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Baton Rouge is in the midst of a hotel boom, and downtown is ground zero. The growth in the local hotel industry is not just confined to the city’s historic center, however. It’s occurring throughout the metro area. Since 2000, the number of hotels in East Baton Rouge Parish has more than doubled, while the number of hotels in the nine-parish Capital Region has increased 83%. Just since January 2012, some 687 rooms have been added to the market. In recent months, a number of new hotel projects have been announced, including the downtown Courtyard Marriott, a Candlewood Suites on Bankers Avenue, an extended-stay hotel in Gonzales and, most recently, Mike Wampold’s 148-room Marriott Autograph hotel in the old LNB Building downtown called Watermark Baton Rouge.
For now, at least, statistics suggest demand exists to support so many new properties, which is one reason developers are building them. The other is that financing for economy and limited-service hotels is easy to come by these days, so cities all over the country—not just Baton Rouge—are experiencing hotel booms.
Whether the market can support so many new properties in the long term is another question. Downtown hoteliers are counting on their new competitors to help grow the market by enabling the city to attract new conventions and meetings to the River Center, although there’s no guarantee that will happen.
Here’s a look at four of the newest planned additions.
HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS
400 North Blvd.
Rooms: 89
Completion date: Summer 2015
Features: 1,500 square feet of meeting space, a business center and a fitness center
Developer: Pinu Patel of Lake Charles-based Super Hospitality
This summer, the long-abandoned former Baton Rouge Savings and Loan Association building at 400 North Blvd. will again open its doors, this time as a hotel. The Metro Council last month approved creating a special downtown taxing district to help finance the project. The Tax Increment Finance district is expected to generate $12 million for Patel, who will receive a 2% rebate of the 13% hotel tax.
COURTYARD BY MARRIOTT
260 Third St.
Rooms: 147
Completion date: March 2016
Features: A 2,000-square-foot meeting room, 1,500 square feet of retail space. A third of the rooms will be equipped with balconies.
Developer: Windsor Aughtry
South Carolina-based Windsor Aughtry will spend $20 million to build this eight-story, 85,000-square-foot hotel on a now-vacant lot where the old Hotel Istrouma—the first hotel in downtown Baton Rouge—once stood. This is Windsor Aughtry’s second downtown development in three years; the company also built the Hampton Inn on Lafayette Street. “This is a great corner that is in the heart of downtown,” says Bo Aughtry. “We’ve been eyeing this corner for a long time.”
WATERMARK BATON ROUGE
150 Third St.
Rooms: 148
Completion date: August 2016
Features: Preserved architectural and art features in the building, including vintage murals painted by New Orleans artist Angela Gregory, the carved marble walls and a grand staircase; an upscale restaurant; and about 2,500 square feet of meeting space
Developer: Mike Wampold
Wampold has been working on plans for a hotel in the historic, 91-year-old building for more than a year, but he did not have a flag for the hotel until late May, when a deal was signed in Bethesda, Maryland. The Autograph brand is one of the newest and ritziest in the Marriott family of hotels, and Wampold says his hotel at 150 N. Third St. will be “upper upscale,” with high-end amenities, restored vintage artwork and a full-service restaurant. “This is going to be more upscale than the Renaissance,” says Wampold, referring to another Marriott hotel he owns on Bluebonnet Boulevard that opened in 2011. “This is going to be the most upscale hotel in Baton Rouge.”
CANDLEWOOD SUITES
5353 Bankers Ave.
Rooms: 81
Completion date: Late 2015
Features: Unknown
Developer: InterContinental Hotels Group
The hotel chain Candlewood Suites is joining the string of hotels in the College Drive corridor. The four-story hotel will rise on the nearly 2-acre tract of land behind the Raising Cane’s at 5211 Corporate Blvd. The hotel earlier was projected to cost $6.5 million and cover 43,912 square feet. Candlewood Suites is a branch of IHG, the parent company of both the Holiday Inn and the Crowne Plaza on Constitution Avenue.
