BATON ROUGE | and environs

[10101000]

Nucor seeks permit for $2 billion mill

Nucor Corp., the biggest steelmaker in North America, could build a $2 billion plant in St. James Parish on the site that became a finalist for a German-owned steel mill last year, the company said today in announcing it is filing for state permits.

Based in Charlotte, N.C., Nucor would employ 500 with an average salary of $75,000 and create 2,000 construction jobs.

But the project isn’t a certainty, the company said. The Louisiana site is the only U.S. site still under consideration for the plant, which would produce 3 million tons of pig iron a year and include a cogeneration plant producing 500 megawatts of electricity.

Nucor said it’s still considering sites outside the U.S. and could decide not to build the project at all.

The St. James Parish site is south of the Sunshine Bridge and Donaldsonville and roughly halfway between Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

Though a huge capital investment, the project is smaller than the nearly $4 billion project on 3,800 acres that ThyssenKrupp sought when it considered building at the same site in 2007 before opting for a rival location that will open in 2010 near Mobile, Ala.

American Metal Market recently ranked Nucor as the No. 1 steel manufacturer in North America, with annual production of more than 22 million tons. U.S. Steel at 16.8 million tons ranked second.

Rather than operate a handful of large steelmaking facilities, Nucor’s approach has been to build smaller mini-mills focused on regional markets. Along with obvious direct job gains, the Nucor project bodes well for Louisiana’s ability to woo a future automotive plant or other big manufacturers who are large consumers of steel.

Economic Development Secretary Stephen Moret has said the state is in competition for a half-dozen large manufacturers representing 1,000 or more jobs each.

Without naming the company, Moret said recently that a final decision on a future project at the St. James Parish property, known as the Wilton site, wasn’t imminent. Permit applications often are made months in advance of large project decisions, as was the case with the ThyssenKrupp steel mill.

Nucor said it could build a second phase, if it selects the Louisiana site, investing an additional $1 billion and increasing the job count to 750.

Business sales in St. James Parish would increase $1.2 billion a year from the first phase along, the company estimated.

In a statement issued by the company, Gov. Bobby Jindal said, “This would provide a tremendous boost to Louisiana’s economic development and further job creation. We are proud that Nucor, a company with a great reputation for creating jobs in the U.S., is considering Louisiana for this important project.”

[obt]

Ground broken on new Woman's Hospital campus
Woman's Hospital broke ground this morning on its $299 million campus at Airline Highway and Pecue Lane. The new facility will consist of three buildings: a 300-bed hospital, a 260,000-square-foot medical office building and 69,105 square feet of support services facilities. The hospital, which is being built on the site of the Briarwood Golf Course, is scheduled to open in 2011. Click here for renderings.

Source: www.businessreport.com

[fla_tiger]

more renderings of River Park

Impressive new development will complement Capitol Park and help redefine the northern sector of the CBD.
Here are a few more renderings courtesy of the DDD site:
http://brgov.com/dept/ddd/default.asp

[10101000]

I like the plan, cannot wait to see it in action.

[LouisianaRush]

Very nice.

[10101000]

BR chamber backs loop projectBaton Rouge badly needs the 80-mile, $4 billion loop being planned by city and parish officials in five parishes, the Baton Rouge Area Chamber said in a press conference this morning announcing its support for the project.

The use of alternative financing mechanisms, such as toll financing and matching dollars from the state’s Transportation Mobility Fund, are needed and should be used to speed up the project and complete it, said chamber officials, who were joined by leaders from the five parishes in the announcement.

“The proposed loop would be tremendous for our region’s economic development and growth,” said Adam Knapp, BRAC president and chief executive officer. “With traffic congestion repeatedly named as one of the top obstacles to growth for companies in the Baton Rouge area, it is critical that we work together regionally to find transportation solutions.”

Mike Bruce of ABMB Engineers, a loop project consultant, has estimated that $1.4 billion to $1.8 billion of public financing would be needed if the project is built with 15-cent-per-mile tolls on parts of the loop, which would run from east of Walker north and south to a point west of Port Allen.

In a national traffic study released Tuesday by Inrix Inc., New Orleans had the 42nd worst traffic among U.S. cities and Baton Rouge had the 47th worst traffic. Neither city made the list of 100 worst U.S. bottlenecks. Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C., were the worst cities for traffic.

In Baton Rouge, two intersections were among the worst 1,000 bottlenecks in the nation: Millerville Road at Interstate 12 (860th) and O’Neal Lane at Interstate 12 (958th).

