‘Real Estate Weekly’: Artists community at Circa 1857 still ‘going to happen’ despite forfeited tax credits

A planned workspace and living community for artists at Government and South 19th streets has hit a snag, but its developer says he believes the project will be completed nonetheless. Danny McGlynn, who co-owns the Circa 1857 complex with Dennis Hargroder and is planning to build the artists development on adjacent land, said in September he’d secured the required financing to receive $8.1 million in tax credits from the East Baton Rouge Redevelopment Authority. But McGlynn says he could not get all the details hammered out in time to use the tax credits by an Oct. 31 deadline, and subsequently agreed to forfeit the award so another project could use the credits. “We’ve had to back off until March, at which time we hope they’ll have another allocation of tax credits,” McGlynn explains. “It’s still going to happen. … Even if the RDA doesn’t get the money [to grant to the development], it’s a project that has a lot of promise, and we’re fairly confident that somebody else will step in to back it.” In the meantime, McGlynn says he continues to work toward getting all the various approvals for the project. He’s slated to appear before the Planning Commission today to ask for a parking waiver. “Hopefully it’s just a formality,” he says. The Planning Commission meets at 5 p.m. on the third floor of City Hall, 222 St. Louis St. The complete agenda is here. —Steve Sanoski Get more local real estate news from the new Real Estate Weekly e-newsletter here.