BATON ROUGE | and environs

[fla_tiger]

Like many others, Baton Rouge is a city with several business districts. CBD (Central Business District) is a term widely used in Louisiana, basically the downtown district. Other groups of midrises are located in the southern reaches of the city including Tiger Town/North Gate, north of LSU, dating from the 50's and now showing a comeback with many new condominium projects, South Gate, a newer district south of the campus, CitiPlace, and Towne Center near the I-10/I-12 split . In the southeastern areas are United Plaza stretching along Essen between I-10 and I-12, and other office and medical districts along Essen Lane, Bluebonnet Blvd, and Seigen Lane adjacent to I-10, and along Perkins Road connecting them. Sherwood Corporate is farther east along Sherwood Forest south of I-12. On the north side, opposite Metro Airport, the new Harding Place development is underway. Here are a few photos of Louisiana's Capitol City. As they become available I will add more.





Downtown Baton Rouge is a blend of old and new

On the northern limits of the CBD lies the State governmental complex, including:

The Louisiana Capitol, a 34-story, 450-foot Alabama limestone-clad skyscraper, is an excellent example of a greatly simplified classicism with Art Deco details that were in vogue for monumental buildings in the late 1920s. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it is America's tallest capitol building.







now illuminated, it can be seen at a distance of 20 miles on beautiful Louisiana evenings.



On the Capitol grounds, the historic Arsenal Museum , originally a Powder magazine, listed in the National Register of Historic Places, is one of Baton Rouge's oldest landmarks. Originally constructed in the 1830's, this site on the river was of particular military importance to early settlers as well as Federal and Confederate troops.




The Pentagon Barracks, built in 1823-24 to house U.S.Army Troups charged with defending Baton Rouge. The barracks housed many famous military men, including President Zachary Taylor. It was the original site of Louisiana State University.



The historic art deco style Capitol Annex Building



Capitol Park:
The state has embarked on a visionary redevelopment plan for the area around the State Capitol. So far, a series of four new state government office buildings have arisen following the elegant principle at the heart of the Capitol Park design, use the architectural language and sculptural ornamentation of the Capitol Building itself as the major source of stylistic references for all new development within the complex.

LaSalle Building





Claiborne Building



Galvez Building

now complete



Iberville Building



under construction





Bienville Building



rendering



under construction

proposed LPSC building



Louisiana State Museum



looking north across Capitol Lake can be seen:

The Louisiana Circuit Courts Building



The DPC Center




On the southern limits of the CBD lies the City/Parish governmental complex. Also in this area is the historic Old State Capitol. Located high on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River, the Old State Capitol was completed in 1849.



The Old State Capitol, Central Library and Governmental Building



EBR Parish Court House



EBR Parish Governmental Building



Centroplex Public Library



LASM, Louisiana Arts and Science Museum,
formerly the Yahoo & Mississippi Valley Depot







Irene Pennington Planetarium
and ExxonMobil Space Theatre



The RiverCenter and Arena





Sheraton Hotel, Atrium at Riverside and Belle of Baton Rouge Casino





The Louisiana Memorial Plaza, USS Kidd and Maritime Museum



Plaza d'Italia



Public Trolley Stop



the award winning Shaw Center and Manship Theatre for the Peforming Arts



with Mississippi River Bridge, Delta Queen and USS Kidd in background







its entrance plaza with "dancing" waters



one of many new clubs in renovated structures near the Shaw



LSU Museum of Art, Arts Block, formerly old Auto Hotel Building





In a compact area between the two governmental complexes are some of the CBD's buildngs:

Former La National Bank Building, now an office building



Chase Bank Tower South and Albemarle North



One American Place Tower





Russell Long Federal Building and US Court House



the 36 floor RiverPlace condominiums, construction scheduled to begin later this year



Hilton Capitol Center, formerly Jack Tar and Capitol House Hotel, rendering



under renovation





opened 2007



I City Plaza



and proposed II City Plaza



under construction



now finished



LaCaps new headquarters



under construction



and the very popular 13th Gate Haunted House, named best in nation



Street Scenes:
4th Street, north axis toward State Capitol



farther north along 4th street





4th Steet's south axis, Judicial Courthouse, rendering



under construction, nearing completion this fall



along Laurel Street near the river



along Florida Street



City Club Building on North Boulevard, constructed in 1894 as the Main Post Office, became City Hall in 1935.



