buckett5425

Please, save BR from the disaster that is Johnny Rockets. Ive eaten at one in San Marcos, it was gross, the service was horrible, and the concept is nothing new. We already have cheeburgercheeburger, its the same thing, just worse and isnt nice enough to be in PR.

I have two friends that work at Holden & Associates and they said the project is still a 100% go. But it would be much more comforting if the economy got better, and then I think we would see some real work getting done.

I dont really consider that area spanish town, even though i know the grid came from the original plan. The land he is going to develop was part of the existing original grid of spanish town, and all the old houses were bulldozed decades ago, its simply green pasture with old roads. It is very similar to the cleared lots near the refineries. I do welcome development of that area though, and it will be interesting to see how it turns out.

Everyone come visit me at Portobello's sometime, it's my part time job, haha

Everyone come visit me at Portobello's sometime, it's my part time job, haha

Some snow pics from around town and LSU!

Ive got an update for yall.... Tonight LSU had another firm crawl, we went to all of the downtown firms. We visited Holden and Associates and I got some info on River Park. Despite the economy, the project is still going to continue, and they have a lot of national interest in it. Holden did tell me though, that he had signed a confidentiality agreement, but that the development was going to have a lot of surprises that haven't been released, the casino is playing a bigger part in the development then any of us know, and that construction on the underpass is about to begin. I just found this news exciting, because i really thought this project was just going to be lost. On another note, the interior of Grace and Hebert was amazing and the reason the outside remained the same was for a tax credit, but in five years it expires, and they plan to dress up the out side then.

I see Holden repackaging this proposition, and putting it on the next ballot. So I dont think all hope is lost...

Robert Zwirn is my studio professor this semester, hes a hoot. I agree with him whole heartedly that these TND's really are just strip malls. They are better then what we have been building for the past 40 years, but they still arnt a solution to our problem...

This is going to be a huge project. I had a friend who owned a house on Oregon Street, and they bought up his house and all of his neighbors. So I'm guessing this thing is going to be on both sides of Nicholson?

I've been meaning to take a picture of this building, and ask yall if you knew what it was all about. But, now I know, hahaha. I think it looks great!

When I read that, i thought, "wow, canes is very loyal to baton rouge....."

So I dont believe we are getting a new road at Citiplace. It noticed on my way to work this afternoon that it looks like they are using it as a dumping ground for hurricane debris.

I saw that also, and I'm curious to see what they are up to.

I just moved to Spanish Town and I thought you guys would like to see the veiw I get when I wake up every morning.

I agree, the renderings were kind of wack. I dint think they are the actual renderings though, and are the "get the ball rolling" renderings. Just to get the idea out to the public. I really think they would go more vertical too, which is another reason why I hope these renderings arnt more official. Regardless though, I am really excited.

I think a submarine would be cool. But as for a large ship, like an aircraft carrier, i dont think it can make it under the bridges, haha.

I can, look at Mobile, a city with a metro of 600,000, and they have two Renesaince Hotels in downtown two blocks from eachother. Both with a large number of rooms

I'm thinking Renaissance.

I dont believe Arlington Creek will have a residential component. Here is a link to the developer's Website. There is an image on the page, but it won't load on my computer, maybe y'all will have more luck and can post it here. Also, if you click on the "property flyer" link, there is a rendering. I would guess this would be a rendering of the development, but who knows, could just be for marketing, but if it is a rendering, it looks like it will be the nicest "strip mall" in BR second to only Towne Center.

haha, yea, I wish I could sell it to them, but Im sure they are bound by the university to use the official logos. But maybe we can use the design for next years AIAS t-shirts. The building is Atkinson Hall, the architecture building. Its a drawing i did from first year. Its a free hand, abstract, two-point perspective.

I got bored today, so I played on photoshop to make a new avatar. But, its so small as avatar, that you cant read it, so I thought id post it on here.

ha ha, what a funny lady.... "...unique retail offerings like none other in the city." -If by "unique" she means gold chains and grills, then yes, Cortana is VERY unique. When looking at the store directory for Cortana, it has some great stores, and more stores then many malls in Louisiana. But when you visit the mall, you get a completely different feeling, that the mall is in decline, and has been for sometime. I actually drove by Cortana today while taking a long detour, and drove around the loop road. I am just amazed by the mall. I can only imagine what it must have been like to go there in the 70's. The mall itself is just massive and has some great architecture, and doesn't even feel like it belongs in baton rouge, more like Florida or something. The mall of LA doesn't even command such a presence. You can tell, that when Cortana was built, it was top of the line, in everything it could be, and yet, while the mall of LA is a very nice mall, it wasn't built to be the best a mall could be, just newer then Cortana. I just get this feeling when I'm around Cortana, that i don't get when around the mall of LA. Which is why i think i like Cortana as a whole, i feel like when i visit it, or that side of BR, for that matter, that I'm almost traveling back in time, to one of the great malls of the south, which is why it sucks that the mall is in the shape its in. The developers of Cortana are content. That place has long been paid for, and they have enough tenants to keep pulling probably quite a large profit for years to come. Only when they lose a huge share of those tenants(and i doubt they will, Cortana is still the shopping mecca for north BR, and its particular demographics) will the developers begin to redevelop the mall to bring it into the 21st century. Until then, Cortana will remain a 1970's monument to urban sprawl, cheep land, and the enclosed "maze" shopping mall. I honestly think i will regret the day Cortana is remodeled, because i feel we will be losing a huge architectural piece of our past.

If River Park gets built, and is successful, the Hollywood Casino Parking lot, i doubt, will remain a parking lot for long. I'm sure Hollywood at that time, would begin to develop the land some how, or just sell the land to River Park(I see this being likely, because we now know they will work together on projects, such as the RR under pass.) That land is simply to valuable to be a huge parking lot for long. So if the parking lot gets developed, River Park wouldn't seem so distant from downtown, and would be more integrated, and only separated from downtown by the Capitol Grounds, and Desoto park, which i believe, would then become the "central" location for downtown, holding more events and such, as a connection and middle ground between the CBD and River Park. I also believe, that River Park will be a catalyst for developing Desoto Park sooner, and finshing the levee walk all the way to the Hollywood.