Nearly four years ago, John O. Hearin began working on plans to redevelop two of his surface parking lots downtown into a 142-unit apartment complex that will span nearly a full city block between Convention, Florida and Sixth streets. Thursday, those plans moved one step closer to reality when Hearin submitted a site plan for approval to the Planning Commission.
“I’ve been trying to make this work for a very long time,” he says. “It was a dream of my brother (the late Hunt Hearin) and I that we would turn these parking lots into something more than surface lots.”
The project, which will be called The Lofts at 6C, still has a ways to go. That’s because it will be financed through the Housing and Urban Development’s 221(d)(4) loan program, which provides favorable financing for market rate multifamily projects. The Commerce Building, currently under redevelopment at Third and Laurel streets, is also being financed through the program.
Hearin has yet to close on his HUD loan, but hopes to have the financing secured by spring. Construction could start as early as late summer.
Hearin says he also hopes to soon have renderings for The Lofts at 6C, which will be unique among downtown’s growing number of apartment complexes. It will feature four levels of one- and two-bedroom units atop a two-level parking garage with between 250 and 260 spaces. Complex tenants will use half the spaces; the other half will be available for monthly lease.
Additionally, the development—which is adjacent to a small, BREC park—will feature two courtyards on the third floor, atop the parking garage, that will face west and overlook downtown. The ground floor will contain two retail spaces totaling 3,000 square feet.
“I feel comfortable we’ll be able to fill a niche that is currently not being filled,” he says. “The setting and building and where it’s located sets me apart from the others.”
Redeveloping downtown’s nearly two dozen surface lots has long been a goal of downtown advocates, and was outlined as a priority in Plan Baton Rouge. Downtown Development District Executive Director Davis Rhorer says Hearin’s project is a realization of that goal and will breathe new life into the eastern half of the Central Business District.
“This cements the success of downtown Baton Rouge for the future,” he says. “To have this infusion of residential changes the market.”
—Stephanie Riegel