[fla_tiger]

Denham Springs: Bercen Inc new HQ's

CRANSTON – Bercen Inc., a specialty chemicals company, will be moving its headquarters and research lab to Denham Springs, La., along with dozens of jobs, La. Gov. Bobby Jindal has announced.

Jindal said that Bercen plans to invest about $5 million in expanding its existing manufacturing operation in Louisiana and to add another 20 jobs with average salaries of $90,000. It was not immediately clear how many jobs would be moved from Cranston. An announcement on Bercen’s Web site said that “more than 100 jobs are on the way to Livingston Parish [where Denham Springs is located], including some high-paying management jobs,” but it was not clear whether that tally included yet-to-be-created positions.


link to Providence Business news story: http://www.pbn.com/stories/33128.html

[fla_tiger]

RiverPlace



Developer Richard Preis now says his long-anticipated downtown high-rise project will be a $135 million, 300-room hotel with top-story condominiums.

Preis said Thursday the proposed Lafayette Street building will have 26-30 floors, depending on final plans, and that construction should start in January.

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/business/24410924.html

[fla_tiger]

RiverCenter



City-parish officials unveiled plans to spend $143 million of a proposed $989 million bond proposition to renovate and expand the RiverCenter.

The centerpiece of the project is a 1,300-space garage at Government and St. Louis streets, with a sky bridge to the RiverCenter. That will trigger construction of two new hotels by Virginia-based developer Armada Hoffler: a $68 million 300-room, major-flag hotel between the RiverCenter and the theater, and a $31 million 140-room, select-service hotel atop the East Garage, which also will be expanded by 750 spaces. Meanwhile, the cash also pays for the wrecking ball to take down the West Garage and the Attorney’s Building. Also planned: 13,000 additional square feet of Exhibition Hall space and 25 new meeting/breakout rooms, and the two-laning of St. Louis Street for new retail stores.

http://www.businessreport.com/archiv...08/jul/14/574/

[fla_tiger]

Audubon Nature Institute's....Audubon ALIVE

City-Parish officials unveiled the second component of a $989 million proposed bond proposition--a major one-of-a-kind tourism attraction in the form of a 220,000-square-foot nature center on the riverfront.

According to the proposal, the Audubon Nature Institute will run Audubon Alive, which will cost $305 million to build. It is contingent upon East Baton Rouge Parish voters agreeing to a 9.9-mil property tax and a ½-cent sales tax over a 30-year period, and upon the state agreeing to kick in $55 million. If the Metro Council gives the go-ahead, the measure likely will be put on the Nov. 4 ballot.

Audubon Alive, slated for completion in 2012, will offer four venues: Earth, Wind, Fire and Water. Among the attractions:

· Animal Adventures, with tigers, jaguars, monkeys, butterflies and extensive waterfalls;

· Beyond Turtle Reef, featuring live experiences with sea creatures;

· Soaring, an interactive experience with a 270-degree Imax-like view in a glider simulation;

· Predator, a fast-paced adventure where participants wind through the jungle with audio and video projections;

· Stormy Weather, an interactive theater providing experiences of hurricanes and global-warming issues in the setting of the wetlands;

· Swamp Tales, an indoor walk-through swamp with a 15,000-gallon water tank and interactive theater;

· Rhythms & Blues[/I], a 900-seat theater with cultural performance live shows.

An economic impact study done by the Audubon Nature Institute predicts the attraction will generate net earnings of $167 million in its first four years of operation, rising as high as $700 million by 2021. The Institute also estimates the project could prompt as much as $575 million in new spending in Baton Rouge during those initial four years and boost tax collections by as much as $30 million.

Audubon Alive also could create an estimated 5,000 new jobs by 2016.
courtesy..richeyb83

http://www.businessreport.com/archiv...report/latest/

[fla_tiger]

Artisan Hill



A rolling 4.6-acre former homestead on Jefferson Highway, midway between Interstate 12 and Bluebonnet Boulevard, will become a more than $15 million gated community for 30 families beginning in 2009.

Washauer Development LLC has begun building Artisan Hill, a residential development that will feature rear-access double garages, entry and private-interior courtyards and two-story townhome-like residences of 2,100 square feet to 2,500 square feet.

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/business/26016754.html

[fla_tiger]

EA Games Test Center

Electronic Arts Inc., one of the world’s leading video game companies with $4 billion in annual sales, will bring a global test center and 220 employees to LSU’s South Campus in Baton Rouge, Gov. Bobby Jindal and state economic development officials announced this morning.

About 200 of the jobs will be part time, employing LSU students and others in testing the roll-out of new EA Sports games.

