What’s next for the proposed River District mixed-use development on Nicholson Drive now that creditors are reportedly trying to seize the 40-acre property from developer Lafayette businessman Mike Moreno?
It’s too soon to say, according to architect Steve Oubre, who has been working on the project for Moreno and his sister, Dalis Waguespack, a partner in the venture.
“Obviously, they’ll try to fight it,” says Oubre. “But it’s devastating.”
Goldman Sachs Bank reportedly filed a lawsuit against Moreno earlier this month for defaulting on a $52 million loan and is going after the developer’s Nicholson corridor property, as well as other real estate holdings that were put up as collateral.
Some local real estate observers say a bank takeover of the property wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing. On the contrary, the project has stalled under Moreno, who began buying up property along Nicholson Drive near Magnolia Mound Plantation in the mid-2000s but was never able to get the development off the ground.
In January 2014, Oubre and Waguespack formally unveiled plans and renderings for the River District and got preliminary approval from the Planning Commission. Still, nearly 18 months later nothing has happened.
In the meantime, plans for other developments intended to revitalize the 3.5-mile Nicholson Corridor have been unveiled, including the Baton Rouge Area Foundation’s Water Campus, LSU’s mixed-use development at the south gates of campus and a possible streetcar linking LSU to downtown.
“There’s so much momentum down there right now I don’t think this (bank issue) will be a problem for the overall development of the area,” says Center for Planning Excellence Director Boo Thomas.
Local developer Mike Wampold, who owns eight or so acres of property along Nicholson Drive and adjacent to the proposed River District, says the site is attractive for several reasons and that if it ever became available from lenders he might be interested.
“I’m in the real estate business,” Wampold says. “That’s some good real estate.”
But Wampold says such a move would depend on several factors, including the timing and the price.
“Some housing developers have been paying stupid numbers for property,” he says. “So it would just depend on who’s chasing this thing and what the process is.”
Wampold believes the Nicholson Corridor renaissance is still in something of an infancy, and some areas along the busy thoroughfare are still not ready yet for redevelopment, which is not to say it’s too soon to buy but maybe to build.
“I think there are some things that need to happen, particularly along the stretch between LSU and the River District,” he says. “There’s some cleaning up that needs to happen. There’s still a lot of junk in that area.”
—Stephanie Riegel
