richyb83

Thanks NCB ! Nice job as always ! I wish there was some way I could find some pics. with north-side views of the Museum .

Silly , if you ask me ? The Seminoles have no problems being affiliated with Florida State . They like the exposure !

Interesting point ! Baton Rouge airport is under-sized.Sounds like the same problem Austin had a few years back,til the old AFB became thier airport. Austin is coming out of San Antonio's shadows. That seems to Baton Rouge's problem being under New Orleans shadow. The Hurricane accelerated everything. There was talk of run-way expansion in the mid-90's ?? Plank Road to the east-side was to have a small-tunnel to go under the main runway. Have not heard anything about it recently. I know more parking garages are planned .

If you can NCB ? A possible pic. ? Go to: http://brgov.com/dept/ddd >Downtown events > La.State Museum Grand opening...... they have a nice side-shot with Capitol in the background The Museum also has a 5,000 sq.ft 3-story enclosed porch The New Orleans architects did a great job with only $11 mil. to work with !

New Louisiana State Museum grand opening on Wed.Feb.1st ; Located on Fourth Street and Spanish Town Rd. in the shadows of the State Capitol. 71,000sq.ft. 2 floors There's a 47-foot Louisiana shrimp boat,a cotton gin,Civil War submarine and other war memorabilia. Also exhibits on the Louisiana Purchase, and the state's Indian Mounds,among other displays. The museum will be a welcome new attraction for BR's emerging downtown scene,and a great asset for the rest of Louisiana too. A state treasure !

Wow NCB, you are on the ball !!! How did you find that ? What made you go there ? Yes,this is in BR , I ran across this almost a year ago . I talked to Trahan about it ; they actually own that small tract of land at the corner of River Rd./North Blvd.; if you notice(it's blurry) to the right is the Old State Capitol ; behind it is the Shaw Arts Center ; to the left is the Hilton Capitol Center(Old Heidelberg). It seems like it's just in the "Vision" stage.Nothing more. Not sure how serious they are about it ? I have heard nothing more about this ! I know a few weeks back Trahan Architects purchased the old Jumonville warehouse nearby,across from the Hilton. Trahan plans to retain the warehouse's existing brick exterior but expand the structure vertically. It would contain retail,restaurant,or artist space at street level,Trahan's offices above,and condos or more offices on top.From what BRBusiness Report recently said, it would be only going up to 3 stories from 2. Will this purchase affect the "Vision" for the Riverfront office tower ? I wish I knew ! I'll sure let you know if I find-out anything ! That would be a great addition to the growing skyline ! Actually LSU School of Architecture has some renderings for the same property. Very nice,though not as tall. Most of that land belongs to BR Water Co. It's mostly a primitive, weed lot, jumbled little bldgs.,heavy hydrological eqipment next door to the Shaw Ctr. They said the land was for sale, but some say they need to donate the "eye-sore" on the revitalized riverfront !

* WORLD's TOP 12 NEW BLDGS. 2005 * Written by architecture columnist CC Sullivan for www.artinfo.com Shaw Center for the Arts(ranked # 7) made this list ! Topping the list; Scotland(Best Civic); San Francisco(Best Museum); Spain(Best Tower); Germany (Best Factory) ; Los Angeles(Best Gov't Bldg.); Atlanta(Best Expansion) YES ! Baton Rouge leaped onto the World scene in architectual prominence ! The illuminating,contemporary Shaw Arts Center,he says "has ignited the view to the slumbering riverside city".

Coming from BR , I have always liked the Plaza Tower, the way it stood-out alone,as the dominate feature on the far right side of the N.O. skyline !

GREAT to see all these developments NCB. Very impressive ! That is why New Orleans is Louisiana's premier city !!! I love the high-rise condo's; but the warehouse condo's is very interesting. I am sure that it will really revitalize that area ! The D-Day Museum looks nice too ! ? Are the Lakeshore Towers by Tammany Holding Corp. in Lakeshore Estates in Slidell still on the board ? The twin condo towers were to be 28 -stories . On a 10 acre island too. Price range of $ 375,000-$1,600,000 ! I was just wondering if the plans were scrapped after Katrina ?

I thought Jim Haslett had a chance to become Head-Coach for the Buffalo Bills until Jauron was hired . Well best wishes as a D-Coordinator for the Rams ! Less stress for him now ???

L.S.U. ROLLS ! SELLOUT GAME ! The Tigers jumped in front 18-2 vs. the "Dawgs" from Georgia,and never looked back. They dominated the 1st half,going to the locker room 50-19 !!! Complete control the entire game,LSU ended-up winning 81 - 52 !!! 5- 0 in the SEC !!!

***** 5 STAR- RB Commits to L.S.U. today over U.S.C. ! Keiland Williams went to Prep.school Hargrave Military Academy this past season;Played his SR. season in 04' at Northside HS in Lafayette. He's 6'-0 215-220 lbs. and runs 4.35/4.4 in the 40 yard dash. He welcomes the competition in College(Plenty of talent at RB at LSU).He is a class act;good guy;very positive. Leading rusher in 04' for L.S.U,Alley Broussard returns hopefully 100%, after missing this past season with a knee injury.But on a mended knee,Williams could take some of the workload off of him !

