Baton Rouge has designs on updating its downtown master plan for the first time since 2009, and Louisiana’s capital city is looking for the right consultants to steer the process.
The Baton Rouge Area Foundation has issued a request for proposals to find a consultant firm that will develop a plan that maximizes downtown Baton Rouge’s potential.
Downtown’s residential population has grown by 16.4% over the past decade, according to U.S. Census Data. According to a survey conducted by the Baton Rouge Downtown Development District (DDD), respondents indicated a strong desire for more housing downtown.
According to DDD data, 90% of Baton Rouge’s Central Business District’s residences and 88% of office space are occupied.
Plan Baton Rouge III will focus on placemaking, developing new residential opportunities, enhancing the riverfront, improving infrastructure and connectivity, attracting new restaurants and businesses, and highlighting downtown Baton Rouge’s unique arts and cultural potential, BRAF said.
The new plan will be co-sponsored by BRAF and the city of Baton Rouge/Parish of East Baton Rouge, Downtown Development District, Visit Baton Rouge and the Baton Rouge Area Chamber.
The deadline to submit the RFP is Oct. 25. The consultant team is projected to be selected in late 2024 with work on the plan beginning in early 2025, BRAF said.
The selected team will ideally be experienced in community planning, placemaking, development, outreach and engagement, and economic analysis, BRAF said.
It’s crucial for Baton Rouge to develop its riverfront, enhance connectivity and attract new businesses and housing, Baton Rouge Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome said.
“A new master plan will be important to further our efforts to reimagine the River Center, construct an LSU Arena, and revitalize Memorial Stadium. We aim to create a dynamic and welcoming downtown that highlights the best of Baton Rouge,” Weston Broome said.
The new effort was inspired, in part, by the work of the post-trip downtown task force following BRAC’s 2022 Canvas Benchmarking trip to Greenville, South Carolina, where over 100 community leaders traveled to learn about policies and strategic investments that contributed to the vibrancy of that city.
“One of the big takeaways from the Greenville trip was that their downtown is a cultural and economic driver, not only for the city itself, but for the entire region of upstate South Carolina. Likewise for our Capital City, our downtown represents an important identity for the entire capital region and should reflect the best our community offers,” said Eric Dexter, Baton Rouge Area Foundation’s vice president of civic leadership initiatives. “We also recognize that Greenville’s success was not earned overnight but is a result of multiple downtown planning efforts spanning decades.”
The new plan will present visionary ideas and a framework to guide comprehensive growth and investment over the next decade, with an implementation plan and accountability structures to ensure the plan is fully implemented, the BRAF said.
The plan will build on previous plans for downtown, including Plan Baton Rouge Phase I, launched in 1998, and Plan Baton Rouge Phase II, completed in 2009.
These earlier plans established a framework for coordinated actions that have fostered public and private partnerships, resulting in over $3 billion in new investments downtown within the last two decades, BRAF said.
Photo by TheLionHasSeen
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