Smart growth residences planned in Mid City

Where most Baton Rougeans only see an empty field at Government Street and Croydon Avenue, Michael Hogstrom sees the future of smart-growth development in Baton Rouge and eight new residences for Mid City. Last April, the developer quit his job at URS to form Onsite Design. The 35-year-old had secured three lots comprising the 1.4-acre property to begin designing a community he’s calling E’tage Gardens. Each of the eight homes he envisions will measure about 5,000 square feet in size—single-family housing that the city-parish’s new land-use plan says “should be permitted.” “This is kind of the poster child for FuturEBR, I think,” Hogstrom says. Earlier this month, Hogstrom submitted an application to the Planning Commission to rezone the residential property to infill/mixed-use, small-planned unit development, or ISPUD. “This project is designed to promote views in/out of site, pedestrian walkability, community connectivity, historic preservation, and high-quality residential housing,” Hogstrom says in the application. He says he has discussed the potential development with neighbors and drummed up interest among retiring baby boomers and empty nesters. “My phone has been ringing off the hook,” Hogstrom says. In about three weeks he plans to host an open house at the site. As far as Hogstrom has been able to determine, the lots have only been used as farmland in the past. “It’s not often you see empty lots,” he says. —Adam Pearson