The Planning Commission this evening will consider the site plan for renovations to Mike Wampold’s Chase South Tower off Florida Street in downtown.
The plans call for the top 12 floors of the building to be renovated from commercial offices into residential apartments. The development would include nearly 145 units, an 8,000-square-foot pool area on the penthouse level and 4,000 square feet of commercial retail space at the ground-level plaza.
The South Tower plans require approval only from the Planning Commission and will not go before the Metro Council.
The Chase South Tower will be the fifth major downtown structure Wampold has either bought and renovated or built from the ground up. The others are Riverside North Tower, City Plaza, II City Plaza, and the Watermark Hotel.
The commission will also consider an application from local restaurateur Chad Hughes, who has asked for a parcel on Perkins Road to be rezoned from “light commercial” to “commercial alcoholic beverage.” The vacant property, at the corner of Perkins and Hollydale Avenue, is across the street from Bumsteers, which he opened last year with Eric Carnegie. The property was previously home to a Cracker Barrel service station.
Although on the application he writes “opening a restaurant” as the reason for the rezoning, Hughes told Daily Report last month that he and his partner’s plans for the property are not set in stone.
“My partner and I don’t even know what we’re doing with the space yet—no name, no concept, no construction plans. We don’t even know if it will be a restaurant,” Hughes told Daily Report at the time. “We are many months away from opening whatever it may be.”
He applied for rezoning through Unleaded BBQ LLC, which was registered with the Louisiana Secretary of State’s office in mid-June.
The meeting, which starts at 5 p.m., is via video conference and available for viewing at www.brla.gov, on Metro 21 (Cox Channel 21) and on the City of Baton Rouge/Parish of East Baton Rouge Facebook page via Facebook Live. See the full agenda.
