Catfish Town District/Baton Rouge Landing District

This District is a visitor destination. It encompasses the glazed Atrium at Catfish Town, the Naval Museum, the Centroplex, the Louisiana Arts and Science Museum, the Riverfront Plaza, and the two municipal parking garages. It is centered on the curve of River Road, a situation that contributes to its failure to coalesce into a successful visitor destination. The redesign of this high-speed curve into a traditional square would restore pedestrian continuity and form a setting for the Columbus Memorial.

[Construction of redesigned curve completed first quarter 2002.]

There exists an immediate opportunity, perhaps the last, to achieve this redesign. Three buildings are about to be added to this district: a conference center, a hotel, and a planetarium, one on each side of the curve. The building activity thus generated could include the improvement of the existing build-ings and the creation of the square.

[The Sheraton Baton Rouge Convention Center Hotel has decided to quit using “Catfish Town: in its promotions. Downtown Development District named the area “Baton Rouge Landing” in its Riverfront Development Plan.]