A wave of TND in Louisiana

From 1999 to 2004 only one private-sector traditional neighborhood development (TND) was under construction in Louisiana. That first project, River Ranch in Lafayette, achieved commercial and aesthetic success, and New Urban News reported last year that it was inspiring a lot of Louisianians to look favorably on TND. Recently five new urban communities came under construction in Louisiana, a sixth was approved, and a seventh was moving through the entitlement process, according to Steve Oubre of Architects Southwest, which designed River Ranch and the new projects. The projects range from 54 to 2,000 acres, with an average of nearly 600 acres. They are spread across the state from Covington in the east to Lake Charles in the west and all the way up to Shreveport in the north. Most of the new projects — all greenfield TNDs; one is an extension of a small town — moved through approvals quickly. Oubre gives significant credit to River Ranch for the rapid permitting. “We have taken all of the review people to River Ranch,” he says. “That has been the deciding factor. When they come they are totally disarmed.” River Ranch was designed in 1997; before it broke ground, real estate analysts and investors expressed skepticism that it would succeed, says Ann Daigle, a former planning director for Monroe, Louisiana. After the TND got underway, “it was so apparent that River Ranch was a great place that it depressed the market in other areas,” explains Daigle, now an urban development manager for the City of Ventura, California. one successful project “All it takes is one very successful project in the ground to change people’s attitudes,” she adds. “We’ve seen the proliferation of all this sprawl, but [Louisiana residents] understand the traditional pattern, and there is a lot of support for TND. The biggest deterrent is [conventional] codes.” The 256-acre River Ranch is about 60 percent complete, Oubre says. River Ranch developers Robert Daigle and Rodney Savoy are now breaking ground on Sugar Mill Pond, a TND that at 510 acres is about double the size of their first project. Sugar Mill Pond is an extension of Youngsville, a historic town just south of Lafayette — the old street grid extends directly into the new project. The project will feature a sizable town center with 350,000 square feet of first floor retail topped by more than 450,000 square feet of residential. Other Louisiana TNDs, mostly in the early stages of construction, are: • Olde Towne at Millcreek, a 54-acre village near Lafayette that features a small mixed-use center with a town hall and 25,000 square feet of retail under residential units. Edward Lamb is the developer. • Arrozal, a 2,200-acre community with five villages, being developed by Chad Thielan. It is seven miles from downtown Lake Charles. • Acadia Plantation, a 970-acre new town in Thibodaux, about 35 miles west of New Orleans. The first phase will include substantial retail and residential plus a hospital district and an assisted living facility. Four civic buildings — a fire station, children’s museum, church, and school — will also be built in the first phase. The developer is the Jaron Corp. • Provenance, a 377-acre neighborhood in Shreveport with two village centers, a school, a church, and more than 1,500 residential units, being developed by Vintage Realty. • Willow Grove, a 111-acre project with a mixed-use village center and approximately 400 units, being developed in Baton Rouge by Richard Carmouche. • Terra Bella, a 97-acre new town in Covington with a village center, school, and about 700 residential units, being developed by Mark Malkemus. u