Development in Mid City is continuing at a steady pace so far this year, with investors, restaurateurs and developers banking on an expected boon from several major projects along Government Street, including the so-called road diet and Electric Depot mixed-use development.
Work is underway on the former Rotolo’s space on Government Street, which is set to feature a new, yet-to-be-named restaurant. A developer has plans to refurbish the Government Village Shopping Center and build market-rate apartments nearby. Another property owner, who declines to comment, is asking the Planning Commission to rezone a building on Government Street across from Baton Rouge Magnet High School to allow for a future restaurant use.
“I think people are waking up to Mid City,” says Jak Kunstler, a real estate broker and longtime investor in the neighborhood.
Kunstler, who is looking to fill the space next door to the newly-opened Rocca Pizzeria after a brewery’s plans for the space fell through, also points to few weak points in the area, especially with infrastructure. He says Florida Street is in dire need of work and North Boulevard is underutilized.
And there appears to be too many people chasing too few properties in the neighborhood, Kunstler says.
“The Mid City future is bright,” he says. “It’s just overheated.”
Anthony Kimble, an investor in Electric Depot, says the road diet was one of the reasons he decided to buy the Government Village Shopping Center last August for $1.6 million with plans to update it.
“It just makes sense. It’s right by downtown,” Kimble says. “There’s an opportunity to come in and buy properties that are undervalued.”
He also notes the nearby Hotel Lincoln, which Solomon Carter bought for $400,000 last fall, is expected to get refurbished, and Square 46, the highly-anticipated mixed-use development that includes the gourmet food hall White Star Market, should open soon.
But beyond the financial picture, Kimble says the area presents an opportunity for a diverse, vibrant neighborhood amid an increasingly segregated city, where new subdivisions are being built further south.
“Baton Rouge tends to be a very segregated city,” Kimble says. “One thing that really excites me about this neighborhood is it’s an opportunity for Baton Rouge to create a neighborhood that truly accommodates all people.”
