In a conference room at Providence engineering firm’s Main Street office, employees sit around a table fit for a modern art museum. The glass top rests on twisting, asymmetrical, gunmetal legs that are not art for the sake of art. The truth is, the gray legs are recycled mufflers.
The conference room itself actually is a massive working elevator capable of carrying cars from one floor to the next. And sitting outside the office of Rick Major, Providence’s senior managing partner, is an old broiler.
Throughout the 20,000-square-foot building, dozens of reminders of its colorful history meet the eye: for example, the rolling garage-door walls in the break room and the “Barnes Motor Supply” sign that hangs on the deck.
That’s just how Major likes it.
“It’s got great bones,” he says. “Solid brick walls. You’re not going to find buildings [made] like this today.”
Much of Baton Rouge’s downtown infrastructure has been preserved, revitalized and repurposed for new, modern businesses, thanks to tax incentives, demolition ordinances and, most important, a love of historical architecture.
“They’re bringing back the soul of downtown Baton Rouge,” says Davis Rhorer, executive director of the Downtown Development District. “The buildings have a history that conveys the uniqueness of Baton Rouge that you’re not going to find elsewhere.”
Providence has occupied the building, which Major estimates is about 100 years old, for the past two years after investing $1 million in a one-year renovation. Once upon a time, the building was a Buick dealership, and then several auto parts stores. When Providence took over the building, it had been vacant since 1985, but it still contained all of the supplies from the previous business.
“It’s like they walked out on Friday and never came back,” he says. “They had about 10,000 mufflers up here, coffee cups still on the desks, and there was an old computer about as big as this desk.”
There are federal, state and local tax exemptions, credits and fee waivers for people and businesses that revitalize historic buildings.
Major and his team received a $170,000 Environmental Protection Agency Brownfields Grant, given to applicants wishing to redevelop a property that may be contaminated with hazardous substances. The Providence building had asbestos and lead-based paint that needed to be addressed.
He also owns the Orphanage Apartments, named for its historical use as a Protestant orphanage on North Street, dating to the late 1800s.
“It’s a passion,” Major says. “You gotta like it, and you gotta like the feel of it. And there’s something intangible that we’ve done which is helping promote our business. Now we’re getting recognized for the work we did on the [Providence] building.”
Grace & Hebert Architects renovated the 16,000-square-foot building at Government and St. Charles streets that originally was a moss factory in 1891 and eventually became Causey & Co. Antiques. The word “Antiques” remains on the front of the structure.
FACTORY FINISH: Grace & Hebert Architects renovated the 16,000-square-foot building at Government and St. Charles streets that originally was a moss factory in 1891 and eventually became Causey & Co. Antiques. The building still holds its history on the outside, but the inside has been modernized. (Photos courtesy Grace & Hebert Architects)
President Jerry Hebert says his firm received 38% tax credits for the renovation, adding that he chose the location because it was the most cost-efficient way to move downtown. The building still holds its history on the outside; the inside has been modernized.
The structure cost about $1.1 million to buy and more than twice that to renovate.
“We wanted to take a building that has historic qualities and repurpose it,” says Hebert, who is pursuing gold-level LEED certification. “We took the building, which has some really good things, and transformed it into a really contemporary space. It’s old, but it’s really kind of cool.”
The revitalization of historic structures isn’t easy, says Danny McGlynn, a partner in the law firm McGlynn, Glisson and Mouton who also flips buildings.
There can be structural damage, electrical issues, plumbing problems or health hazards. Some of the problems are hidden, and aren’t discovered until later in the construction process, which makes it difficult to estimate costs, and thus more difficult to receive financing. Still, he says, rehabilitating a building can be more economical than new construction.
McGlynn’s firm is located in the old Varsity Shop building downtown on Florida Street. In 2001, with Dennis Hargroder, he revitalized the former Griffon’s drugstore, which was built at Government and N. 19th streets in the 1920s, into Circa 1857, an art and antiques store. He also turned the former Piccadilly Cafeteria on Third Street into the popular bar Boudreaux & Thibodeaux’s.
“When I started [rehabilitating buildings] it wasn’t a big deal in Baton Rouge,” says McGlynn, who renovated his first building 17 years ago. “But now it’s caught on. It’s not just a fashion trend. I think the suburbs are going out of favor a little, and now it’s just becoming economically good to do it.”
Carolyn Bennett, executive director of the Foundation for Historical Louisiana, remembers with regret the Paramount Theatre on Third Street, which was demolished in 1979 to make room for additional downtown parking. The theater, which was built in the 1920s, was once described as the most thoroughly equipped and scientifically built playhouse in the South.
In 2003, developers pursued the demolition of the historic Kress building, located at Third and Main streets, the site of a 1960 civil rights protest, and the Welsh & Levy building, built in 1885; the buildings were saved and have been repurposed into a mixed-use development with retail on the first floor and residential above that.
Bennett says the downtown demolition ordinance, enacted in 2004, curbed some of the historical destruction, but she hopes even tighter regulations can be implemented.
“These buildings are made of finer materials, the craftsmanship is often better and they bring a wonderful aesthetic to our city,” she says. “Why do we travel to Paris and London and all of these wonderful communities? We want to see their beautiful architecture.”
