HOLLY DUCHMANN
OCTOBER 23, 2018 | REAL ESTATE | BATON ROUGE BUSINESS REPORT
Dantin Bruce Development has broken ground on The Mercantile, a new garden-style office development on Bluebonnet Boulevard near Jefferson Highway.
The development—a mix of leased and owned properties—will consist of eight buildings over 38,800 square feet. Five of the buildings have been committed to be leased or purchased, according to Ross Bruce, and three of the committed buildings are set to begin construction soon. Office space ranges between 2,500 and 6,000 square feet.
Lease space in the development is still available for rates between $23 and $24 per square foot, according to Bruce.
“For many years, the Bluebonnet corridor has been highly desirable,” Bruce says. “We saw an opportunity to build a modern office development right in heart of Baton Rouge.”
Dantin Bruce Development and Assurance Financial will be among the tenants of the new development.
The development, designed by Ritter Maher Architects, will feature modern farmhouse-style architecture with steel entry doors, exposed wooden beams, natural stone floors, and steel and glass interior finishes. The offices will be similar in style to City Farm on Jefferson Highway, which was also developed by Dantin Bruce Development.
“We’ve been trying to redesign what office parks look like,” says Scott Ritter of Ritter Maher Architects. “We’re changing the dynamic of what Baton Rouge expects from their office.”
Bruce anticipates the first building in The Mercantile to be finished next summer and the rest of the development to be completed by the end of 2019.