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For the past four-and-a-half years, over the course of two jobs, Derek Fitch has been working to make downtown Baton Rouge a better place. Fitch ran the Main Street Market and the Farmers Market for three years. He left the nonprofit world in 2008 to take a job with Cyntreniks, the firm that is redeveloping such downtown landmarks as Kress at Third & Main and the Hotel King.

“I moved my office next door. Literally right next door,” says Fitch, referring to the fact that Cyntreniks and the Baton Rouge Area Foundation, which funds the markets, have buildings on the same block.

Fitch had several offers to join businesses when he decided to leave the market, but Cyntreniks was the most comfortable match. “There’s a commitment to the community, obviously,” he says. “And downtown revitalization fit in line with what I wanted to be involved with.”

For Fitch, it makes sense to bring investment and development toward downtown. “For a city, strength comes from a healthy urban core,” he says. “In all things, strength comes from the core.”

In his role with Cyntreniks, Fitch is juggling a number of activities, from overseeing the leasing and final touches on the Kress building to lobbying activities and from serving as a project manager on the Hotel King remodeling to working as a consultant. “We’re a small entrepreneurial outfit, so I do whatever needs to be done,” he says.

The biggest thing that needs to be done for Cyntreniks right now is the $25 million remodeling of the Hotel King. The downtown property will reopen at the end of 2010 as the 93-room Hotel Indigo, an upscale boutique hotel. “After many grueling months, I’m excited to have that under way,” Fitch says.

The Indigo will add to the downtown mix, giving visitors another place to stay and bringing in more convention business. Fitch hopes the Indigo leads to more development on Lafayette Street. “They say rising tides float all ships,” he says. “We would like to see that whole area full of life.”

Age: 28

If you could have a job other than your own, what would it be? “It wouldn’t be bad being the owner of the Saints now.”

Click here for the complete list of 2009's Forty Under 40 winners.