Farther east along North Boulevard


Lafayette Street's historic Lafayette Gallery



and near Water Tower Park



St. Louis Street south of the Parish Courthouse



along Government Street



GEAUX TIGERS

[fla_tiger]

Here is a breakdown of projects in the Baton Rouge region.
(please bear with me, as all images are recoded, thx for nothing....imagecave...*&$#!)



First listed are projects in the Downtown (CBD) District.

DOWNTOWN (CBD)

PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTOR INVESTMENT

PROPOSED Projects in Planning or Under Construction
indicating date of completion and estimate of costs....

Iberville Building
Completion 2006 30.0 Million

Bienville Building
Completion 2006 30.0 Million

Shaw Center-LSU Museum
and Performing Arts Center
Phase One 2005/Phase Two 2007 70.0 Million

Third Street Garage
Completion 2005 7.6 Million

State Museum
Completion 2005 13.5 Million

State Visitors Center
Completion 2005 2.7 Million

RiverPlace Condominiums
Commence Construction 2005 50.0 Million

St. James Episcopal Expansion
Completion 2005 8.0 Million

City Plaza Expansion
Planning Phase 34.0 Million

DeSoto Park
Planning Phase 11.0 Million

Levee Bike Path
Completion 2005 2.0 Million

Gordon’s Jewelers Building
Planning 2005 Budget N/A

Hilton Capitol Center
Completion 2006 50.0 Million

Jumonville Building
Planning Phase Budget N/A

334 Third Street Renovation
Completion 2005 Budget N/A

200 Government Street Renovation
Completion 2005 Budget N/A

Louisiana Theater Building
Commence Construction 2005 Budget N/A

19th Judicial Courthouse Planning Phase 48.0 Million

River Center Area Garage Planning Phase 13.0 Million

LACAP Building Planning Phase 11.0 Million

Downtown Visitors’ Amenity Plan
Design Phase 3.0 Million

Private Sector Initiatives 5.0 Million

SUB-TOTAL 388.0 Million

Downtown is also being considered for the location of the City’s new library and hub for CATS Bus Rapid Transit 50.0 Million

COMPLETED PROJECTS

Baton Rouge River Center Expansion 30.0 Million

YMCA Expansion .5 Million

Richoux’s Building Renovations 1.0 Million

KEANS the Cleaners Budget N/A

SOGO Live Budget N/A

Piccadilly Building Budget N/A

Jackson Building Budget N/A

LASM Planetarium & Space Theatre 18.0 Million

Beauregard Gallery Budget N/A

LotteryCorporation Building 6.0 Million

St. Joseph Street-Cossas Antiquas
Residential Renovations Budget N/A

Golden Dome Budget N/A

Casino Rouge Capitol Bistro/Pavilion 4.4 Million

Remson & Haley Architects Budget N/A

E. Eric Guirard Building Budget N/A

Fuqua Building 1.0 Million

Baton Rouge Bar Association Budget N/A

Avoyelles Café Commercial Renovation Budget N/A

George Jenne Custom Builders
Residential Renovations Budget N/A

631 Main Street Building Budget N/A

Varsity Shop Budget N/A

Baton Rouge Sheraton Convention Hotel 20.0 Million

Baton Rouge Landing-The City Dock 1.6 Million
The dock is utilized monthly by the following riverboat vessels:
The American Queen
The Delta Queen
The Mississippi Queen

Riverfront Development Plan Phase One 3.2 Million

Federal Court House 20.0 Million

Postal Encoding Center 1.5 Million

CAPITAL PARK COMPLEX:

LaSalle Building 32.0 Million

LaSalle Garage 14.7 Million

First Circuit Court of Appeals 6.5 Million

House Committee Room
Addition Data Processing Center 9.5 Million

Central Plant 8.2 Million

State Library Renovation and Expansion 6.4 Million

Claiborne Building 60.0 Million

Galvez Garage 15.0 Million

Livingston Building 16.0 Million

Galvez Building 38.0 Million

Poydras Building 12.0 Million

City Club Renovation .75 Million

Old State Capitol Renovation
Center for Political and Governmental History 12.5 Million

