Redevelopment authority enters new phase, OK’s sale of 105 properties

The East Baton Rouge Redevelopment Authority’s board today approved selling 105 properties to four nonprofit agencies, along with agreements requiring each entity to build a minimum number of housing units by various deadlines. “This has proved to be a heck of a lot harder than anyone expected,” says board Chairman John Noland. Recent legal changes mean the RDA doesn’t have to prove it has served notice to every owner of an adjudicated property, he says. “We nail a sign [now] that says, ‘This lot has been taken over by the redevelopment authority. If you want it, you better make claim to it within 90 days,'” Noland says. Several people at today’s meeting commented on the journey the RDA has been on since the board first met in 2008. Metro Councilwoman Donna Collins-Lewis says when Monsour first approached the council, he asked for all of the parish’s adjudicated properties. “Thank God you didn’t give them to us,” Monsour said, drawing laughter. There are more than 4,000 blighted lots in the parish “that are [currently] impossible to put back into commerce,” Noland says. James Andermann, the RDA’s real estate director, says the authority is working with “a number of developers” and hopes to bring “a new batch of 80 properties” to the board soon. —David Jacobs