Types of Places (restaurants, bars, etc.) You'd Like to See Downtown

[richyb83]

This old pic I took shows the edge of the Stroubes Building(left, black arrow). Talk about a nice change!

This the the view to the left when leaving the entrance to the Shaw Center. Not very attractive to say the least. The back of the black building is the Roux House. The new 4-story linnear building should hide this!

It will be interesting to see the next Phase for the Shaw Center for the Arts.

*Now we need to find out what will become of the Onyxx Bldg at Third Street and Convention. Possibly 6 to 8

story condos?? They should build on top of the building; hopefully not tear down??

Onyxx Bldg. to the left

This the way the Third Street entrance looks like.

[brresident]

http://www.businessreport.com/archives/daily-report/latest/

Pinnacle not interested in downtown site

Pinnacle Entertainment says while it appreciates the interest from the Downtown Development District commissioners, the company has no plans to shift its site for a third Baton Rouge casino into the area. Billy Rimes, a lobbyist who represents Pinnacle, says there isn't enough land downtown to build what the company wants. "We can't build what we want on 30 acres of land," he says. "I don't think going downtown was something that was ever envisioned." Pinnacle has 521 acres of land along River Road under contract and wants to build a massive casino resort complex with a golf course, entertainment venue and eventually retail and residential components. By combining all these amenities into one site, Rimes says Pinnacle will have an advantage over Mississippi Gulf Coast casinos, most of which have golf courses miles away from the gambling barges. On Tuesday, the DDD commissioners passed a motion to talk with Pinnacle about moving its casino downtown. The move was done in response to Metro Councilman Pat Culbertson, who wanted to set an October local option election date for a downtown casino.

Pinnacle has asked Metro Councilman Darrell Ourso to remove a motion from this afternoon's meeting to set an Oct. 20 local option vote. The company says it doesn't plan to ask the Metro Council to break protocol and put the item on the ballot before it's approved by the state Gaming Control Board. Rimes says the project isn't set to go before the board for approval this month. "What we basically learned is the Metro Council doesn't want to take things out of order," he said. Metro Council members voted down a request to put the Pinnacle vote on the July 21 ballot because the casino project hadn't first been approved by the control board. (Timothy Boone)

[richyb83]

I know many leaders including the Mayor will hate to see EBR lose that new giant tax base. WBR is definetly better than the Gardere/Bluebonnet Ext. A nice possible site in WBR could be between Brusly/Port Allen just south of the Intracoastal. Maybe there is enough acerage for there resort style golf course?? Coming from BR off the I-10 Bridge, you should definely be able to see the Pinnacle casino.

[dimebag1980]

Lame.

I'm surprised at how many people voted for WBR over downtown in that poll. What part of "sprawl" don't people understand anymore??

[brresident]

521 acers is friggin massive. I grew sweet corn when I was a kid on 85 acers...and that seemed endless to me.

Even if they build at gardere, I am sure it will be a very nice development. It may not totally fit the area, but I am sure it will be a really nice venue. I really hate that it's going to be on Bluebonnet/Gardere at Nicholson, but that tax base is probably worth it. Over 1 billion in development money is going to be worth it. It will probably hire at least 500 permanent positions in service, security, maintenance, and management.

I don't think I'd vote no for it, but I would be much happier if it was downtown...or even WBR.

[yis2003yis]

I would like to see ANY kind of food ,restaurant venues,(i hope they bring rally's back to baton rouge) a small theater for maybe 8 or 9 screens...because all the families comming from north baton rouge (all areas north of downtown) have to drive all the way out there jus to see a movie...thats a shame when college drive is the closest. i would like to see a regular casino(not a river boat) but somethin like the harras in new orleans....i love how houston runs a light rail through their main strip downtown....that would be nice....and more stores...like footlocker, book stores, electronic stores, that would bring major money into downtown....i know they stress on the crime and alchol down there that could cause a problem....but thats in every great city...jus have to staff up on a downtown police force.....bikes,walkin the street,cars on the side,horses, so crime can be controlled...but thats what id like to see

[dan326]

That's some great ideas. Especially the lightrail. I would like to see the trolleys become an extra permanent fixure by adding the wires/tracks, like New Orleans/Little Rock. I think I would add authenticity. Or like you said yis somekind of lightrail. I would like to see a "peoplemover" downtown(trolleys are great but possibly something more modern) and maybe a commuter rail running to Albany/Hammond centered in downtown with the Advocate site as the main hub.