City Court House 12.0 Million

Catfish Town Redevelopment 100.0 Million

Louisiana Casino Cruises, Inc. 70.0 Million

City Parish Credit Union .8 Million

USS KIDD Museum 12.5 Million

Old Governor’s Mansion 3.5 Million

First United Methodist addition & renovation 3.5 Million

First Baptist renovation 1.0 Million

St. Joseph’s Cathedral renovation 1.0 Million

First Presbyterian Dunham Chapel .75 Million

First Presbyterian Church Renovation 1.5 Million

First Presbyterian expansion 1.1 Million

Residential Development: 10.5 Million

River Palms (Renovation)
New Richmond Place Apartments (Renovation)
Capitol View Apartments (Renovation)
Catholic–Presbyterian Apartments Renovation
Lake Shore Place

Private Development Projects investment figures unavailable:

Belisle Building (Renovation)
Roumain Building (Renovation)
State National Life Building (Renovation)
Lyceum Dean (Renovation)
Dean Plaza (Renovation)
525 Florida Street (Renovation)
Doiron Building (Renovation)
St. Charles House Renovation
Petroleum Inc. Renovation
Pal Productions Renovation
Louisiana Home Builders Assoc. Renovation
Ryder Building Renovation
Baton Rouge Area Foundation Renovation
Fonville Building Renovation
Tabby’-State National Life Building

TOTAL COMPLETED PROJECTS 556.9 Million

TOTAL PROJECTS 995.7 Million

Iberville Building



Bienville Building



La Salle Building



Galvez Building



Poydras Building



RiverPlace Condomimiums



Hilton Capitol Center



Louisiana Theatre

[IMG]

Third Street Garage/Retail

[IMG]http://usera.imagecave.com/fla_tiger/btr-cbd/third

[fla_tiger]

In the southeastern sections of the City are located several office and medical parks.

Perkins Rowe

A city in the suburbs

Tommy Spinosa's Perkins Rowe is the biggest, boldest and perhaps best project to hit Baton Rouge real estate in decades.

Out where Perkins Road hits Bluebonnet Boulevard, beside Jimmy Swaggart's concrete empire, sits almost 60 prime acres. The site is a gem of development potential, and Tommy Spinosa's JTS Interests owns it.

Spinosa has broken ground on the most ambitious mixed-use project in Baton Rouge: the $350 million Perkins Rowe. Its 400,000 square feet of retail will be as big as a third of the Mall of Louisiana. At 350,000 square feet, the project will have almost as much office space as downtown's Bank One towers. And its 800 residential units will make it larger than any recent multi-family project except Southgate.

Perkins Rowe is scheduled to be up and running in mid-2006.









http://www.perkinsrowe.com

[LouisianaRush]

Great job man. Keep up the good work.

[fla_tiger]

The Preserve at Longwood Plantation

Plans are in the works to build a 330-unit apartment complex at Nicholson Drive and Gardere Lane. The Preserve at Longwood Plantation will feature a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom units being developed by Cortlandt Development, an Atlanta company. Plans are to price the units between $700 and $1,200 a month.

Cortlandt, which has developed apartments across the Southeast, had been looking at moving into Baton Rouge before Hurricane Katrina. DeFrancis said the company was interested in the growth that has happened along Nicholson Drive since the Bluebonnet Boulevard extension was completed. “There’s so much growth coming out of downtown and the university,” DeFrancis said. “We think there’s going to be a filling in of all the land between Bluebonnet and the university.”

Plans are to begin construction in August and have the complex open in spring 2007.

[fla_tiger]

also in the southeastern area is United Plaza office park:

the Shaw Plaza Building



III United Plaza



IV United Plaza



Turner Industries Building

[CTroyMathis]

RiverPlace looks good. Thanks for starting this thread.

[urban_encounter]

Originally Posted by fla_tiger

RiverPlace Condomimiums

Ironically that looks like a similar proposal here in Sacramento.


Capitol Grand Tower
38-stories, 415 feet
http://www.capitolgrandtower.com


Or maybe it's just me?

[Jasonhouse]

Yes, it's just you.

