Pharmacy, hotel, café and park soon opening downtown

Filling prescriptions during the workday is about to get easier for residents and workers in downtown Baton Rouge. The new Prescriptions to Geaux, a downtown pharmacy located on the corner of Third and Florida streets, will open with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday, DDD Executive Director Davis Rhorer told the commission this morning. Rhorer says the pharmacy, which is located two doors down from the Our Lady of the Lake walk-in clinic, will deliver to any downtown business or resident. The pharmacy is one of several upcoming openings downtown. Others include the Hampton Inn, which is scheduled to open in late April; Repentance Park, which will hold its own ribbon cutting April 2; and The Lobby Cafe, a Florida Street soup, salad and sandwich shop slated to open April 4. Also at the DDD meeting today, the developers behind the planned renovation of the Commerce Building provided an update on the project. Michael Lang of New Orleans-based 5thFloor Co. says the renovation is set to start by the end of this year, with a goal of being completed by the fourth quarter of 2014. The redesigned Commerce Building will have 92 residential lofts, a rooftop swimming pool, and a first-floor commercial space that 5thFloor hopes will be occupied by a grocery store. Plans also include parking spaces to accommodate up to 127 vehicles. —April Castro