More than three dozens architects, designers, developers, real estate brokers, planners and city leaders turned out on Thursday last week for a first look at the interior of 1509 Government St., the former Entergy site on Government Street that the East Baton Rouge Redevelopment Authority is hoping to turn into a mixed-use development.
The RDA is currently soliciting what is called a Request for Expression of Interest, or RFEI, from teams interested in tackling the redevelopment project. The April 7 walk-through was part of the solicitation process.
RDA CEO Gwen Hamilton counted 52 attendees at the event, though the agency’s sign-in sheet from that day indicates closer to 36 were actually in attendance. Among them were representatives of most of the city’s best-known architect and design firms.
“It’s a gorgeous building,” says architect Bobby Boudreaux of Crump Wilson Architects, which plans to submit an expression of interest as part of a larger development team. “I’m excited about the possibility of what it could become.”
Entergy donated the 6.2-acre site to the RDA in 2014, and the property is seen as a potential catalyst for redevelopment in the blighted downtown east area. It is also envisioned as a long-term revenue source for the cash-strapped RDA.
Those who toured the building last week say there is unlimited potential.
“From our perspective, it’s a very exciting project,” says Tim Basilica of Onsite Design and Development. “We are definitely interested in the project for the mere fact that it has such great connectivity to some of our other properties and projects.”
Onsight Design and Development is doing several infill development projects in Old Goodwood. Basilica says the firm has not decided yet whether it will submit an RFEI.
Firms that do choose to participate have a lot of latitude as to how detailed they want to get with their expressions of interest. The RDA’s RFEI spells out specific criteria that interested parties must meet but leaves vague the level of detail they must include in the documents they submit.
Expressions of interest are due by 5 p.m. on April 28.
Hamilton says eligible teams whose proposals meet the guidelines outlined in the RFEI may be invited to submit a second, more detailed proposal of their plans—but not necessarily.
“If there’s one team that blows us out of the water with their expression of interest then we could award it to them,” she says. “It just depends on what comes in.”
—Stephanie Riegel
