Dyke Nelson group to buy Capital One building downtown, sources says

A group of investors led by local architect Dyke Nelson has signed a purchase agreement to buy the Capital One Bank building at 440 Third Street downtown. Sources tell Daily Report the group signed the option earlier this month. Both Capital One, which is relocating its local headquarters to the nearby One American Place building, and Nelson decline to comment on the deal, but it could be a game-changer for downtown Baton Rouge. That’s because the eight-story, 111,000-square-foot building could be redeveloped for badly needed residential use. Sources familiar with the deal say no decision has been reached on the future use of the 1950s-era building, which if redeveloped, instead of razed, could qualify for state and federal historic tax credits. But Nelson and his partners have an increasingly high-profile track record of redeveloping historic downtown properties. Other projects they’re involved in include the redevelopment of the Tessier building on Lafayette Street; the Lafayette House, a condo project Nelson and David Weinstein are developing behind the Tessier building; as well as projects at 223 and 421 Third St. —Stephanie Riegel