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Baton Rouge receives $5 million award to fund Plank Road Masterplan

LINK

Build Baton Rouge, the redevelopment authority of East Baton Rouge Parish, will be using funds from a $5 million award to fund the Plank Road Masterplan's initiative to eliminate blight, grow small businesses, and preserve housing affordability in North Baton Rouge.

The capital city earned the money after winning JPMorgan Chase’s 2020 AdvancingCities Challenge, which is a $500 million five-year initiative to drive inclusive growth and greater economic opportunity in cities.

Baton Rouge was one of seven cities to win funds in the 2020 challenge.

As the funds are used to carry out details of the Plank Road Masterplan, Build Baton Rouge will partner with Metromorphosis, TruFund Financial Services, and Co-City Baton Rouge to:

-develop a grocery-anchored mixed use development with over 40 affordable housing units on the new bus rapid transit line

-renovate a 3,500 sq. ft historic building into a Food Incubator that will provide commercial kitchen space, deliver fresh food and offer job training;

-provide financial and technical support to 15 new and existing minority-owned businesses

-upgrade 15 building facades along the Corridor

-transform a 4,000 sq. ft vacant lot into a community pocket park -preserve housing affordability through the formation of a Community Land Trust.

Build Baton Rouge and its partners look forward to building up north Baton Rouge's Plank Road community, an area that, once a thriving and vibrant part of town, is now home to residents who struggle with poverty, blight, and crime.

According to Build Baton Rouge, 37% of the Plank Road Corridor's households are living below the poverty line.

The Plank Road Masterplan is an initiative designed to provide the area with long-term solutions aimed at alleviating such poverty.

JPMorgan Chase's collaboration with Build Baton Rouge and its partners will implement the Plank Road Masterplan over the course of three years, aiming to use place-based development principles that recognize existing community assets while prioritizing the community’s expressed needs for change.

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If this was run by decent people, it could work - especially in conjunction with the opportunity zones setup by the federal government recently.

I know there are a lot of naysayers on the OT, but something has to be done about north Baton Rouge.

$5M will put a small dent into fixing up that area.

5 million? After politicians and cronies get their cut plus studies thats gonna be like 1 million

It will be all destroyed within 5 years.

You can dump all the money you want into that area, the problem is cultural. Others have tried before. Nothing will change.

Kudos for at least trying. I hope I am wrong.

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5 million? After politicians and cronies get their cut plus studies thats gonna be like 1 million

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1 million is ambitious. It'll likely be 0

Looks like they are trying to start by cleaning up the hardscape and properties in the one area that's somewhat functioning - around Tony's Seafood and the Picadilly shopping center. Tony's seafood was always sort of the de-militarized zone of north Baton Rouge.

That area has a Cane's, Raoul's, an amazing seafood market, Krispy Kreme, a postal office, and an urgent care center. It's an ideal place to start. It's also about a quarter mile from a massive BRPD complex.

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but something has to be done about north Baton Rouge.

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Throwing money at a crime problem isn't going to stop the crime from happening. Lipstick on pig analogy.

Image: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/dHyU07A1qkE/maxresdefault.jpg

Small businesses are not gonna show up as long as the BS in 70805 is going on.

Plank from north street up past evangeline has some seriously bad neighborhoods off the side streets through there.

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$5 million award to fund Plank Road Masterplan

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That's just for the bullet proof glass