Two City Plaza

[all2neat]

It's turning out quite nicely!

[richyb83]

Yes it is! I also like the view from this angle on the RiverCenter skywalk overlooking Repentance Fountain. I especially like the silver section on top of II City Plaza.

Hey Dan, how do you like II City Plaza being close to the new Courthouse?? It will fill in this section between the Old State Capitol and Governmental Bldg.

[richyb83]

II City Plaza from North Blvd.

From Shaw Center for the Arts roof-top terrace

[dimebag1980]

II City Plaza from North Blvd.

From Shaw Center for the Arts roof-top terrace

That second view is amazing. That is one NICE building! WAY better than the older of the two.

[cajun]

CPII looks nice from the bridge.....in a month or so you won't be able to see it because of the new court house.

Nice to be back in Louisiana for Thanksgiving, but I don't miss the traffic at all.

[richyb83]

The new II City Plaza has been a pleasant suprise for me. Really like the silvery/gray top on the south-side and the way it illuminates the sunlight! Now one of the best looking new buildings! A nice contrast in a mostly bland downtown skyline. Though not the tallest; it still makes a nice impact due to it's location between Chase Tower & Governmental Bldg. Can't wait to see some exterior lighting at night!

Only wish they had kept the last plans for the office tower to go on top of the parking garage. This project went from an original 14-stories of office space(w/cool vaulted penthouse); to 12-stories of office space on top of 4-5 parking levels(16-floors);"now" back down to 12 stories of just office space. Wish they had included the 14-story tower on top of the parking; II City Plaza could have roughly been to scale of the north(shorter) Chase Tower.

Cajun, Glad you got to come back to Louisiana for Thanksgiving Traffic does bite! I-10 widening should have been done yesterday; but that's a whole different topic

[cajun]

Honestly, I don't care for the very tall skyscrapers. I'd much rather see a downtown full of high quality 5-12 story buildings with no surface parking than a clash of every different type.

If you stack 2000 people on top of each other between 8 and 5 during the day, then you have to put up with 2000 people driving home on clogged freeways.

I'd rather see commercial development match the residential development in the area for density and vice versa.

I think a few 3-5 level condos and several 2-3 level townhome style structures would sell pretty quickly on the residential level if they can do it for the right price.

[richyb83]

^I like the 5-12 story range buildings too. They can truly change the urban character of a city. BR has continued to do go a good job recently building new mid-rise/(low high-rise) buildings. All the NEW State buildings fall into that range : LaSalle-12, Beinville-9, Iberville-9, Galvez-12 or 13?; Claiborne-8, etc. The new 5-story LaCAP Bldg; Shaw Center for the Arts (a tall) 6; II City Plaza & new Courthouse. Hotels and other buildings outside the CBD too.

I realize this could be a reach in the gloomy economic climate??

But JMO; Baton Rouge needs a "New" 2nd Tallest! One American Place may have been OK for that title way back in the 70's and 80's...but this is almost 2009!!! A new high-rise tower to break above the tree-line from City Park and transform the skyline!

[dan326]

I agree that there should be some more street level density.

Also, I have an idea for a signature tower, I going to google-skethup it later.

[southeastBR]

Here's another pic of the almost finished product. I wish it would have been taller but have grown to like it, especially when your coming into Downtown from I-10.

[richyb83]

Me too! I wish the plans had gone thru with the office tower & vaulted penthouse going on top of the parking gargage; this would have made a big difference in height maybe 60'feet?? Though I wish it were taller, it looks really nice! I like the variation in color scheme with silver-like top/side.

From Third Street

From North Blvd

I like the elevations from Convention Street & Fourth Street; but like FlaTiger said a while back, the Fifth Street side is poorly utilized with the bland, blank wall of a parking garage.

[southeastBR]

That's a good pic Richy! I can't wait to see it lit up at night. I hope it has the different color lights for the holidays like Shaw Plaza has,just on a larger scale.

[richyb83]

^Thanks southeastBR I can't wait to see it at night too! That would be cool if they had the colored seasonal lights like Shaw Plaza!

This is what I was talking about in previous post; the blank/bland parking garage just doesn't suit real well for the Fifth Street side...other than that very nice addition to the CBD! Wish it would have been more vertical than horizontal; but it still looks nice coming from I-10 south in front of the Chase Towers!

*taken a couple weeks ago from Convention Street & Sixth a bland parking garage

[richyb83]

II City Plaza from Fifth Street

[richyb83]

[richyb83]

Tenants to start moving into II City Plaza.... Welcome to downtown:

Regions Bank and Phelps Dunbar will start moving into the II City Plaza office building this month, and the building should soon be half occupied. Mike Wampold, who is developing the 260,000-square-foot building, says he's working on a couple of more leases. If those deals go through -- and Wampold says he should know in the next month or so -- then II City Plaza will be about 80% occupied.

http://www.businessreport.com/archives/rea...-weekly/latest/

[richyb83]

The new II City Plaza is a really nice addition to the CBD! A nice chance of pace from all the Art Deco and bland looking buildings. The coloring has some of the same look of the Shaw Center for the Arts they were talking about. I only wish II City Plaza would have been taller; having the office tower above parking garage.

*from the corner of Convention Street @ Third

[richyb83]

The new II City Plaza & City Plaza(right)

In this pic.... II City Plaza did not turn-out the way I had hoped; seems a cloud just did dim it up enough?? bec the rest of downtown is bright & sunny...

[dan326]

It's kind of funny when you think about it because usually you think of the past as in the shadow of teh future, but in this picture it looks like the future is in the shadow of the past. Maybe an allusion to Louisiana's oldtime way of thinking?

[richyb83]

The sun hit a little better...got to get rid of that old way of thinking

[buckett5425]

So II City Plaza has now begun to light its crown at night. Its uhh....interesting ? Im interested in knowing what everyone elses opinion are, go downtown and check it out!

[cajun]

It's kind of funny when you think about it because usually you think of the past as in the shadow of teh future, but in this picture it looks like the future is in the shadow of the past. Maybe an allusion to Louisiana's oldtime way of thinking?

Bigger buildings pre oil bust in the Carter era and for a few years after.

We still haven't fully recovered from it in many ways. It's forced us to focus more attention on a diverse economy, which has saved our butts this time around. If that oil bust never happened, I imagine south Louisiana would be a very wealthy place.

CPII would look great with another 10 floors. It's a tad out of proportion now, but it does make CPI look very bland and boring.

Note that this is one of the first private office towers being built downtown recently, and it doesn't involve a major local anchor. Shaw is out on Essen (which has my favorite building in BR). This building is housing financial institutions, not construction or oil related business.

[richyb83]

^Thanks for the head's up buckett5425; I'll have ride thru there at night and check it out Interesting...is that good or bad??

^Yeah cajun, I wish II City Plaza could have been taller; I would have settled for the 5-story parking garage under the office tower; even that would have made an impact! From the river it would have been more easily visible behind the Hilton Capitol Center..and also from Stanford Ave/BR Beach at Wampold's other nice development(Crescent condos at University lake) II City Plaza is "barely" visible ; the new Courthouse is highly visible from that location!

From Fourth Street; tried to squeeze Chase Towers into view behind II City Plaza

[nquint1]

So II City Plaza has now begun to light its crown at night. Its uhh....interesting ? Im interested in knowing what everyone elses opinion are, go downtown and check it out!

I noticed that this weekend too. I'm hoping they haven't finished adding the lighting. It's just too big of a mistake to make after they did such a great job on everything else.

[richyb83]

The far background to the left...the plume of black smoke from the Denham Springs warehouse explosion about 20 miles away