BREC to break ground Dec. 8 on new Baton Rouge Zoo, Greenwood Park project

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BREC to break ground Dec. 8 on $40M Baton Rouge Zoo, Greenwood Park project



The $40 million first phase of renovations planned for BREC’s Baton Rouge Zoo and Greenwood Park—which includes relocating the zoo’s entrance to the adjacent park—is scheduled to break ground Dec. 8.

Baton Rouge’s parks and recreation agency is fronting the entire cost of the project’s first phase which, in addition to a new visitor’s entrance and orientation center at Greenwood Park, will include new animal exhibits, such as an underwater hippo expo and a giraffe feeding station, new stormwater and sewer systems and a zipline through the surrounding park. A promenade will link the zoo to the park.

Specifically, BREC will pay for the project using $5 million from the Imagine Your Parks II Strategic Plan fund, which voters approved in 2014 and brings in $9 million a year on average.

The agency will dip into its substantial reserves to fund the remaining $35 million.

BREC has a total of some $60 million in restricted and unrestricted reserve funds, according to BREC spokeswoman Cheryl Michelet.

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