[yis2003yis]

yea thats a good idea...cuz its tons of people who drive to BR weekly to do things that they can't in hammond... so im sure that could be big ...people would save gas....something like up north.. when i visited .....insted of us driving from VA to dc...i think we caught the metro in b-more and took it all the wayto DC...no traffic...just a stright shoot....and it's very popular up there

[byrde]

Welcome to the board Yis.

A commuter train to connect BR to New Orleans and one to connect us with the northshore would be ideal. I'd love to be able to ride a train down to N.O. for a day or even ride one west to Lafayette.

[richyb83]

Welcome to the forums yis Thanks for your imput too. It's good to seeBR grow!!!

I'm with yall on the the commuter rail. The connection from BR to NOLA needs to get done somehow. In NOLA it could connect the CBD/French Quarter to the Louie Armstrong Int'l Airport. In BR it could connect downtown to the College Drive business district to the medical corridor and Mall of La./Perkins Rowe. It could make stops in Gonzales and LaPlace too.

I like your ideas yis for downtown yis. A small cinema, foot locker, bowling alley, Dave & Busters would be great. A Riverarium for the WaterWorks property; and a Jazz/Blues/Gospel club for the Palms on Third. A Lamar digital billboard for the Third Street parking garage to compliment the Coca-Cola sign a block away. Book Stores and music stores would be nice too.

[yis2003yis]

thanks for the welcomes.....third street can be major....and i also noticed the city must have noticed the crowd growing downtown at night...so they put parking meters along river road....parking use to be free because ..Hey no one was down there....so thats a extra few hundred $$$ a day for downtown...cant wait to see whats next

[UptownNewOrleans]

Even if they build at gardere, I am sure it will be a very nice development. It may not totally fit the area, but I am sure it will be a really nice venue. I really hate that it's going to be on Bluebonnet/Gardere at Nicholson, but that tax base is probably worth it. Over 1 billion in development money is going to be worth it. It will probably hire at least 500 permanent positions in service, security, maintenance, and management.

[brresident]

I think I know some bars/restarants that I'd like to see (most wanted ranked first)

1. Country style bar with a mechanical bull...play older country music, southern rock, and make sure all the bartenders are cute girls with cowgirl hats. A music venue with live entertainment would be a huge plus. Austin, TX has one, Nashville has a million of them, Tampa, Atlanta, Houston, Charlotte, and Birmingham has one. No one really caters to that audience here...strange because there are a bunch of country music stations.

2. A massive...I mean massive sports bar. Have sections of the joint with the colors of every SEC team that exist. I am thinking at least three times the size of Walk On's. We have mentioned an ESPN bar. You can have a TV that covers every televised sports event in the country from soccer, tennis, baseball, football, and basketball.

3. A martini bar with, oh, 25 stories (200 rooms) of hotel on top of it.

4. Steakhouse with a nice bar. Superior Bar and Grill has opened a second restarant in Shreveport called "Superior Steakhouse". If the do one in Baton Rouge, I'd like to see it downtown.

5. Cajun style restarant/bar with seafood. Pretty much fill the void that Don's Seafood and Landry's left when they suddenly got crappy. Views of the River would be really cool. This would kind of be a stretch with the Chimes near LSU.

[byrde]

I think I know some bars/restarants that I'd like to see (most wanted ranked first)

2. A massive...I mean massive sports bar. Have sections of the joint with the colors of every SEC team that exist. I am thinking at least three times the size of Walk On's. We have mentioned an ESPN bar. You can have a TV that covers every televised sports event in the country from soccer, tennis, baseball, football, and basketball.

