Construction will begin next week on Electric Depot, culminating several years of planning for the $20 million redevelopment project at the former Entergy site in Mid City.
Work on phase one of the project should be completed by December 2018, says Dyke Nelson, who is developing the project alongside the East Baton Rouge Redevelopment Authority.
That phase will have four buildings on Government Street and a three-story entertainment center with a bowling alley, restaurant, bar and private event space. Other tenants are expected to include a fitness center with healthy food offerings, brewpub, photography studio and coffee concept. Specific tenants will be announced next month, Nelson says.
One of the first four buildings at the site will have 16 one-bedroom apartments and a portion that will be income-restricted “workforce housing.”
Early plans for the Electric Depot began when Entergy donated the property to the RDA in 2013.
Nelson and the RDA have pitched the project as a model for future redevelopment in Baton Rouge, the type of public-private partnership that could legitimize the RDA’s work in blight elimination and economic development.
The project is also an example of the fruits of historic tax credits, the incentive popular with developers, especially in downtown Baton Rouge and New Orleans, that are currently under siege on Capitol Hill. One of the two GOP tax reform plans in Congress eliminates the federal credit, though local advocates hope a recent compromise bill in the Senate will survive the process.
Phase two of Electric Depot will feature additional residential units, including affordable housing. Noble Wave, a brewpub and pizzeria planned for one of the buildings, announced this morning it was scrapping its plans for a Baton Rouge location. Nelson says he still expects to have a brewpub and restaurant concept in the space, and adds he has several groups interested.
—Sam Karlin
