Nearly 250 additional housing units are in the pipelife for downtown Baton Rouge, reflecting the continued upswing in the demand for residences in the area, the Downtown Development District says in its 2017 Development Toolkit.
The roughly 45-page document, released Friday, examines the growth in downtown Baton Rouge tourism, commercial activity and residential living.
Most of the units in the pipeline for downtown—67%—are in the planning stages, while the rest are currently under construction. Among the developments in the pipeline are The Elysian II, the Lofts @ 6C, and River Park.
The new projects will add to the 4,858 housing units already in downtown. Of them, 38% are owner occupied, while 62% are renter occupied, DDD notes. Among other highlights from the 2017 Downtown Toolkit:
- $2.2 billion has been invested in downtown Baton Rouge since 1987, when the DDD was established. Of the total, $1.36 billion has been invested since 2010.
- Assessed real property value in downtown increased to roughly $87.8 million in 2016, up from $78.8 million the year previous.
- A total of 193 residential and commercial construction permits were issued in 2016, up from 161 the year previous.
- Roughly 140,000 people visit downtown every day for business or pleasure.
- 571 businesses are located in downtown, and 25,890 people work downtown. The top employment sector is public administration, which accounts for roughly 40% of downtown workers.
