Spanish Town houses might be saved by new design

One possible new design for Capitol Lofts, the controversial proposed apartment building on the north edge of Spanish Town, would adjust the project's footprint so that seven houses that contribute to the neighborhood’s historic designation could be saved after all, according to people present at a recent meeting between developer David Slaughter and other interested parties. Under the possible redesign, five houses on State Capitol Drive and North Seventh Street would remain in place, while two houses on State Capitol Drive would be moved to other vacant lots in Spanish Town. Still, saving the houses doesn’t address the question as to whether the scale of the project fits into the neighborhood under the historic district guidelines. “We’ve been told by the developers from the beginning that they either have to build out or build up, in order to make it work economically,” says Historic Spanish Town Civic Association Chairman David Brown. A narrower footprint could require a taller project than the neighborhood is comfortable with, Brown says. Darryl Gissel of Oak Real Estate, who also attended the meeting, says the appraised value of the land was presented as $55 per square foot, which some believe is artificially high. Gissel, who is familiar with the Spanish Town real estate market, says another lot in the neighborhood with the same zoning sold for less than $17 per square foot in 2007. He says the higher appraised value might be based on the “highest and best land use” for the site. For example, an appraiser might say the highest use of the land would be to build a high-rise that would require a zoning change, Gissel explains.—David Jacobs

Report on downtown library set for release

A presentation on the future of the East Baton Rouge Parish Library River Center branch will be made at 4 p.m. Thursday at the Old State Capitol. Trahan Architects, which did an exhaustive study of the downtown branch will make a presentation to library board members looking at three options: demolishing the existing River Center branch and constructing a new building, renovating the existing building, and renovating and adding on to the existing building. David Farrar, library director, says he has not received cost projections for any of the options. Some library board members are interested in demolishing the existing building, because of the lack of parking around the River Center location, Farrar says. This could allow for a new library to be built on top of a parking garage.

Redevelopment Authority outlines plans for spending $5 million

Officials with the East Baton Rouge Redevelopment Authority discussed today how they plan to spend $5 million in Louisiana Recovery Authority funds. The LRA allotted just over $34 million in Hurricane Gustav recovery funding to the city-parish, and the recovery agency must approve the redevelopment authority's spending plan before it can go forward. “They will be approved, but I’m not sure what the time table is,” says redevelopment authority head Walter Monsour.

The spending plan is:

-- $1 million: Grants for the repair and rehabilitation of rental housing, some of which must be set aside for affordable housing.

-- $2 million: Gap financing for new rental housing.

-- $225,000: Community improvement planning.

-- $875,000: Land banking, which involves assembling adjudicated properties to create larger parcels for development.

-- $750,000: Operation costs of delivering the program.

The Redevelopment Authority was created over a year ago to help turn around blighted neighborhoods, but hasn’t had much funding.—David Jacobs

Energy companies sparse at offshore auction 


A huge glut of natural gas, a recession and an uncertain economic picture led to a largely quiet auction for government offshore leases today in New Orleans. Energy companies bid $115 million for 162 separate tracts in the western Gulf of Mexico, about half of the number of leases bid on last year for $483.9 million. Gas is now trading for a meager $3.11 per thousand cubic feet on the New York Mercantile Exchange -- compared with $9.50 a year ago. About 80% of the winning bids today were for tracts in deep water, where crude can also be found. The largest single winning bid -- $28.1 million issued for a deepwater tract by BP PLC -- accounted for 24% of all sales. Since the recession hit hard last year, U.S. natural gas backlogs have grown to an estimated to 3.152 trillion cubic feet, 23.1% above year-ago levels and 19.6% higher than the five-year average, according to the Energy Information Administration. Producers are also exploiting huge reserves on land, which have only recently been made available through advanced drilling techniques. As recently as four years ago, 20% of all natural gas in the U.S. was pulled from the Gulf. That number has since fallen to about 12%, according to the EIA.

New Orleans faces $43m hole in 2010

New Orleans' chief economist says the city faces a $43 million budget shortfall next year, as the national recession has taken a toll on the city's bread-and-butter tourism industry and as payments on a botched pension fund deal come due. Economist Jerome Lomba called the financial picture "severe," and one he says will require tough decisions to overcome.

Mayor Ray Nagin stopped short today of endorsing any specific plan, though he noted other governments have taken steps like going to four-day work weeks to mitigate costs. The city has relied on federal loans to balance its budget since Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005. The last $10 million in loans should be used next year -- without it, the deficit would be $53 million.

