With 2014 wrapping up, developers of downtown projects are looking to what the new year will bring. Among them is architect Dyke Nelson, who announced at this morning’s Downtown Development District meeting that the renovation of an office building at 500 Laurel St. will be his next project.
Nelson’s announcement comes as the opening date quickly approaches for his mixed-use development 440 on Third.
The long-awaited Matherne’s downtown grocery, which will be on the first floor of 440 on Third, is scheduled to open Jan. 5, with a soft opening in the coming weeks. And USAgencies plans to begin moving into the building’s eighth and ninth floors in January, with a goal of completing the move by Feb 1.
“They keep asking if they can get in and give tours,” Nelson says. “Guys, just a couple more days.”
The planned renovations to 500 Laurel will reinvigorate another 30,000 square feet of office space, Nelson says. The ground floor has a drive-thru, which may suit a pharmacy, says Nelson, who adds that he’s also floated the idea of the building as a possible location for a new concept by Walk-On’s Enterprises for a scaled-down restaurant and bar called Walk-On’s Halfcourt. The company initially had planned the concept on Third Street downtown, but it since has scrapped that location and continues to look for another spot downtown.
Nelson says plans for 500 Laurel are in the nascent stages and that he’s still in the process of securing financing. He says renovations on another of his projects—the Lafayette House multifamily apartments at Florida Boulevard and Lafayette Street—will begin in the new year as well. —Kelly Connelly