It's a shame they were only 19-65 while in NO last season. Now they are in OKC having a much better season . I had been concerned with the near sell-out crowds there.But, I hear they do sell alot of cheap $10 tickets to get the support. OKC wants to prove they can support the NBA;(Like San Antonio wanted to show they are capable of having an NFL team) . I was pleased that David Stern sounds like they really want to bring the Hornets back to NO. NCB, what's your take on this ?

Thanks so much for starting the BR tread ; Nice rendering of the new 19-story Laurel Tower/Regions Financial Ctr ! Keep-up the great work! In the late 80's a 30-story Fidelity Bank Tower was never built; In 1999 the 26-story Laurel Plaza on the riverfront never got going. I noticed many large cities had office tower building booms in the 80's;then the bottom seemed to drop-out in the 90's. Now the going trend seems to be high-rise condo's;some office space seems to slowly coming back. I HOPE all these projects get off the ground in 06' ! 1989 was the last year a signifigant high-rise(now Riverside North)at 20-stories was built .The 10-story Sheraton;and the Capitol Park Bldgs.(up to 13 stories)did not qualify as true high-rises. Many suburban office developments seemed to drain downtown BR development. The 12-story Shaw HQ's(2002) on Essen Ln.at I-10 is a good example.It's a really nice building;it would have looked nice downtown. Shaw is also pre-leasing for a 2nd phase,it will be 8 -stories. Many "garden offices" that look like big Acadiana-style homes dot the landscape in the burbs.I guess they serve a purpose,but just not too many !

Great news NCB ! Why do you think BR should see many more 30+ high-rise towers ? I hope you are right ! I would love to see it !! The recently proposed 19-story Laurel Tower/Regions Ctr. is really the first development that has been conceived post-Katrina. Bec. the project is trying to get Fed. transit $funds. The mixed-use project will also feature a public transportation center for the Capital Area Transit System. The LSU area is about to build three more mid-rise condo projects ! * 10-story addition to the Southgate Towers(Burbank/Nicholson) * 6-story Sterling Northgate (Highland Rd) * 5-story Crescent;phase I & 5-storyCourtyard;phase II at University Lake(Stanford Ave.) Huge -project !!! *First Worthington of Dallas will build an additional 350 units ! At the northgates. I look for more in the future just South of downtown on the other side of the Bridge on Nicholson too ! Someone said "Skylines are powerful symbols of culture & community." "They're a literal bar chart. You can see them from a distance,you know that it s something dynamic and growing " !

Nice pics ! I can't wait to see Baton Rouge's SKYLINE in two years ! I have been sketching on paper what BR's skyline would look-like with all the new-addtions. WOW! BR's is gonna have a real skyline !!! New Orleans has a dense urban core ! # 1 in Lousiana skyline w/o a close 2nd place runner-up.

Thanks for the LSU Basketball talk ! 4-0 in the SEC now !!!! They are very young with 3 starting freshman,but they have a great chemistry.They have a local-flavor, 3 of starters are from BR;the other two are from Denham Springs and St.Martinville. Alot of them grew up playing AAU together. Maybe they will get off Coach Brady's back ! Some people hate him so much,they refuse to go to the games ;Avg. Attendence 7,000 has been disapionting ! Not fair to the players !

LSU has a very interesting QB situation brewing between 3 quality players ! Matt Flynn is no longer under the radar screen. A field general with good running ability...showed great poise in the Peach Bowl's 40-3 rout of the # 2 ranked D Miami Hurricanes ! Jamarcus Russell is rehabbing his dislocated shoulder,and has a maybe more serious problem with his throwing wrist. HS A-A Ryan Perrilloux who originally committed to the Texas Longhorns,hopefully is not second guessing that decision with the early departure of Vince Young. He would have probably been the starting QB this coming season;now what does he do behind 2 QB'? He's got Vick/Young running ability;and great arm..could have played basketball or baseball for LSU too ! Arkansas has to be elated that QB-Mitch Mustain(Springdale H.S) ,one of the top QB's in the country in H.S this year has given his pledge back to the Razorbacks !

Baton Rouge's TALLEST Buildings : State Capitol 34 floors 460 feet *River Place Condo's 30+ ??? One America Place 24 310' Chase Bank Tower 21 277' Riverside North Tower 20 ? *City Plaza II 18-20 ? ? *Laurel Tower/Regions Ctr. 19 approx.240' Marriott Hotel 22 floors 224' * to begin construction- 2006

Interesting to read ! I like the enthusiasm for BR ! A vibrant urban-core is more important than many realize . Downtown is experiencing a renaissance . It's GREAT to see happening ! The RiverPlace condo's will begin by mid-Spring 06'...18 % increase in construction cost due to the hurricanes is mostly to blame ! It is gonna top-out in height close to the height of State Capitol I would like to see some 40+ towers too,however I still think they still follow the old ordinance that says no building is to be taller than the 450' State Capitol ? Some agree with that. I really do not . What do yall think ? Also CityPlaza II has revised it plans.To start as early as June 06';The 12-14 story office tower will be on top of the 5 level parking=17-19-stories.It's height should be close to the adjacent High-rise bank towers. Definitly good for filling-in the urban-core ! A New 9-story $50 mil. Courthouse across the street from CityPlaza I could get started later this year,if the $ is right. The rendering I saw looked impressive !