hotel project 300-room, 12-story Renaissance set to open by early 2010

A partially completed dormitory building on the Jimmy Swaggart Ministries campus on Bluebonnet Boulevard is on track with a $50 million bond sale to be transformed into a 12-story, 300-room hotel called Renaissance Baton Rouge. The hotel will include an upscale restaurant operated by Dickie Brennan's of New Orleans.

Wampold, who began considering the hotel project several years ago, acknowledged Thursday that completing it has taken longer than he anticipated. He said the hotel plans have been hampered by fluctuating materials costs.

Wampold said costs for residential-building materials have fallen with the nation

[buckett5425]

FINALLY!

[dan326]

^ I second that.

[byrde]

Wonder what will finally happen to the Krispy Kreme building next door?? That property ain't cheap!

The former Krispy Kreme location is now an AT&T Store.

Very good news about the Renaissance.

[richyb83]

^Thanks Bryde.

When all is said and done the Harding Blvd. corridor/Howell Place is going to have quite a collection of hotels. Finally! The area around the Airport has been very underserved. The Hilton Garden Inn seems to have been doing great!

North BR hotel set for 2009 opening

The 119-room SpringHill Suites opening in early 09', will be one of several hotels on Harding Boulevard. The others are Microtel, Fairfield Inn, Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn and SpringHill Suites. A Hilton Garden Inn is there as well.

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/business/18863334.html

*When I get some more time I would like to ADD up all the NEW hotel rooms going up in BR...

>the one listed above +....

300+ room Renaissance (should be starting soon with Friday's great news!)

180-room Drury Inn (under construction)

127-room Cambria Suites (opening Summer)

119?-room Staybridge at Southgate Towers(under construction)

143-room Holiday Inn (just started)

104-room Holiday Inn Express (about to start)

100+ Hotel King (boutique, starting now?)

?Hampton Inn off I-10/Siegen(just complete)

and Perkins Rowe starting anytime I'm guessing??

Edited May 13, 2008 by richyb83

[dan326]

"Homewood Suites planned for Reiger Road

Plans for a 100-room Homewood Suites by Hilton are scheduled to go before the Planning Commission on Monday. The hotel would be built on Reiger Road, just west of Exchequer Drive. This would be the second Homewood Suites in Baton Rouge, joining a location on Corporate Boulevard. Plans are to build a four-story hotel with a projected opening in the spring. Hotel South Management Co. will own the hotel, with Frank Benoit as the developer. This is the third new hotel planned for Interstate 10 and Siegen Lane, joining a recently opened Hampton Inn and Suites and a Holiday Inn Express that is currently under construction."

[dan326]

This will be the 6th Hampton Inn for the Baton Rouge area. I just mindboggling that we can go from 1 to 6 in just a few years.

"Two new WBR hotels set to open in early 2009

Two hotels-a Holiday Inn Express and a Hampton Inn and Suites-are scheduled to open near the Interstate 10/La. Highway 415 exit during the first quarter of 2009. An 89-room Holiday Inn Express will be located near the interchange and should open by February, says Deborah Biggs, executive director of the West Baton Rouge Chamber of Commerce. An 83-room Hampton Inn and Suites will be located on Commercial Drive and should be open by March, Biggs says."

[dan326]

Here's a couple pics I took.

Drury Inn

Value Place near Sherwood

Edited June 27, 2008 by dan326

[richyb83]

Thanks for the pics Dan. The Drury Inn is coming along nicely. Looks like it could turn out darker than I expected. Really like the height of 7-stories for the Essen Lane corridor.

Edited June 27, 2008 by richyb83

[richyb83]

Work at the 180-room Drury Inn; Shaw HQ's background

[richyb83]

Construction updates....

Staybridge Suites at Southgate Towers next to LSU

Holiday Inn Express off I-10 near College Drive

Cambria Suites nearing completion; opening in the Fall

[all2neat]

The Druery is going to fill in that area off I10 and Essen quite nicely .

[dan326]

Great pics Richy. I specially thanks for the Staybridge one. And just think, they're going to build another 10-18 story tower too.

[richyb83]

Thanks Dan, I thought you might like that

With the way the credit crunch is and tighter real estate market I really have to wonder what Southgate Towers future plans are?? I would hope the 10-story condo would get built; but wouldn't hold my breath on the 18-story tower.

[richyb83]

This does not even include the hotel(s) at the proposed River Park!!! Will downtown become BR's Largest Hotel District again like in the ole' glory days?? I was hoping a new RiverCenter convention-style hotel would become BR's Tallest Hotel; however I have my doubts. They got it backwards. The 300-room hotel will be built on the "razed" West parking garage site. And the smaller 140-room hotel will actually be the one added on "top" of the east garage. So they will be closer in height with each other.

The 300- room hotel is the one that should be added on top of a parking garage(like NOLA's Marroitt). This would create a WOW factor!!! Unless River Place is built I think the Marroitt out on College/I-10 will remain BR's Tallest Hotel.

Reactions to hotels mixed

Plans call for razing the River Center

Edited July 16, 2008 by richyb83

[richyb83]

Nobody posted this yesterday. Howell Place is really taking off now! Will really be an impressive development with a YMCA and a total of 600 hotel rooms when all is said and done??

Howell Place work begins; Preis planning more in north BR

Construction crews will begin shortly on a 190-room Candlewood Suites extended-stay hotel at Howell Place in north Baton Rouge. The hotel, owned by InterContinental Hotels and Resorts, should be open within 12 months, developer Richard Preis said, adding that by next year the 207-acre mixed-use development will be home to six hotels offering 600 rooms.

A 130-room Hilton Garden Inn opened there three years ago, and a 180-room Springhill Suites by Marriot and a 90-room Microtel are now under construction.

Construction is also set to begin on a 140-room Holiday Inn in 30 days, and Preis said that hotel