Paul and Ann Connelly, the couple known for the Ann Connelly Gallery in Southdowns, will soon begin construction on a 2.8-acre development at the corner of Jefferson Highway and Lobdell Avenue called Studio Park.
The development already features the Anne James Hair Salon, and construction has begun on a Sherwin-Williams Paint Store that should be ready in November. In addition, plans are in the works for a new art gallery, fitness studio, 2,600-square-foot farm-to-table café and two lease spaces for residential retail design businesses.
The development is in the middle of the Bocage Cultural District—a distinction allows tax-exempt sales on original artwork.
“We’re incredibly excited,” Paul Connelly tells Daily Report of the couple’s proximity to realizing a dream. “I don’t know how to describe how excited we are because we’ve always been building and working toward a better Baton Rouge.”
The couple scoured the city for five years for an existing property on which to build in infill development. They eventually found the location at 1670 Lobdell Ave. and bought it for a reported $1.94 million after two years of negotiations.
“We love the property,” he says. “We’re just real excited to develop it.”
The Connellys were very specific about the type of property they wanted, craving something that is “uniquely Baton Rouge” for their lifestyle-centered development.
The anchor of Studio Park will be the new 6,800-square-foot art gallery with a layout that Connelly says will be similar to that of their current Perkins Road location, but will feature better storage and production areas. The new space also will provide clever ways to display the art, including pivoting walls and pocket panel partitions that can be used to reconfigure the gallery.
“It’ll be very light and airy,” Connelly says of the new gallery. “It’s going to look like an old barn.”
Outside the gallery will be two green spaces and about six live oaks that will be protected.
“You don’t realize how fine a bunch of old oak trees are until you move the scruffy stuff around them,” Connelly says.
Elsewhere on the property will be two lease properties—one that is 2,000 square feet and another that is 1,500 square feet. Those buildings will have a midcentury feel, drawing inspiration from architecture in Miami, London and Paris. Connelly says they are in negotiations with potential businesses for those two lease spaces.
Phase one of the construction will be the gallery and the fitness center. The second phase will include the lease spaces and possibly the café. No residential space is planned.
Connelly says they hope to break ground in 45 to 60 days on the gallery, with a possible opening in the first quarter of 2016.
—Ryan Broussard
