The year behind us included several huge announcements for developments
in Baton Rouge, and all of these projects look to improve the urban core
of the city in 2014. We take a look at the stats on some of these
projects below:
MATHERNE'S COMING TO DOWNTOWN
OK, so a new grocery store wouldn't seem like a big deal to many. But
for downtown Baton Rouge—technically considered a food desert and
currently trying to beef up its residential numbers—news that Matherne's Supermarket is coming to the former Capitol One building
on Third Street is exciting. Besides a convenience store in Spanish
Town and on the corner of Third and Florida streets, there aren't any
full-service grocery stores downtown. This supermarket will provide
plenty of amenities as downtown tries to encourage more residential
development.
Dubbed 440 on Third, the building itself will also feature 65
residential units as well as retail and commercial space. Construction
on the grocery store is underway with it set to open in fall 2014.
A POSSIBLE TRAIN STATION?
What are those, even? Train stations, like, in Europe? In December, Entergy donated a six-acre site
on Government Street worth $1.75 million to the East Baton Rouge
Redevelopment Authority. The site—long unused and fenced in—sits along
the railroad tracks, and while there is no word yet on whether the old
brick buildings will be renovated or demolished, the RDA mentioned it as
a possible future site of a passenger train station that would link
Baton Rouge to New Orleans.
For now, construction is set to start summer 2014 for some type of
mixed-use development the RDA hopes will anchor the “warehouse district”
that connects downtown and Mid City.
That area has seen quite a bit of activity, with mixed-income housing
developments recently completed on Spanish Town Road and two corners of
North and 19th streets. Earlier in 2013, several blocks east of I-110
were added to the Downtown Development District in an effort to spur
more growth in the sparsely populated edge of downtown.
THE WATER INSTITUTE COMETH
Probably the biggest announcement of the year for Baton Rouge, the Water
Institute involves the city, the state, LSU and several other entities
to create a research campus just south of the Mississippi River Bridge.
It brings a lot of positive opportunities with it:
It embraces the river: As we've discussed before,
Baton Rouge has long been a city next to a river that it rarely sees as
an asset to quality of life. Renovating the old city dock and turning
it into a $20 million Education and Research Center will bring more life
to the riverfront. Check out a rendering of the structure here.
It will help revitalize Old South: The campus, which
will eventually house several public and private entities, is just one
of several developments in the works along the Nicholson Drive corridor
between downtown and LSU. The increased activity and development could
help spur improvements to the poorer neighborhoods to the east of that
section of Nicholson Drive, where groups like Center for Planning
Excellence and the Arts Council are already working on revitalization efforts.
It will encourage public transit: The renderings for the Water Institute campus include images of a tram system along Nicholson Drive—so it must be finally happening!
Local leaders have long been looking for ways to connect the university
to downtown, and light rail between the two areas along Nicholson was
always the most obvious option. With so much high-density development
along this route in the works, some type of regular public transit would
not just be a plus—it will be paramount to making the whole thing work.
Furthermore, with the campus expected to create 20,000 to 45,000 jobs in coastal water management over the next decade (Read about that economic impact here.),
it's likely that many of those employees will be traveling up and down
our super region constantly. Maybe this will add more steam to the idea
of commuter rail linking Baton Rouge and New Orleans—an idea both cities
still want.
MORE TO WATCH
BREC's Medical Loop: A portion of the Capital Area Pathways Project
next to the Mall of Louisiana was completed this year, and while BREC
works on grants to continue construction on the biking and walking path,
LSU has already approved leasing some land at Pennington Biomedical Research Center to extend the path even further. See a map of the conceptual plan here.
IBM comes to downtown: Construction is already underway at this new $55 million complex downtown,
which is part of a mixed-use development that will include commercial
and retail space and luxury apartments. This development on its own
would have been the big game changer for 2013 had the Water Institute
announcement not come just months later. Still, paired together, the
future looks busy and bright for Baton Rouge.
Image above via the Water Institute of the Gulf's early concept designs.
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