Want a piece of the new Water Campus?
The Baton Rouge Area Foundation is selling naming opportunities at the Center for Coastal and Deltaic Solutions, the signature building at the research park currently under construction on the site of the old city dock.
Among the naming opportunities is the Amphitheater Risers Campaign. For $5,000, donors can have their name—or the name of someone they wish to honor—embossed on one of the metal plaques that will line the back of the risers at the amphitheater, a facility that will have stadium seats overlooking the Mississippi River and linking the new building with the refurbished city dock.
BRAF hopes to raise $500,000 through the campaign, which kicked off earlier this month. So far, it has raised more than $31,000.
The amphitheater will be a striking feature of the three-story, 41,000-square-foot center, which will be home to scientists from The Water Institute of the Gulf. The stadium seats in the amphitheater will be made from cypress pulled from the river. The facility, which can be tented in the events of inclement weather, will be used for conferences, meetings and events, and also will be open to the general public at certain times.
“There is nothing like this in Baton Rouge,” says John Davies, president and CEO of BRAF, which spearheaded development of the Water Campus. “This will bring people to the river. What better place to study the river and talk about the river than right here overlooking it?”
The naming rights campaign is part of an effort by BRAF to help recoup some of the $17 million it is spending on infrastructure improvements at the 35-acre Water Campus, such as road construction, burying utility connections and protecting the railroad crossing.
Davies says the Center for Coastal and Deltaic Studies, which cost a total of $24 million to develop, will also feature a third-floor conference center and a visitor’s center on the first floor. It’s scheduled to be completed late this fall.
Nearby, the LSU Center for River Studies, which contains a 90-by-120-foot scaled model of the Mississippi River, is nearing completion. The 44,000-square-foot building was completed last fall and installation of the river model was completed in June. All that remains to be finalized is the educational exhibit that will be a component of the facility.
Davies says the Center for River Studies, which cost a total of $18 million to develop, will be both a working research facility and an educational attraction for school groups and the general public. It is scheduled to open some time in October.
A third building on the Water Campus is home to the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, which moved into its new offices last August. Plans are currently underway for two additional buildings and a parking garage.
—Stephanie Riegel