The EA annual payroll initially will be about $6 million a year, the state is committing $800,000 to renovate facilities at the South Campus on GSRI Avenue, and EA will tap a 20 percent state tax credit available to digital media companies. EA could begin moving in by September.

link: http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/27176469.html

[fla_tiger]

Pennington breaks ground on research facility



Gov. Bobby Jindal and Pennington Biomedical Research Center officials broke ground on the center’s new $50 million clinical trial building and other renovations this morning at the Perkins Road campus.

Slated to open in July 2010, the four-story structure on the northwest side of the Pennington site will ease a lab and office-space crunch for scientists engaged in nutrition research. Baton Rouge chamber and political leaders successfully lobbied the Legislature in 2007 and 2008 to raise the priority for state capital outlay bonds that will pay for the project, which is forecast to have a $110 million annual economic impact, Jindal said.

The 403,000-square-foot Pennington campus, which opened in 1988 with a $125 million gift that decade from oil magnate C.B. “Doc” Pennington, now houses 53 research labs and is home to 80 faculty members and more than 600 scientists, physicians and support staff doing research in 10 major areas, from cancer, diabetes and obesity prevention to molecular genetics and stem cell biology.

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/business/37581874.html
http://www.pbrc.edu/News/News_Story.asp?id=85

[fla_tiger]

Perkins Rowe hotel planned



Perkins Rowe developer JTS Interests announced Tuesday that a five-story, 165-room hotel there will be flagged by Hilton Garden Inn.

JTS also said construction will begin next year on the second phase of development — 750,000 square feet of office, retail and residential space at the mixed-use project at Perkins Road and Bluebonnet Boulevard.

The 130,000-square-foot hotel is one of the last major components of Perkins Rowe’s initial phase of about 1 million square feet. It will be built behind Orvis, the outdoor apparel store, just off Bluebonnet. JTS said completion is expected in 2010.

# By CHRIS GAUTREAU
# Advocate business writer
# Published: Apr 15, 2009

rendering and story couresy of The Advocate

[photoLith]

Man, this is such an exciting time for most major southern cities. Finally people in the south are starting to realize again the possibilities that lie within restoring and revitalizing downtown areas that were totally destroyed in the 40s-80s in most southern cities and towns.

[NThomas]

Originally Posted by fla_tiger

Perkins Rowe hotel planned

That looks amazing!!!

[ardecila]

sigh...

I'm mystified at how Baton Rouge can have such an out-the-door line of developers waiting to build stuff while New Orleans makes do with a few FEMA trailers and Brad Pitt houses.

I'm happy that Baton Rouge is urbanizing, though. Maybe with some nice urban neighborhoods outside of the Capitol, the legislators won't look so unfavorably upon the other major urban area in the state.

[fla_tiger]

Pinnacle Casino Rivierre ~ Baton Rouge



More than a year after receiving approval from voters, Pinnacle Entertainment is moving ahead to get zoning for its south Baton Rouge casino.

The casino is part of Pinnacle’s proposed mixed-use development near the intersection of Gardere Lane and River Road that is scheduled to go before the city-parish Planning Commission at 5 p.m. Monday in the Metro Council Chambers at 222 St. Louis St.

Pinnacle’s proposed casino would be part of a massive 577-acre tract in south Baton Rouge that eventually would include a golf course, an equestrian center, a 14.6-acre central park, 430 single-family homes, 240 condominiums or apartments, 137,500 square feet of retail space, 137,500 square feet of office space, two 100-room hotels and a 160,000- square-foot casino and entertainment complex.

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/45231702.html

[ardecila]

Is that actually a building? Wow. There are so many things I could rip apart about this design, it's ridiculous. At least it doesn't even try to be traditional, but in a way, it kinda does by putting the gambling on a riverboat. Neither of the New Orleans-area casinos are on boats - is that a new law? If it's not, then why is Pinnacle going to the expense of building a floating building when a land-based one will do?

It's great that Baton Rouge is getting yet another casino, though (there are already two, yes?) It should be a good driver for the local economy.

[fla_tiger]

This will be BR's third casino, the other two are also on water. With the exception of Harrah's, which I think was grandfathered in, and the Fairgrounds, which already had established gaming, New Orleans remaining casinos are also on water. This is also the norm for all others in the state with the exception of those on tribal reservations.

Until that *itch katrina came ashore, all Mississippi gulf coast casinos were also on water. They did the right thing and allowed them to build on land, but within a couple hundred ft of water. But I wonder, you think it had to do more with lost revenue, rather than safety to the public?