[fla_tiger]

56-unit condo complex going up on N. Harrell's Ferry

Advocate business staff

A new 56-unit condominium complex is being planned for the intersection of North Harrell's Ferry and West Boardwalk.
Construction on Baywood Quarters is set to start early next year, with the first three "clusters" of units opening by June or July, said Barry DeLozier, a senior vice president with Signature Homes. Signature, based in Birmingham, Ala., has built several condo developments across Baton Rouge, including Carriage Place on Coursey Boulevard and The Plantation on Perkins Road.

Baywood Quarters will have a village feel, with multiple units attached together in clusters. Each unit will feature a private courtyard and a two-car garage. Units will range in size from 1,500 to 2,000 square feet and will sell from the "mid-$180,000s to the low $200,000s."

DeLozier said the village feel will differentiate Baywood Quarters from the other condominium developments. "These condos will have brick and stucco with copper accents," he said. "They're very eclectic."

Although Signature had been planning Baywood Quarters for a while, the demand for housing brought on by Hurricane Katrina evacuees caused the company to speed up construction. "We want to push construction along, because we know that people will want these units," DeLozier said.

Athough I have not seen a rendering, here is a link to another smaller Signature project in Baton Rouge.

http://www.e-signaturehomes.com/plantation/

[fla_tiger]

Developers reveal more on plans for Historic Kress building

By CHAD CALDER
ccalder@theadvocate.com
Advocate business writer

The duo that bought the historic Kress/Welsh & Levy buildings provided some more details Tuesday on their plans to redevelop the downtown property. Standing in front of the building at Third and Main Streets, Brace Godfrey Jr., Claude “Buddy” Leach and a handful of other local officials talked about the impact of residential development in the central business district, plans for adding an eight-story tower and bringing Southern University students downtown.

The plan to convert the historic, former five-and-dime store into a residential and office development with some retail space was first announced in September, after Godfrey announced he had a purchase agreement on the property.

Godfrey and Leach expect to break ground on the roughly $15 million project by next summer and finish about two years from now, bringing between 40 and 50 residential units downtown.

Godfrey said that while the goal is to cater to young professionals, he has gotten calls from many older, longtime Baton Rougeans who want to move back to the river.

As for first-floor, retail development, Godfrey said he and Leach will look for tenants providing goods and services that are not yet available downtown. While he wouldn’t go into specifics, he said downtown is still lacking a few necessary components of urban life.

Architect Norman Chenevert said Tuesday that his team will consider adding a tower to the building’s existing 60,000 square feet.

Godfrey said that while preservation requirements do not allow the tower to mimic the existing exterior, it would be designed in a way that was complementary to it.

The project will take advantage of newly expanded state historic tax credits and all work will meet the necessary guidelines set by preservationists.

Davis Rhorer, executive director of the Downtown Development District, compared the project’s residential component to Kress’ arrival at the turn of the century. Then, downtown Baton Rouge needed a five-and-dime store to begin its development. Today, downtown needs additional residential capacity to seal it’s redevelopment.

“Obviously, the residential component, if it can be worked out, will be a tremendous opportunity” to help re-populate downtown, Rhorer said.

Leach and Godfrey also have plans to honor the building’s civil rights legacy. Several Southern University students were arrested after they sat down at the lunch counter to protest segregation in the 1960s. The case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Godfrey said it has not yet been decided whether the element commemorating the lunch counter sit-in will be functional or something more like a memorial, behind glass.

Leach hailed the Southern students for taking a stand to their own personal detriment and said Baton Rouge needs to honor its civil rights leaders. He said he’d like to see the property developed in such a way that it attracts Southern University students downtown in their free time. Godfrey said he and Leach are looking at a number of other downtown properties, though he would not provide specifics.

[OKCgasm]

Wow. Baton Rouge is awesome. Good job, guys.

[fla_tiger]

B.R.'s hurricane housing boom continues in October

Advocate business staff

The post-Hurricane Katrina housing boom carried over into October, as early numbers show a 55 percent increase over the number of homes sold a year earlier. There were 1,295 houses sold in the eight-parish area, according to figures from the Greater Baton Rouge Association of Realtor's Multiple Listing Service. That compares to 712 houses sold in October 2004.

