Just hours before the Metro Council OK’d yet another tax increment financing district for a new hotel downtown—this time for a Holiday Inn Express at in the old Savings and Loan Building at 400 North Blvd.—Daily Report broke news Wednesday that developer Mike Wampold has finalized a franchise agreement with Marriott to revitalize the old LNB Building downtown into a new 148-room Autograph hotel called Watermark Baton Rouge.
“This is going to be more upscale than the Renaissance,” says Wampold, referring to another Marriott hotel he owns on Bluebonnet Boulevard that opened in 2011. “This is going to be the most upscale hotel in Baton Rouge.”
But shortly after Wampold’s agreement was made public, a dispute over the hotel’s name emerged. That’s because a reception and banquet hall is getting ready to open under the name Watermark on Third, just up the street from the planned hotel on the newly redeveloped second floor of the former Latil’s Stationery building.
Someone’s going to have to change their name, and Wampold says it is going to have to be the reception facility, which is owned by restaurateurs Andy Blouin and Sean Malone.
“They’re going to have to quit using it,” Wampold says. “We had this well in the works before I ever heard of Watermark on Third.”
Blouin—whose 6,500-square-foot, upscale reception hall will open in the next few weeks—says his attorney is looking into the matter.
“We currently have a state registered trademark name and logo,” he says, declining further comment.
Also this week, a new report from national public accounting firm Carr, Riggs and Ingram was released by those behind the effort to incorporate the city of St. George showing the proposed municipality would operate with an annual budget surplus of $11.4 million.
The finding is in stark contrast to a St. George budget analysis commissioned by the Baton Rouge Area Chamber and conducted by Faulk & Winkler that was released in December. That analysis showed a new St. George government, if formed, would have to increase property taxes by at least 20.5 mills to help cover an annual operating deficit of $12.6 million.
“Our conservative view of revenues available and expenses required to operate the city clearly indicate a tax increase is not necessary,” says CRI Partner C. Donald Wheat.
Here’s a rundown of some of the other top stories making headlines in Daily Report this week:
- LSU’s College of Engineering is spearheading an effort to get special federal recognition for south Louisiana’s chemical corridor—a designation that, if granted, would enable the area to compete for a share of $1.3 billion a year in federal economic development dollars. The program for which Louisiana is competing is called the Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership, and it’s an initiative created by President Barack Obama’s administration to stimulate manufacturing in the U.S.
- Baton Rouge Metro Airport officials have hired a consultant to conduct an economic and community impact study that, when completed, officials hope to use to enhance current services, attract new business and help land more money. Work on the study has only begun, following Metro Council approval late last month to spend $87,500 to commission Baton Rouge-based Emergent Method to conduct it.
- Louisiana is making some headway to address a national shortage of registered nurses that’s expected to intensify in the coming years as the baby boomer generation ages and the need for health care grows. Still, concerns remain regarding the aging population of Louisiana’s current nurses and the ability to train enough new ones to meet the increasing demand. According to a new report from the Louisiana Center for Nursing, the number of registered nurses in the state increased by 2% between 2013 and 2014, to 62,356 licensed nurses total. And since 2010, the number of nurses has increased by 11%.
- Starwood Capital Group of Greenwich, Connecticut, has purchased the Crestwood Suites of Baton Rouge hotel at 5222 S. Sherwood Forest Boulevard for more than $4.6 million. According to sale documents, the global real estate firm bought the 137-room hotel under a limited partnership called SGC LH Baton Rouge. The seller was LH 2007 Properties LLC, a Delaware-based company with a Houston mailing address whose representative is Mohammed Thowfeek.
- The Baton Rouge community desires a strong school system with less emphasis on testing and stronger community relationships, according to the results of community surveying by a new grassroots organization called Beyond Bricks EBR. Beyond Bricks EBR presented its findings, based on a series of 13 community discussions about public education in East Baton Rouge Parish, to community leaders who gathered at Albemarle Corp.’s headquarters on Thursday.
- The Pennington Biomedical Research Foundation has tapped noted fundraising executive Carol Dreher as its next president and CEO. Dreher has more than two decades of experience—including as director of two medical research awards foundation—and most recently served as vice president for business development and strategic relations for QioMed, a biotech startup with operations in Washington D.C. and Los Angeles.
- Whether playing in Tiger Stadium or on the road, the LSU football team packed stadiums last season. According to new statistics from the NCAA, LSU’s 13 games last season drew a total of 1,195,540 fans—third best among all college teams, trailing just Ohio State (approximately 1.3 million in attendance) and Alabama (1.27 million).
