So, BRAC, which is already receiving a half million from the City/Parish, is pushing the Audubon project in a big way. Will BRAC’s role expand if the tax issue passes?
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The Baton Rouge Area Chamber has emerged as a major force in helping Mayor-President Kip Holden sell voters on a proposed $989-million capital improvements program that includes the largest tax-backed economic development plan in the history of East Baton Rouge Parish.
It’s the latest development in a partnership that was created last year when the city-parish contracted the Chamber to serve as its economic development department for $500,000 a year. Now in its second year, the alliance already has produced dividends.
Albemarle Corp., a chemical company, announced earlier this year that it is moving its headquarters from Virginia to Baton Rouge.
And more recently, Electronic Arts Inc., a top video game company, unveiled plans to establish a major testing center in south Baton Rouge near LSU.
But the city-parish’s quest for economic development will begin a new chapter if voters on Tuesday approve Holden’s proposal.
The centerpiece of the package is a planned $247.5-million combination museum-zoo-aquarium. The Audubon Nature Institute would operate the attraction downtown on the riverfront.
Like the Audubon Zoo and the Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans, the proposed Baton Rouge museum would be built with tax dollars. Holden is asking voters to approve a new half-cent sales tax and a 9.9-mill property tax for the next 30 years to fund the program.
Holden’s plan also includes an expansion of the River Center, drainage improvements, replacement of 38 dangerous bridges, a new Parish Prison and a new juvenile justice center, modernization of more than 200 traffic signals and other projects.
Jim Ellis, chairman of the Chamber’s board, said Audubon’s proposed Alive attraction, is the “juice” of the proposal because it’s projected to raise enough new tax revenues to pay off the 30-year bond issue in 17.5 years.
The Audubon attraction is projected to generate 2,000 permanent jobs when it opens in 2012 and 11,000 jobs by 2016.
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Chamber President and CEO Adam Knapp said his organization also has helped by providing radio air time donated by stations to run commercials in favor of the mayor’s proposal.
Besides the Audubon attraction, Knapp said he’s excited about the economic development that would be generated by the proposed $144-million expansion of the River Center and its parking garage downtown.
If Holden’s proposal is approved by voters Tuesday, Virginia developer Armanda Hoffler has agreed to spend $100 million in private money to build two hotels next to the River Center.
As part of the proposed deal, Hoffler has agreed to pay the market price to lease the land for the hotels from the city-parish, Knapp noted.
When Holden, a former longtime legislator, was elected mayor-president in 2004, he promised to push economic development.
Instead of creating a new department, Holden persuaded the Metro Council to hire the Chamber for $500,000 per year to serve in that capacity.
“What we’ve done is to avoid creating another layer of bureaucracy. Instead, we’ve got a contract with an organization of experts, people who do this every day,” Holden said.
BRAC is a nonprofit, investor-driven organization with more than 1,500 member businesses, civic organizations, education institutions, and individuals whose mission is to lead economic development in the nine-parish Baton Rouge metropolitan area, according to its Web site.