The MLS, which is updated hourly, is a database of home listings by local agents representing about 85 percent of the houses on the market. Officials with the Realtor's association say the sales figures become more accurate as the month moves along, because some transactions aren't filed immediately.

The October sales are a slight drop-off from September, when the estimated 240,000 people who moved into Baton Rouge ahead of Hurricane Katrina took over the housing market. During September, 1,815 houses were sold at an average price of $187,963.

Reflecting the increased demand, the average sale price for a home in the metro area was $175,024 in October, a 13 percent increase over the average for the first six months of the year.

[fla_tiger]

Ground broken for press plant -- New site will print Advocate
The Baton Rouge Advocate

Capital City Press, the publisher of The Advocate, broke ground Tuesday on a $60 million printing facility off of Siegen Lane, which will improve the readability of the paper, the sharpness of photos and allow for more zoned editions targeted to specific areas.

"This is truly a milestone in the history of Capital City Press," President and Chief Executive Officer Richard Manship said. "The new facility will be a quantum leap in printing, putting together and distribution of the newspaper."

The 120,000-square-foot plant, which will open in August-September 2006, will be at 10715 Reiger Road, between Interstate 10 and the Super Target store. The project is being financed through a revolving line of credit with JP Morgan Chase/Bank One.

"This will be one of the finest printing facilities in the world, with one of the finest presses in the world," said Douglas Manship Jr., publisher of The Advocate.

He said the new seven-tower press, made by MAN Roland of Germany, will allow the newspaper to print three times faster and with more color. The increased speed means subscribers will get The Advocate earlier.

"You've got people that go to work at 6 a.m.," he said. "If they don't get the paper before they go to work, you're going to lose that reader."

The press also will give the newspaper more flexibility to zone editions, for example, it already produces editions targeted specifically to Ascension Parish and the Acadiana area.

The Advocate is printed on two, 12-unit 1950s-era letterpresses at a plant on Bluebonnet Boulevard, across from the Mall of Louisiana. The Bluebonnet plant cannot accomodate a new press.

The new press will take The Advocate from a 55-inch web to a 50-inch web, which means pages will decrease slightly in overall size. This is in line with other newspapers, which have moved over the past several years to the 50-inch web that has become a standard to which advertisers are accustomed.

The smaller Advocate will allow Capital City Press to reduce costs on paper, ink and other supplies.

Despite the new size of the newspaper, Douglas Manship Jr. said the change will not affect the quality of news and information published. He also said the recent redesign of the newspaper to a cleaner, more-modern look was done with the new press and 50-inch web size in mind and that few design changes will be required.

The new press is set to arrive in Baton Rouge on April 23.

[alon504]

One word to describe Baton Rouge: T-R-A-F-F-I-C.

[fla_tiger]

Baton Rouge area home sales sizzle

By TIMOTHY BOONE
Advocate business writer
Published: Jan 17, 2006

The estimated 240,000 Hurricane Katrina evacuees who moved into metro Baton Rouge caused home sales to surge by 28.5 percent to 11,291 sold in 2005. And local Realtors said Monday the demand for houses should remain strong through 2006. “On Jan. 2, my phone didn’t stop ringing,” said Chad Rizzutto, broker-owner of Diamond Realty Inc. in Greenwell Springs. “It hasn’t slowed up since.” Rizzutto said in the past few weeks, people who lost homes to Katrina have started to receive their insurance settlements.
“Now that they’re getting their money, these people have the cash to make a down payment and get a home,” he said.

The immediate demand for houses caused sales to spike in September 172 percent above previous-year levels, and drained much of the inventory. The market leveled off toward the end of 2005 with gains over 2004 settling in the 20 percent range, as people either returned to metro New Orleans or settled into apartments or hotels. Inventory started to rebuild.