4. Steakhouse with a nice bar. Superior Bar and Grill has opened a second restarant in Shreveport called "Superior Steakhouse". If the do one in Baton Rouge, I'd like to see it downtown.

5. Cajun style restarant/bar with seafood. Pretty much fill the void that Don's Seafood and Landry's left when they suddenly got crappy. Views of the River would be really cool. This would kind of be a stretch with the Chimes near LSU.

[richyb83]

Me too Bryde, nice ideas brresident Even though BR is a college dominated city( not Pro) I would like to see ESPN or FOX come.

The 25-story hotel sounds great too!

[cajun]

brresident, I can dig a country style bar. They can have every Friday or Saturday night be cajun or something, given the cajun/country western connection. It's kind of sad that some of the folks who don't like that sort of lifestyle will attack it, though...like if it's not alternative rock, artsy feminine guys unplugged, or wannabe gangster/pop that it must be shut down. It's kind of sad because "zydecajun" and country music that is so much of Louisiana's culture. Sammy Kershaw, Tim McGraw, Horace Trahn, Wayne Toups, Trace Adkins, Chris Ardoin, and Jerry Lee Lewis just to name a few folk/country/zydeco.

Hell, it was so good, that californian John Folgerty (Creedence Clearwater Revival) wrote a song about being "born on the bayou" when Southern Rock was in it's heyday. Didn't Ronnie Van Zant from Lynyrd Skynyrd died on a plane on his way to a concert at LSU? Why is Baton Rouge not capitolizing on that?

I'd like to see a country bar that isn't a "real" country bar if you know what I mean. I don't want to get my ass kicked by some rednecks. A bar where there are a lot of young people, good music, cute girls, live entertainment. I especially like the mechanical bull idea. A good mix of southern rock, country, and cajun music would be huge in this town.....

One of the most fun I have ever had in a bar was in a country themed joint with live music...and I don't even like country music that much.

Just as long as we are clear on the difference between a country bar and a country themed bar. One is very undesirable, the other can be a blast on a Friday night. Lousiana's most famous and most popular music is from outside of New Orleans..but given the race and artsy factor it doesn't get much attention. There is that "country must die" attitude again.

If New Orleans is going to get to be the jazz capitol of the world, then I think Baton Rouge can take care of the Zydeco, country, cajun, and swamp pop. I'd really like to see a place in Baton Rouge that caters to those folks. Boutin's is very popular- but that is almost an old folks place, and is definately more of a restarant than a bar.

[Gauge]

Boudreaux & Thibodeaux to expand

The owners of the downtown nightclub Boudreaux & Thibodeaux are set to buy out Rasputin's Restaurant & Vodka Bar and take over the entire Third Street building. Danny McGlynn, who co-owns Boudreaux & Thibodeaux, says the sale should take place on Monday and the expanded club should re-open for July 4. "We're doing very well and we would like to have a live music venue," McGlynn says. Plans are to have a restaurant and stage downstairs, which will attract a mix of regional musical acts. "We want to have a healthy mix of music and bring in a diverse crowd," he says. The grand opening for Boudreaux & Thibodaux will be July 13, the same night as the annual Art Melt. "We hope to give all the people who go to Art Melt a place to go after the event," he says. --Timothy Boone

I like this. I never liked the atmosphere at Rasputin's. I think this is great news for Third Street.

[richyb83]

The second story deck at Boudreax's & Thibodeaux's looks nice with the large awning and festival lights. Definetly a nice looking change for Third Street.

[brgrowth]

i would like to see hotels like the ritz carlton or the grand hyatt downtown. I would like to see more resturants and shopping. I like to see more art and entertainment as well as skyscraper buildings.And although the traffic is kind of bad in the city, I would like to see taxis because to me that signals that it is a real big city because a lot of the top cities I know have taxis.

[yis2003yis]

i would like to see hotels like the ritz carlton or the grand hyatt downtown. I would like to see more resturants and shopping. I like to see more art and entertainment as well as skyscraper buildings.And although the traffic is kind of bad in the city, I would like to see taxis because to me that signals that it is a real big city because a lot of the top cities I know have taxis.