A permit has been granted for contractors to break ground on the residential portion of the Water Campus development, 200 Water Street.
The nearly 30,000-square-foot apartment complex will be four stories high and feature 20 residential units. Construction is expected to cost $4.5 million, according to the permit.
The apartments will be located on Water Street, the main thoroughfare through the campus. Main Square will sit between the apartments and 1200 Brickyard Lane, the office building occupied by Stantec and the Louisiana Cyber Coordination Center.
Construction on the apartments was originally expected to begin in mid-2018, though it’s not clear what caused the delay.
The project is starting at a time when the Baton Rouge market is struggling to absorb new units, especially “class A” units. Parishwide vacancy rates were 9.34%, as of May. Roughly 2,400 units are proposed for construction in 2020 and 2021, with some 1,400 considered likely to happen, which experts say will likely exacerbate the problem.
