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Mastering the master plans – Long-awaited projects finally getting some preliminary design work

Several firms are in the midst of redesigning areas of the city in ways that are a long time coming.

The former Entergy site on Government Street, including the 115 blighted acres around it, is currently in the hands of two firms that will present their competing ideas to the East Baton Rouge Redevelopment Authority next Monday on how the space should be utilized. One of the firms is involved in the River District project along Nicholson Drive, and the principal of the other firm helped develop Plan Baton Rouge in 1998 (he was also the keynote speaker at last year’s Smart Growth Summit).

The RDA wants to convert the former Entergy site into some sort of mixed-use hub for the neighborhood with retail and office space—as well as the potential future site of a train station for passenger rail between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. The acquired housing that surrounds the site would mostly be refurbished, though plans for that are still pretty vague at this point.

Check out a map of the area below, for reference:

Meanwhile, the SWA Group, which helped develop the Buffalo Bayou Promenade in Houston, is working with a local firm to develop a master plan for the LSU and City Park lakes, as well as their surrounding puddles. The master planning process is set to begin next month with the blueprint delivered to Baton Rouge Area Foundation next summer.

Check out this map for the current depths of the lakes, which are in serious need of dredging. They are practically as shallow as your driveway after a drizzle.

Obviously, these are just a few of the urban planning projects currently in the works around the city. And if you’re like me, you enjoy browsing urban design schemes. Which current projects in the works for Baton Rouge are you most excited to see? Tell us in the comments!