LSU buys Nicholson frontage for Innovation Park addition

LSU has expanded its south campus by 43 acres, bringing to 240 the total acreage for the LSU Innovation Park on GSRI Road. “And that’s all the frontage on Nicholson Drive,” says Charlie D’Agostino, executive director of the Innovation Park and the Louisiana Business and Technology Center. LSU purchased the property for $4.3 million on Dec. 21 from the LSU Property Foundation, a nonprofit that privately raises money for the university and has secured other tracts of property for the south campus in the past. “The LSU Property Foundation doesn’t make any money from the land,” says Sara Crow, a spokeswoman for the nonprofit. Crow says about 22 acres remain available for the university to purchase in the area, adding any further buys would be dependent upon public funding from the state. D’Agostino says it could take 30 years for the Innovation Park to fully develop. The south campus was initially formed in 2005 when the state purchased 100 acres from the Albemarle Corp. D’Agostino says the Metro Council at its next meeting will consider renaming GSRI Road, to become Innovation Park Drive. He says “GSRI Road” is often confusing to potential businesses that want to locate at the park. “They don’t know what that stands for; in fact, they think it’s a word and ask me how to spell it,” D’Agostino says. Later this month, The Emerge Center for Communication, Behavior & Development will also break ground at the Innovation Park. —Adam Pearson