The dollar volume of 2005 sales hit $1.86 billion, up 47 percent from the $1.26 billion volume in 2004. The average sale price of a home was $164,677, an increase of 14 percent over the $143,963 average recorded in 2004. The figures come from the Greater Baton Rouge Association of Realtors’ Multiple Listing Service and are as of Monday. In the past few weeks, Rizzutto and Mark Akchin, an agent with Keller Williams Realty in Baton Rouge, said they’ve seen an increased demand for homes in the $200,000-and-below range. “The sales aren’t as frantic as they were in the fall, and there’s no sense of urgency,” Akchin said. “These people are taking a little bit more time to work out a deal that’s best for their family.” Akchin said there’s no particular area where property is selling best. “It’s more about where people are finding jobs or where their children are getting into school,” he said. “If they found work downtown, they’re moving into West Baton Rouge. If they got a service-industry job along Bluebonnet Boulevard or Siegen Lane, they’re looking at Sherwood or Broadmoor.” Rizzutto said the rural areas of East Baton Rouge are also popular. “I specialize in the Central area and houses here are selling very quick,” he said. “The average length of time one of these houses is on the market is 14 days.”

Hank Saurage IV, broker/owner of Saurage Realtors in Baton Rouge, said West Baton Rouge and Ascension are the two parishes that are likely to see the most activity this year.

West Baton Rouge is popular because of the prices. “You can see a house on the ground there for under $160,000,” he said. Ascension remains popular because of the schools and the proximity to New Orleans, Saurage said.
There were 2,044 houses sold in Ascension Parish last year, a nearly 40 percent increase over 2004, according to the Realtors. The average sale price was $182,282, up almost 10 percent over the year before.

The largest number of houses were sold in East Baton Rouge Parish. There were 6,916 homes sold in East Baton Rouge during the year, an increase of almost 27 percent over 2004. The total sales volume was $1.16 billion.

In Livingston Parish, annual sales increased by nearly 25 percent to 1,690 houses sold. The average sales price was $136,728, compared with $121,808 for 2004.

In the other category, which includes West Baton Rouge, East and West Feliciana, Iberville and Pointe Coupee parishes, there were 641 houses sold. That was a 25.4 percent increase over 2004, when 511 homes were sold by Realtors in those areas.

Before Katrina, Saurage said, projections indicated the local housing market would level off at the end of 2005, because of the lack of large-scale hiring.
“It’s a totally different environment now,” he said. “What’s still unknown is how many residents will we keep here permanently and what will be the makeup of the people who do stay — who are they going to be? Where are they going to fit in the work force?’ Rizzutto said he expects home sales will remain strong until the end of 2006. “I feel for sure this activity will carry us through to the spring and summer,” he said. “And those are our two biggest times of the year, when school is out.”

[fla_tiger]

Commercial Properties Development Corp. will build a downtown tower that will house Regions Bank's local headquarters, a parking garage for downtown and new housing. Called Laurel Towers/Regions Financial Centre, the tower will top out at about 240 feet and 19 stories. The building is slated for the corner of Laurel and Fifth streets, now the site of a parking lot. For an undisclosed sum, Commercial Properties is buying the New Richmond Apartments, which will be demolished for the development. The building will include 640 parking spaces occupying 10 floors. Regions will have a branch on the main floor and occupy two floors. And there will be about 28 new condominiums in the project.

heres a rendering of the Laurel Towers/Regions Financial Centre

[fla_tiger]

Amedisys spending millions on Baton Rouge headquarters for 200

Amedisys is ready to renovate a former big box store on Sherwood Forest its new corporate headquarters. The company has filed for a $12 million building permit to remodel 16,726 square feet for an office consolidation. A media contact for Amedisys wan not available for more information. Last year, the company paid $4.2 million for the 16.3-acre site that includes the building. At that time, the home health care company targeted the fourth quarter of 2006 for the renovation. Amedisys leases buildings for its headquarters, which houses about 200 employees.

[fla_tiger]

Amphitheater & Greenspace presented for downtown



New public greens could become a feature in downtown. Working for the state, designers Joey Furr, Sit Wong and Gary Dunn presented a plan this morning for the space now occupied by the A.Z. Young building. Located cater-corner to the state Capitol, the old building is set to be razed after two new state buildings open in downtown this summer. The designers propose a greenspace with an amphitheater for the land. The greenspace would extend to the LaSalle Building, which is on Third Street. Lafayette Street, which curves through the space, could be closed for festivals.

[LouisianaRush]

Wow that is cool. Thanx for the info man. Keep it up!