Third Street building slated for renovation

The roughly 4,000-square-foot building at 336 Third St. in downtown Baton Rouge that, until a week ago, was home to Riverside Patty for the past 30 years, is slated to undergo a significant renovation as negotiations with potential new tenants get under way. “It needs some work. So we’re going to go in there and kind of gut it to a large extent, and then, depending on the tenant, renovate it to suit their needs,” says building owner Gordon LeBlanc Jr. “We plan on beginning the renovation in the next month or two and getting a new tenant in there a couple months after that.” LeBlanc says a wall that currently divides the interior will be taken out to “open the building up a little and give people a better feel for its possibilities.” A number of potential tenants have already expressed interest in the location, LeBlanc says. “We’re open to a number of uses, and we have been talking to a couple people who are interested, but we’ve not reached an agreement with one.” Riverside Patty owner Nader Tahmasebi closed his original downtown restaurant (a second location off Siegen Lane is still open) on Wednesday, Nov. 21, because he couldn’t work out a new lease deal with LeBlanc. Also, he says, revenue had been siphoned off in recent years from the increase in competition from food trucks. You can read more about Riverside Patty’s closing from Daily Report here. —Steve Sanoski