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richyb83

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Former beauty school site to be 45 residences

Crews will soon begin demolishing the former DJ’s School of Beauty on Government Street and North Foster Drive to make way for an apartment complex.

Developer Robert Whittington paid $645,000 for about 1.7 acres on the northeast corner of the intersection and said he’s going to build 45 apartments made up of one-, two- and three-bedroom units.

Whittington said about 15 units — one-third of the units — will be affordable housing units, geared toward people making 80 percent of median household income.Median household income is $46,024, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Whittington said he is still working out the development costs, but said the apartments will likely be completed in the second half of next year. He said the development’s working title is 5131 Government Street, though he added that will likely change. Crews will take down the beauty school and a couple other buildings in back in the next 30 days. In 2007, Whittington restored some apartments behind the land he purchased for 5131 Government and converted them into 14 condominium units, which have all been sold.

The development fulfills a couple of the Mid-City Redevelopment Alliance’s goals — improving Midcity’s housing stock and bringing new development to Government Street. Carrie Broussard, Mid-City’s community investment manager, said the development is in a strong portion of Government with successful restaurants and other businesses, as well as Baton Rouge Community College. “That’s just a welcome new addition to that stretch of Government Street that’s going to make it stronger,” she said, “and we always welcome new residents to Midcity.”

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/105314938.html

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  • 2 months later...

Wish the numbers would have worked for the nice proposed mixed-use multi-story development in the heart of Mid-City...or even the smaller Wal-Mart Neigborhood Market...a non-profit affliated with Catholic HS has purchased this property; not sure what's in store?? :dontknow:

This section; the anchor that has been vacant for years will be demolished; just hope it doesn't stay a giant parking lot for too long?? The tenants on the far right will remain for now...improvement will be made

westmoreland122310.jpg

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/latest/112396029.html

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Yeah....I'm starting to think that if you can't get more people to live and work in mid city, then Baton Rouge is going to have problems.

More investment is needed in this area- badly.

sorry but that's a crappy part of town. No one who is young and wants to start a family is going to move into that part of town unless they just can't afford to live anywhere else.

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sorry but that's a crappy part of town. No one who is young and wants to start a family is going to move into that part of town unless they just can't afford to live anywhere else.

This is a huge problem for a bright future. I wish this area was included in the DDD's district, it isn't downtown but it is vital to the success and longevity of its neighbor to the west. Crime and quality of living need to improve greatly here to encourage artists, LSU/SU grads, and original residents to live here. Basically, we need a miracle.

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This is a huge problem for a bright future. I wish this area was included in the DDD's district, it isn't downtown but it is vital to the success and longevity of its neighbor to the west.

no, it's not vital. BR will grow regardless of what that part of town does. But if you want to make that part of town then they should start by getting rid of the homeless shelter that's in that area close to Florida/govt street. Bums and junkies don't make for a pleasant neighborhood.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Wags on the Levee readies for move to Mid City

Wags on the Levee, a downtown soul food restaurant, is preparing to move to Mid City. The restaurant has filed paperwork to move into a space at the corner of Government Street and Eddie Robinson Sr. Drive. Colleen Collins, who co-owns Wags, says the move should be completed by Feb. 1 and the menu will remain the same. The restaurant is moving into a Government Street building that had been occupied by a catering company, so there won't be much of a facility transition. The Third Street building that Wags has occupied is under contract to be sold. The transaction should take place in early March, says Hermann "Buck" Moyse III, secretary/treasurer and part-owner of Baton Rouge Realty, which owns the Wags building and two other spaces next door that are also on the market

http://www.businessreport.com/archives/daily-report/2011/jan/25/2058/

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  • 5 months later...

Real Estate Weekly Property of the Week from BusinessReport...curious to see how this turns out...

The Mid City Gardens and Community Center is a 68-unit project off North Boulevard. The affordable housing development is being built at the site of the old Capital City South apartments. The Louisiana Housing Finance Agency is in charge of the project. D. Honore Construction is the contractor.

pow71211midcitygardenco.jpg

http://www.businessreport.com/archives/real-estate-weekly/latest/

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  • 4 weeks later...

Mid City Redevelopment Alliance graduates to independent status

The Mid City Redevelopment Alliance, established 20 years ago as an affiliate organization of the General Health System, is breaking away from the General and establishing itself as an independent nonprofit.

Full Article-BR Business Report

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  • 2 months later...

