As an architecture student some 15 years ago, Joshua Hoffpauir worked on a senior project focused on Government Street, the main artery of Baton Rouge’s Mid City.
“There was a ton of potential,” Hoffpauir tells Business Report in the cover story of its new issue. “But there was nobody willing to take a chance on it.”
Crime was high, facades were crumbling, and block after block was severely underused. But there were plenty of charming old buildings, not to mention a functional street grid, a rarity for Baton Rouge. That grid ties right into downtown, which was emerging from its own death spiral.
With perhaps $2 billion in private, public and nonprofit investment—counting projects still in progress—since 1987, downtown is well into its resurgence. Mid City might be next.
Hoffpauir is developing Square 46, a mixed-use project at the former Giamanco’s restaurant site fronting Government, Mouton and Moore streets. His plans include residences, dining and shopping.
“There’s something about this generation that’s coming up that wants to have a more urban lifestyle and sees this as an opportunity,” he says.
As anyone who makes the bumpy drive down Government Street can attest, the problems Hoffpauir saw as a student have not disappeared. But artists have embraced Mid City, and it boasts a diversity of class, race and culture not often found in Baton Rouge. Millennials and younger Gen-Xers in particular are showing interest, rejecting both the suburbs and the high cost of downtown.
Mid City has potential, as Hoffpauir suggests. But it’s still waiting for a spark.
Samuel Sanders is the current executive director of the Mid City Redevelopment Alliance, now an independent nonprofit with the freedom to lead its own development projects or partner with organizations that have greater resources.
Sanders, who has been with the alliance since 2003 and took over as director in 2006, says he has been fielding more calls from people interested in Mid City since FuturEBR was ratified in 2011. The parish’s current master plan, among other objectives, seeks to promote infill development.
Those callers often ask about economic incentives, of which there aren’t very many. Much of Mid City is in a state-recognized cultural district, which means original art can be sold without sales taxes. Tax credits are available for renovating historic buildings, and businesses can apply for tax abatements in the low-income census tract between downtown and Acadian Thruway. The MCRA offers small grants for façade improvements.
Sanders says downtown’s revitalization is important for Mid City, and says the latter could be a “bedroom community” for downtown workers.
“The buzz is real,” Sanders says. “We felt like we were beating the drum, and no one was listening. Now, it feels like we don’t have to beat as loudly, because others are beating it for us.”
But while more and more business owners, developers and potential residents are inquiring about the area, Sanders says Mid City needs a big, attention-grabbing project that shows everyone what is possible.
Read the full cover story of the new issue of Business Report. Send your comments to editors@businessreport.com.
