River District free to move onto second-round plans

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River District free to move onto second-round plans

By Renita D. Young, NOLA.com | The Times Picayune

The East Baton Rouge Parish Metropolitan Council voted unanimously Wednesday (April 16) to approve the initial plans for the mixed-use River District development planned to be along Nicholson Drive.

"We're excited about the future of the project and it'll be a great thing for Baton Rouge," developer Dalis Waguespack said after the decision quickly passed with no discussion or dissenting opinions.

On March 25 the East Baton Rouge Parish Planning Commission voted unanimously to approve the initial concept plan for the development. The vote rezoned the property from a combination of A-1 single family residential, B-1 transition, neighborhood office, C-1 light commercial and A-3.1 limited residential to planned unit development. The commission said the plan is consistent with Baton Rouge's comprehensive land use plan.

Waguespack said the entire development could take between 5 to 7 years to complete. "We're hoping to have the plans all drawn out and be breaking ground by this fall," she told NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune.

Originally unveiled in January by Lafayette-based architect Steve Oubre of Architects Southwest, the plans center on 34-3/4 acres on both sides of Nicholson Drive near the Magnolia Mound Plantation. They include more than 100,000 square feet of commercial space that would encompass a 40,000-square-foot neighborhood grocery store, 100,000 square feet of office space and 2,070 to 2,500 apartments, condominiums, lofts and townhouses.

The proposed River District is also expected to connect with the planned 28-acre Water Campus and the expansion of Nicholson Drive's median from 30 to 100 feet. The sidewalk in the area is to be widened, and an urban tram would run along Nicholson Drive traveling on both sides of the street. The plans also align with LSU's goals and the city-parish FurturEBR master plan to revitalize the Nicholson Drive corridor connecting campus to downtown Baton Rouge, officials said.

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