Editor’s note: This story has been updated since original publication to note the finalists will also have the opportunity to bid on replacing six aging dormitories on the LSU campus.
Two nationally recognized master development firms have been chosen as the finalists for LSU’s Nicholson Gateway Project, a public-private partnership to design, build and operate a mixed-use retail and residential project on 28 acres along Nicholson Drive between Skip Bertman Drive and West Chimes Street.
The firms—Austin, Texas-based American Campus Communities, and Valdosta, Georgia-based RISE Real Estate—will both enter into negotiations with the LSU Property Foundation, the arm of the LSU Foundation that handles property matters. One developer will be selected for the project next spring.
“American Campus Communities and RISE Real Estate are recognized leaders in this industry,” Rob Stuart, chair of the Nicholson Gateway Development Project Committee, says in a prepared statement. “We appreciate the opportunity to work more closely with these firms and will ultimately choose the best partner to bring this exciting project to fruition for the benefit of the LSU community.”
Both firms have proposed partnering with multiple Baton Rouge companies to assist in their plans, but the final composition of the teams may change.
American Campus Communities has proposed bringing on Baton Rouge-based Coleman Partners Architects, Lincoln Builders, Saurage Rotenberg Commercial Real Estate and Provident Resources.
Other companies proposed for the Texas-based company’s team are Shreveport-based Shreve Land Constructors, as well as Hanbury Evans Wright Vlattas & Company and RBC Capital Markets.
The team proposed by RISE Real Estate includes Baton Rouge’s Remson Haley Herpin, and Provident Resources, and two companies with offices in Baton Rouge—The Lemoine Company and Stirling Properties. Other firms include Niles Bolton Associates, Stantac and RBC Capital Markets.
Ten firms responded to a request for qualifications issued for the project during the summer and from those 10, five were asked to submit a request for proposals.
LSU officials visualize more than 1,600 beds in a mix of apartment- and suite-style units. The project will include residential lounge, study, community and food service spaces, as well as between 30,000 and 50,000 square feet of new retail space.
“The Nicholson Gateway project, focused on the largest underdeveloped tract of university-owned property that is adjacent to the campus core, will turn what has traditionally been the back of the campus into an exciting new gateway district,” the university says in a news release.
As previously reported by Daily Report, the finalists will also have the opportunity to bid on replacing six, 1960s-era residence halls on campus. LSU’s housing master plan calls for replacing Miller, Herget, McVoy, Acadian, Broussard and Kirby Smith halls with some 2,100 new beds—an expensive process that could take 15 years or more. The finalists will not be required to submit a bid on replacing the dormitories, but a private developer that could make both projects happen at an attractive price and in fewer than 15 years would presumably have a competitive edge.
