“Bringing older buildings back to a repurposed life is a growing trend in Baton Rouge—especially downtown and in Mid City. The reasons are varied but usually check at least one of these boxes: 1) the building has some historic or iconic significance, 2) it’s more cost effective to retrofit than tear down and rebuild, or 3) older buildings tend to have higher construction quality, craftsmanship and design details than new construction.
Appreciation for older architecture is a sentiment also shared by local developer and architect Dyke Nelson, who over the years has also developed a niche for leveraging different programs to help give new life to old spaces.
‘Older buildings have a higher quality of construction,’ Nelson says. ‘Often it’s hard to find that level of craftsmanship or resources in a newly constructed building.’ ” – Holly Duchmann, Baton Rouge Business Report