Sports roundup: NCAA investigating Tennessee running back ... Running game comes alive in Washington scrimmage ... LSU's Mainieri honored with coaching award

Looking at Brown: Bryce Brown is part of an ongoing NCAA investigation to confirm the Tennessee tailback’s amateur status, Coach Lane Kiffin told the Knoxville News Sentinel (Tenn.). Kiffin said Brown is eligible but said he doesn’t know if Brown will be able to play in the Volunteers’ season opener against Western Kentucky on Sept. 5. “They can rule whenever they want,” a visibly frustrated Kiffin said following practice. At question is money raised for Brown and other players to attend football camps while Brown was a sophomore at Wichita, Kan. East High School, Kiffin said. The investigation has been ongoing since at least February. Tennessee’s recruitment of Brown is not part of the investigation, Kiffin said. Neither is the recruitment from any other school. “I think it’s a gigantic distraction,” Kiffin said of the issue. Kiffin said the practice of raising money for high school players to attend camps is common. Kiffin said five or six other high school players also were involved with the fund raising. “None of them are dealing with this but him,” Kiffin said.

Huskies getting ready for LSU: Through most of the first 10 practices of fall camp, Washington’s defensive front seven has seemed to have its way. But the running attack finally got going Tuesday in the Huskies’ first full-scale scrimmage of the preseason. They gained 197 yards on 36 carries, and all but 14 yards came when the second and third units were on the field. "The outside was looking real open today, so we just took advantage," said tailback Curtis Shaw, who had a team-high 70 yards on four carries, including a long of 55 that set up one touchdown. "And you see the results." To read the Seattle Times’ coverage of the scrimmage, click here.

Looks like he'll need a bigger trophy case: The American Baseball Coaches Association has voted LSU's Paul Mainieri as the national coach of the year. The ABCA is the fourth national baseball organization to recognize Mainieri as coach of the year, joining Collegiate Baseball newspaper, Baseball America magazine and Rivals.com. Mainieri coached the Tigers to a 56-17 record and a College World Series championship during the 2009 season.

Study finds the greening of New Orleans is stymied by funding

Funding remains the biggest obstacle to the greening of the Crescent City. A new Sierra Club survey of key players in the New Orleans green movement found that nearly 67% of those surveyed cited funding as the major barrier, followed by small staff size, as reasons for not providing green building products and services. Nearly half the respondents devote less than a quarter of their budgets for green building. The report calls for the city to develop a "best practices" model for rebuilding that focuses on existing and emerging partnerships and highlights their role in providing funding, coordinating efforts, managing resources and creating "green collar" jobs. Two researchers from Monterey, California, spent three weeks in New Orleans in January working with the Sierra Club to develop a plan for the green building assessment. They conducted informal interviews with various green building organizations and stakeholders throughout New Orleans, then conducted the surveys online. Some 42 academic institutions, architects, consultants, contractors and construction companies, nongovernmental organizations, nonprofits and local government officials were surveyed; nearly 60% of them completed the questionnaire. To read the full report, click here. To read the rest of 10/12 Corridor Weekly, click here.

News roundup: Holiday spending expected to drop ... Life expectancy in U.S. up

Blue Christmas: Bad news for retailers still hurting from a weak back to school shopping season -- holiday spending looks like it will take a dip. A new survey says 54% of Americans plan to spend $300 or more on presents for family and friends. That's down 10% from the number of people who planned to spend $300 or more in 2008, says ING Direct. Eleven percent of people polled say they don't plan to spend any money on presents, compared with 7% who didn’t buy gifts in 2008. Americans 55 years of age or older, who have taken a big hit to their retirement accounts in the past year, were most likely to cut back on holiday gift buying.

Death rates falling: U.S. life expectancy has risen to a new high, now standing at nearly 78 years, the government reported today. The increase is due mainly to falling death rates in almost all the leading causes of death. The average life expectancy for babies born in 2007 is nearly three months greater than for children born in 2006. Life expectancy is the period a child born in 2007 is expected to live, assuming mortality trends stay constant. U.S. life expectancy has grown nearly one and a half years in the past decade, and is now at an all-time high. Last year, the Center for Disease Control said U.S. life expectancy had inched above 78 years. But the CDC recently changed how it calculates life expectancy, which caused a small shrink in estimates to below 78. The United States continues to lag behind about 30 other countries in estimated life span. Japan has the longest life expectancy -- 83 years for children born in 2007, according to the World Health Organization.