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Baton Rouge Developbits


dan326

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  • 4 months later...

Scrap rubber company plans to expand with new facility on Choctaw

 

NEN Companies, a local scrap rubber company, has leased a 40,000-square-foot manufacturing facility on a seven-acre tract at Choctaw and North Foster roads, where it plans to build a new recycling processing plant. The long-vacant site previously was home to Capital Steel. NEN owner Norman Nolan says the company is investing some $5 million in new equipment and renovations that will enable it to process to a higher grade the scrap rubber that it buys from petrochemical companies and sells overseas. "We take the waste and sell it internationally, and they process it, taking out the water and rocks and turning it into stuff you can use," Nolan explains. "We're going to do the processing now, so what we sell will be a much higher grade." Nolan, whose corporate offices will remain on Highlandia Drive, estimates it will be about a year before construction on the new facility is complete. Once it's up and running, he estimates the facility will create 30 new jobs. Nolan has signed a six-year, blended-rate lease on the property with an option to purchase for $1.5 million. Mark Hebert of Kurz & Hebert Commercial Real Estate represented the property owner in the transaction. Julia Kennedy of Gully Phelps & McKey represented NEN. —Stephanie Riegel

 

Businessreport.com

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  • 3 weeks later...

 

'Baton Rouge Blues Harp' to tower over downtown as sister mural to 'New Orleans Clarinet'

 

http://www.businessreport.com/article/20130927/BUSINESSREPORT0112/130929837

 

The 10th installment in the BR Walls mural project will be the biggest yet: a 10-story-high harmonica on the south side of the Belle of Baton Rouge parking garage that will be visible from the Mississippi River bridge. "We're the home of the blues for this region, and we want everyone who comes to Baton Rouge to know it," says BR Walls Executive Director Casey Phillips. "This has taken about a year to put together. It's going to be an amazing piece of art, but we also wanted to do something that would be a signature piece for the entire city." Renowned muralist Robert Dafford of Lafayette will complete the mural, which will be a sister piece to the "New Orleans Clarinet" that rises 15 stories on the side of the Holiday Inn on Loyola Avenue. Phillips says some work on the mural has already begun, and it should be completed sometime in late October or early November—weather permitting. "We'll be having a series of events and happenings as we progress on it so everyone can experience it," Phillips says. 

 

 

 

This looks like it could be fun.  

 

Oh yeah...Geaux Tigers!

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Shreveport has a few of those. They look horribly tacky and after a few years they aren't going to look any better or as good as the first day it was finished.

So your stance is that we shouldn't paint anything on a concrete wall because it will look worse as it ages?

With that in mind, why bother painting anything?

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  • 4 weeks later...
Iconic College Drive Waffle House to get new building

 

One of south Baton Rouge's best-known examples of retro-kitsch architecture—the Waffle House at 2363 College Drive—will be demolished in 2014. But the iconic Waffle House, which is the only restaurant in the national chain to have a bar attached to it, isn't going away. On the contrary, it's getting a redesign that will be unique in the chain of some 1,700 restaurants. Bo Miller, who owns the local restaurant as well as 26 others in south Louisiana, says his franchise agreement with Waffle House requires that he renovate his restaurants every 15 years and completely rebuild them every 30, which is why it's time to re-do College Drive. Longtime residents of Baton Rouge may remember that the building previously housed a Howard Johnson's. Miller says he and many of the 450 customers who eat at the College Drive location every day like the wood-paneled walls and Americana feel of the 60-seat restaurant, and he's hoping the parent company will come up with a retro design for the new version. Part of the redesign will include space for Miller's other longtime tenant in the building, Port Royal. —Stephanie Riegel

 

Businessreport.com

 

 

 

 

New office shell to start going up on Interline in mid-November  

 

EJW Properties LLC expects to break ground on a 5,500-square-foot shell office building at 9843 Interline Ave. near Airline Highway by mid-November, says owner Sean Wendell. The building will be located next to an existing office building which houses Securitas, Manpower and Beacon Behavioral Health. EJW Properties hasn't yet signed any tenants. "We're going to leave it a shell so you could put one, two or three tenants," Wendell says. An old bank on the property, which Wendell says hasn't been used in around 15 years, must be demolished before construction on the new building begins. "We hope to start the demolition on the old bank building Nov. 1," he says. "The demolition will last two weeks, and then we'll start on the metal building, and that'll go for 12 weeks." Wendell estimates the office shell will be ready around mid-March. —Rachel Alexander

 

Businessreport.com

 

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I had no idea Waffle House rebuilds their restaurants every 30 years. They all look like they haven't been shut down for so much as a deep cleaning...much less a renovation.

I don't think I've ever actually seen one being rebuilt. It's as if they pop up overnight like something out of an old Sears catalog.

That one did look better than most of the others at least. We used to go from Port Royale to that Waffle House around 2 am. It was always busy.

