Smiley Heights development to include BRCC and EBR career school

The planned Smiley Heights development behind the Bon Carré Business Center in Mid City will include the East Baton Rouge Parish School System’s Career Academy and an expansion of Baton Rouge Community College, Baton Rouge Area Foundation President John Davies says. BRAF put the land deal together and helped bring in the two key components; now it’s in the process of handing the project off to the East Baton Rouge Redevelopment Authority. The Career Academy would provide vocational training and a traditional academic curriculum. Plans are for the school to open next year at what is now Brookstown Elementary, then move to the Smiley Heights site once the development is up and running. BRCC has agreed to build a 60,000-square-foot structure, Davies says. Plans for what was intended to be a massive mixed-use neighborhood stalled in early 2007 after most of the government assistance that might have gone into the project went to the New Orleans area to help post-Katrina rebuilding. Davies says the project could include housing, retail and offices, but a new master plan is needed. Davies says he expects the land deal to close in the next 30 to 60 days. Total land cost is about $2 million; Davies wasn’t able to specify the exact number. Davies says nine different nonprofits owned pieces of the 200-acre site. Redevelopment authority CEO Walter Monsour could not immediately be reached for comment. —David Jacobs