Less than two years ago, the Water Campus was little more than a concept and a rendering. Earlier this year, however, ground was broken on the 27.6-acre riverfront research park designed to establish Louisiana as a world-class center for the best available science on water management and coastal issues. Construction has begun on a $16 million building that will house a full-scale model of the Mississippi River. The 90-by-120-foot physical model will be a key tool for researchers, with more than 200 computerized foam panels that will simulate the movement of the river. In all, three buildings are planned totaling $45 million in construction costs.
In a year marked by big deals, major announcements and game-changing developments for the Capital Region, news that Baton Rouge will be home to a world-class research institute and all that goes with it could be the most significant of them all. And not only because of the size and audacity of the vision of the Water Campus announced by Gov. Bobby Jindal last week. Rather, it is the potential for Baton Rouge and Louisiana to sail a blue ocean of coastal preservation and restoration solutions that holds such great promise of charting a completely different direction for a state too heavily weighted in the energy and petrochemical sectors. The 27.6-acre riverfront research park—which will be bordered by the Mississippi River Bridge, Nicholson Drive, Oklahoma Street and the river—will be a huge magnet for intellectual and investment capital trained on coastal restoration and sustainability. It could well establish Louisiana as a world-class center for the best available science on water management and coastal issues.
— From the Dec. 24, 2013, issue of Business Report
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PHOTO: Bob Marley.jpg/CREDIT: AP PHOTO
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