Build Baton Rouge has received a $5 million grant from the JPMorgan Chase AdvancingCities challenge to implement several key projects in the 2019 Plank Road Master Plan, including the development of a grocery-anchored, mixed-use development on the new bus rapid transit line, and the renovation of a 3,500-square-foot historic building into a food incubator that will provide on-the-job training.
Build Baton Rouge will leverage the award money through a variety of financing tools—historic building tax credits, traditional debt, philanthropic dollars, and federal funding sources—into an estimated $13 million-$14 million to implement several aspects of the master plan over the next three years, says Build Baton Rouge President and CEO Chris Tyson.
“We’re really excited about this,” Tyson says. “This allows us to have catalytic funding that we can leverage to develop into difficult projects.”
In addition to the grocery-anchored mixed use development, which will include 40 affordable housing units, and the food incubator, the grant money will go toward:
• A program to provide financial and technical support to 15 new and existing businesses owned and/or operated by Black and Hispanic individuals in the area;
• The upgrade of 15 building facades along Plank Road;
• The transformation of a 4,000-square-foot vacant lot into a community pocket park;
• The preservation of housing affordability through the formation of a land trust.
Tyson says most of the specific sites for the various projects have been identified already, though not all.
The city, through its Build Baton Rouge redevelopment agency, was one of seven selected to receive an award from the Chase 2020 AdvancingCities challenge, a $500 million, five-year initiative to drive inclusive growth and greater economic opportunity in cities around the country.
Build Baton Rouge was chosen from among 150 proposals submitted from 78 communities in 35 states because the Plank Road Master Plan embodies everything the program is looking to help address, a Chase executive says in a statement.
“It tackles big problems by beginning with small, impactful efforts,” says Erika Wright, head of philanthropy for JPMorgan Chase in Louisiana. “It’s including community members throughout the process. It’s unapologetic about advancing racial equity and closing the gaps,”
Though Build Baton Rouge is the recipient of the funds, it will be working to implement the Plank Road Master Plan with a collaborative that includes Metromorphosis, TruFund Financial Services and Co-City Baton Rouge.
Metromorphosis is Rev. Raymond Jetson’s nonprofit organization that, among other things, provides mentoring and training services to small businesses. It will provide support to the 15 businesses, Tyson says, and will also administer the food incubator and culinary training program.
TruFund Financial Services is a community development financial institution, or CDFI, that will administer the funds.
Co-City Baton Rouge is an existing partnership between Build Baton Rouge and two universities, Georgetown and New York University, which are helping the agency with certain planning, design and implementation aspects of the master plan.
“I think the thing that’s really important about this award is it shows that people can see that saving Plank Road is worthwhile,” Tyson says. “Sometimes people not here can see the potential that people who are here can’t see.”
