nquint1

This bothers me every time I go in there.

Saw that the new band hall is under construction and realized I hadn't seen a rendering of it. Found this on The Advocate's website from back in April. It's projected to open in early 2012. Article from The Advocate The area where the Choppin Annex will go has been fenced off. Construction on the parking garage on Raphael Semmes Rd will begin before the year is over. It will be funny if it's finished before the Union.

From Ask the Advocate: “This project will extend the levee bike path from Skip Bertman Drive to Farr Park,” wrote Pete Newkirk, director of the East Baton Rouge Parish Department of Public Works. “There is a $300,000 local match in addition to $980,000 in federal monies for this project. Plans have been completed; bids were just received by the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development and are presently being reviewed. We anticipate construction on this project to start within the next 60 days.”

There's a sign up on Nicholson for a residential development called Coterie Row. It's going in across from the old Prince Murat site. Looks like they'll be filling in the rest of that block with detached condos. Here's the website but there's not much info available yet.

The poll in the Business Report today said, "Would you go to a movie theater in downtown Baton Rouge?" I can't see how a movie theater downtown wouldn't be a big waste of money. Baton Rouge is already over saturated with movie theaters. The only way I could see it working is if they open something unique, and at this point it seems the only thing Baton Rouge is missing is an IMAX/IMAX 3D theater that shows feature films. It would be kind of funny to have two IMAX theaters downtown, but it would definitely draw people to the area who might go elsewhere to watch a movie.

I noticed in that rendering it says "exit only gate". I guess this means it will be a gated community. While I applaud them for connecting Whitehaven to South Lakeshore/Stanford, it does absolutely no good if the street is gated.

The rain finally stopped enough for me to walk over there and have a peek. They've gutted all the kitchens and bathrooms, but so far have left all the walls in place. The building is bigger than I thought with four one-bedroom and four two-bedroom units. One of the units on the second floor has a great view of downtown. I wish i had a camera to take a photo of it. Seems like a good time for them to do this with all the attention North Blvd has been and is about to receive.

Yep, that's the one. It looks a lot different right now because they've ripped up all the landscaping except for the palm tree on the corner. My curiosity is starting to get the better of me, and I think I'm going to walk over there and try to peek around. I'll let you know if I do.

Wasn't sure where to put this. The apartment building on North Blvd known as The Prince has been undergoing renovations for a few weeks now. It's the building with the curved windows. It's good to see the landlord investing some money in this place to keep it looking nice. People always seem to remember this building. I hope they aren't converting it into offices.

I sent in that question to Ask The Advocate, so be on the lookout for an answer

It gets a little bumpy once you reach downtown due to the concrete pavers, but it's really nice. It's amazing that Baton Rouge hasn't taken advantage of this. Hopefully the River District will.

I rode my bike along the levee from downtown to LSU tonight. I was amazed at how many people were out there. Good to know people are taking advantage of this. When are they supposed to start construction on the extension?

I suppose I should post this on another board, but I really wish Sam's Club would have decided to open up in one of the empty department stores at Cortana mall. I think it would have really helped out the mall.

Nothing right now, but I think Menchie's will open a location in the old Foot locker. http://menchies.com/locations.php#la

Let's hope Bob Dean doesn't buy it. Then it'll never be developed

i wondered what was going on with the staybridge suites

I heard today that the amphitheater at the end of third st is being scrapped. They've already begun designing something else for that site. The amphitheater will become part of Alive

I think that's a great idea and they need to make Laurel St. 2-way while they're at it. There's an area of land that was recently fenced off in this area. It's bordered by St. Louis, St. Phillip and Mayflower. Anyone know what's going on? I don't think there were any existing buildings. I'm sure you can see into it from I10, but they put screens on the fence so you couldn't see into it from the street level.

New 'Live Oak Lounge' to start opening process of renovated portions of Student Union The Live Oak Lounge on the first floor of the Union will be completed by the end of the week and will be opened Monday said Ken Bueche, associate director of the Union. The Lounge features three tiers of chairs, tables and couches facing three retractable projectors that will display movies or TV programming. There are also two large flat-screen plasma TVs for seats in the lounge that don't have a clear view of the projector screens. The area also features wireless Internet and power outlets for students to use with their laptops, Bueche said. http://www.lsureveille.com/news/new-live-o...union-1.1776471 It's good to finally see some progress.

Good location. I know that the Cane's next door is one of their busiest locations.

I noticed a sign on the old service station next to Calandro's on Govt. It says Little Caesar's coming soon. I didn't even know Little Caesar's was still in business

This will definitely be interesting. While I'm all for keeping Spanish Town historic, they are about to build a tall state building right across the street from this property.

The design looks really good. They are leaving most of Galvez plaza out of the plans. They didn't say exactly why but I think it's because some of the money for this project was tied into the bond proposal. They said they've got a plan for Galvez Plaza although they didn't show it. They're adding about an acre of land to this area just by reconfiguring the streets and expanding some sidewalks! North Blvd from River Rd to Fith will only have one lane of traffic each way. The Hebe sculpture will be moved closer to Forth St and a plaza will be created there. The other side of Forth will feature an information booth where the left turn lane is now. The confederate soldier statue will be moved to the old state capitol grounds. There will be a new beacon plaza created where the confederate soldier was. The beacon will have 2 TV screens to show various events (they mentioned lsu and southern sporting events). The beacon will have a light on the top of it that they'll turn on whenever there's an event downtown in the space. There will be some water around the fountain like what's at the shaw center. On the west side of the beacon will be seating. On the east side they're creating a sunken lawn with a pavilion at the end. It'll have some cafe seating around the edge and a "light canopy". It looks like a really neat feature. A big thing they talked about with Galvez plaza is how right now there are a lot of obstacles when getting around the space. They're removing the retaining wall behind the bus stop and putting in grass so people can walk through that space. The bus stop will be redesigned so that people can walk through there easier too. They're also making the whole space curbless so it will be easier to get from the plaza to Third St. There's a lot more to talk about, but I'll leave it at that for now. They have some info on downtownbatonrouge.org. I'd be happy to answer any questions I can.

North Boulevard Town Square: Public Open House When: Thursday, May 28, 2009 Where: Old State Capitol Time: 5:30 - 7:30 p.m. Design Team: BROWN + DANOS landdesign / Joseph Furr Design Studio Joint Venture The design team will present a PowerPoint presentation then transition into an open house forum; where the team will be available to address individual feedback. I'll definitely be there to see what the design looks like.

There's a great view of the bridge from inside that library