Radio Bar to open Friday

Roughly a year in the making, Radio Bar will open at 5 p.m. Friday in the Ogden Park Shopping Center at 3079 Government St., co-owner Brian Baiamonte confirmed today. Radio Bar is the creation of Baiamonte, a freelance photographer who regularly shoots for Business Report and 225 magazine, and Dave Remmetter, who also owns Chelsea's Café and Cuban Liquor. Baiamonte says the hope is for Radio Bar to become a true neighborhood bar, appealing to the eclectic mix of working-class people and young professionals who call Mid City home. "It's a nice atmosphere: a good balance between art deco elegance and peeling-paint rough-around-the-edges," Baiamonte says, "and we want the clientele to be as diverse as the bar." Radio Bar's music-centric concept allows patrons to choose the music heard by all via an iPad hooked up to the sound system, and there's also a deejay booth. An outdoor patio for the bar is in the works.

Businessreport.com

Edited by steve3n8
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Yes it is...here is more...a couple more smaller projects...pic of the revamped building under construction in Sunday Advocate but not on website...the 2-story addition to the old building is cool!

Renovating Midcity

Two men give new life to old buildings with their businesses

Two long-vacant Midcity buildings have new owners and are on their way to becoming studios for local artisans.

The Book Exchange building on South 19th Street, just south of North Boulevard, now has a second story and will become a studio and warehouse for furniture maker Andrew Moran.

Meanwhile, the so-called coat hanger building on South 22nd Street, north of Government Street, is being converted into a studio/workshop for John D. Blake.

The two men don’t know each other, but their projects are only a few blocks apart and each was attracted to their building for the same reasons.

http://theadvocate.com/news/business/1025572-64/renovating-midcity.html

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  • 2 weeks later...

Catholic High's plans for Westmoreland continue

Though progress has been "slower than [he] would have liked or anticipated," Catholic High School President Gene Tullier says the school's plan for use of the Westmoreland Village Shopping Center could soon emerge. "We are looking at a number of divergent options, and we are making progress," Tullier says. "We are pursuing a formal plan, and we could have a clear direction relatively soon, meaning before the end of the year." Hearthstone Properties, the tax-exempt corporation supporting Catholic High, bought the 9.2-acre Mid City shopping center for $4.85 million just before Christmas 2010. Demolition of a vacant 30,000-square-foot building was completed earlier this year. "In general, we are looking to improve the space. We're looking to keep all of the existing retail there for the next few years, and we're looking to keep some retail there permanently," Tullier says. "We do anticipate using some of the space for school operations of one kind or another."

http://www.businessreport.com/archives/real-estate-weekly/latest/

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RDA, Entergy discuss future use of complex

The East Baton Rouge Redevelopment Authority has had early discussions with Entergy Corp. about whether the RDA could be involved in the redevelopment of the utility's two-building complex on Government Street near the railroad tracks.

The RDA's board on Thursday approved the use of $360,000 in Environmental Protection Agency grants should the RDA pursue anything related to the Entergy site. The funds, which would come through the state Department of Environmental Quality, are targeted to projects that involve so-called brownfields sites.

RDA President Walter Monsour told the board there have been preliminary discussions about the RDA helping put the site back into commerce, though he added there is nothing concrete and the vote was really just a way to keep the path clear to the funding if it is needed to contribute to the effort.

Entergy has already moved the 130 employees who worked in the smaller of the two buildings to its new site on Pecue Lane. The properties are seen by planners as having major redevelopment potential for the transitional area between downtown and the heart of Midcity.

http://theadvocate.com/news/business/1192727-123/rda-entergy-discuss-future-use.html

*pic shown; been posted previously

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  • 2 weeks later...

One Stop Homeless Services Center opening in B.R.

A state-of-the-art housing and services facility designed to aid the homeless in Baton Rouge will officially open with a ribbon-cutting ceremony set for 2 p.m. Thursday at the center, 153 North 17th St. The One Stop Homeless Services Center is a collaborative effort between the Capital Area Alliance for the Homeless, the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul of Baton Rouge and nonprofit developer Gulf Coast Housing Partnership. The $8.4 million center was built with public and private funding, including $660,000 from the Louisiana Office of Community Development Disaster Recovery Unit. Others who helped fund the project include the Louisiana Housing Finance Agency, East Baton Rouge Redevelopment Authority, Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas, Community Housing Capital and Whitney National Bank. One Stop will provide 36 units of permanent housing and will also bring support services on-site to support independent living for formerly homeless residents. Residents will have access to medical care, a pharmacy, case management, mental health screening, legal aid, employment assistance and vocational training.

Businessreport.com

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  • 4 months later...

Housing project slated to begin

Gulf Coast Housing Partnership hopes to break ground this summer on property it bought last year from the Olinde family in Midcity for 32 townhomes and an outdoor pavilion.

