Horse-drawn carriage transportation. Living spaces atop retail stores. Mixing graduate student and retirement living spaces.
All of the above were ideas pitched for the LSU Nicholson Development Project at a town hall meeting Wednesday evening in the Student Union. The development would span from the North Gate area by West Chimes Street to Walk-On’s Bistreaux and Bar on Burbank Drive.
“At this point, no idea is a bad idea,” said Steve Waller, executive director of the project and Residential Life director.
Waller said the main goal of the development project is to replace the family and graduate housing on Nicholson Drive. He said there is no predetermined location for the replacement housing – it could remain in its current location or be built somewhere else.
One of the driving forces behind the development project is the desire to connect the northern campus entrance to the campus community.
“We want this area to be active beyond 4:30 p.m. and beyond game days,” said Steve Wilson, project manager for AECOM, the planning firm contracted to work on the Nicholson development.
Wednesday’s meeting served as part of the project’s discovery phase. While there is no determined timeline for the project, Waller said he hopes it’s completed within the next few years.
Students and community members in attendance were eager to give input about the development, but several voiced concerns about the implications of it.
Sharon Terrance, a long-time Baton Rouge resident who said she wants to live in the area forever, said project developers need to keep local residents in mind when planning for Nicholson.
Terrance lives just past the North Gate area and said when the beams for the student apartment complexes on Highland Road were erected, the foundations of houses a few streets away from her home began to sink.
Terrance also suggested adding a retired-living site to the family and graduate student housing because interacting with children would be beneficial to retired people. She said it “helps keep them alive.”
Other suggestions for the ardevelopment included nighttime eateries, improved public transportation and the creation of neighborhood and local businesses.
“There needs to be that local flavor you won’t get with McDonald’s or Walmart,” said Gary Byerly, LSU’s graduate school dean.
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Contact Emily Herrington at [email protected]