The Downtown Development District is in the process of planning a new hotel that will join the existing two on Lafayette Street in downtown Baton Rouge.
The Hampton Inn and Suites, which is estimated to be completed in 2012, will accompany the existing Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center and Hotel Indigo, which is scheduled to open this month. The three will create what developers are calling a “lodging corridor” — an area that will cater to visitors and tourists looking to experience downtown Baton Rouge.
Paul Arrigo, president and CEO of the Baton Rouge Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, said when the boutique-style Hotel Indigo opens this month, there will be nearly 400 rooms in a single downtown area.
Arrigo said it’s good the hotels are all being built near one another because more visitors can stay near downtown attractions.
He said most of the lodging options in Baton Rouge are far from downtown and sometimes keep visitors from venturing there.
“It will really open up the downtown area for more leisure travel,” he said.
Arrigo said he feels it’s necessary to offer more lodging options downtown because it’s important for Baton Rouge to keep up with other cities across the country.
“Any city our size has at least what we have downtown or more,” he said.
Arrigo said he’s confident the new hotels will draw more people downtown.
“It’ll act as a magnet attracting business to the area,” he said.
Davis Rhorer, executive director of the Downtown Development District, said downtown developers were conducting a feasibility study for phase two of the expansion of the River Center and decided they’d need about 1,000 hotel rooms to accompany the expansion. Hotel grouping was then proposed.
Rhorer said the Lafayette Street lodging corridor will have 850 rooms to offer visitors once all three hotels are up and running.
Michael Nelms, sales director for Hotel Indigo, said developers decided to place the new hotel in that area because the buildings there were once hotels.
“It just makes sense,” Nelms said. “And it really helps build downtown.”
Rhorer said the Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center building cost $70 million to renovate and Hotel Indigo is estimated to cost about $22 million to complete.
Rhorer said he hasn’t received an estimate for how much the Hampton Inn and Suites will cost.
Nelms said he doesn’t believe having three hotels so close to one another is undesirable.
“It’s almost friendly competition because we will be working together on certain things,” he said.
Rhorer said he thinks the grouping is good news for downtown Baton Rouge.
“You just can’t ask for a better situation,” Rhorer said.
 
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Contact Rachel Warren at [email protected]