Honore redesigns plans for speculative residential project on College

Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré, who emerged on the national scene after coordinating relief efforts along the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and has more recently become a leading advocate for environmental causes in the region, is redesigning his plans for a speculative residential development on College Drive near Jefferson Highway. Honoré, who said in early 2013 that he was planning to break ground soon on a development of four single-family homes, says his plans got delayed due to his environmental work and a book tour but that the project is back on track with a new design of six homes instead of four. “There is a market in Baton Rouge for homes with less yard and more common social space,” he says. “So instead of having four houses that front College Drive, we’ll have six houses that face a common green area so everyone will have less yard to cut.” Honoré says the homes will still average around 2,200 square feet, as originally planned, but that the lots will be slightly smaller than first envisioned—about 45-by-70 square feet. “These will be single-family homes, not investment property,” says Honoré, who purchased the College Drive lot in 2010 with hopes of selling it, but later decided to redevelop it. He hopes to begin construction by the end of the year. —Stephanie Riegel