The New Orleans-based affordable-housing developer, founded in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, is asking the city-parish Planning Commission to zone two Midcity plots on opposite sides of North 19th Street as an in-fill small planned unit development.

The townhomes would be on North 19th Street between North and Gayosa streets.

The pavilion area would be on a smaller parcel across North 19th at the corner of Gayosa.

Project Manager Cornelius Payne said the $6 million development, called GCHP–MidCity, would include 16 two-bedroom units and 16 three-bedroom units and would be offered for lease-to-own for households making $35,000 a year or less.

He said Gulf Coast would partner with the Mid-City Redevelopment Alliance, which would provide counseling to qualified buyers to get them into the homes.

Payne said the pavilion area would include barbecue grills, water fountains and an open basketball court to serve the townhomes and community.

Payne said the construction is slated to take a year, which would put the completion at summer 2013 if work begins on schedule.

Gulf Coast is involved with other projects around the city, with an emphasis on Midcity.

The $8.4 million One Stop Homeless Services Center opened late last year in the former Scott Elementary School at North 19th and Grace streets.

The Elysian, a 100-unit, mixed-income development nearby on Spanish Town Road, got Planning Commission approval last year and is about to get under way. That project is being done with developer Donnie Jarreau.

Payne said a $10 million condominium and retail development at Terrace Avenue in Old South Baton Rouge, announced a few years ago, is waiting on financing.

http://theadvocate.com/news/2260339-123/housing-project-slated-to-begin.html

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Thanks for re-starting this thread Steve :thumbsup: Interesting to see what the pavillion will look like??

Looking forward seeing the Elysian finally get started...a lot of infil potential in the adjacent blocks...it's confusing what exactly are the boundries for Mid-city...the RR tracks??

Still awaiting word on the North Blvd residential project that promised to be tall enough to have nice views of the skyline to the west.

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Thanks for re-starting this thread Steve :thumbsup: Interesting to see what the pavillion will look like??

Looking forward seeing the Elysian finally get started...a lot of infil potential in the adjacent blocks...it's confusing what exactly are the boundries for Mid-city...the RR tracks??

Still awaiting word on the North Blvd residential project that promised to be tall enough to have nice views of the skyline to the west.

No problem, looking forward to seeing these developments move forward as well!!! :good:

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  • 3 weeks later...

Circa 1857 developers take on another Government St. project

BY CHAD CALDER

Advocate business writer

March 29, 2012

0 COMMENTS

Circa 1857’s Danny McGlynn and Dennis Hargroder have an agreement to acquire the title to and redevelop the Darensbourg building, a white, two-story building on Government street across from the Westmoreland Shopping Center.

The goal is to have the bottom floor ready for a retail tenant and the second floor home to Ritter Maher Architects, which will oversee the design of the project.

McGlynn, who has spearheaded a number of redevelopment projects in downtown and Midcity, said the goal is to try to transform the block. He also owns the adjacent buildings now home to Denicola’s, The Atomic Pop Shop and the former bicycle shop and has named the venture Model Block LLC.

McGlynn said he would work with the Mid-City Redevelopment Alliance within its Government Street Master Action Plan and with the Center for Planning Excellence to bring the block to life in a way that is consistent with the findings of the various public design workshops that have been held for the busy traffic corridor.

Government is often cited as a street with potential as a pedestrian-friendly, retail destination of local shops and boutiques, akin to New Orleans’ Magazine Street.

McGlynn said it remains to be seen whether the redevelopment will include just landscaping or outdoor seating or any other option.

“We’re prepared to do whatever they think needs to be done,” he said. “We’ll ask them how far and to what degree they want us to do something different.”

McGlynn said the plans call for about $1 million in redevelopment costs, though he said he would apply for façade improvement grants from the East Baton Rouge Redevelopment Authority.

He said bringing in Scott Ritter and Steve Maher puts a team of talented architects in charge of redeveloping an important building overlooking their alma mater. Also, he noted, owner-occupied projects are the only ones that can get funding in the current economic climate.

He said he hopes to have the redevelopment of the 9,000-square-foot building complete and occupied by the fall of 2013.

McGlynn said the idea started about five or six years ago, when he, Hargroder and friend and business partner Jon McArthur thought it would be a good idea to approach redevelopment on a block-by-block, not building-by-building, basis, when possible.

It’s what they managed to accomplish around Circa 1857 about a decade ago, turning a quiet, abandoned corner of Government and South 19th streets into an artisan’s market with a café and the occasional jazz brunch.

McArthur passed away about a year ago, and they don’t have the entire block, but McGlynn said he and Hargroder are hoping Model Block can help continue the slow transformation of Government Street.

http://theadvocate.com/news/2437055-123/team-looks-to-redevelop-building

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