It’s been over a decade since downtown Baton Rouge got its first swanky rooftop restaurant, Tsunami. Well, get ready BR—if you want dinner with a view, soon you’ll have more options.
Next month, the Commerce Building plans to announce the name of a high-profile restaurateur who will operate a rooftop restaurant there. Developers wouldn’t hint at a particular name, but say they are in negotiations with multiple regional restaurateurs who are interested in occupying the mixed-use building’s rooftop space.
“We want to elevate and showcase what we feel like urban, big-city living is,” says Michael Lang, director of real estate development for Key Real Estate. “When we initially did research, we looked at rooftops in New York City and Chicago and asked, how can we duplicate something like that and bring something really special to Baton Rouge?”
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Lang shared inspiration images from the building’s marketing package. “These speak to the design aesthetic for the restaurant,” he says.
Photos courtesy Commerce Building:
The interior space of the restaurant will be 3,500 square feet. An outdoor seating area will span 2,300 square feet, offering views of the Mississippi River and the downtown Baton Rouge skyline. The restaurant will seat between 100-150 people total.
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The restaurant will have its own elevator entrance separate from the building’s apartment units. That entrance will be off Laurel Street, right next to the pick-up window for the building’s soon-to-be-opened Magpie Cafe on the first floor. Lang says they also hope to offer valet parking.
Diners will not have access to the residents’ rooftop pool, which will be separated from the restaurant by landscaping.
Developers are unsure when the restaurant will open but hope to include an estimated date in next month’s announcement.