The Baton Rouge Area Foundation has acquired from Cane Land Distilling Co. the one-acre site at 622 Oklahoma St. on which the company originally planned to build its rum distillery. In a deal that closed earlier this month, WC 665 Oklahoma LLC, which is owned by BRAF, acquired the property for $375,000. The tract is at the intersection of River Road and Oklahoma Street adjacent to the Water Campus research park, which BRAF is developing.
In June, Cane Land co-owner Walter Tharp told Daily Report he and partner Jim Massey had abandoned plans to build on Oklahoma Street and were relocating their upstart business a few blocks away to a leased warehouse at 760 St. Phillip St.
Tharp said the introduction of the Water Campus had skewed the company’s plans for starting construction on the distillery. He also said at that time that the company and BRAF had worked together for several months to find a new location for the distillery, adding BRAF had tried to buy the Oklahoma Street property from Cane Land but had not offered enough money.
The sale price the two sides eventually agreed upon is more than 2.5 times what Cane Land paid when it acquired the land in mid-2013 for $140,000.
A BRAF spokesman did not respond to a request for comment by this afternoon’s deadline.
—Stephanie Riegel