Edited by cajun
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K&M Automotive plans to expand on Siegen

 

Payne Properties, which owns K&M Automotive, has purchased the auto service center's location at 8445 Siegen Lane, near Perkins Road, for $731,200. K&M Automotive in 2010 signed a three-year lease on the property, which is located across the street from Crawfish Aquatics' future location, and purchased the property last week from Corwin Odom with plans to renovate and expand the center. Jason Payne, who co-owns the business with his brother, Keith, says they plan to add four to six bays on the rear of the building, which would bring the approximately 4,800-square-foot space to between 6,000 and 7,000 square feet. Since opening the Siegen location of K&M—which is the brothers' second in the city—the Paynes have seen sales rise by 40% to 50%, an increase Jason Payne attributes to growth in the area. Payne says the expansion will allow K&M to begin offering tire services, which he estimates will increase sales by an another 30%. By expanding into a complete service shop, Payne says, they expect to hire at least two to three more mechanics and one service adviser. The brothers also plan to renovate the waiting area, redo the floors and paint, reposition the counters, and add an office, says Payne. He hopes to have a land survey completed within the next few months, which will determine the extent of the expansion, and begin construction sometime during the first quarter of 2014. —Rachel Alexander

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Businessreport.com
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Planet Fitness to open second location at Siegen Village

 

Planet Fitness will open a second Baton Rouge location at 6900 Siegen Lane sometime in February, says general manager Al Devillier. The fitness center will occupy the space in Siegen Village formerly occupied by Stage. Devillier says the clothing store closed down about two months ago, and Planet Fitness' move was finalized this month. Planet Fitness is renovating the approximately 32,000-square-foot space at a projected cost of $500,000. "Basically the building is there, and not a lot of renovation inside is necessary except for putting in the locker rooms," says Devillier. "And we have to build some partitions for our tanning rooms, rooms for our massage chairs, rooms for our hydro massage beds, and a couple of rooms for our beauty angel booths." DK Mullin is doing the renovation, according to a permit application recently filed with the Department of Public Works. Planet Fitness opened a 28,000-square-foot facility as the anchor tenant of the redeveloped Broadmoor Village Shopping Center in early 2012. —Rachel Alexander

 

Businessreport.com

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  • 1 month later...

This will simply be a thread where I post (and you guys as well) random BR news that does not necessarily fit in a certain article or place.

 

Embracing the River: A design for redeveloping Desoto park into an urban destination with the added bonus of allowing Baton Rougians to connect with the river in a serine enviroment. final-site-planl.jpg

Designed by Peter of the blog [cool brackets] he describes his design in this article: http://coolbrackets.wordpress.com/2011/04/15/from-city-to-river-desoto-park-redesign/

 

 

The next thing I have here is something I found a few weeks ago. It's a OLOL Children Medical Center design shown by DeLauro and Associates Consulting. Does anyone have more information on this?

medical_center.png

 

Well that's all for today feel free to add more stuff! 

 

- Timelord Nerd

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The business report is reporting that a large research facility will be built at the old docks. BRAF's real estate arm is planning on developing office mid rises and homes in the area.

Looks promising.....far more likely to happen than Clement's river park.

Edited by cajun
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I just looked at more pics on NOLA.com and I can say that I'm impressed.  Of course it will be built in phases but I surely hope that office tower in the renderings is one of the three buildings being built in the first phase. 


http://www.nola.com/news/baton-rouge/index.ssf/2013/12/jindal_scheduled_to_make_major.html

 

 

 

...if you need to see the renderings.  Enjoy!  :good:

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I imagine the office portion will come later, as tenants show interest.

Looks neat. Thanks for the link.

Matherne's grocery store downtown, IBM and corresponding mid rise condos, Children's

hospital, and now this......If only these developments were occurring 15 years ago!

Perhaps the most important, groundbreaking improvement to the quality of life in Baton Rouge that will occur with this development is that Riverside Towing's office is not included in the renderings.

Edited by cajun
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Does anyone else think that BR's relatively weak "brand" is helping it out now? Like that because there's " nothing here" investors aren't afraid to come in and make it theirs?

Uhhhhh, what? IBM was brought in due to the state offering crazy incentives. Much like Shell was supposed to. Much like this project. Jindal, LED, State gov is throwing money at anything that will bring jobs. Not saying its a bad thing but THATS the reason the state is luring these projects IMO.

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This is mostly local or state funding. Matherne's is a local company investing in downtown too.

I don't doubt that some companies have taken notice though. Hampton, Hilton, etc have flags on properties downtown.

Outside investment in the city and region will happen as it grows. I used to do some site selection for smaller businesses. Lack of robust competitors in the area is a big part of attracting businesses like Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, or Costco. They see an unexploited market niche and try to fill it......so yes, Baton Rouge being an "up and coming" city will produce many opportunities for businesses and retailers that are not represented there right now.

Louisiana and the Capitol area must also find economic areas that are not currently being exploited by Houston. Water research is one of them.

Edited by cajun
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